Jeff Bowling, a Sparks entrepreneur who built six companies, figures he can make a significant contribution to rebuilding the American economy, one entrepreneur at a time.
He's planning to spend much of next year on the road, conducting a series of seminars and training sessions across the country in an effort to establish new companies and create new jobs.
"We're hoping to reach a million people," he says.
Seven people at Bowling Ventures LLC have been lining up venues such as university assembly halls and business campuses and pitching the tour to the corporate sponsors who will underwrite its cost.
"It's an enormous amount of work," acknowledge Bowling.
Dubbed the "Never Quit, Never Fail Tour," the events will provide training to established business owners as well as individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Bowling says the seminars will cover the strategies of building a company from the ground up, personal development tools that are necessary to business success and the efficient use of technology.
Informally, Bowling refers to the tour as "Quit Bitching and Start Fixing."
"It's geared to create the companies that will create American jobs," he says. "We are a nation built on entrepreneurial spirit, hard work, strong principals and drive. We may be a little down, but we're not out."
He'll be sharing his experiences as an entrepreneur who made his first technology sale at age 14 and most recently built Telxar, an information technology support company whose business clientele was sold to Sierra Computer Group of Reno last year.
Bowling also is the author of a book, "If You Never Quit, You'll Never Fail: Memoir of a Young Entrepreneur."
Along with other entrepreneurs who will participate in the "Never Quit, Never Fail Tour" events, Bowling will spend time after each workshop and seminar meeting with entrepreneurs to review their business plans.
While Bowling Ventures LLC has been organizing tour locations (it will start in California and move eastward) and developing content, Bowling also has been calling on potential corporate sponsors.
His pitch: Sponsors will get nationwide exposure in a positive environment, will get an opportunity to showcase their products to seminar participants and will be featured in traditional and social media public relations for the tour.
