Test Drive Your Ideas At Center

Has there ever been a greater premium placed on entrepreneurship than in America today?

Everywhere, opportunities and incentives abound as employers cut back, contract out, consolidate, downsize, re-engineer jobs and retire workers early.

The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates one in three persons today “is considering starting a small business.” Included are many older workers and early retirees in Spokane and North Idaho who ponder whether the right enterprise exists for them.

The answer may be as close as the Spokane Area Business Information Center (BIC). This joint project of the SBA, the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Senior Corps of Retired Executives functions as a one-stop resource center for existing small businesses as well as people thinking of taking the plunge.

An array of research and planning manuals, books, audio/video cassettes and computer programs are available free or at nominal costs, along with Internet access, seminars and workshops. “We have a wealth of information,” says BIC manager Coralie Myers, “on almost any kind of business you can imagine.”

What’s hot? Myers says mail order, maid service, desktop publishing, consulting, and microbrewing get more action than anything else.

A 300-page guide on how to get started in the brew-pub business says microbreweries “are multiplying at a rate of 30 to 50 percent a year!”

That’s no surprise. But with so many starting maid services, what truly amazes me is that my wife, who works outside the home, can’t find a house cleaner capable of measuring up to her standards.

Among the more interesting and unusual opportunities my research turned up are house sitting, pet sitting, parking lot striping, mobile disc jockey, mobile restaurant, mobile bookkeeping, gourmet potato bakery, collection agency, and professional organizer.

There are guides on herb farming, newspaper clipping services, burglar alarm installing, even starting your own dating service. Also, acting as an information broker. And yes, marketing an old family recipe.

Said a thick guide on how to start a parking lot striping service, “There are very few legitimate, proven businesses where you can start with relatively little cash and no special talents, and yet grow into a stable, permanent enterprise. Parking lot maintenance is one of them - a business you can start with less than $2,000 on a part-time basis and build up to more than $25,000 annual profit.”

Not bad, you might think, for a business that repaints the white lines on parking lots every six months or so.

But what, you may ask, is a professional organizer? Well, the planning guide explains it this way: “It’s November, and it’s time to organize the house, the office, and your life before the holidays come. You need to rearrange the furniture, file the papers on the desk, plan the party menu, and maximize the space in your closets. Is there anyone short of your mother who can conquer the clutter in your life?”

Yes, claims the manual, “There is a professional organizer.”

Another book lists no fewer than 56 different varieties of consultants. And all these experts seem to make good money.

My favorite manual is a big fat volume on herb gardening. It tells all about how popular herbs are becoming in gourmet kitchens, perfume factories and pharmaceutical formulas, and what a wonderful opportunity exists for growers.

It goes on for 233 pages about location, marketing, equipment, inventory, hiring, legalities, record keeping, taxes, financial management, promotion and so forth. But before you get into herb gardening, the book advises, “Take a long hard look at yourself. That’s really important because this business takes a lot of hard work.

“It can be at least three years before you turn a profit,” the guide says. “And even when you do, it won’t be much.”

Hmm. Perhaps herb consulting is the way to go.

The number to call for the BIC is (509) 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