Print edition: 
Matt Menges was ready for a refresher course.
Dana Miller needed help getting her clothing business started.
Both of the Wichita business owners chose Fast Trac, a pair of courses at Wichita State University's Center for Entrepreneurship for new and existing business owners.
New Venture, taught by center director Tim Pett, targets potential entrepreneurs.
Growing Your Business, taught by entrepreneurship professor Don Hackett, helps existing business owners take a step back and analyze their operations.
The fall session of both courses begins Oct. 4. Classes are Tuesdays in WSU's Devlin Hall.
"New Venture helps people who have a new business idea come together, put together a business plan, develop a network, and talk to resources who can help them succeed," Pett said.
"Growing Your Business helps the entrepreneur work on their business. Most don't have a second partner and often, in these times especially, they're focused on the day-to-day. We help them take a look at the bigger picture of the business to see how things can be done."
Growing an established business was the goal of Menges, whose family has operated Kansas Body Works, a body shop at 1137 N. Mosley, since 1959.
"How business is done today is completely different from 50 years ago, 30 years ago, even 15 years ago," Menges said.
"There were a lot of walk-ins even 15 years ago, but today we don't have many at all."
The body repair industry has shifted to insurance referrals, and that's where Menges wanted to pick some business brains.
"I just thought that in a changing marketplace, you need to stay on top of things," he said. "We're talking in the class about generating more business, about how you do that as a direct repairer these days for insurance companies, about the professionalism needed to get on their programs."
The New Venture course helped Miller fine-tune a plan to sell gently-used professional clothing at Fashion Bar, located in Brittany Center at 21st and Woodlawn.
"They helped me a lot with the research and getting things structured to build the business plan and get it ready to present to a bank," Miller said. "The research is one of the most important things they helped me with.
"Resale shopping is a lot more mainstream than it ever was five years ago. It's recycling in its best form, and with the way society is changing from disposable to a recycling society, I think resale has a strong future."
Tuition for New Venture is $495 and tuition for Growing Your Business is $1,150. Scholarships are available. To register, call 316-978-3000.
