"You're all a little crazy," Linda Matthews told a group of entrepreneurs gathered for a conference at Duquesne University on Thursday. But then, she said, so is everybody else.

Finding truly satisfying success in business "all starts by knowing what you want, and shaping a business around your own personal crazy," said the founder and owner of RiverHead Training Inc., a Downtown information technology training firm.

The Entrepreneur's Growth Conference sponsored by Duquesne's Small Business Development Center and in its 12th year drew some 400 attendees for a day packed with presentations and workshops.

In the workshop titled, "Launching a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started & Making Money," Ms. Matthews shared the podium with Duquesne SBDC consulting manager Cynthia Laurash and Eric Swift, founder of Swift Advisors, a personal coaching, strategic consulting and financial advising firm.

Ms. Laurash and Mr. Swift focused on the nuts and bolts aspects of launching an enterprise, from defining the market for a product or service to figuring out the level of sales that will be needed to generate positive cash flow.

The day had begun with a keynote address by Roger Byford, chairman and CEO of Vocollect Inc. Mr. Byford, a co-founder of the Wilkins company that specializes in voice technology, encouraged those involved in startups to first define what that business would do for them personally, to define the business itself with a positioning statement and then "prove to yourself and then to others" that it can be profitable.

He recommended creating a spreadsheet or financial statement showing what the company's income and expenses would look like when it achieves financial stability.

"I'm really surprised by how many folks don't do that simple math," Mr. Byford said.

Mr. Byford's advice was peppered with caveats about what not to do, sometimes based on his own experience.

For instance, he cautioned against hiring "the person with the terrific resume" who has spent years at a large corporation.

"My personal experience, more than once, is that it can often be very difficult for folks who have spent their lives at large companies to get comfortable operating effectively in a small one."

Not everybody in the crowd was involved in a startup business.

Susan Ackenheil Snow's enterprise, Ackenheil Engineers Inc., has been going for 25 years. But she attended the conference for the first time because, "I'm trying to move my business to the next step ... to get re-energized and network with other people in business."

To her surprise, the networking included old acquaintances.

"I have re-connected with people I haven't seen in 20 years," she said.

What impressed her most was what that the conference showed her the abundance of tools, advice and help that either did not exist or were not as accessible when she was initially venturing out.

For instance, a trade show conducted between workshops gave attendees the opportunity to meet representatives from the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the U.S. Small Business Administration, along with commercial vendors such as accountants and business insurance providers.

For new entrepreneurs, she said, "The resources that are available are really fantastic."

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