Business Start-Up Grubstake Today Had Better Be Big

I couldn’t help but think about the trappings of small business the other day when AT&T announced it would make $10,000 available to its corporate managers who want to retire early and start a small business.

I’m reminded of my own departure from ABC News a few years ago, when I first ventured into entrepreneurship, not fully realizing at the time how little fiscal territory ten grand really covers.

Like millions of American workers these past 10 years, I decided to become untethered to corporate America and its seemingly secure clutches by going into business for myself.

I used the modest CapitalCities-ABC stock I had accumulated in the go-go ‘80s to launch a broadcasting consultancy, which later evolved into a professional advice business and the syndication of a weekly editorial issues column.

Ironically, the money I received from ABC was about the same amount that AT&T is now dangling before its corporate managers to retrain, relocate - or finance a new business.

If anybody has a good feel for how far a few thousand dollars can go to get a small business under way, it’s me.

Given the current entrepreneurial trend - and the business itch that many Americans feel compelled to scratch - I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the 4,000 or so targeted AT&T workers jumped on their company’s rather generous offer with unprecedented enthusiasm and speed.

Let’s face it, for employees at any level, AT&T’s announced severance pay is hard to refuse. It’s also a ticket to a long-held entrepreneurial dream. At least that’s the way I felt a few years ago when I was presented with the opportunity to start my own business.

As circumspect as I was in this business venture, and as prudent as I had to be in managing my business expenses, none of my fiscal conservatism seemed to matter very much when it came to unannounced adjustments I had to make along the way. Adjustments such as doling out cash to many of my suppliers because I had been in business for less than two or three years at the time.

Today, of course, I’m spending all my time in the classroom. But it’s the plunge into small business eight years ago that drives my comments regarding the prospective entrepreneurs of the giant communications company.

AT&T employees might want to think twice before starting a small business.

First, that $10,000 isn’t likely to get them much past first base. In terms of real dollars, ten grand hasn’t changed all that much since I started my own business. From my vantage point, it will be difficult - especially in the communication business - for entrepreneurial wannabes to buy much more than essential office communications equipment.

I can remember vividly that my first office computer eight years ago chewed up a pretty sizable chunk of the first $10,000 I invested in equipment for my small business. By today’s standards, that ol’ IBM 286 is a dinosaur.

The big bucks I shelled out a few years back to get started in business - with a computer, a printer, a fax, a separate word processor and a couple of phones - evaporated so quickly I felt as if I had retreated to the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, when runaway inflation was burning both the country’s patience and pocketbooks. There seemed at the time to be very little hope for anything with the onrushing recession.

Someone going into my business today can expect to peel off similar dollars for equipment, no matter how careful their approach.

It’s just not easy getting the business ball rolling. And it’s more of a headache keeping up with all of the volumes of mandatory paper work that comes with the territory.

I’m tempted to tell AT&T’s soon-to-be laid-off corporate managers to take the company’s money, run - and laugh all the way to the bank. But these managers should be mindful of all the pitfalls and disappointments if they decide to enter business.

Ten “Gs,” sadly, is not enough.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fred Davis Washington State University