Small - Time Operator

Issue # 47 - September/October 1977

Yes, you can be your own boss . . . more easily than you may think. According to Bernard Kamoroff, a California CPA, "All it really requires is a good idea, some hard work, and a little knowledge."

And "a little knowledge"-actually a great deal of knowledge-is what Bernard's book, Small-Time Operator, is all about. Mr. Kamoroff has nine solid years of experience as a tax accountant and financial advisor for started-from-scratch businesses, and he's done an amazing and praiseworthy job of boiling those nine years down into a complete and very useful technical manual for the beginning small entrepreneur.

The passages that follow will give you a good idea of the kind of practical instructions you'll find in Small-Time Operator. As you'll see, there is a lot to striking out on your own . . . but the rewards of such a venture can be well worth all the difficulties.

Don't, then, let yourself be too easily discouraged! "Other people-many others-now run their own small businesses," Bernard Kamoroff points out, "and you can too."

FINANCING: HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED?

How much money you need depends a lot on the type of business you're starting and the type of person you are. If you're willing to work hard, to make a few sacrifices, to live on beans for a while, you can start a successful business for little or no investment.

Every service business I know was begun with almost no money. I started my accounting practice with a $30 adding machine and 500 business cards. My friend Joe Campbell started Resistance Repair with $300 worth of test equipment. Another friend's computer programming service was begun with $10 in supplies. Self-employed carpenters, mechanics, and repair people often start with their box of tools, period.

If you set up a crafts business, you'll need-besides your tools-raw materials to make your product. But you don't have to stock a large supply of inventory, and if you hunt around you can always find good deals on remnants and close-out materials. All of the craft business owners I've interviewed started their businesses with less than $500 initial investment.

A retail store requires a good stock of inventory, which often costs at least a few thousand dollars. Kipple Antiques had an initial investment of $1,400. Lara Stonebraker's tiny coffee shop has a coffee and accessory inventory of over $10,000. A retail business can save on initial inventory costs by taking goods on consignment-as in a custom dress shop-or by having only samples on hand and taking orders for the goods.

BORROWING MONEY

Right at the start, let me warn you not to expect sure-fire sources of loan money from this chapter of the book. It offers some guidelines, a few ideas to track down; but it also gives an honest, though not cheery, appraisal of the money situation. And the money situation is not good.