Jim and Georgia Thompson didn't go into business to get
rich. They went into business because it looked better than working
for someone else. "It's not exactly that we didn't
like the people we were working for," explains Jim, 45.
"But we were doing all the work and weren't getting any of
the rewards."
So in June 2001, the father-daughter team started JJ&G
Electric, a two-person electrical contracting company in Austin,
Texas. Both were veteran electricians, and Georgia, 21, had
experience running the office at the electrical contractor where
they'd both formerly worked. But they quickly found that
running a small business was different from wiring a building.
"We had the electrical skills. We had the office skills. We
also had the people skills," says Jim. "But we had little
knowledge of the financial skills and skills of running a
business."
In that sense, the Thompsons are typical microenterprise owners.
These popular but little-recognized businesses, numbering an
estimated 2 million, are generally categorized as those requiring
less than $35,000 in start-up or early-stage financing. They
usually have fewer than five employees, especially in the early
years, and are often sole proprietorships. Microentrepreneurs face
a special challenge, because few lenders will consider making such
small loans, especially to start-ups that lack adequate collateral.
Microenterprises are likewise challenged by the fact that
they're often run by people who, while boasting excellent
technical ability, don't know much about marketing,
bookkeeping, cash management and other key business skills.
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Fortunately, a range of organizations can help with both skills
and capital. And coupled with microentrepreneurs' drive and
determination, the microenterprise story is one that generally has
a successful run and a happy ending. Why? One reason is that
microbusiness owners typically come from low-paying jobs,
unemployment, underemployment or public assistance programs. They
often start as part-timers, moonlighters from day jobs or
work-at-home moms. With powerful motivation and a modest growth
plan, they more often than not get what they're after.
Take Angela Nicholas, for example. She started Bauer Triple
D's Learning Complex Inc. in Pensacola, Florida, because she
couldn't find a job in the public schools, after her husband, a
Naval officer, was transferred to Pensacola. "I never planned
to go this route," says Nicholas, 42. But when she looked at a
plot of land near her home and envisioned children playing in a
child-care center, she was inspired. After receiving business
training from a local development agency, she successfully applied
for a combination of bank loans and community development funding
that allowed her to open a center. Today, she employs nine
teachers.
Nicholas enjoys making her own decisions, something she was
never able to do as a physical therapist and administrator in the
public school system. And she feels she's building something
for the future. "I'm not seeing the rewards immediately,
but in another 10 or 15 years, when I'm finished paying off my
mortgage, I'll see them," she says.
Most microentrepreneurs cite similar benefits of independence
and potential for building wealth, says Dawn Rivers Baker, editor
of The MicroEnterprise Monthly, a microbusiness
journal in Sidney, New York. "Most of them are earning $20,000
to $50,000 a year, though there's a nice chunk of them who are
earning over $100,000," she says. "But if people were to
do this for financial reasons, nobody would do it. They do it
because they like it."
Originally published in the issue of Entrepreneur's StartUps
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