Las Vegas business leaders reflect on lessons learned
Steven Horsford made a mistake.
It was 2015. Horsford had started a consulting firm after he lost his re-election bid as a Democratic congressman from Nevada.
He secured a client, but the client hadn’t paid up in six months.
Horsford said he should have stopped working without pay and marketed his Las Vegas-based company, Resources+, to the community to land more contracts.
“I had to perform,” he said. “Failure wasn’t an option.”
Horsford shared his story as part of an Urban Chamber of Commerce panel on the intersection between public resources and running a business.
In honor of Black History Month, five people with experience in business and government spoke to a crowd of about 70 people at Texas Station on Friday.
The panel recommended new entrepreneurs line up potential clients before starting a business, attend networking events and seek advice from experts in the industry.
To help the state improve its programs for would-be entrepreneurs, state Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson, D-North Las Vegas, said he helped to create an advisory commission on mentoring last year.
The 13-member commission will recommend improvements to mentorship programs for disadvantaged Nevada children. The commission held its first meeting Friday.
“There are a lot of people in our community who are stuck,” said Thompson. “There are a lot of kids in our community who need mentors.”
Cedric Crear, president of local advertising company CrearMagnum and a candidate for Las Vegas City Council, encouraged the crowd not to get distracted by naysayers.
Crear has been in business for about 14 years. But when he started CrearMagnum in 2004, after almost 10 years with Station Casinos and with a child on the way, people warned him.
He started the business because he wanted to control his own destiny, he said.
“We’ve all taken a risk in our public lives and our private lives,” he said.
Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4602. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.
