Would-be entrepreneurs find help with building their dreams
| Monday, Mar 08 2010 02:00 PM
Last Updated Monday, Mar 08 2010 02:00 PM
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Ali Morris, President of the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce, teaches a class on entrepreneurship at the Small Business Assistance Center at Bakersfield College's Weill Institute in downtown Bakersfield on Monday night.
Ali Morris paced before a half-dozen aspiring entrepreneurs and tried to hammer home the importance of customer service.
“If you have a restaurant and you take more than 10 minutes to serve your food, you’re pushing it,” he said. “After 15 minutes, they’re getting antsy. Twenty minutes, they start to talk about you. More than that, you’ve lost a customer, and once you lose a customer, it’s very hard to get them back.”
The Nxlevel Business Start-Up Training class is co-sponsored by the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Center, with funding by a grant from Citibank.
The class is an important teaching tool for would-be entrepreneurs in a market that doesn’t have the same resources as larger cities for those who dream of opening a business. Bigger cities have incubators that nurture new businesses by subsidizing the cost of operations for the first few years, or venture capital firms that invest in start-ups. In Bakersfield, that sort of concrete leg up isn’t available, but there are other forms of assistance.
“There’s help available, if you know where to go,” said Tiffany Henry, 26, who enrolled in the Black Chamber’s class because she wants to open a beauty supply store. “Before, I felt like it was really hard figuring out how to get off the ground. I was going around in circles. But now, I feel like I’m getting some guidance.”
Where to get help
The Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce class is 10 weeks and free for students. The second of four sessions is underway in the Kern Community College District building, 2100 Chester Ave.
Another resource is the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Small Business Development Centers, which provides management assistance to current and prospective small business owners.
Locally, its programming is available through UC Merced, 2000 K St. Free one-on-one counseling is available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, but an appointment must be scheduled in advance. There also are classes, periodically, on a variety of topics related to entrepreneurship and running a business.
Linda Miles, an independent consultant who works for the Bakersfield SBDC, says she is very busy. “There is a tremendous need for this service, because with the economy being what it is, a lot of people are out of work, and if you can’t get anyone to hire you, you do one of two things: Either you go back to school or you start a small business,” she said.
The Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has offered a six-week entrepreneurship class in the past, and hopes to again once a permanent chief executive officer is on board. The chamber is under the leadership of an interim director at the moment.
A lot of would-be entrepreneurs “have no idea how to get started, especially the small businesses, the family-owned restaurants and hair salons and what have you,” said Hispanic Chamber chairwoman Ramona Herrera. “They need help even with things as basic as banking. They think they can just pay all their expenses out of their personal checking account instead of getting a separate business account.”
Just about every business starts with a comprehensive business plan because you can’t get financial assistance without one, said Morris, president of the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce. That, and decent credit, are the building blocks of any new venture. For market research, he suggests attending industry conferences and trade shows to learn as much as you can about your particular line of business and what your competitors are up to.
“If it’s a big enough show that draws people from all over the country, you may even be able to learn from someone who’s doing what you’re trying to do in another city,” he said. “If they have a store in Atlanta and you’re trying to open one here, they can give you advice and suggestions because you’re in another state. You’re not a threat to them.”
Securing financing
Banks and other investors base financing decisions in part on a business plan that identifies demand, industry trends, sales projections, target markets and solutions to potential obstacles. But even an original idea and a solidly researched business plan may not be enough to obtain financing, said Joe Newton, a retired professor of business administration who serves as a volunteer counselor for the Service Corps of Retired Executives, or SCORE.
SCORE provides free one-on-one entrepreneurship counseling in partnership with the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. Sessions are by appointment from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesdays at 1725 Eye St. SCORE knows financing is difficult to get right now “because we are in regular contact with all the big banks. There just isn’t any loan money for start-ups,” Newton said. “They won’t touch them. They’re too risky.”
Sometimes community banks will stick their necks out for smaller loans — that is, $10,000 or less, Newton said. “But if you want the big money, you’re probably going to have to find an investor. And I do mean find them, because they’re not going to come to you.”
Newton tells people to network as often as they can at chamber mixers and other events where business people congregate, and to use Internet search engines to identify out-of-town investors willing to buy stakes in promising start-ups.
There is also sometimes grant money, but Newton discourages people from exclusively relying on that.
“It should supplement your financing, not be your sole source of assistance, because grants are very difficult to get and they don’t last forever. If that’s all you’ve got, once your grant money dries up, you’re out of business,” Newton said.
Remember, too, that any financial assistance has strings attached.
“There’s no such thing as free money unless it’s from your parents. And even then, they’ll never let you forget it,” Newton said.
Resources for aspiring entrepreneurs
Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce and Service Corps of Retired Executives, 327-4421
Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce, 326-1529
Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 633-5495
The UC Merced Small Business Development Center, 861-7941
