Escuchen, mujeres: How often do you consider starting your own business? Do you know in yourself that you can do it better, serve it better, sell it better? Do you have a business idea nagging inside? It’s a scary prospect, but … What’s stopping you?
In 1986, Yolanda Collazos Kizer took the plunge.The entrepreneurial plunge, that is. She started her own business and founded Casa Fenix Enterprises – retail stores, kiosks and newsstands at Sky Harbor International Airport and San Diego International Airport. The slowdown in consumer spending and air travelers has hurt revenue, but she says the shops are recovering, albeit slowly.
Collazos Kizer’s businesses have ebbed and flowed with the wavering economy over the last 15 years. Her survival in the latest recession has been to view it as a learning opportunity. “It’s forced us to be more creative and innovative and come up with more strategies,” she says.
Casa Fenix employs about 50 workers. Collazos Kizer and her staff have had to be more attentive to specific customer wants, recommitting to friendly customer service and tailoring advertising to specific audiences.
Rising to the statistical challenge
While the number of women-owned firms is on the rise, they lag in survival rates, receipts and employees when compared with male-owned firms. According to the U.S. Census, there were some 7.8 million women-owned businesses in 2007. Those businesses generated $1.2 trillion in receipts or about 3.9 percent of business receipts nationwide.
The census reports that, on average, women owned about 20 percent of firms in a given state and more than 30 percent in several states. But they also faced lower survival rates, and more than 88 percent of those firms had no paid employees. This is significant, because firms with employees generated about 85 percent of all the receipts among women-owned firms.
Whether they started their business out of necessity or by choice, successful Latina business owners have had to display both discipline and verve in their quest for economic success. In the face of the latest economic challenges, many have taken a more streamlined, scaled-down approach; others have continued the growth of their business, like Collazos Kizer. Some gained valuable help training and leveraging resources and reenergized their business through networking.
For many, the challenges of operating in an austere environment for consumer and corporate spending have led to some new ways of doing business. Sizeable staffs, office space and big marketing budgets are out; collaborating with independent partners, virtual offices and less-expensive social media marketing are in.
Despite tough economic times, Collazos Kizer says women ought to consider becoming business owners if they have a passion for it and their product or service.
“You still have to learn to compete and be creative,” says Collazos Kizer, although she says opportunities may be better than when she started her businesses.
Take the plunge, make a plan
To be comfortable with some degree of risk is something Olga Aros stresses in her work with women who aspire to become entrepreneurs. Aros is president and CEO of her own company, ORA Worldwide Consultants, which specializes in management training for employers with entry-level managers. The firm also provides strategic planning for small businesses, nonprofits and community groups.
“Traditionally, [women] have focused on safety and security for their families,” says Aros, who has had a diverse professional career in corporate America. “But getting comfortable with calculated risks is something they need to get used to in business.”
Aros also heads up the Hispanic Business Women’s Alliance, an affinity group with the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It brings women business owners together to discuss the best approaches for success. In April, the alliance will feature a seminar on media strategies that work.
Aros believes a great opportunity exists specifically in social media. Women can use it to help them market and sell their products in a way that wasn’t possible even 10 years ago. “If they are able to find the products and services they can sell, they can use the strength of the Internet and social media to run effective businesses.”
“Women desire and want to own their own business, because it gives them a lot of flexibility …” says Aros. “Having said that, they need a lot of information to lay a solid foundation for their business.”
Any professional training women receive should stress a greater understanding of the business world, where to find capital, and finding a place for their products in the marketplace. That training must include developing a written business plan.
“A solid business plan will help you understand your market, product or service, how much startup capital you need [and where to find it],” Aros says. “Business planning is the key to it all.”
Find your niche, take control
One of the hurdles Lisa Urias overcame when she became an entrepreneur was learning the business side. “There are so many things to look at that are not your expertise. That was a huge learning curve,” she recalls. “You have to look at things such as margins, projections for growth, human resources, health care.”
Lisa Urias and a partner started a public relations/media relations firm in 2003 as a multicultural agency. Urias took over exclusive ownership in 2006, renamed the company Urias Communications, and now employs seven people. She has been able to keep the firm growing, despite the challenging economic environment.
“Some people do quite well in large corporate structures,” she says. “They are adept at maneuvering through the complexities of those structures. I, on the other hand, found it a little more frustrating. There are many layers of decision making. I’m the kind that just wanted to [run with it] … I feel a lot more control over the strategies I execute for my clients.”
Letty Alvarez has been an entrepreneur for over a decade. The strategy she used to keep her business open during the past recession has been to diversify. As president of ASI Marketing, a Phoenix-based firm she established in 1999, she’s had to cut back on employees, office space and other overhead. Currently, she has only one administrative assistant.
Alvarez has also increased her partnerships with other independent contractors and has enhanced business with existing clients rather than take on new clients. “We provide more services than we offered in the past.”
Her plunge into small business ownership derived from a family legacy. “My dad was his own boss,” Alvarez says. “I have had that entrepreneurial spirit since I was a little girl.”
Alvarez went into businesses to spend more time with her children, now young adults. She thought being her own boss would allow her this personal freedom, a misconception about entrepreneurship she soon discovered.
“People think you work for yourself,” says Alvarez, “but truthfully, all of your clients are your bosses. You have to cater to your clients. You always have to have your working hat on.”
Despite the economy, she urges other women to become entrepreneurs. “It’s always a good time. You just have to find your niche. You also need to find a passion for the service or product you’re providing.” In her case, it’s promoting and marketing her clients.
“You have to love being a business owner, because it is not easy,” Alvarez adds. “You don’t have a steady paycheck. It’s not an 8-to-5 job. You don’t have a set vacation. So, you don’t have that stability. But you’re able to make your own choices and organize and plan very well for yourself.”
NAWBO challenges U.S. Congress
In November, Kelly Scanlon, board chair of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), testified before Congress and urged them to open up more federal contracting opportunities to women-owned firms.
NAWBO represents more than 10 million female business owners across the nation. It is the biggest organization for women entrepreneurs, with 70 chapters across the country.
In her remarks, she identified three issues that could help propel female entrepreneurship:
• Access to capital
• A focus on capacity building and education
• Greater access to opportunities
On the final point, Scanlon was specifically referring to federal contracting opportunities. She said 3.4 percent of federal dollars spent to support women-owned firms has been the highest percent reached, despite a bill signed into law 10 years ago that said women should receive 5 percent of that spending.
“The political contests have concluded, and now it’s time for political leaders to do more and to do better to advance the interests of women and small business,” Scanlon remarked, citing her support for a new proposed bill that would remove some of the barriers women-owned firms face in achieving parity in federal contracting.
Link: http://latinopm.com/business/briefcase/taking-the-plunge-8715