Lee Godbold had two main assets as a student at Wake Tech: his old Chevy pickup and a relentless drive to succeed in business.

Godbold had sold most of his possessions over time to finance his hobby of racing cars. But he needed his truck to get to class, so he thought he might as well also put it to use to make some money.

"People always need to get rid of stuff, so I started hauling junk away," he said. "Junk removal hadn't really caught on at that time. But as I kept getting more and more jobs and bigger and bigger jobs, I figured I had found my next business."

An entrepreneur as a youth, Godbold already had tried his hand running a mobile car-washing business, a document shredding service and a flyer delivery service, where he and friends would hang pouches filled with ads from local businesses on people's front doors.

"I never stuck with anything long enough to be super-successful," he said. "I didn't know what I wanted to do other than be my own boss."

But Junk Doctors, as he named his haul-away service, quickly took off – so fast, in fact, that he put his Associate in Arts degree at Wake Tech on hold.

"I wish I would have gone ahead and gotten that degree, but running a growing business just didn't leave me any time," Godbold said.

Chris Weeks, senior director of Wake Tech's Entrepreneurship & Small Business Center, says the center's courses and support services have been designed to fit any business owner's busy schedule.

"When work interrupts class, sometimes it is difficult to get back into the swing of things," Weeks said. "Our short courses, like Entrepreneurship for Skilled Trades and Professionals, put students back on track to gain the relevant knowledge needed to make their business sustainable."

Godbold now heads up three companies: Junk Doctors, which operates in the Triangle, Piedmont Triad and Charlotte regions; Specialty Truck Bodies, a Roxboro operation that builds trucks and trailers to haul trash; and Junk Removal Authority, a marketing agency for the industry. Together, they employ about 50 people, as well as a number of contractors.

He calls the accounting and business classes he took at Wake Tech "super-important," saying they have been invaluable as he built his companies.

"The things I learned are used all the time," he said. "A lot of business owners don't have a feel for the financial stuff, but I can take a look at a financial report and really know how the business is doing because of [my accounting classes]."

Godbold says he maintains a connection with Wake Tech, taking a non-degree Auto Dealer Licensing course and tapping the resources, such as webinars, offered by the Entrepreneurship & Small Business Center. Of course, finishing his degree is always an option as well.

"I'm a lifelong learner. I'm always looking for courses to take," he said.