Baby-faced entrepreneurs take charge of their lives
Two years ago, within days of each other, Corey Leftwich got the offer to buy the Mr. Transmission store in Snellville, and he and his wife decided to buy a house.
"It was nerve-wracking," Leftwich says of the two life-changing decisions.
But a few things were clear: his growing family needed a bigger home, and he needed the leeway to run a business the way he saw fit. Illinois-based Moran Industries provided just the opportunity with its Mr. Transmission franchises.
Leftwich, now 35, had been a Mr. Transmission manager at other locations since 1998.
"I wanted to control and call my own shots," he says.
"I like treating the customer well, whether it's today or tomorrow, or whether everything works perfect or not," he says.
Leftwich is among the masses of young people who have taken the plunge into business ownership - following their instincts and relying on their experience to make a go of it as entrepreneurs.
According to CEOs for Cities' August 2005 report, "The Young and the Restless in a Knowledge Economy," people ages 25 to 34 are the most entrepreneurial of any age group.
It's easier to start a business now than 20 years ago, says Washington, D.C.-based entrepreneurial consultant Jennifer Kalita, author of "The Home Office Parent." The Internet has definitely helped young entrepreneurs get a leg up on launching their enterprises: "It's made information on marketing and customer service much more readily available," Kalita says.
Larry Bennett, professor of entrepreneurial practice at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management, says entrepreneurship among young people is more socially acceptable today than a decade or more ago.
"The fact of matter is within the last 15 years there's been a whole explosion and focus on how to start a business," he says.
Once serious entrepreneurs are determined to get and keep their businesses off the ground, little seems to stop them. Josh Boring, 28, overcame several hurdles common to youthful business owners while building his landscaping company.
"The first was learning to compete in this industry," says the owner of the Lilburn-based EnviroWorks, which provides a full range of landscape services to commercial, industrial and residential clients. "Youth was sometimes a disadvantage, too, especially when I was bidding on large projects against people older than me. Clients thought other people were better just because they were older."
Being taken seriously is an obstacle many young professionals face - especially business owners. Imagine Air founders Aaron Sohacki and Ben Hamilton, both in their early 20s, may have felt an urge to perform the classic Rodney Dangerfield get-no-respect routine while visiting an airplane sales company.
"Ben and I flew out to Albuquerque where the jets are made," Sohacki remembers. "They gave us a tour and were very nice. We asked a lot of technical questions but we could tell they were thinking, 'Yeah, right, these guys are going to buy jets.' Sure enough, we came back and made the purchase."
Sal Ajani, 34, of Duluth-based Ajani Investments Inc., whose diversified interests include retail and real estate, advises young entrepreneurs to "learn from bottom up. When I got into gas stations, honestly, I didn't know anything. I did everything from cleaning to fixing. If you know from the bottom up, no one can take advantage of you."
Besides heading up the kind of customer service he thinks is best at his shop, there are other advantages to being his own boss, Leftwich says. For one, he gets to spend more time with his sons and his wife. Sometimes he is able to leave work 20 minutes early to coach his children's sports teams.
Finding your business savvy
Tips for young entrepreneurs on starting a business
Whether you're from Gen-X or Gen-Y, starting and maintaining a successful business comes with questions, confusion and headaches. Here are a few resources to help budding business people get the right start:
Do you have the right stuff to be an entrepreneur?
This article lists some of the personality traits of successful entrepreneurs - such as delegation, working with numbers, self-motivation, etc. You'll also find links to more articles with advice on business and entrepreneurship. www.allbusiness.boston.com. Enter search words "right stuff".Gen-X Idea Cafe
On this site, Idea Cafe caters to the business needs of Generation-X entrepreneurs with information, advice and fun to feed your mind and your business. The site welcomes biz fans of every age and includes stories of Gen-X business successes.Tools from Inc.com
Inc.com has more than 100 free tools that are available to Inc.com members. From sample policies and agreements to worksheets and checklists, Inc.com has tools to help you in every area of your business.www.sba.gov/teens
Though aimed at teenagers, this Small Business Administration site provides some good perspective on starting a business. The site covers topics ranging from generating business ideas to avoiding legal hassles and writing business plans.www.kauffman.org
The Kauffman Foundation is working to further understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, to advance entrepreneurship education and training efforts, to promote entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and to better facilitate the commercialization of new technologies by entrepreneurs and others which have great promise for improving the economic welfare of our nation.
