Author: Brad Deen
POLKTON — “Start small … think big!"
North Carolinian and serial entrepreneur Brian Hamilton advised offenders at Brown Creek Correctional Institution on Monday how to start a small business upon release. Former offenders often find their criminal record is an obstacle when seeking employment, yet work and financial sufficiency are crucial for an offender’s transition back into the community.
Since 1992, Hamilton has taught offenders in all 50 states how to find work post-release by working for themselves. As head of an Apex, NC-based nonprofit organization (inmatestoentrepreneurs.org), as well as the focus of two seasons of the ABC reality series “Free Enterprise,” Hamilton has reached thousands of active and former offenders through online workshops and through in-person “boot camps” such as Monday’s event at Brown Creek Correctional.
Using as an example his own first business, landscaping (“A fancy word for mowing lawns," he joked.), Hamilton demonstrated that his “Start small ... think big!” mantra, accompanied by disciplined reinvestment, is the foundation for a successful small business — and for former offenders, perhaps a successful re-entry.