FEAR of taking the plunge from the comfortable world of employment into an uncertain life as an entrepreneur holds many back from setting up their own businesses.
Striking out alone doesn’t have to be a heart-in-the-mouth affair, however. Instead of becoming a fully fledged small business owner, many people test the water as a minipreneur.
As the name suggests, minipreneurs set up mini businesses. They often have another full-time or part-time job or are housewives. Some are business owners who want to try out another idea on the side.
The idea has become so popular that Trendwatching.com, which monitors consumer trends around the world, coined the term minipreneur for pint-sized businesses of all shapes. These entities include “small and micro businesses, freelancers, side businesses, web-driven entrepreneurs, part- timers, free agents, cottage businesses, advertising-sponsored bloggers, eBay traders”.
Darina Loakman, who runs online businesses advising work-at-home-mums, estimates there are about 70,000 new home-based small businesses in Ireland. “The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that about 250,000 new businesses were started or in planning in Ireland in 2005,” she said. “About 28% of those were set up by people who said the business would not employ anybody other than the founder in five years’ time.”
Of the work-at-home-mums she encounters, Loakman said those wanting to make a fortune are in the minority. Many just want to make enough to get by and plenty are happy if the business just brings in “pin money”.
The choice of entrepreneurship as a lifestyle option rather than a path to riches is often a distinguishing feature of the new breed of minipreneur. “In the past two years, we have really started seeing this,” said John Cranfield, the chief executive of First Step, which provides microfinance or loans of less than €25,000 to start-up businesses. “Being an entrepreneur is the sexy thing to do and most people will at least go through the pre-start-up phase while still in employment.”
Minipreneurs might hope to scale up and develop full-time ventures eventually or they might just want to keep their business part-time, but all share the plan of starting small, keeping things simple, minimising costs and making the best possible use of the internet.
Antoin O Lachtnain, who runs Digital Messenger, a strategy and IT consultancy company, recently set up a side-business, Aspoke.com, which sells predesigned and customised “skins” or transfers for laptops.
“Being a mini-business, we have great flexibility,” he said of Aspoke. “We can try out things that bigger businesses might be scared of. We can deal flexibly with our suppliers. Being small isn’t as big a disadvantage as you might think in dealing with sellers.”
Starting small also minimises the risks attached to setting up a new company. “The internet in particular facilitates people to start small and grow organically without needing a big investment in the beginning,” said Aisling Mackey, who set up Cara Craft Supplies after finding it difficult to get supplies in Ireland for her first business, Cara Cards. “You don’t need €20,000. You can start with €2,000 and a small website and ship orders out from your home.”
Although some minipreneurs, particularly those selling home-made crafts or food products with a short shelf life, find they can manage perfectly well without a website, most say their businesses would not even exist without the internet.
“Without the internet, you couldn’t really do this,” said O Lachtnain. “It gives you access to a global marketplace and it probably would take you a long time to get any sort of critical mass without selling online. Also, being able to deal with people largely on e-mail rather than having to deal with phone calls makes it a whole lot more manageable.”
Cristiona Kiely set up BlackberryVillage.com last year to sell gifts to mums-to-be, new mums and children up to the age of eight. “I had always been working really long hours and just for once, I wanted to slow down and work from home. The internet was the secret tool that made it all possible.”
With two young children, Kiely finds the flexibility of running an internet-only store suits her as she doesn’t need to work office hours to keep the business afloat. She also researched her company entirely online, sourced all of her suppliers online and conducted all of her marketing online.
“If it weren’t for the internet, I would have no business,” she said. “We want to move house now and broadband is a more important consideration than electricity or running water. You can get an electrician or a plumber in, but if there is no broadband in the area, you have no control over that.”
Networking online at websites such as Irishbusinesswomen.com can also prove fruitful. “Through these sites, I have had an amazing number of clients and inquiries and now I am building partnerships with other small Irish businesses, such as companies that provide accounting software or e-mail newsletter software,” said Kiely.
One factor that sets minipreneurs apart from traditional cottage industries is that they tend to set up additional companies as they go along.
Kiely, for example, has just started a second business. Checkmate.ie provides virtual assistance for other small businesses with services such as business minding, book- keeping, website development and copywriting.
“The big thing about the internet is that you can have multiple streams of income,” said Loakman, who has three online businesses. “Traditionally, people thought, ‘Well, I’ve set up a business and this is it.’ Now people start one and then realise they can do something else and something else and keep going like that.”
Loakman decided last year to research ideas for a business that she could run from home, while bringing up her three children. She found lots of American websites advising work-at-home-mums, or Wahms as they are called, but spotted a niche when she realised there were no such sites for Wahms in Ireland and the UK.
Iamawahm.com opened its virtual doors in September 2005. Since then, she has set up Teamwahmonline.com, a joint venture with an English work-at-home-mum, which sells a six-week boot camp course on starting an online business. Her about-to-be-launched third site, HBWtalkradio.ie, will broadcast an online radio show or podcast aimed at the same market.
Successful minipreneurs keep costs down by availing of low-cost online products and services, such as Skype for phone calls or Paypal for accepting credit-card payments. Others take advantage of programs such as Google AdSense and other online advertising schemes that allow them to earn additional income streams.
O Lachtnain said the key to success in mini-business is to avoid overcomplicating matters. “Don’t take on loads of partners and big deals in the beginning. Keep it stripped down and simple, and when the time comes you can scale it up and make it bigger.”
For more information about minipreneurs, check out the following websites: Irishbusinesswomen.com, a discussion forum for entrepreneurs; Iamawahm.com, which has advice for work-at-home-mums; Startingabusinessinireland.com, which has information for entrepreneurs; and Springwise.com, which features new business ideas from around the world.
