It is no secret to Baton Rouge: starting your own business is risky and only comes with hard work.

With the right support system in place, the typical trials can be overcome.

Springboard Baton Rouge is such a support system, one that can potentially help young entrepreneurs skip years of frustrating struggles.

The creators, Brace Godfrey and John Schneider, along with President (and Brace Godfrey’s son) Trey Godfrey, developed Springboard to change the game of entrepreneurship throughout the state.

Brace Godfrey and John Schneider met in the summer of 1972 and agreed to someday go into business together. After thirty years of personal success, the two decided that they wanted to leave a legacy that would give back to the community that helped forge their livelihood.

“It’s a recognition that you live in a community. You can say nothing and do nothing…you can criticize and do nothing, or you can see the things that need to be corrected and do something about it,” Schneider said.

That desire to give back birthed Springboard Baton Rouge, a collaborative effort between campus partners to provide entrepreneurs with all the resources they need to develop businesses.

The offices at Springboard (located downtown in the Kress Building) act as the facility provider with four different ways to access the workspace. One can either purchase a virtual lease, cubicle space, or office space ranging in different prices per month.

Each space comes with access to the common area that includes wireless Internet, fax and print machines, scanners, personal phone lines, a receptionist, and mail delivery services. Not to mention you can also rent the conference, event, and seminar spaces, purchase a YMCA membership and parking package, and have admittance to FedEx and UPS services.

Even if you are not able to purchase a lease, the facility has an “iCafé” that seats about 150 people.

“Shared workspace promotes creativity, inspires synergetic dealings among individuals, and creates a cooperative work environment,” said Trey Godfrey, who has continued his father’s work since his passing last year.

The shared creative space is not just an ideal work environment. Turner also explained that beyond the creativity, having a prestigious downtown location and a place to meet with customers can put any entrepreneur on a professional level that he or she might not reach for years.

“One of the things about being an entrepreneur, and particularly when you get started, is that you don’t know what you don’t know,” Schneider said. “And that is exactly where Springboard Baton Rouge’s outside resources come into play.”

Some of the most valuable tools in being a member of Springboard include the advantages you receive from strategic partners. There’s Syncorp Consulting, and the Urban Entrepreneurial Partnership (UEP) will be moving into the Kress Building in order to provide mentorship and coaching for entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, the founders of Springboard have set up the Godfrey Center for Creative Strategy as their educational and public policy initiative.

This non-profit is used to produce a multitude of programs in order to provide more services to their members, such as the Louisiana University and College Idea Development Program (LUCID), that will be used to bring interns into Springboard’s digital technology company. This company will be helping the entrepreneurs with graphic design, website development, content management, and other forms of media.

Other programs are focused on assisting veterans, minorities, and women who own businesses. These programs assist entrepreneurs with obtaining grants they may need and also provide consulting resources.

There is also the Capital Region Investment Partner, which will be offering micro-loans to Springboard members needing that extra bit of capital.

Springboard does not stop there. Through years of entrepreneurial experience, the creators and supervisors running Springboard have put together a whole web of trusted partners to help members in every stage of business development, at discounted rates.

“This is a culmination of 40 years of being an entrepreneur and saying, ‘What, truly, is a one-stop knowledge and resource center?’” Scheider said.

“To get to this point in time, it’s a combination of a lot of people. It has taken a team.”

Interested? You should be! To find out more about Springboard Baton Rouge please visit www.SpringBoardBR.com.