When Jack Glasser first picked up a camera at age 15, he wasn't thinking he'd turn it into his own business within four years.

But now the 19-year-old entrepreneur - proud and motivated, with a couple of business awards under his belt - has more than 100 clients and is one of a local incubator's first success stories.

Glasser began shooting senior pictures for individuals his junior year in high school and began growing a more diverse client base his senior year. Now, going into his fourth semester at the University of Mary, he contracts with a marketing firm for commercial work, has a strong client base and an eye on developing his business into an agency for photographers with the same values as his own: quality, creativity, personality. Those values just happen to be his business tagline, too.

Glasser is one of Bismarck's IDEA Center's first clients; he's now benefitting from partnerships earned through the center's networking opportunities and will soon benefit from having his own office space within the center's new building, right next to another one of the center's partners and success stories, TKX Marketing.

Both Glasser Images and TKX Marketing have young owners. Both businesses are young businesses. But they're already successful, productive businesses, fueled by their own hard work and dedication, with a little extra push and guidance from Bismarck's first idea incubator center.

The IDEA Center was born out of a business professor's desire to expand opportunities for his students, as well as a local business owner's drive for area economic development through fostering entreprenuership. The two - Karel Sovak with University of Mary and Dewey Tietz of Cross Country Courier - came together to create an environment for growth.

The center is meant as a place for a budding entrepreneur or even an established business owner to go to hash out plans, ideas, or to seek resources for help starting or growing. Students from the University of Mary - and potentially other institutions, said director Julie Kuennen - are the labor, getting hands-on experience executing business plans, creating marketing strategies, competitive analysis and other necessary action items presented and accepted to the board of directors.

The board of directors is comprised of Tietz, Sovak, several students and the executive director, among others. They meet every Wednesday at 8 a.m. to hear ideas or discuss priorities.

Kuennen said they have nearly 50 projects in the works; her task is to work through them, prioritize, match them up with mentors and students and resources.

"Right now, our door is open to everybody," she said. "We're continuing to establish partnerships."

They've received so much work that she's looking for an administrative assistant or two to help her out. In fact, Kuennen said the center would offer a job-share for the position, which means two people could share the job and the hours.

A board of mentors contributes time and expertise - legal, accounting, marketing, for example - to help fill any gaps that students may not be able to offer.

The center, currently housed at Cross Country Couriers, will move to an innovative new home soon, with office space for new businesses to grow into. The new building - on 26th and East Broadway - features office space for new businesses, a fishbowl-style board room with an observation deck for students to watch and learn and work spaces for fledgling businesses, students or idea growers.

Chris Tietz, part-owner of TKX Marketing, a West Coast-style, full-service marketing and design firm, began his business around the same time the IDEA Center was truly taking form. Now, he offers his ideas to the board and has helped with the framing of the center. He said the networking and the contact with students and mentors significantly contributed to his own business's growth.

Now the business contracts with three designers and two developers, and tapped into the university's talent for an intern. And, because of its professional proximity with Glasser, the two having worked with the IDEA Center, TKX uses Glasser Images exclusively. They're all feeding off of each other for talent, resources, clients and, of course, ideas.

Entrepreneurship may receive some attention this legislative session by way of what Kuennen called incubator legislation; the center and businesses associated with an incubator, or incubator-style businesses, could be eligible for funding to help with start-up capital.

"We stand to benefit because we really are a grass-roots level," Kuennen said. "It's not just for us, though, it'll open to other types of incubator businesses."

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@bismarcktribune.com.)