TAMPA - Think you’re too young to run your own business?

Think again.

Across the Tampa Bay area, entrepreneurs in their 20s are proving they’ve got the passion, talent and smarts to start their own firms.
Youth, it turns out, is a major business asset.

“There’s no better time to start a business than now, when you’re young,” says Dianne Welsh, an entrepreneurship professor at the University of Tampa’s business school. “I always tell my students to go for it right now. There’s always an excuse later on.”

Why act now? Welsh says young entrepreneurs typically have more flexibility and fewer entanglements — such as mortgages, car payments, children to put through college, and the like — than their older counterparts. But there are disadvantages, too: more seasoned entrepreneurs generally have more expertise and contacts than the young Turks, and usually have an easier time getting financing.

Without a lengthy résumé or established business reputation, young entrepreneurs might not get much love from banks and other traditional lenders. Instead, they usually find themselves at the mercy of family, friends and the good folks in the credit card industry.

Whatever the pros or cons, Americans live in the most entrepreneurial society in the world, so there’s very little standing between a young person and his or her dreams of starting a company, Welsh says.

“There’s no better time to get your feet wet,” she says.

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Conquerer Of Fear

Summer Watson, 29

Company: Good Dog/Bad Dog Creative Design, Inc.

Tip: Network to find clients and meet industry colleagues.

Watson says she found help from a friend who had started her own firm.

Watson waved farewell to her cubicle earlier this year, turning her part-time freelance design gig into a full-time business.

Business is growing. So is her client list. And Watson says she enjoys the independence of running her firm and setting her own schedule.

When she first started out, though, Watson was terrified.

“It’s tough and scary when you first start out — but not as scary as you might think,” she admits. “I’m not an extreme risk taker, and I was just agonizing about what happens if it doesn’t work out.”

Watson sought help and advice from a friend who had started a copywriting business. She also finds other graphic designers in the Tampa Bay area to be very helpful.

“They’re very supportive,” she says. “Don’t be afraid of competitors.”

(In case you’re wondering, Watson’s company is named after her dogs: Raley, a well behaved German Shepherd, and Marshall, a Boxer-Labrador mix who likes to get into trouble.)

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Big Thinker

Adrien Edwards, 22

Company: Tee2Greens LLC

Tip: Pursue What You Love

Adrien Edwards is looking toward the future, and he likes what he sees.

In five years, he’s planning to parlay his HipKaddy — a smart little case that fits on your belt and carries tees, pencils and two golf balls — into a golf products firm with several products, retail sales, and branded clothing.

Edwards just bought the company that produces the HipKaddy earlier this year. It’s hardly his first business venture: he started selling homemade candleholders to neighbors when he was 12, and started an Internet-based sales and shipping company in his teens.

“Well, I’ve always liked the idea of business,” he says.

Edwards says entrepreneurs should avoid procrastination and empty promises.

“What you won’t do now, you won’t do later,” he says.

Hard work doesn’t always leave a lot of time for socializing, but Edwards says he’s not worried. After all, these days his priority is building his business.
“I know the rewards are much better, so the sacrifice seems minimal,” he says.

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More Than A Dreamer

Rachel Cantor, 24

Company: RC Associates LLC

Tip: Focus and plan.

Some little girls dream of becoming princesses. Other little girls dream of being doctors or astronauts.

But when Rachel Cantor was a little girl, she dreamed she’d grow up to become an entrepreneur.

“I’ve known since I was 5 that I wanted to start a business,” she says. “That’s been my passion.”

Cantor got her first taste for business by watching her dad set up his own engineering company in the family’s basement in Bucks County, Penn.
Last January, Cantor launched a consulting firm that helps engineering companies find workers. Three months later, she took the part-time venture and turned it into a full-time business.

Her mentor is her dad.

Cantor says running a business can eat up a lot of time. She says she often works 12-hours days. Sometimes she’s hard at work and is surprised to look a the clock and see it’s 2 a.m.

She doesn’t mind the long hours, though.

“I can see the results,” she says. “I’m living out my dreams.”

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Contact Dave Simanoff at (813) 259-7762 or dsimanoff@tampatrib.com.

 

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