Hey Leaders, I had a great time speaking at the Perry Startup Week Summit and sharing an Entrepreneurship 101 keynote with an outstanding group of 50–60 aspiring and current entrepreneurs! We explored key foundations every entrepreneur needs to understand, including: ✅ The mindset and mentality of an entrepreneur ✅ Defining your business value proposition ✅ How to identify and validate opportunity ✅ Different paths to business ownership ✅ SBA tools and resources available to support entrepreneurs at every stage One of the highlights was connecting with the SBA Resource Partners who were in attendance—organizations that play a critical role in helping entrepreneurs turn ideas into sustainable businesses (photo attached). I was grateful for the opportunity to pour into the Middle Georgia entrepreneurial community and excited about the growth happening right here in Perry and Middle Georgia! - Dr. Joe

🚀Free, 2-Day, Boots to Business (B2B) Entrepreneurship Workshop, 12-13 February 2026, hosted by NSB Kings Bay TAP Office | 8:30 AM-4:00 PM both days! 💰“Funded in part by a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.” Total of 10 participants 👨🏻‍🏫Instructor: Georgia VBOC Instructor: Scott Ross 🪖This training is offered to all Active Duty Service members, Transitioning, National Guard, Reservists, Veterans of all eras, and their spouses are eligible to participate. 📚�Topics will include: · What is Entrepreneurship? · Idea vs. Business Opportunity? · Doing Your Market Research – Customers and Industry · The Economics of Small Business · Selecting The Correct Legal Structure · Financing Your Venture · Business Planning · SBA Resources for You 🔗#smallbusiness #startups #entrepreneurship #veterans #Milspouses #governmentcontracting #LegalSupport #womensbusinesscenter #SBDC #accesstocapital 🌐SBA: https://sba.my.site.com/s/ Georgia VBOC: https://gavectr.org/VBOC/ SCORE: https://score.org SBDC: https://americassbdc.org APEX Accelerators: https://lnkd.in/g3xFd3zB ACE/WBC: https://aceloans.org MSU-RR: https://lnkd.in/gPJWPBYC Onward to Opportunity: https://lnkd.in/ec2ZpbG7

Start your entrepreneurship journey with Boots to Business or Boots to Business-Reboot, a foundational entrepreneurial education and training program for transitioning service members, including the National Guard and Reserve, Veterans of all eras, and spouses. 💰“Funded in part by a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.” The Georgia VBOC at the Georgia VECTR Center | In-person Boots to Business (B2B) - Reboot Workshop | Intro to Entrepreneurship Hosted by: The Georgia VBOC at the Georgia VECTR Center | Location: 1001 S. Armed Forces Blvd. Warner Robins, Georgia 31088 Total of 12 participants Instructor: Reginald Thompson, Director, GA VBOC Expert speakers: Tuesday, 10 February Jordan Reab , Attorney at Law at Walker Hulbert Gray & Moore, LLP located in Perry, Georgia Tommy Ricks III, Entrepreneur & SCORE Mentor for SCORE located in Macon, Georgia Johnny B. McCray, Counselor Warner for GT APEX Accelerator located in Warner Robins, Georgia Katrina Cohens, Mortgage Consultant for Capital City Home Loans located in Macon, Georgia Wednesday, 11 February Rikki Waite, Founder & CEO of My Grandmas Empanadas located in Warner Robins, Georgia Lisa Rackley , Area Director for Small Business Development Center (SBDC) located in Macon, Georgia Sierra Martin, Director of Marketing and Programming at SparkMacon located in Macon, Georgia 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM Tuesday , February 10, 2026 (UTC-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Recurrence: Occurs every day, effective 2/10/2026 until 2/11/2026, from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (UTC-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) There will be pre-assigned breaks between each Module and Lunch Break from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM (both days) Topics will include: · What is Entrepreneurship? · Idea vs. Business Opportunity? · Doing Your Market Research – Customers and Industry · The Economics of Small Business · Selecting The Correct Legal Structure · Financing Your Venture · Business Planning · SBA Resources for You

Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CST | 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST Organizer: Natalie Rhodes | Email: nas246@msstate.edu | Office: (662) 325-4990 Host organization: Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) at Mississippi State University (MSU) To attend you must register via the link below: Introduction to Government Contracting | U.S. Small Business Administration: https://sba.gov/event/77709 Event description: For Veterans or Spouses interested in Government Contracting, the VBOC at MSU will host a session on "Introduction to Government Contracting." This session is related to the Customer Relationship block of the Business Model Canvas because it can help you in understanding how you “Get, Keep, Grow” customers when you do business in the federal procurement marketplace. The format will be about an hour of briefing information and 30 minutes of demos and Q&A. The class will include information on: 1. Small business preference programs (VOSB & SDVOSB) 2. How to register to do business with the government 3. Resources to find contracting opportunities – Prime and Subcontracting 4. Demo on using SAMs 5. Demo of ways to use DSBS – SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search engine 6. Veteran Certification - VetCert Process. Additional Resources that can help you.

🚀Free, 2-Day, Boots to Business (B2B) Entrepreneurship Workshop, 27-28 January 2026, hosted by the Hunter AAF TAP Office | 8:30 AM-4:00 PM both days! 💰“Funded in part by a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.” Total of 20 participants 👨🏻‍🏫Instructor: Georgia VBOC Instructor: Reginald Thompson 🗣️Expert Speakers: Jacquelyn “First Lady” Kennedy, Program Coordinator for Savannah, Georgia SBDC 🪖This training is offered to all Active Duty Service members, Transitioning, National Guard, Reservists, Veterans of all eras, and their spouses are eligible to participate. 📚�Topics will include: · What is Entrepreneurship? · Idea vs. Business Opportunity? · Doing Your Market Research – Customers and Industry · The Economics of Small Business · Selecting The Correct Legal Structure · Financing Your Venture · Business Planning · SBA Resources for You 🔗#smallbusiness #startups #entrepreneurship #veterans #Milspouses #governmentcontracting #LegalSupport #womensbusinesscenter #SBDC #accesstocapital 🌐SBA: https://sba.my.site.com/s/ Georgia VBOC: https://gavectr.org/VBOC/ SCORE: https://score.org SBDC: https://americassbdc.org APEX Accelerators: https://lnkd.in/g3xFd3zB ACE/WBC: https://aceloans.org MSU-RR: https://lnkd.in/gPJWPBYC Onward to Opportunity: https://lnkd.in/ec2ZpbG7