Soon after we interviewed Jayne Torline in the autumn of 2005, she and her two partners at 3 Women and an Oven opened a retail store in Overland Park, Kansas. It proved a pivotal moment for the company, which began in 2002 as a home-based business. Torline and her co-founders, Trish Sullivan and Stacey Webb, initially built a wholesale business. They sold their handmade desserts to restaurants, bakeries, and other commercial accounts.

Jason Wolf was having a tough time selling intangible consulting services in a down economy. Instead of fighting an uphill battle, he began marketing his consulting as a product geared toward getting business owners to an “ah-ha” moment.

When Rick Bush enrolled in FastTrac in June 2003, he saw himself as a techie who ran a modest little business repairing computers. But by the time he graduated, he envisioned himself as a full-fledged entrepreneur — and began thinking like one.

FastTrac helped Lola Gonzalez hone her entrepreneurial edge.

Most entrepreneurs think that hard work will produce rich rewards. But Larry Fugleberg knows better.

When Mary Theobald enrolled in FastTrac in 1993, she was in the midst of launching a weekly newspaper for children. She expected to educate and entertain kids while making a profit serving an overlooked niche in the newspaper business.

Supporting citizens in times of need has always been a priority — and a strategy to strengthen and maintain the bond between her family’s restaurant and its customer base, explains Annie Adams, one of four second-generation owner/operators of Adams Catfish House, Belle Chasse, La.

During the past four years, Advanced Integrated Manufacturing Solutions (AIMS) has made a 180-degree shift — from providing service to selling products. The Durham, N.C.-based company was launched in 1997 as a software consultancy. "Yet we realized that our real growth opportunities were in selling products instead of services," says Perry Smith, AIMS president. "Profit margins were greater, but more important, we could scale the company with fewer people."

Over the last three and one-half years of building her business, Judith Moore has retained nearly all of her employees. Why such a low turnover? "Maybe it's the cookies," laughs Moore, CEO of Charleston Cookie Company in Charleston, South Carolina.

The careers of FastTrac graduates often intersect. In fact, Jonathan Gindes and Peyton Anderson wound up working side by side.