Data Driven

Tracy Knight is a pro at branding her own business — which makes sense, since her company does marketing and advertising, with a niche in the healthcare industry.

But there are a few other tasks small business owners juggle that aren't Knights' forte. “I've never had the training on the financial side,” says Knight, who has run her company, Venice-based Knight Marketing, since 1997. “I've learned it as a I went.”

Now Knight, along with a host of other Gulf Coast entrepreneurs who share her do-it-all challenges, have a resource for help in areas that aren't their strengths. It's the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership, a one-on-one business consulting program founded by the Kansas City-based Ewing Kauffman Foundation, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the country devoted to entrepreneurial support.