A few years ago, Jane Kaminski found an article in the Providence Journal about the Center for Women & Enterprise. Since she and her friend Susan Carnes had been talking about entrepreneurship for quite some time, she safely tucked it away knowing it would come in handy one day.

Last summer, Kaminski and Carnes decided it was “now or never,” and Kaminski pulled out the article, ready to give CWE a call to help them begin their business venture. Both now divorcees, Kaminski, a mother of two who works in a photography studio, and Carnes, an employee in Brown’s Human Resources department and mother of one, said they were ready to work for themselves doing something they love to do. She and Carnes attended an Information Session and Steps to Starting a Business at CWE. From the packets they received, they found a brochure for the Community Entrepreneurs Program (CEP) and they were sold.

We talked about it and decided it was the perfect starting point for us,” Carnes said.

CEP is a 20-week program broken up into three modules: Visioning, Financial Foundations, and Business Planning: Getting Started. Participants begin with Visioning, a class that helps explore the challenges and rewards of self-employment, create a vision for business, and consider long-term goals. Participants learn to clarify their business ideas, develop a mission statement, analyze their strengths and weaknesses and develop a business start-up action plan.

Following Visioning, CEP clients then turn to Financial Foundations where they learn the basics of developing a financial plan for their business. By setting financial goals, identifying start-up costs and acquiring basic financial management tools, participants are ready to begin planning for financial success.

The financials piece was huge for us. It completely re-directed our vision,” Kaminski said.

Lastly, Kaminski and Carnes joined the Center for Business Planning: Getting Started. In this final module, the two women worked with other business owners and experts to prepare a business plan, determine the feasibility of their business concepts, understand and organize their financials, market their business and find options for financing.

Up until this point, Kaminski and Carnes had wanted to open an art café, but instructor Stacey Carter helped them transform their business vision into what it is now: a catering company called Petites with Panache. The name came from Carnes’s love for the word “panache” and the two women’s desire to make mini foods for their events.

Stacey ingrained in us ‘location, location, location!’ and we decided to go back to our original idea of catering,” Kaminski explained. “We also are not looking to take out a bank loan at this point, so we decided against finding a store front which would be needed for a café.”

Carnes said it was also their attendance at a catered event also spurred their decision to become a catering partnership.

“I saw what she charged and what she had prepared, and I said to Jane, ‘Oh my gosh, we can do this and we can do it better!’,” Carnes said.

Petities with Panache has since catered one event, a baby shower in February for 50 people, and the two women are gearing up for a cocktail party in May. Despite warnings from many that partnerships can be difficult to maintain, Kaminski and Carnes are excited about working with one another.

“We seem to balance each other out. Where one is lacking, the other one senses it and is able to pick up the ball,” Carnes said. “We pick each other up at the low points, but we really seem to mesh well together. Our friendship is first and foremost, however.”

Next up for Kaminski and Carnes is a food safety certification course, the launching of their web site, finalizing their menu and an Open House in May to kick off their marketing by word of mouth.

Kaminski and Carnes say that utilizing the Center for Women & Enterprise really helped set their dream in motion.

“Where can we begin? CWE helped give us direction, reality checks, support systems, and how to look within yourself. CWE offers a real foundation,” Kaminski said.

Carnes agreed.

“Coming here, to me, helped us just realize we can do it. It certainly helps put everything in perspective, makes it not so overwhelming… It’s scary, but it’s exciting,” she said. “Be fearless and have fun – that to me sums it right up.”