Twentysomething stars
Tim Mitchell was tired of looking up the corporate ladder.
Faced with his fifth year as a local restaurant cook and wary of setting foot in a classroom again, Mitchell decided he didn’t want a boss anymore. He wanted to be one.
Almost overnight, he quit his job, bought a $99 cash register and took on a new title: CEO.
Although harnessing entrepreneurial spirit into a profitable enterprise is nothing new, Mitchell, 20, is among a handful of Spokane-area entrepreneurs in their early 20s who are taking on the responsibilities of business ownership. Like other small-business owners, they’re eagerly trading in a 40-hour workweek with benefits for long days on the job and a heap of financial uncertainty.
Mitchell started networking with business owners in his home state of California before the ink was dry on his high school diploma. With help from friends and relatives, he opened a contemporary furniture store, Trendz, in downtown Spokane’s River Park Square.
“Here I am, 20 years old, in a 40-year-old’s world,” he said. “When I first started getting into business and I was working with people, somehow we’d end up on age, and I’d tell them I was 20, and they are just kind of blown away.”
Mitchell falls squarely within the newly dubbed “entitlement generation,” the ambitious twenty-something offspring of baby boomers who expect to sail into high-paying jobs and flexible work hours. But for Mitchell, success hasn’t come easy. He’s dealt with an early split from the company’s co-founder, a lack of credit history and a defiant push into a niche market largely unknown in Eastern Washington. His long-term goal is to grow Trendz to a national level, starting by opening two Spokane-area stores and one Coeur d’ Alene store by December.
“We’ve been able to go from three products to hundreds of products, so I’d say that’s successful,” he said. “You just have got to take it day by day. You’d think you’d get an ulcer after all the stress you go through.”
Few young professionals have joined Mitchell in business ownership. Only 1 percent of all business owners are younger than 25, while 8 percent fall in the 25-to-34 age range, according to 2002 U.S. Census data.
Young entrepreneurs in the Inland Northwest, however, have a clutch of new resources available to them. A group of young professionals launched a networking club in Spokane in October; Gonzaga University and Eastern Washington University established entrepreneurship programs; and the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce revamped its small-business resource center.
‘I just wanted something different’
Melissa Cocks wasn’t planning to buy a business in her early twenties. She was the manager of a South Hill UPS Store and had a comfortable college savings account waiting to be used. But she soon grew bored with her job and, while driving around Spokane, started noticing vacant storefronts — sparking a desire to fill them.”I was thinking about going to school,” she said. “I was thinking about traveling. I had no idea. I just wanted something different.”
Cocks found the inspiration to become a business owner primarily from her grandmother, a part-owner in a small oil company.
She used her college savings to buy a UPS franchise store on West Francis in Spokane. She took out a small-business loan to purchase her second UPS Store in a new complex on North Division three years later.
Now 26, Cocks doesn’t regret jumping into business ownership. She has built an employee base and is saving money, but she’s already thinking about selling her stores and moving on.
“For the most part, I learned from experience what I should have learned at school,” she said. “I think I have a better feel for how things really work.”Cocks isn’t alone in foregoing college for the business world. According to Census data, about a quarter of new business owners in 2002 had completed some college education; another quarter had earned a degree.
Shanez Azar, who manages Azar’s Food Service in Spokane with her sister, Angie Azar, went into the family restaurant business soon after finishing high school. She started Azar’s Express on East Sprague as a fast-food alternative to Azar’s, a Middle Eastern restaurant founded by her father 25 years ago.
“I just decided to open up a business when I was 20,” she said. “I went to college off and on and hated it. I thought, ‘This is so not for me.’”
Shanez Azar, 23, dropped her college courses to take on full-time ownership duties for two years. She, like Cocks, is happy with her decision to buy a business, but has since turned over ownership to her father to pursue a degree in human resources.
“I have no idea what I want to do,” she said. “I’m pretty simple. I just want to have enough money. Have a good guy. Eventually have kids. Get that degree. Whatever comes my way.”Angie Azar, 21, is studying photography and Web design with the hope of eventually breaking into professional photography. She said she and her sister were raised to respect a tough work ethic, which has helped them become strong managers at a young age.
“If you’re working with me, you’ve got to keep up,” she said. “I know I can’t expect as much as I do. This is restaurant business. Not everybody can do restaurant business.”
On top of restaurant and school work, she and her sister recently started S&A Enterprises, a communications business that offers e-mail and voice-mail services.
“We can’t really pass this opportunity up,” Angie Azar said. “We’re used to being busy, so what’s the difference?”
Support important for local businesses
Small-business ownership is on the rise in the United States. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the number of non-agricultural self-employed people reached 12.2 million in 2003 – a 6.2 percent increase from 2000. The Small Business Administration’s 2000 small business profile for the state of Washington reported that 98 percent of the state’s businesses are considered small, with fewer than 500 employees.
Joni Woodwell, director of finance for the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the proliferation of small businesses, coupled with a high failure rate in the first three years of operation, makes business support particularly important for any entrepreneur.
“Our business climate to a large degree is dependent on entrepreneurs and mom-and-pop businesses, or businesses with under 50 employees,” she said.
Woodwell said the chamber’s BIZStreet Resource Center acts as a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs living in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. It provided guidance to more than 17,000 people last year, although the center doesn’t track the ages of those who use its resources.
“The goal is to give them some clear understanding of the endeavor they are going to be taking on and the responsibilities and help them to be successful,” she said. “Operating a business is rewarding, but it’s a really tough thing, too.”
Matt Barry, owner of Spokane Coffee Co. in River Park Square, knew the local coffee market was saturated before he opened his coffee stand three months ago. He also knew he could rely on family members to help him.
Barry, 22, had dabbled in real estate investing and construction before his parents suggested he look into the coffee industry. He kept his eye out for available businesses and found two owners looking to sell Espresso Delight on the second floor of River Park Square.
“They didn’t know how to run it,” he said. “I knew it was an opportunity to turn this place around for the good.”
Barry hired his aunt to help him with accounting and paperwork, and his friends dropped him advice on everything from syrup flavors to cart arrangement. He used the input to develop a business plan, create a logo — based on the garbage goat in Riverfront Park — and perfect his coffee blend.
“There’s a lot to know,” he said. “There’s so many forms and files and paperwork behind the scenes that no one thinks about.”
Barry’s revenue has increased 10 percent in the past month, and he hopes to soon move into a store space behind the stand where he can offer a small deli. He believes being generous with employees and with customers will drive his success as a business owner.
“I know there’s a lot of people that might think I’m stupid because I’m not a penny pincher,” he said. “But I’ll pay the extra 10 cents to do this, I’ll pay the extra 10 cents to do that because it might be better. I’ll sacrifice a little bit for the business.”
Training young entrepreneurs
Area colleges have begun to nourish the entrepreneurial spirit of their young students. Gonzaga University, for example, founded the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program as an offshoot of the School of Business Administration six years ago.
Each small class of students works with business leaders, attends Hogan-only classes and develops business plans, which are usually entered into an annual competition for thousands of dollars in development funds. Demand for the program far outpaces openings, fueling competition for spots, said Paul Buller, director of the program. The average student has close to a 4.0 GPA and an SAT score above 1300, he said. Hogan also offers services such as the New Venture Lab, a business-plan creation and assessment process.
“Entrepreneurship is a long process, and there are a lot of barriers,” Buller said. “We want to add a little value – help them even further.”
He said entrepreneurial training, such as being linked up with local internships for first-hand experience, gives students an edge after school.
Hogan has graduated two classes of students, few of whom have attempted to start a business or lay down roots in Spokane, but Buller said neither are primary goals of the program.
“Whatever they end up doing, they are going to be entrepreneurial leaders,” he said.
Nora Totonchy, who won the school’s business plan competition in 2002, moved back to her hometown of Lake Oswego, Ore., after graduating with a degree in psychology. Using her prize-winning concept, she started Bridal Bliss, a wedding and event-planning company, in her mother’s bridal shop.
“It made it look like something that was more of a reality than a fantasy,” she said. “It seemed like a dream job to me.”
Totonchy said Bridal Bliss is “flourishing.” She has bookings through 2006 — something she credits to developing a reputable name for herself in the Portland area. She now has her sights set on larger markets.
Totonchy, 22, said she knew she would have to work hard to prove herself as a legitimate business owner, especially in a market where businesses fade in and out quickly.
“A lot of people were impressed with my knowledge in the industry,” she said. “I had a degree to back it up. I had the experience. I came in professionally dressed with printed business cards. I wanted to leave an impression on them.”Rachel Fabrikant-Botnick is fighting to keep budding professionals like Totonchy in Spokane through her work as director of events for the newly founded Spokane Society of Young Professionals. She helped start the group with four others so younger people, ranging from business owners to entrepreneurs to employees, can network and socialize.
“A lot of young professionals don’t want to stay in Spokane because we are not really known as a big city,” said Fabrikant-Botnick, 24. “So a lot of kids, when they go to school, leave. Our main goal is to show people, ‘Hey, Spokane has these things going on. And there are a lot of us. We can form a group and stay together.’”
Fabrikant-Botnick, who works in community relations for a nonprofit, said many people attend the group’s monthly meetings to get advice on cultural activities, job placement and meeting people their own age. The 100-member group, largely a social forum now, has plans to get involved with city government, be a springboard for job inquiries and give young professionals a strong voice in the community.
“It’s all about bridging the gap between the older professionals and the new up-and-coming professionals, she said. “In the next 10-20 years, we are going to be the presidents and CEOs.”