Help’s Available To Reduce The Risk For Entrepreneurs

On every side and at every level, employers of all sizes continue to engage in a frenzy of payroll slashing.

The news is full of mergers, consolidations, liquidations, cutbacks, downsizings, layoffs, job re-engineering, early retirement buyouts, plants moving to Mexico.

No job is safe.

“To truly have employment security,” Berry Fowler, founder of the Krypton Institute in Spokane for fledgling entrepreneurs, wryly observes, “you have to be the owner. Then you are the last one to leave - right?”

Not surprisingly, there has never been more interest in starting a small business in America than there is today. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that “30 percent of the U.S. population is considering starting a small business.”

Think of it - that’s one in three persons.

But the failure rate is horrific.

By the hundreds of thousands, those who seek self employment, financial security, an economic safe haven in a business of their own, risk losing whatever resources they already have. Buying or starting a small business is NOT a cure-all for structural stress. Everyone can’t own a business.

“Entrepreneurship,” counsels the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), “is both a risky and rewarding proposition.”

But SCORE can help reduce the risk. Krypton Institute and other private business schools also have a role to play. The Spokane Community Colleges offer many helpful courses. A new Spokane Area Business Information Center (BIC) started by the Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Small Business Administration and SCORE is a gold mine.

In addition, there are other sources of expertise too numerous to mention here. Any of the above agencies can direct those in need of assistance to the proper resources.

The Small Business Administration district office for Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho publishes a free 53-page primer called the Small Business StartUp Information Package that is first rate.

But for nuts and bolts advice on the dos and don’ts of how to start and operate a small business, who should know better than SCORE? These seasoned volunteers have served in the trenches of American free enterprise. They don’t want your money. They aren’t selling anything. And they tell it like it is - even if it hurts.

In January, thousands of Inland Northwesterners thronged to a Self Employment Expo in the Spokane Convention Center. Among those with whom I talked, both there and following publication of a column I wrote on the expo, the most frequently asked question was how to keep from making a fatal mistake buying or starting a business.

I don’t know. So, when asked to address the local SCORE chapter recently, I consented on condition that we make it a question-and-answer format.

Here in a nutshell is what I learned:

Say you have your eye on an established business. Can SCORE help you make a sound decision on whether to buy it?

Absolutely.

How about a franchise? Can SCORE help evaluate it?

You bet.

What about starting a business of your own?

“You sit down with one of us,” said Lud Kramer, a former Washington secretary of state, now a retired business executive, “and we’ll get you started on the right course.”

Said Ted Schinzel, business specialist with the Small Business Administration, “We have 50 different counselors in this SCORE chapter each an expert in a different area.” One on one, these veterans counsel and mentor novices in need of their help.

Here are a couple tips garnered from our give and take:

No matter how good you are at something, it won’t sell unless there is a market. Test the market first.

Don’t give up your day job. Stay employed, and ease into business on the side.

Next Sunday: The new Spokane Area Business Information Center. If you are planning to buy or start a business, this should be your first stop. Members of SCORE will serve as your guides.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes on retirement issues each Sunday. He can be reached with ideas for future columns at 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review