PK Partnership Class Boasts 90 Percent Small Business Success Rate, Tripling of Sales

Everyone’s heard horror stories about small business failure. Some sources peg the rate of new startups that plummet into the abyss during their first year at around 70 percent; others go so far as to posit that 9 out of 10 new businesses collapse annually. But for many entrepreneurs in south central Nebraska, 90 percent doesn’t signify the yearly culling of the small business community.

Rather, it’s their success rate.

For the past three years, PK Partnership — named for the two counties it encompasses, Phelps and Kearney — has offered workshops and seminars aimed at educating entrepreneurs along the middle of the state’s austral border. Among those symposiums is PK EDGE, a collaborative effort with rural entrepreneurship training network NebraskaEDGE. PK EDGE brings its Nebraska counterpart’s acclaimed business class to Phelps and Kearney Counties, offering a 12-session course that breaks down the nuances of entrepreneurship step-by-step. And the EDGE program’s merits speak for themselves.

PK Partners Dena Beck, Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP) and Lisa Karnatz, Kearney County and Minden Economic Development

“EDGE graduates with smaller companies (annual gross sales less than $200,000) typically experience a dramatic success rate with an average of over 200 percent increase in sales,” said Lisa Karnatz, executive director of the Kearney County Economic Development Agency and a PK Partnership committee member. “When surveyed after three years, over 93 percent of the businesses were still in operation, whereas the national average is 16.5 percent for the same time period.”

“We’ve had people in contiguous areas, people from out of county, calling in to go to our workshops,” she added.

For entrepreneurs who want a taste of the knowledge PK Partnership has to offer without putting up the $425 EDGE registration fee, the partnership also offers the PK Innovators, Inventors, Investors and Entrepreneurs Club (or the PK I & E Club for short), of which Karnatz is chairperson. The I & E Club provides monthly speakers, networking opportunities and information sessions on topics pertinent to entrepreneurship.

“Whether it’s marketing or how to get a government grant or how to make your Web site more functional or using social media to promote a business, we provide the info a business owner is looking for,” Karnatz said. “It’s very casual –anyone can come at any time at no charge, and the speakers we’ve provided are always top-notch.”

PK Partnership agencies and businesses

April’s meeting will take place on the 19th at 6:00 pm at the Super 8 in Holdrege, and will feature local advertising guru Phil Soreide.

“Speaking as an entrepreneur, PK Partnership provides the entrepreneur all the information that he doesn’t know how to find,” Karnatz said. “We’re involved with multiple area resource providers: local businesses plus government agencies plus city agencies plus chambers.”