Down economy seeing growth of small startups

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September 25, 2009

By Jan Chait The Tribune Star Fri Sep 25, 2009, 09:48 PM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — A depressed economy is acting as a fertilizer for small-business starts.

“Individuals have been laid off; they’ve been downsized,” says Heather Penney, regional director of the West Central Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC), located in Room 510 of the College of Business at Indiana State University. “People can’t rely on having a job.”

Increasingly, people are determining that, if they can’t rely on being employed by somebody else, they’ll go to work for themselves. If possible — either now or down the road — they’ll employ some others, too.

According to figures from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, 79 — or 3.2 percent — of companies in Vigo County had more than 100 workers and employed 49 percent of the workforce in 2008. Making up the other 51 percent of employers were 2,643 businesses with fewer than 100 workers.

In Putnam County, which is in the West Central Indiana district, the largest businesses make up 2.5 percent of companies and employ 52.4 percent of the workers.

That data is unavailable for Clay, Parke, Sullivan and Vermillion counties, which make up the remainder of the district.

Yes, it does take a lot of small businesses to equal the workforce of a handful of large companies, but without them, employment would be less than half of what it is. Also, small business is generally defined as a company that has fewer than 500 workers, so many of those large employers are actually small businesses.

As a matter of course, small businesses greatly outnumber the large ones. A recent count revealed 17,000 small businesses within a 50-mile radius of Terre Haute, Penney says.

How many small businesses make it? Only one in 100 lasts for five years, Penney says. That statistic could stress the importance of planning. Fortunately, the SBDC is there to help potential entrepreneurs start off on the right foot. And the price is right, too: It’s free.

Small Business Help

Regular workshops include:

• Small Business Boot Camp: provides information about the seven key fundamental steps on starting and operating your own small business.

• Human Resources 101: addresses your key questions about human resources.

• Secrets of the IRS teaches you what all business owners should know about their taxes.

• Start a Business for less than $500: helps you develop ideas for building a startup strategy for starting a small business without going into debt.

• Build Your Business Foundation: provides information about building a business plan.

• Recovering Your Business After a Natural Disaster.

• Writing Your Business Plan.

• Marketing Strategies.

• Social Media Marketing.

• Funding Options for your Business.

• Manage Your Business by the Numbers.

Can’t make a class in person or want to learn at your own speed? Go to www.isbdc.org/online_seminars.aspx to learn about online classes.

Source: Small Business Development Center

To contact the regional SBDC to ask about workshops, reports and other assistance with planning or starting a small business or growing an existing business, call (812) 237-7676 or toll-free 1-800-227-7232 or go to www.isbdc.org.

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