You're the BOSS

By Laura Raines

For ajcjobs

On your worst workdays, you dream of being your own boss. No more demanding manager, congested commute, pointless meetings, confining suits and fear of being laid off.

Many entrepreneurs have done more than dream. The number of new business startups grew from 585,140 in 2001 to 671,800 in 2005, according to U.S. Small Business Administration statistics. Small businesses are generating 60 percent to 80 percent of new jobs annually in this country.

One of them could be yours if you put your ideas, skills and talents to work for yourself. Yet, that dream has a downside. In 2005, 544,800 small businesses failed as people discovered that going it alone comes with a different set of responsibilities and challenges.

How do you know if you're ready to be your own boss? Business and accounting experts talk about sound ideas, business plans, capital investments, market research and customer service. But the real experts — the entrepreneurs who have taken the plunge and have no intentions of going back — talk about instinct.

"You know when that voice in your head tells you that you're determined to take on the obstacles you know will be there," said Tricia Sanders, owner of BizPen Communications, an Atlanta business marketing and communications firm.

A fourth-generation entrepreneur, Sanders says she has it in her blood. In her first venture, a toy store, she discovered an interest in marketing and a talent for writing. She honed that talent with a degree in communications from Kennesaw State University.

"Working for someone else was a huge challenge for me. It didn't feel like a good fit. Being my own boss is the best use of my passions and skills and gives me confidence," Sanders said.

For Chris Kouloukas, it was "a burning sensation to do something unique and different." He wanted to create a new "American icon."

Kouloukas had founded Mail & More, a neighborhood shipping store, in Atlanta in 1997 and franchised the concept in 2001. Seeing the shipping-store niche grow crowded and having customers ask him what the "more" meant made Kouloukas realize that there was an unmet need in the economy.

A support system

Kouloukas took 18 months to research and rebrand his company and launched SOHO HERO in 2005. His community business centers cater to what he calls SOHOs, or small office/home office professionals. He sees small-business owners as today's business "heroes, who are battling crazy deadlines and unrealistic expectations and delivering anyway."

"The world has changed — small-business owners are driving the economy and creating the jobs — but the world we work in has not changed," Kouloukas said. "Small-business owners have full responsibility for running their businesses, but with a lot less help [than their corporate counterparts]. We provide that help and an upscale place for them to gather and meet other small-business owners."

SOHO HERO's 30 locations, which are in grocery-store-anchored shopping centers around the Southeast, provide shipping, packaging, printing, Web site design, marketing materials and business advice to their clients.

"From a company logo to business cards, a Web site to a banner for a trade show, we can help someone launch and grow his business," said Pam Hodges, owner of SOHO HERO on Shallowford Road in Roswell.

A former medical sales representative who left the corporate world to raise her children, Hodges thought she could work at a SOHO HERO and soon discovered she could run one.

"I had no idea how many people had started businesses. One of the things we do is connect clients to one another. We're the 'water cooler' for people working from small offices or their homes," she said.

Hodges was the kind of franchisee Kouloukas knew would make his concept work.

"Baby boomers have the business experience; they've been through a couple of cycles and can offer wisdom to our clients," he said. Many, like Hodges, also are looking for a way to work where they live.

On April 13, Kouloukas and Hodges are taking the SOHO HERO concept farther by expanding her store into the first SOHO HERO Meeting Center. Members can book fully equipped meeting and conference rooms and enjoy a Wi-Fi-equipped, comfortable lobby and free coffee and soft drinks.

"This was a very logical next step. Our customers kept telling us that they had no professional place to meet customers. Starbucks wasn't appropriate for their needs," Hodges said. "Now they have a place to get connected and bounce ideas off each other."

Hodges, a longtime volunteer at her children's schools, said she feels more involved with her community. "I feel like I'm contributing something."

Keep your ears open

Knowing how to listen to your instincts, to market trends and to others who can help you run your business is a critical part of being ready to be your own boss, small-business owner David Kurkoski said.

As a sales manager for a hair- and beauty-supply company, he used to tell his sales reps to "just listen — the customers will tell you what they want and need." When he heard about changes in the market, Kurkoski persuaded his company to take on a line of skin-care products, which proved successful. When the supply company's owner decided to retire, Kurkoski left to become the distributor for the skin-care company.

Listening again, he heard that customers wanted more choices in products, so he launched his own company, Aesthetic Solutions Inc., three years ago. He provides skin-care equipment and products to spas, doctors' offices and salons.

Kurkoski knew how to sell, but he was in over his head when it came to delivering all the orders and running the business.

"Ken Meyers, [former owner] of SOHO HERO in Roswell, kept saying that he thought he could help me. I learned that what he meant went way beyond mailing," he said.

SOHO HERO in Roswell stores and ships products that customers order from Kurkoski's Web site or from sales calls. The center has helped him update his Web site and create customized marketing materials and product manuals.

"It's a one-stop shop for my business. They're efficient and understand my needs. They save me time and money and free me up to do the things I need to do," Kurkoski said.

Kurkoski has joined Vistage, a CEO membership organization, to learn better business practices so that he can take Aesthetic Solutions to the next level. He knows that he needs to hire additional salespeople and put his energy into running the company.

"It is key for a small-business owner to ask for help and be a student of what he is doing," Kurkoski said.

Ask the experts

Before opening BizPen Communications, Sanders talked to similar business owners who had succeeded and failed. She consulted resources on the Web and through Georgia's Small Business Development Center Network (www.sbdc.uga.edu) in order to write a viable business plan.

"It's important to get as much experience as you can and make sure you develop a network for the career you're starting. You're going to need people to help you and mentor you," Sanders said.

While getting her marketing degree, Sanders interned with Larry Lowenstein, a top Atlanta public-relations professional who taught her about the business and networking. After graduation, she took a marketing job with Kennesaw State University's continuing education department and freelanced in communications work on the side. When she was ready to develop her own company, she kept KSU as a client.

"I wanted to develop my business gradually, to be smart in how I did it professionally and financially," Sanders said. "You have to be honest with yourself to be your own boss, to realize all the security that you are giving up. But I love the idea that everything I do, whether it's a good decision or bad decision, I have to own it. It makes every day a challenge and a motivation. When I execute a plan and see it work for my clients, I get to celebrate with them.

"You have to be able to walk the talk and deliver what you promise, but don't forget to consider that you can't do everything yourself. Get help with the tasks that aren't a good fit. Never be afraid to ask for help."

For example, if your cooking skills are the basis of your catering business, do the cooking and get help with the accounting and purchasing.

Is anyone ever totally ready to be his or her own boss?

"No," Kouloukas said. "There are always doubts, and it usually comes down to intuition."

But he's witnessed a strong indicator. "People who succeed at running their own businesses see work as an activity, not a place," he said. "For our customers, work is a verb, not a noun. To be your own boss, you have to have a results-driven mind-set."

It also helps to be ready to listen and learn.

SOHO HERO GRAND OPENING

The SOHO HERO Meeting Center on Shallowford Road will have a community grand opening on April 14 from noon to 4 p.m. For information, call 770-642-8989 or visit www.sohohero.com.