Contributor

While Utah's unemployment numbers continue to hover around six percent, well below the national average, The Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) is taking a closer look at whether they are making a difference.

In the May/June edition of their publication "Trendlines," WFS executive director Kristen Cox addresses this very question and with the data to back it up, concludes with a resounding yes.

Expert advisers are a business builder’s best friends and resources. We might also call them coaches, teachers or mentors. They are people with specific expertise, knowledge and/or business relationships. They have learned the key principles and best practices of their trade. They think abundantly and are willing to share what they know with those who ask for assistance. They themselves have been taught by other luminaries and are delighted to “pay it forward.”

Smart and successful entrepreneurs continue to enlist advisers on a regular basis for instruction and wise counsel. They recognize that pretty much no one has all the right answers on their own about how to start and run a great business.

A mentor might be an attorney, a CPA, a supervisor from the past, a kind competitor, an angel investor, a banker or a successful entrepreneur. Most are happy to give assistance pro bono. They are generous with their advice, but cautious with their time. Savvy entrepreneurs respect this special gift and carefully manage the relationship.

Recent actions by famous athletes, such as Jimmer Fredette and Jeremy Lin, to protect the market potential of their names were called to my attention by business associates who wanted to know what they could do to protect their name or nickname. The simple answer would be to seek a trademark, as Fredette and Lin have done, but dealing with personal names complicates the issue.

Over the last several years the United States Patent and Trademark Office has developed an attractive, user-friendly website (www.uspto.gov) containing an abundance of information about patents and trademarks.

Utilizing that website, I learned that Fredette filed an application on March 31, 2011, for use of the word "Jimmer" on posters, footwear, apparel and plastic toy figures.

Editor,

Look at the new UDOT plans for the Davis West Corridor: link

With Alternative B, the Antelope Drive interchange is like putting a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn't fit. Alternative B causes much more upset than moving this interchange just a mile or two west where land is undeveloped. Alternative B destroys quiet neighborhoods, Antelope Drive snakes around side to side, the walking trail appears to be gone, Freemont Park is made smaller and the freeway is right on top of the charter school.

Setting the right goals can be critical to your job search success. Mike Taylor, a career counselor with the Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, recently shared with me what he does to help students set career goals.

First, make a list of all the things you like to do. The list should be long and include everything you can think of, from building things with your hands to playing chess. The list does not have to include just things that relate directly to a potential job.

Editor,

In regards to Alan Mortensen's letter of February 14th, regarding the mailer sent by Freedom Path attacking Dan Liljenquist's company sending

jobs to the Philippines, Mr. Mortensen can be "outraged" all he wants. However, Freedom Path is an independent political organization. Senator Orrin Hatch, nor his campaign, by law, cannot and did not have any knowledge or coordination with the mailing.

All award-winning entrepreneurs have had a dream and followed it, turning their ideas into a commercial success.

There has never been a better time to follow your dream and turn it into a reality. Having a dream is the key, the starting point. Do you have that new product in mind? Are you ready to go? Then I say, full speed ahead. Go for it now!

Sadly, I have seen scores of individuals who have had a terrific idea but, for whatever reason, they were unable to follow the dream to start and grow a new enterprise. Whatever the reason, they never left the couch and the dream died.