At first Linda Healy didn't recognize opportunity when it knocked. The vice squad was at her door, which didn't seem all that lucky.
She wasn't afraid because she knew the massages she was giving were all aboveboard and legal. Still, she got cited for operating a business out of her home without a business license.She was a licensed massage technician and was only "vaguely" aware of the need for another license, she says.
At about the same time her landlord told her she and her six children would have to move. And then a notice came in the mail offering her a class to become an entrepreneur. Finally Healy recog-nized her opportunity.
As long as she had to move anyway, as long as she had to buy another license, why shouldn't she actually find a business location, take a class and learn how to market and expand her venture?
Healy was in the second graduating class from the Entrepreneurship for Single Parents Program, called ESP. The 10-week course begins again on Saturday, Feb. 19. Call 967-4558 for details. Even though ESP was designed to help single parents get off assistance, it is open to anyone who is interested in starting or expanding a business.
ESP is sponsored by the Salt Lake County Housing Authority, Salt Lake Community College, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center.
Holly Carlin, with the Salt Lake County Housing Authority, helped organize and is the program instructor.
As a single parent herself, and a CPA who has her own company, Carlin has learned support is critical for anyone trying to start a business.
Though she agrees that being an entrepreneur takes a lot of time and energy, she does not necessarily see it as a difficult way to become financially solvent.
"When you have your own thing, there is nothing but creativity going on. There is a sense of pride and self-esteem. You know you are of value. You don't have to put up with the bureaucracy."
Debra Rainey says that sense of pride is contagious. "My 12-year-old daughter loves to get involved in my projects. She has learned a lot of organizational skills . . . she's learned that something you really want is worth working hard for . . . and just because things aren't easy doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself while you are working on them."
A graduate of the first ESP class in 1991, Rainey has myriad projects and products under way. "Currently I am an independent loan officer. I've also been working at opening a manufacturing plant that produces grab bars and handrails for the physically impaired."(When their manufacturing company moved back East, a group of skilled production workers contacted Rainey to help them get a loan and start their own company.) Rainey is also working on a line of theme party instructions and games, an idea she developed with MaryAnne Andregg, a woman she met in the ESP class.
While Rainey revamps and remarkets that line, she is also manufacturing and selling a chore chart for children. She uses the chore chart business as an example of the principals she learned in ESP.
"In order to market your product, you need to be able to describe it in a condensed manner. You need to find cost-effective ways to market - for me it's fliers and Nifty Nickel and local trade events where I can get a booth for from $25 to $250.
"I can have a basic inventory to sell at the show, but I also take orders and use the money I collect at the trade show to buy additional inventory to fill the orders.
"You need to be able to produce the product economically. In the class they talked about mass production and different retailers and craftspeople who can help you."
Many of the entrepreneurs in her class were selling a service, not a product, says Healy. In some ways a service is easier to sell because there is no overhead. Healy says she charges $40 an hour for a massage. As a typist in someone else's company, she'd be making more like $40 a day.
She knew she was onto a good way to become self-supporting, yet Healey found she needed the ESP class to help her take the big step. She was especially inspired by the successful business owners who came in as speakers and by the videotaped interview with people who own national chains.
"Did you know the people who started Esprit just loaded up a station wagon with clothing samples? And Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream - watching how they grew a business, seeing their spirit, really helped me."
So Healey did it. She took a deep breath and found a new house for herself and her kids and also started paying rent at a second place, a business location for her massage service, which is now officially called the Relaxation Station.
Today she's seeking a loan to expand to yet another location. And she's looking to hire another woman who just graduated from ESP to help her run her new business.