Tennessee is no stranger to small business. In fact, 84% of all employers in Tennessee have less
than twenty employees. In addition, over 500,000 Tennesseans are self-employed. However, in
these difficult economic times, many small businesses have to make tough decisions. Marketing
is often one of the first issues to tackle. In response, UT Extension is offering a six-session
training focused on helping small businesses broaden their market potential through e-commerce.

“This training is unique in that is uses a combination of traditional classroom teaching and the
opportunity for participants to actively engage with local business owners in a seven county
region,” said Dr. Michael Wilcox from the Department of Agricultural Economics at the
University of Tennessee in Knoxville. “Having entrepreneurs from the agriculture, arts, crafts
and other traditionally rural sectors exchange ideas and learn the basic in’s and out’s of ecommerce
will ultimately strengthen their businesses,” Wilcox added.

The “Extending the Market for Local Talent beyond Local Borders” training will take place once
a month between August 2009 and February 2010 in Stewart, Dickson, Robertson, Humphreys,
Houston, Cheatham and Montgomery Counties.

“Businesses, small or large, are successful when they supply products and services that meet the
needs of customers,” explains Martha Pile, Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent in
Montgomery County. Pile, founder of “The Gathering”, a network of entrepreneurs that is
building “business to business” and “business to consumer” linkages in the same counties,
added, “Traditionally, rural small businesses rely on a small, local customer base. Now, with the
introduction of the Internet, some rural businesses are finding ways to connect consumers from
all over the world to their products and services.”

The purpose of this program is to provide educational information to rural entrepreneurs on the
benefits and methods of utilizing e-commerce to expand their potential market. The content of
the course offers artisans sound, research-based information to make decisions on whether or not
to develop a Web page, how to do it, utilizing web-based resources, and evaluating website
effectiveness.

Each month, the training will begin promptly at 9am, include lunch and end by 3pm. The first
session, “Artisans, e-Commerce and the Local Economy” will be held on Friday August 28th at
the Dover Public library and include visits to the farmers market, a bakery and an artist’s studio.
The second session, “Using Technology in the Artisan Business”, will be held on Friday
September 25th at the Dickson County Extension office. For a complete schedule, please visit:
http://trend.ag.utk.edu/entrepreneurship.html . For more information about the program, please
call, by Aug. 25, the UT Extension-Dickson County Office at 446-2788, or e-mail Janet Cluck at
jccluck@utk.edu .