If you’re a visual artist and you have an idea for something you want to create, there’s not much standing between you and making your vision a reality. Maybe just a piece of paper and a pencil.

However, if your idea for a new creation is a business, well, things are a bit more complex. If you grew up in a community or a family who were not business-people, or you didn’t get a business education, you might have little idea of what is even required to launch a business.

On top of that, if you’re a member of a minority community you may find there are other layers of difficulty that present even more obstacles. And this is where a New Orleans organization called Camelback Ventures comes in. Camelback Ventures describe themselves as “a rigorous venture accelerator, providing capital, coaching and community for innovative entrepreneurs.”

Because, they say, genius is equally distributed, but opportunity is not, they’re here to right the balance. The CEO of Camelback Ventures is Shawna Young. 

Once you’ve got your business up and running, a big problem you come up against is growth. You need to hire people. You need to pay them. And you need to keep them happy, so they don’t leave. Each one of these steps is more challenging than you might think at the outset.

Hiring requires finding the right people, and knowing how to interview them, so there are no surprises later. Paying employees requires complying with a maze of taxation and accounting procedures. And holding on to good employees requires knowing something about incentivizing a workforce.

You probably didn’t get into business to do any of this. And if you don’t want to deal with it you can turn to a local payroll and HR company, called Crescent Payroll and HR. The founder and president of Crescent Payroll and HR is Sanders Offner.

There’s a difference between a great idea and, well, everything that follows. Getting married is a great idea. Being married is a whole other thing. Similarly, starting a business, though far from simple, is largely exciting and fun – it’s a challenging process of discovery.

Running a business, on the other hand, is an exercise in constant problem-solving that ranges from coping with the mundanity of office supplies to the grand vision of growth. Shawna is focused on starting businesses. Sanders is focused on running them. These two processes are inextricably interdependent in a manner that’s best expressed by Frank Sinatra and lyricist Sammy Cahn: “You can’t have one without the other.”

Andrew Ward sits in for Peter Ricchiuti on this edition of Out to unch, recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans.

You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

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