Small Businesses Take Flight

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Small Businesses Take Flight

According to the U.S. Small Business Association's Office of Women's Business Ownership, about one third of privately owned businesses are women-owned.  What does it take to get an enterprise off the ground?  Although their businesses are very different, these three entrepreneurs all got started at the same place: the library.

Michelle Lewis of Brooklyn made invaluable contacts at the library

Three years ago I started my own business, ScooterFood LLC, a homemade dog food manufacturing company. At the beginning, I was a complete novice—and out of work. I had the entrepreneurial spirit but no expertise. I had no money. But I did have my public library card.

Now my Rolodex looks like a game of “six degrees of separation” from the Business Library of the Brooklyn Public Library. Nearly every important business contact I've made, from marketing consultant to commercial kitchen, came through a primary contact at the library.

I went to a Business Library seminar on learning to write a business plan. There I met a contact from the New York State Small Business Development Center (SBDC), who introduced me to an SBDC advisor.  She helped me through the first phase of a well-written business plan, which led to a blurb in the New York State SBDC annual report. Joseph Fried of The New York Times read that blurb, and the paper published an article about me. It was that article that led to my appearance on ABC news.

There are so many other leads that came through the library. It is an unbelievably rich resource that nurtures small business.

Seattle photographer Eliza Truitt finds inspiration at her library

The Seattle Public Library has been my own personal business school. Since starting my own company, I've used it for educating myself on all aspects of my business, Eliza Truitt Photography.

The library is great for more than just learning about business. When I need inspiration for an upcoming shoot, I often browse the section of art photography books and check out a stack I can pore over at home to get my own creative mind revved up. Looking at the portraiture done by photographers 50 or 80 years ago, I am often blown away by how fresh their ideas were and how much I have to learn from their work.

The best part is that this education is entirely free. I don't need a business book to tell me that was a wise financial decision.

Kansas City’s Denise Upah Mills’ start-up began—and ended—at the library

Over the years, the Johnson County Library has become an invaluable resource. 

The plan for my online business required a variety of statistical data, and since the data was in books in the reference section, that's where I started. Using the Johnson County Library was a double bonus: not only could we get the information we needed, but my future business partners and I could meet in the library’s study rooms. 

One of the greatest benefits was the librarians themselves.  They directed us to resources that dramatically reduced our hours of search time.  They also asked questions we hadn't yet considered. 

The library was such an important aspect of our success that when we sold the business, we met in the parking lot of the library to celebrate.

Note:
These stories are edited excerpts from those submitted as part of an initiative by Woman's Day magazine and the American Library Association on how women started businesses by using resources from the library.

Recommended Resources

Association of Women’s Business Centers' Business Center Locator
Locate a Women’s Business Center in your area.  The centers offer training and counseling to help entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need
By Rieva Lesonsky
From Entrepreneur Magazine, this comprehensive guide will lead you through the basic steps of starting and running a business.

The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business
By Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears
The authors, two business partners running a small web design firm, begin the book by helping readers figure out their own measures of success before going on to explain how to build small, values-driven businesses.  They also maintain a blog, The Boss of You, with profiles of other creative entrepreneurs, business advice and entrepreneurial inspiration.

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