Distinctly Montana Magazine

business education gave him an advantage in starting a business, with the knowledge of how to develop a business plan and follow through on it, including understanding personnel issues and wage reporting requirements—things that sometimes get neophyte businesses in trouble. Though he started his business just before a national recession, he's had steady growth every year and is now marketing a four0six private label line of clothing state- wide. www.four0six.com. Rincon was recognized as the Helena Downtown Busi- ness Person of the Year for 2010, and the Small Business Administration recognized him as Montana's Young Entre- preneur of the Year for 2011. A central theme at Montana's business schools is learning to write business plans. Timothy Wilkinson, Interim Dean of the College of Business at Montana State University Billings, says, "The coursework is focused on starting and operating small busi- nesses. In fact the entire curriculum leads up to a business plan project in the final capstone course." Julie Mull, an Associate Professor of Business at Carroll Col- lege, notes that develop- ing a business plan is also Chris Nelson, a 1985 Eastern Montana College, now MSU Billings, graduate in Accounting and Computer Science. Founder and CEO of Zoot Enterprises in Bozeman, a company that facilitates financial decisioning. Says of MSU-B, "It's still Eastern to me. I loved the education I got at Eastern. Their account- ing program is one of the best in the country. I also had excellent professors in computer science. There was a lot of entrepreneurship going on when I graduated. You didn't have to be real smart, just willing to work. www. zootweb.com. There was an earlier profile on Chris Nelson and Zoot Enterprises in the Summer 2004 issue of Distinctly Montana. Zoot has since doubled in size from 100 to 200 employees. a requirement for all business ma- jors at Carroll. Those business plans often grow out of classroom participation. Katrina Stark at University of Great Falls recalls Kevin O'Reilly, Bozeman native, is a 2009 University of Montana MBA and Computer Science Master of Science graduate. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Texas. With Daniel Lande, a fellow MBA and Computer Science classmate, and now business partner, he founded Orbital Shift, a computer-based system of workforce management. His inspiration was previous work experience in employee scheduling, which he found to be frustrating. "There's got to be a better way." www.orbitalshift.com CARROLL COLLEGE HELENA ENROLLMENT: 1,450 UNIQUE ASPECT OF CARROLL COLLEGE: Carroll's class sizes are limited to 20 students or fewer. teaching a course, using a standard textbook. "One of my students said, 'I've got an idea.' I thought: why use the text- book? The students used that business idea as an exercise in leadership, collaborating, planning, delegating and direct- ing actions. I'd come into the classroom and there'd be half a dozen students already there, with laptops open, working hard. They came to class early, for heaven's sake!" There is a tangible sense of excitement among professors at Montana's business schools as they see entrepreneurship as a growing path to achieving their institution's educational goals. Julie Mull at Carroll College notes the mission to help students reach their full potential, or the MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY – BILLINGS BILLINGS ENROLLMENT: 5,300 UNIQUE ASPECT: MSU Billings has three campuses across the city. 80 UNIVERSITY OF GREAT FALLS GREAT FALLS ENROLLMENT: 958 BEST DAY ON CAMPUS: The Corps of Discovery includes physical challenges, like rafting on the Missouri River, which hones team-building and leadership skills. DISTINCTLY MONTANA • AUTUMN 2011

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