wnc’s small business landscape

variety of individuals, she said that helps her to pinpoint topics that would create good blog posts to generalize advice for entrepreneurs.

“We are also working to launch an asynchronous program for entrepreneurs to ask and answer questions for each other,” Kissel said. “Creating more community as well as connectivity to these startup ecosystems can create a higher rate of entrepreneur success in a meaningful way.”

Kissel reflected on what she said was a profound moment with leaders in economic development in Catawba County when someone said they need to get large organizations and manufacturers to the area. She said while everyone does believe that is important, one individual responded that what is most important is to support the smaller Main Street businesses, as those must be in place for the larger businesses to want to come.

“Every single business in Western North Carolina is important,” Kissel said. “They all support and bolster the economy. Small businesses provide the majority of jobs, and even solopreneurs are important to building the ecosystem. This holistic approach to connecting entrepreneurs to each other and to ESOs is imperative to support businesses of all sizes.”

Online Training Concepts

Growing Businesses and Improving Retention with Online Training Resources

Started in 2019 as a side project, Founder and CEO of Online Training Concepts Shane Parreco had an idea to utilize online training courses to better serve students. Formerly a paragliding instructor, Parreco said he first created an online curriculum for his students. Before long, he saw engagement from all over the world, and saw a need for that kind of resource. Other paragliding schools began to reach out wanting to participate. Parreco said he learned about other software programs, tracking data, certificates, and more, and then other schools wanted to invest to make these programs better. He created a business, set up commerce and course sales, and began to engage with the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association and host their endorsed content.

Sara Martin, COO and Client Services Director, said that they figured out that all the things they were learning and doing for educational platforms can also be beneficial for growing businesses. She said that they made the commitment to go full time and give the idea life and room to grow.

Online Training Concepts offers business development services for organizations in an online format. “We are bringing training and onboarding content into the 21st century,” Martin said. “With the tools to make it interactive and easy, we can build programs from scratch to capture key information, presenting it in a way that speaks to adult learning principles and can reach people more easily.”

“Modernizing existing content and making it more accessible can make information easier to digest,” Parreco said. “By breaking it down into bite-sized pieces, people can have the opportunity to work through the content on their own, take frequent breaks, and celebrate their wins along the way.”

“It’s also the unwritten message that the company sends,” Martin said. “Reevaluating the delivery system of training and onboarding can set the tone with an engaging experience in a well designed program. Not only does this start the participant by immersing them into company culture, it sends a message to participants that they are valued by the company having taken the time to introduce their why, as well as highlighting why the participants are important.”

Online Training Concepts is also pushing into virtual and augmented reality training, according to Parreco. He said they have their finger on the pulse of the data that supports immersive VR training experience, saying that they can be very successful due to the lack of distraction. “The same gear developed for online gaming and entertainment can be used as we enter the frontier of online training,” Parreco said. “The technology is maturing and becoming more affordable. This style of training can be truly immersive. People are learning four times faster than in the ‘real world’ with an opportunity for repetition and practice, creating familiarity and confidence with systems