Business Center Helps Neophytes To Avoid Blunders

Hundreds of would-be entrepreneurs are looking to open new small businesses of their own in Spokane and North Idaho.

What are the hottest ideas?

Hundreds more have their eyes on an existing business or franchise for sale. What should they look for in a business? What should they beware of buying?

Which types of home-based or self-employment ventures actually make sense?

What part-time enterprises are worthwhile for retirees who feel the entrepreneurial urge or who need the extra income but wish to take life a little easier?

Where can a combination of lending expertise and computer programs streamline and shorten the business-financing loan process?

How can you get a wealth of expert advice free?

Surprisingly, the answers to all of the above are available in one place - the new Spokane Area Business Information Center (BIC) in the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce Building.

Although open just nine months, it has responded to more than 9,000 contacts from established business owners and would-be entrepreneurs.

Chamber President Rich Hadley says this was the first BIC in a chamber of commerce setting when it opened late last May. But already there are others.

Seattle’s BIC, one of only 28 in the nation, is housed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). After four years in operation, it receives about 10,000 contacts a year, according to Hadley. “But we’re going to blow past 10,000 in the first 10 months,” he says.

For older residents of Spokane and North Idaho, particularly workers likely to encounter downsizing and early retirement who are thinking of starting a business, the BIC can be a godsend.

The center, a project of the Spokane chamber, the Spokane District Office of SBA, and the local chapter of the Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE), bills itself as “The Ultimate Business Resource.”

Close enough. It offers:

A reference library full of books and print publications, video cassettes and audio tapes on virtually every kind of business anyone might think of opening or buying. Over 200 planning guides are available to help research, design and execute small businesses plans from advertising and auto detailing to window washing and wedding services.

Several computer workstations for business planning and marketing research.

Free one-on-one counseling by over 50 retired and active owners and executives whose knowledge and insights span the spectrum of expertise. Their ages range from 45 to 85, says Douglas Kindred, incoming SCORE president, a transplanted Californian who owns and operates a business in Coeur d’Alene.

Workshops for a nominal fee.

At the BIC, you can get help surfing the Internet to see what’s happening in your field of interest.

You’ll learn how many businesses of one type or another there are across the country, or more importantly in Spokane and North Idaho.

You’ll learn what’s required in the way of capital and inventory to get started, and where to get the best buys on equipment and supplies.

“The BIC is a big new tool in our toolbox,” says SCORE’s Kindred.

It would be easy to spend a week poring over the BIC’s books, viewing videos, and running different software applications.

“Many people come in, browse, and leave,” says Coralie A. Myers, manager of the BIC and an economic development specialist. “They go home, formulate questions, then call and arrange to meet with a counselor.

“Others come in,” Myers goes on, “and want to start a business but don’t know what kind. After looking at the books and videos, they can get a better idea.

So, what are the hottest ideas for new businesses hereabouts?

“The top five, in terms of interest expressed,” says Myers, “are mail order, maid service, consulting, desktop publishing and, of course, microbreweries.

“We also have several sources on the best part-time businesses and home-based businesses.”

The number for the BIC is 353-2800.

, 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