Business Briefs
? ? ?
Making 'progress from within'
j Training a well-developed workforce
By PATRICIA SMITH-DEERING
Community News Editor
? -SP-5 ?
? rMore^andjnore businesses are looking at employee training as a means of
kefcptng their workforce up-to-date in mi increasingly technological age. Help
mg tfcem keep pace is Bessie Singletary, who in 1984, decided to do some per
sona!" reassessing of her career objectives. In the process of doing her self-eval
uation, the former banker developed a concept that has grown from her own
personal use to a*training technique she now markets to both entrepreneurs and
Corporations.
Transforming her concept into her company, MYIC ? Manipulating Your
Intra-Convcrsation ? into something that businesses would try took several
years of fine-tuning and refining. nI went back to school, High Point College,
and obtained a degree in psychology/ Singletary said. Meanwhile, she pre
pared to leave behind a 15-year career in banking (4-1/2 years at Wachovia,
ID- 1/2 years at First Citizens) to bring her dream and her concept into a reality.
Singletary developed a manual based on goal-setting and techniques for
achieving them and "testedTier concept." I started with teenagers at the 'YV'
(and) I started using it among my friends." She had set for herself a goal of
getting to own her own business and wanted to do the same for others. "I want
to motivate people, to help them grow. It's not that difficult," she said, explain
ing the basis of MYIC. Starting in her home in 1984, she moved in 1986 to a
location in Clcmmons. then to the Business and Technical Center, and finally
to her present location on Westgate Center Drive. In addition to MYIC, Single
tary formed Banker's Assistance/Teller Training using the expertise she had
gained during her years in banking. Describing her training and development
business, she said her company offers teletraining, customer service and man
agement training, cashier training, motivational workshops, and personal
development trainirig.
For her clients, which, include such corporations as IBM and AT&T, she
works with employees to "identify inner strengths, both one-on-one and in
groups to find out what they want to do and how to achieve it," she explained.
She points with pride to four people that she has helped to start their own busi
nesses, going from the initial idea through implementation.
As her business developed, in 1987 Singletary worked at the Winston
Salem Urban League as youth counselor, then as an employment specialist,
-.i.? 2 g* a/ wgnt to motivate people,
? to help them grow. It's
? not that difficult. "
lrwiL - Bessie Singletary
Photo by L.B. Speas
Bessie Slngletary reassessed her career objectives and established MYlC and Banker's Assis
tance/Teller Training firms.
?A ? wv .
on-Saletn Chronicle
The
Jr IX/.* 1
;"V>* ?? ? ? A ??
i?tt! be publishing a
# pi*
Directory of
FREE LISTING
for all
Minority Businesses
nnf .9
There is no cost to list your business in this directory:
1. NAME -
2. MAILING ADDRESS
3. BUSINESS NAME .
(StTMt)
(County)
(Zipdod.)
4. BUSINESS ADDRESS
5. CONTACT PERSON _
6. Home Telephone
(County)
_ TITLE
(Zip Cod*)
Business Telephone
7. Date Business Established
8. Type of Business '
Number of Employees
9. Describe Products or Services Offered
Please bring or meil your completed form to:
Winston-Salem Chronicle, 617 N. Liberty St.,
Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (919) 722-8624
?
Check here if you are interested in advertising
your services In th? directory.
?>
Working Together
For A Better 'Business Community
?? _ ^ . .W
and finally as the League's director of
education, a position she held until
the first of the year when she |
resigned. All the while, she was
adding to her skills' base and net
working to develop clientele. Now,
she is fully immersed in her business
es. "My goal is to move this business
to a million-dollar business by the end
of the year," she said optimistically,
adding, "We're doing pretty good
now." In addition to independent
agents who provide training, her s|iff
includes two people who specialize in
teletraining, an education director, an
administrative assistant, and an office
manager.
"It wasn't easy," said Singletary,
recalling the years of hard work and
effort she has spent. "I've done a lot of
crying. I started off with a small
amount of capital ... At one time I
was carrying the business," she con
tinued. "Now the business carries
itself," she said. She has no regrets
over her move. "I am in control of my
own lime, ... my own destiny," she
said, adding, "You can't do that work
ing for someone else." vv:
. . k- -?r *??***
IRS ELECTRONIC FILING
FAST REFUNDS
Normal Refund* tmkm $ to $ week*
When wo proper* return* with electronic Filing, generally, It tmkc*
two wook* for Dlroct Dopoolt to your bonk and throo wook* for a
<**'/ paper chock
Even faater with Refund Anticipation Loan
Brian Bannatt, CPA .
. Frad Modgas Inauranca Agancy
825 Patara Craak Parkway
.< ? WTn?on-S.i.m, NC Office Hour*
(919)723-4040 9:00 am ? 6 pm
? *Smptm rmturn* starting at $20. OO |fa hm?m ^ .
? Electronic FlUng ?tmttng at $29.00 - , 7
oftneoma Uu MnfeM Appointment
Accaptad by tha IRS to particlpata in tha Elactronic Filing Program.
Income Tax Returns
Bo Gilliam, President
Marilyn Gilliam .Vice President >
TRIAD PEST CONTROL
OFFERS:
? Odorless Chemicals
? Certified Radon Testers
? One time, Monthly or Quarterly Service
? Money Back Guarantee
? Senior Citizen Discount
v, 1535 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
788-3020 1-800 TRIAD-99
N.C. Lic.#PW967 . N.C. Watts
? /. 1 sl -??? ?
Reebok International
% and the '
Winston Community Development Corp.
Are ? The ? Proud > Sponsors ? Of
Thirty-seven years of library service
By PATRICIA SMITH- DEE RING
Community News Editor
Quite appropriate for a cele
bration of Black History month is
a remembrance of the one place
that serves as a repository of black
history in the East Winston com
munity ? the libnvV. An impor
tant piece of history in the city's
Arri-can-American community,
the East Winston branch of the
Forsyth County Public Library
agreed to the venture and provided
the support to start the service.
The first library for the
African-American community was
located in a room at the old
YMCA, then on Chestnut and 8th
streets. It was named for George
Moses Horton, a slave poet whose
book of poems, The Hope of
Freedom , wa^pufelished in 1829,
The Horton LibraryMiad an
extension division. 'A bookmobile
made stops throughout the city and
Happy Hill Gardens and Kimberly
Park.
After outgrowing a subse
quent location in the Bruce Build
ing at the corner of 6th Street and
Patterson Avenue (from 1931
1954), the library moved to its cur
rent site on 7th Street, across from
whamsed to be Kate B. Reynolds
MerriSriaf tfospital, and the Hor
ton Branch became East Wia*fce??
Branch Library. Mrs. Nell Wright
Alford, head librarian, and Mrs.'
system cele
brated its
37th anniver
sary in Nov
ember 1990.
"Actual
ly, it's the
63rd year of
library service
to the
African
American
community,
but 37 years
right here in
East Win
ston/ said &*tt Winston Branch Library has served the African-American
Tim Jackson, community through 37 years of changes.
head librarian. He recalled the first county.* For patients at Kate B.
library was started by a group of Reynolds Memorial Hospital,
African-Americans in 1927 who there was an outreach service
petitioned the Carnegie Library in which delivered books to the vari
Winston-Salem to begin library ser- ous wards. Mini-libraries were
vice for their community. The established at the city's public
Carnegie Librai^kiqunded in 1906, housing communities such as
Mary Bruce
who was in
charge of
young adult
services,
were two
dedicated
people who
bee am e
familiar'
faces 'to
countless
library
patrons,
young and
old.
Today,
East Win
ston Branch Library remains a
vital information resource center
and a keeper of the community's
history. By preserving that history,
African- Americans can have a bet
ter sense of their past, the present,
and what lies in the future.
"Reinvestments in the Community" is a weekly column appearing
in API publications throughout theJJSA.