Waukesha, Wisconsin. Gerhard Von der Rhur's company manufactures equipment used in hospitals to monitor a patient's recovery. Gerhard rose through the ranks in corporate America, then tossed it all out to become an entrepreneur. He's a member of the Council of Growing Companies and shares with us his "Sliver of Genius."

Key Ideas.

• To become a "full-time" entrepreneur, you must be willing to leave the security of employment.
• An entrepreneur must have a strong but not big ego.
• To succeed, it takes a good idea, but also a lot of hard work and dedication.
• Make your systems customer friendly.
• You can make shopping the competition uninteresting.

• READ THE TRANSCRIPT All the words of this show.
• GO TO SCHOOL: If you enroll in Small Business School, you can watch this show as well as learn from over 130 other entrepreneurs. It is all online. It requires DSL or cable connection with no firewalls. If you answer the questions in the teaching notes and study guide, you may qualify:
  • to get listed within your business type and within your state's listings,
  • to be profiled on a show (local or national),
  • to generate automatically a business plan for debt financing and/or a SCOR for equity financing,
  • to be listed within a Small Business index, and
  • to qualify as one of the Small Business 2000 best of businesses within a business category. .
• AT YOUR LOCAL COLLEGE: Check this list of schools (partial). Also, check for classes with your local Small Business Development Center, Chamber of Commerce, and Economic Development Commission.
• LOOK AT STEPS 1-8. Think about where you are and where you want to be.
• STUDY BUSINESSES BY TYPE.
• WATCH TV! To find out what is airing in your market, usually on your local PBS-member station, click here
• CONTACT:
  Criticare Systems, Inc.
  20925 Crossroads Circle
  Waukesha, WI 53186
   Tel: 262-798-8282
  http://www.csiusa.com