Before she was baking award-winning pies, Linda Hundt was sitting behind a desk.

"I worked in politics. And I was director of affairs for the state of Michigan. It was not me," she says.

So she quit... and hasn't looked back since. She's now her own boss, running the successful "Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe" in DeWitt.

"It's so wonderful to do what you love," Hundt says.

Hundt got help to do that from the Michigan Small Business Technology Development Center. It's a state program that essentially teaches people the basics on how to run your own business. And now, the Lansing area is getting even more help.

"It's a 10-week program, very intense," explains Scott Guernsey.

After losing his job, Guernsey enrolled in the "Fast Track" program-- a crash-course in entrepreneurship that led him to open his own business. "Fast Track" will be available at Lansing Community College in May.

"You do everything from marketing to accounting to pricing," he says.

"We encourage people to call LCC if they're interested because we're paying for school for the first 1,000 people that sign up," says Governor Jennifer Granholm at a press event for this Wednesday.

And the final piece of the puzzle-- financing-- that's being addressed, too. Michigan credit nnions will be playing a big part, loaning to qualified entrepreneurs.

"This new alliance will commit an additional $43 million around the state of Michigan to help a lot of these new businesses," says David Adams, CEO of the Michigan Credit Union League. A full list of participating credit unions will be available in two months.

Hundt says these announcements simply mean people have no reason not to try; though it's not for the faint of heart.

"Oh, it's completely scary!" she admits. "It was the scariest thing I've ever done except maybe have a baby."

But she's certainly glad she took that sweet leap of faith.

LCC says you can apply to the Fast Track program online; an application should be availble in the next few days.