PSU Magazine Winter 2000

determine what to buy and what to lease. Still others created a database and marketing plan. A long the way, Hein discov– ered that the new PSU Center for Excellence in Writing also provides student assistance for businesses as a way to give students real-McCoy writing experience. Hein tapped writing students to develop a procedures manual, a list of media contacts, and promotional materials. All told, Hein estimates that students have provided $38,000 to $42,000 worth of assistance. Other state, federal, and nonprofit service providers contributed additional help for a grand total she estimates at nearly $53,000 of free services. But although students are working without monetary reward , they don't see it as a thankless task. Dan Blanchard '99 undertook a cost-benefit analysis of leasing versus buying a computer server to handle the BusineMCS from the mostly grant-supported program. However, once a business is established, the owner is encouraged to "give back" by volunteering to help other fledgling businesses find their wings. "Our role is to assist small busi– nesses-to help them improve in whatever area they need," says Brad Robertson, director of the Business Outreach Program. "We help busi– nesses figure out who their customers are and how to build financial state– ments along with general operating stuff like bookkeeping and process improvement." Enrollment in the program is as easy as phoning a counselor. If the business owner finds the chat informa- e-Trading Post's Web site. Leasing won hands down and so did Blanchard. "I hadn't done a real-world project before," says Blanchard . "It gave me the confidence to work with a small business owner one-to-one and kind of opened my eyes. There's definitely support out there for small businesses, and you don't have to spend a lot of money to get it started." Student Gabe Adoff also liked working for free. As part of a technical editing class, Adoff helped Hein write for her site. "I liked Bianca's bartering idea, " says Adoff. "I really liked the concept of people being able to trade goods and services outside the regular marketplace, and Bianca was really organized. You could tell right off the bat she would help you in the project, not just give it to you and say, 'here.' " The team of fo ur technical writing students edited Web site materials and wrote a procedures manual for the day when Hein needs employees to handle ness owners. Assistance cm range from a phone call every few weeks to student teams that provide detailed business plans. Typically the program has 40 to 50 businesses enrolled at any one time. More than 300 businesses have received help since the program began in 1994. Each term program counselors select approximately 15 businesses that would benefit from working with a student team. Students in higher level business and capstone classes get the opportunity to engage in community– based learning by undertaking projects for a business. Endeavors have included creating business plans, researching market potential, developing human resource plans, the workload. Working about four hours a week on the project, Adoff also wrote press releases and a feature article on Hein published by the Oregon Business Journal. He and others on the team also brainstormed lyrics to create an e-Trading Post jingle. Adoff, a sometimes bass player in Portland's "That Dame Bluegrass Band," convinced the band to record the new lyrics to the music of a traditional blue– grass song, "Salty Dog." The result became the e-TradingPost's jingle, avail– able for listening at the Web site. D o, with both sides of the business-student partner– ship happy, you might say the future-focused e-Trading Post made its first successful swap the old– fashioned way-in the flesh . • (Melissa Steineger, a Portland freelance writer, wrote the articles "Online Anytime" and "She Goes Zoom," which appeared in the fall 1999 PSU Magazine. ) men ts. The program also disseminates peri– odic newsletters and organizes occa– sional "brown bag lunch" seminars with speakers on business topics. "Our success stories are typically of a modest nature," says Robertson. "Some companies have moved from being home-based to a storefront. O thers are on a bit more solid footing than before the owner's involvement with the program. One customer is now on the cusp of receiving a $300,000 order. I can't say that's due to us exclusively, but I like to think we helped." • WINTER 2000 PSU MAGAZINE 7