Career Readiness: Will You Succeed in a Small Business? (Q3)

Will You Succeed in a Small Business? is a members-only and intern-focused, mentoring-style Career Readiness cohort designed to help participants explore what it really takes to operate and sustain a small business, nonprofit, or team-based organization.

This cohort is both discussion-driven and action-oriented, combining reflection with facilitated decision-making and planning. Participants examine real scenarios, weigh tradeoffs, and work through how choices are made across the full system of an organization—not just in a single role.

Participants explore the core areas involved in most small organizations, including:

• Planning and prioritizing work
• Running events and supporting hands-on programs
• Marketing and communications
• Delivering services, programs, and products
• Tracking performance, outcomes, and sustainability

Monumental Impact is used as one real-world example, but the cohort is intentionally broader. Participants also explore how other community organizations and teams—including student-led and volunteer-run programs such as FIRST Tech Challenge teams—can operate sustainably while supporting their members in making, learning, and competing.

Where appropriate, participants may take part in planning or decision-making activities, gaining hands-on insight into how organizations function and adapt over time.

This cohort is well-suited for:

• Interns gaining real-world organizational experience
• Members supporting or leading teams, programs, or initiatives
• Students involved in robotics teams or community groups
• Aspiring entrepreneurs or nonprofit leaders
• Career-changers exploring operations, leadership, or management paths

The goal is not to launch a business during the cohort, but to build practical awareness, transferable skills, and honest self-assessment around whether small-organization environments are a good fit—and what skills matter most for long-term success.

Signing-up helps us plan.