HOW WE STARTED
My Own Business, Inc., (MOBI) was founded in 1992 as a response to the Los Angeles Riots. Phil Holland, successful entrepreneur and founder of the Yum Yum Donut Shops chain, wanted to share his expertise and experience in creating businesses with the people whose neighborhoods most required rebuilding. In 1992 Phil decided to take action and started conducting a free night course in Compton, California, to teach people how to start their own businesses. The material presented drew upon Phil's personal experience and from two books he had published, The Entrepreneurs Guide and How to Start a Business Without Quitting Your Job. Phil's wife, Peggy, a school principal, took the material from these books and organized an instructional multi-session business curriculum.

As classrooms filled to capacity, what started out as a one-man crusade turned into a non-profit organization called My Own Business, Inc. A board of trustees, carefully selected for their expertise in each session topic, expanded and enhanced Phil's materials, and in August of 2000 the My Own Business course went worldwide via the Internet. The course has expanded to fourteen sessions covering valuable and insightful topics, with an emphasis on teaching people how to avoid the most common pitfalls encountered when starting a business.

Over one million web site visitors each year enjoy the opportunity to pursue the entrepreneurial education and development of new businesses that MOBI offers. Thousands of start-up and operating entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the course. By providing both online information and hardbound professional textbooks to entrepreneurs, My Own Business is nurturing one of the greatest opportunities in the free world: going into business for oneself.