Entrepreneurs Create Their Own Opportunities

A downturn can spark great things. More than a few people who lose their jobs in a stalled economy decide to give the “entrepreneurial thing” a shot. They may end up investing their entire life’s nest egg on a fling.

Launching a business is a high-risk play that you should only consider with a cool head, a solid plan and the willingness to dedicate a huge amount of work and patience.

In 1975, at the end of another serious recession, Roger Schelper and his buddies decided to open what is today Davanni’s—a New York-style pizzeria in the Minneapolis area. Here are some things Roger learned in his venture that any budding entrepreneur will do well to bear in mind during a downturn or, for that matter, at any time:

• Research the market carefully. Your chances often hinge on identifying an attractive, unoccupied market niche—one you must have the know-how and raw ingredients to fill with authority.
• Know the success factors. In the restaurant business, for example, you could be the greatest chef since Julia Child and still end up chowing down your own leftovers. Running a successful restaurant has a three-course menu: Location. Location. And location. Roger’s team zeroed in on a high-density area of customers with ideal buying traits and found an optimum site.
• Be tightfisted about raises. Starting with your own. Roger clocked 80- to 90-hour weeks from the get-go. He gave himself his first raise after the business retired a small loan. Get this: This was the first time the business paid him even minimum wage!
• Do something you love. “If you don’t, you won’t be able to put in the necessary hours to make the venture work,” Roger notes.

Today Davanni’s has more than 20 pizza shops and a dedicated customer and employee base. But there is one other fact worth remembering. Roger was the kind of guy who was paying his way from the time he was 11 — shoveling snow and mowing lawns while he carried two paper routes.

So before you make the leap and open that bed and breakfast or sink your savings into a digital widget factory, take a long, hard look at your own track record. Does your past say you really have the makeup to take the requisite pounding?

For more tips on starting a business, click here for the full story from the Washington Business Journal (subscription required).