Entrepreneurship Program

In 1988, the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service joined efforts with industry, specifically the American Home Sewing Association, to fund a pilot project targeted to home- based sewing entrepreneurs. The objective of the project was to train and help entrepreneurs establish and maintain profitable home-based sewing businesses to supplement family income. The business could be sewing or teaching sewing for profit. The program was a five-day, intensive workshop, titled "Sewing As a Business."

The workshop included three one-day sessions on Business Awareness, Marketing Directions, and Update, and a two-day session Using New Technology.

Business Awareness included basic management skills needed to establish and maintain a viable business. Topics included: financial records and taxes, zoning and licensing, bank accounts and securing loans, time management, and legal aspects of operating a business.

Marketing Directions centered on the relationships of strategic marketing skills to the survival of a business. Topics included: advertising and promotion, pricing, networking, targeting markets, and projecting a professional image.

The Update session concentrated on the types, sources, and costs of new equipment and products available to the sewing entrepreneur. Using New Technology focused on the development of competitive skills.

Eleven "Sewing As a Business" workshops were conducted at five Mississippi locations. County Extension home economists promoted and advertised the workshops through news articles, radio programs, newsletters, home sewing retailers, and personal contacts. The response to the workshops was overwhelming-over 700 applications were received. About 20 participants were selected for each of the 11 workshops.

All participants completed three evaluation instruments: one at the beginning of the workshop, the second at the end of the workshop, and a third six-month follow-up. The instruments were designed to record demographic data and measure changes in behavior related to the operation of the business, knowledge gained, changes in family income, and other significant results. In addition, workshop content, teaching methods, timing, and sequencing were evaluated by participants.

Of the 233 men and women who graduated from the workshop, 97% rated the workshop as excellent. Ninety-eight percent reported they could transfer information from the workshop to their business.

Preliminary follow-up data indicated that: 74% of the graduates are sewing for profit; 33% are teaching sewing for profit; 98% who were already in a business said the workshop influenced business changes; 78% who didn't own a business, plan to initiate one; 58% significantly increased their income; and 52% at least doubled their income from their sewing businesses.

The success of the program has generated additional federal and state funding to continue the "Sewing As a Business" program in Mississippi through 1992.