MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Cheyanne Marston is an advocate for elderly people and their families, but she doesn't work her remote job from home. Instead, she's one of the 3,000 visitors who crossed the threshold at Maryville's Sky City Entrepreneur Center last year.
Sky City, along with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, offers options to budding business owners in East Tennessee. Gregg Bostick, the director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, said there's been a sharp uptick in people who want to work for themselves following the COVID-19 Pandemic.
That's also seen at Sky City. That center's been open since 2019, took a pause during the pandemic, and has been full-steam ahead since 2021. It offers a co-working space, a conference room where remote workers can host meetings and take part in the nationally recognized Co.Starters business curriculum.
Marston owns "C.C. Marston and Company," and said she first sought out Sky City because she didn't want to run her business from home. More importantly, she finds community in the space.
"I really want to impact my community," she said. "But being fairly new to Tennessee, within the last five years, I really didn't have the best understanding of my community — I want to change things. And so, I feel as if Sky City was a really good place to start for me. A good jumping-off point, getting to know folks, knowing what resources were available to me as a small business owner. "
One of those resources is fellow Sky City colleague, Kyle Perkins. Perkins owns "RoseWood Virtual Tours," where he works with businesses in the hospitality industry to improve their presence online and in Google searches, through custom photo work.
He said it's important for everyone to learn from each other, and he's glad to share what he brings to the table, as well as learn new things.
"Sky City has been a resource that's kept on building for me, because now I'm more involved in some of the curriculum, I have helped lead a few classes," he said. "So they've taught me and then I've got to experience it from the other side."
Sky City's annual report for 2023 came out recently and shows that people who participate in its Co.Starters course increase their business revenue by $16,000, on average, after completion.
Sky City Executive Director Shannon Bryant said it had grown, year after year, since opening. It's a nonprofit and by donating to Sky City, people will be investing in their community, she said.
"The entrepreneurial journey is a lot like the scientific method. You come up with a hypothesis, and you get that as close to reality as you can, just with your knowledge," Bryant said. "And then you have to test that in the real world. And sometimes that's going to change, it's going to change your assumptions. So getting people past that hump of testing out those assumptions and getting to a place where they are stable, and making a profit is part of what we do here."
Bryant said Sky City offers day passes for its co-working space, and that more than 200 were used last year. The day passes are $12 and include seating, fast internet and more. There's also free coffee, which is supplied by a Sky City graduate who roasts coffee in Blount County.
Sky City's Annual Report also shows the ten dedicated desks in the space, along with the four private offices, are mostly occupied.
As for the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, people can take courses through one of their programs at no cost.
There's been an uptick in interest in Blount County, Bostick said, adding it's something seen in all the counties TSBDC serves.
"In Blount County, we are seeing what a lot of the counties around us are seeing — that's a lot of people that are moving here that want to start a new business," Bostick said. "We find a lot of people here who want to purchase businesses."