Southwestern Company is not just about helping college students for the short term with their educational expenses. There is a long-term opportunity that offers students a game plan beyond their senior years in college. It teaches students responsibility, hard work, budgeting, motivation, and sales by allowing them to start their own business, be responsible to only themselves, but also all of the hard things that come with that, like long hours out and about, hoping for just one sale.

The 155-year-old Southwestern Company, headquartered in Nashville, TN, is a successful private company, built by, led by and owned primarily by graduates of the summer internship program. From the early stages of the program, college students are learning to effectively build their own Southwestern business with a growing stream of income, residuals and equity ownership.

The Southwestern Company summer internship is designed to allow the student to graduate already owning their own business, putting them in the position to not have to write a resume upon graduation if they choose. If they do choose to write a resume however it will be a spectacular one, and interviews with them will never be boring, but rather filled with stories of hard work, hard days, as well as the best of things.

Additionally, with the recommendation of their sales manager, the student has a choice of careers with over a dozen companies under Southwestern Company’s corporate umbrella. While it is very competitive to get into one of these positions, that does not mean it is hard, because the skills that are taught in the trainings and on the road are the keys to success in the company as well. The companies represent a variety of industries and have available positions in management, sales and support functions. The various industries include publishing, finance, insurance, consulting, sales, fund-raising, executive search, fine art and real estate just to name a few. Students also have the opportunity to start up a new company utilizing Southwestern Company’s support in resources and capital.

Some students dream of interning at a small startup company, being there when it takes off, and hopefully being kept on as it fly into stardom. There has not really been a way for students to find these companies unless they happen to already know someone who is starting a company right now. StartupRoots is working to change this.

It is that time again for horse racing fans in England and the biggest event of the season is about to get started. Once again Kauto Star will be going head to head with Danman, with a wild victory and the score set at 1-1 for these two horses, it seems no one can say who will win this time. As it stands, Kauto Star’s odds seem to be in the lead with his extravagant win at the King George on Boxing day as well as winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup last year in a record breaking race in which the championship was taken back for the first time after having been defeated the year before. Denman has also shown recent winnings at the Hennessy Gold Cup in November, but that is feeling an awfully long time ago and his odds have been lowered a bit because of it.

The next in line for best bets look like Imperial Commander who has done well lately, as well as Cooldine. Although Carruthers has been doing great this year it looks like Tricky Trickster and What a Friend have the next best chances based on their recent racing history. From there it is all downhill as some of the best contestants from previous years will not be joining in this year. At least one of them has gone on to bigger and better things though, so there are no worries here. If you want to bet on an underdog, take a look at Madison Du Berlais, Albertas Run Calgray Bay, and Casey Jones who are all at odds below 100 and still look like there is a chance one of them could come in higher than expected. While most of the others aren’t really worth a look, the rest of the line up looks like My Will who is running with the odds of 100 along with Mon Mome, and Aran Concerto. Mr.Pointment and Cerium run at the bottom of the list with odds of 200 and 250 respectfully.

The term due diligence refers to the practice of thoroughly investigating and researching any business or individual with whom one is about to conduct business transactions.  It is the process of checking all the facts.  It is simply the steps that everyone should take before entering into a contract, a transaction or an agreement with another entity, be they an individual or a company.  What does this practice ensure?  It serves to ensure that all steps were taken to decrease the probability of harm caused to either the buyer or the seller, or the investor and the lender.

This concept is applied in many aspects of life, not just financial institutions and/or transactions.  It is applied by any person, taking the time for being responsible, to take care to know all the facts before signing on the dotted line.  This involves taking the time to investigate one’s records, financial and personal, to performance or in some cases the following through of legal requirements.  For example, should one company be considering the acquisition of another, financial records and assets are studied and performance levels are evaluated.  In this case, although the requirements may not involve the legal spectrum, they may just involve good business practices.

In the political realm, people in the general public practice due diligence in the days leading up to an election.  By knowing as much as they possibly can about the candidates, their decisions will be made based on the investigations into the character, the honesty, the integrity, and the intelligence of the individuals for whom they are voting.  For the individuals who are in the business of politics, due diligence must be practiced when deciding from where they will accept campaign funds, or who and what they will attach themselves with or to, in order to protect themselves and their party from scandal.

And in the financial sector, in banks and investment firms, due diligence is practiced in the development and organization of anti-money laundering agencies.  No respectable institutions wants to enter into business with those of the criminal element.  To know their customers is to protect not only the institution itself, but also the investments of the honest customers who may become secondary victims of the criminals involved in such acts.  Due diligence is just sound business practice.

My business partner and I recently took a trip to California to arrange for a branch of our company to open there. My wife went with us and insisted that we go to the San Francisco ballet. After the ballet we ended up meeting several business men and women from the area and we were impressed to learn that venture capitalist Arthur Trueger is a regular patron of the arts.

I’ve heard of Arthur Trueger before but I never thought that I would end up being at the same function as him. I hear he spends a lot of time helping start-up tech companies and when he isn’t doing that I heard he likes to bicycle and work on his French, German and Japanese speaking skills.

My wife was dumbfounded when she found out about Arthur Trueger. She couldn’t believe that a businessman would have such diverse interests. She’s always thought my love for the arts was odd for a business owner but now she understands that an appreciation for things such as ballet only make us more interesting.

Venture capital funds provide start-up companies and small businesses with financing so that they can increase their growth potential. As well as capital managerial and technical expertise can also be provided.

A venture capitalist located in Silicon Valley is Arthur Trueger His company is involved in the telecommunication industry specifically – telecommunications equipment and application software.  (View Arthur Trueger’s full bio)

Arthur Trueger is located and in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area and is president of Berkeley VC which works with strategic investors operating in telecommunications seeking to invest in Silicon Valley companies.  (View (Arthur Trueger’s Berkeley bio)

As well as being a venture capitalist Arthur Trueger is actively involved with the San Francisco Ballet.  The San Francisco Ballet School attracts students from all across the world.  It trains approximately 350 dancers per year. As well as working with the San Francisco Ballet, graduates have moved to join distinguished ballet companies across the globe.  Arthur Trueger is a patron of the San Francisco Ballet.