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Atlanta - AJC Jobs
Micro-Business as a Fallback
There's help for entrepreneurs who have the aptitude and are
willing to think small.
Maria Mallory White - For the Journal-Constitution
Sunday, February 23, 2003
When
executives or middle managers lose their jobs, many decide
to go it alone, hanging out their shingles as consultants or
contractors.
But what
if your experience and earning potential don't put you in
those middle and upper ranks? Can you really hope to go it
alone?
You may
not have to --- at least not in the beginning --- especially
if you think small, as in "micro."
The
Georgia Micro Enterprise Network, one of 25 statewide
networks in the country, is comprised of nonprofit
organizations that specialize in supporting and developing
micro-businesses, says Executive Director Patricia C.
Williams.
"Micro-business is a subset of small business," Williams
explains. "They are five or fewer employees, owner-operated,
and require less than $35,000 in initial capital to get
started."
GMEN is
a statewide trade association that trains member
organizations who offer training programs for micro-business
people.
"We
believe there are 100-plus organizations that do this in
Georgia," Williams says. "About 45 are members of my trade
association."
A
county-by-county listing of GMEN members can be found on the
association's Web site, www.Georgiamicroenterprise.org
The
group's goal is to advocate the micro-business concept and
"to provide low- and moderate-income persons assistance in
attaining economic self-sufficiency through
self-employment," according to its Web site.
But the
micro-business concept is becoming broader, says Rachel A.
Davis, director of operations at the Microenterprise Center
in Kennesaw, a GMEN member.
"What
we've started noticing is, we're getting more clients,
people who have had high incomes at one time and have been
laid off or they've made the decision that 'I don't want to
go back [to working for someone else]' because they have
been laid off multiple times," Davis says. "The
micro-enterprise thing is more than creating a business;
it's making myself more economically sufficient, making
myself more empowered."
Davis
says many businesses her center assists are run by women. "I
would say 80 percent of the clients we serve are women."
Most are
service businesses, Davis says, offering such services as
catering, janitorial or day care.
"Or, it
may be a business they have started from a job that they
were working," Davis says. "Maybe I have graphic design
skills, or maybe I was an administrative assistant and I'm
going to become an administrative assistant to several small
businesses."
These
enterprises are operating at a level distinct from the
typical small business, Davis explains.
"A small
business can have capital needs in excess of anywhere from
$50,000 up to $100,000, and it's basically a sales
threshold," she says.
On the
other hand, "annual sales for a micro-business max out at
$100,000 a year.
"It's a
business that does not require a lot of people resources or
capital resources to get it started; something one can start
in their homes and grow into a small business," Davis says.
The
Microenterprise Center is supported by the United Way, one
of its major funding sources, and is housed at Kennesaw
State University, where it operates in conjunction with the
Michael J. Coles School of Business.
The
center serves a low-to-moderate-income clientele, as defined
by federal guidelines, Davis says.
"Median
income in Cobb County for a single person is $36,000," she
explains. "Someone who falls into the low-to-moderate-income
category would be 80 percent, 50 percent or 30 percent of
that median. We use a grid and we can tell them, 'Based on
your annual income and the number of people in your
household, this is where you fall based on medium income.' "
The
Microenterprise Center's training is similar in scope to
programs offered by other GMEN members.
"Our
members usually do eight- to 15-week classes on business
development," Williams explains.
Microenterprise Center training is 12 weeks, Davis says.
"The objective of the 12 weeks of training is for the client
to develop a business plan. ... In addition, we have life
skills/business skills training that basically assists you
in how to balance your work life and home life, how to
manage stress," Davis says.
Not
every would-be businessperson makes it through
micro-enterprise training, Williams notes.
"Usually
25 percent of the people who get into that class drop out
because they don't want to do it," Williams says. "That's
good. It's a reality check."
A goal
of micro-enterprise training is to help evaluate
entrepreneurial aptitude, Davis says.
"Not
everyone is cut out, necessarily, to run a full-time
business," she says. "We're really about promoting economic
self-sufficiency. Some trainees grow their enterprises into
small businesses. Some decide they want to keep it as a
part-time business."
---
Maria Mallory White is a free-lance writer. Her e-mail
address is malloryink@aol.com
WHAT IT TAKES
Characteristics important
for a successful micro-enterprise operator:
> Common sense: "That's
being able to make a decision, because some of the
information you get as an entrepreneur is incomplete
information and inadequate data, so you have to be able to
figure out what makes sense," says Diane L. Moore, program
consultant with the Women's Economic Self-Sufficiency
Program.
> The ability to learn from
mistakes. "Of course we know that everybody makes them,"
Moore says. Entrepreneurs are astute at "recognizing those
mistakes and why things went wrong and then modifying their
actions and not making the same mistakes again."
> Responsibility and
commitment. "We sort of talk about that as [analogous to] a
person as a parent and how important it is to spend quality
time and quantity time with their children," Moore says.
"It's similar with start-up business."
> Self-confidence: That is
the tendency, Moore says, to "feel good about himself or
herself and to be able to inspire the confidence in others,
like your customers, your suppliers and, of course, your
banker."
> Perseverance: "Victory
goes to those who refuse to give up."
Source: Women's Economic
Self-Sufficiency Program of the Center for Black Women's
Wellness Inc.
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