Could
mutant gene be cure for franchise fever?
By Ria Biley
Do you have an e-Gene? I really believe all entrepreneurs are born with
one. It’s that mutant gene, the one that makes you turn blue and
practically stop breathing when you even begin to think about working
for someone else. The one that makes you see opportunity in the weirdest
places. The one that sets you to doodling business plans on your napkin
while lunching with friends. I call it “the e-Gene.” If you’ve
got it, you’ve always had it. You can’t buy one—it’s
not a franchise. It’s a gift. Or a curse. Could be both. Whatever,
you’re probably always looking for ways to exercise it, nurture
it. When you find something that speaks to it, you embrace it.
Back in the ’80s I found just such a thing. Entrepreneur magazine
nourished my nascent e-Gene. It seemed to be all about people like me.
Be Your Own Boss. Make Your Own Hours. Gain Financial Freedom. Isn’t
that what we all want?
I was a regular subscriber for a long time. I even bought a couple of
their “how-to-start-a-business” packages (I think I paid
about 20 bucks then; they cost more like $80 today). The last one I purchased
was something like “How to make $25K a year as a freelance writer.” That
was 20 years ago. I’ve since become a professional writer, a “best-selling
author” to boot. Big deal: I know dozens of others who can say
the same right here in Maine, and precious few—if any—are
making $25K a year freelancing now. So much for progress. But that’s
another story.
After awhile, I began to realize that Entrepreneur’s success stories
were nearly always about people who made it—HUGE—after “only” ten
years in business. Month after month I’d read about people who
secured millions in venture capital with their world-shaking ideas and
dazzling business plans, becoming so big and so successful, the only
logical next step was for them to sell franchises. That’s when
they lost me.
I stopped buying that magazine years ago. Not because it wasn’t
any good. It was. It still is. But it stopped talking to me when it clearly
zeroed in on the folks who wanted to make a killing in the next up-and-coming-hot-new-franchise.
There’s a huge market for this; there must be. Otherwise, they
wouldn’t still be publishing after 25 years. I’m happy for
them.
As for me, I want to read about people like Jason Philbrook, who exercised
his e-Gene and changed the way we communicate in midcoast Maine. It’s
inspiring to read about people who started with little more than a unique
idea, a little talent, and a lot of passion; people I might even know,
who are actually making a living, contributing to their communities.
That’s why there’s a Midcoast Review. But that, too, is another
story.
I surprised myself by shelling out $4.99 to buy a copy of Entrepreneur a couple of weeks ago because one of its cover stories (“How to
start a business when you’re over 50”) caught my eye. When
I got it home and turned to the designated page, I learned that “it’s
never too late to buy a franchise.” Arrggh.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against franchises. Certainly
there is a place in every community for a few (Camdenites may disagree).
Some are less obvious than others; and you might be surprised to learn
which local businesses you think of as indigenous are actually national
franchises. But communities like ours can—and do—benefit
from the presence of a locally owned and run franchise, like Beth and
Pat Provost’s Domino’ restaurants. This family’s e-Genes
have muscle.
I’m just very aware that this particular corner of the world is
different. And most of us would like to keep it that way. This is a place
where uniqueness truly matters. For every entrepreneur in search of that “Ticket
to the Bigs,” there are dozens who would be happy making a comfortable
living, doing something innovative and worthwhile, without the benefit
of a corporate Big Brother whose hand is always in their pocket. I think
that’s particularly true here in midcoast Maine.
We don’t need a Starbucks on every corner. We have Rock City Coffee
Roasters—and hallelujah for that! The team of Patrick Reilley and
Susanne Ward have just opened their third location in Rockland’s
Harbor Plaza. Plenty of imagination and visible e-Genes here.
There was another article in this issue of Entrepreneur that promised
to be interesting; it was entitled “Become a magazine publisher!” (Everything
you need to know in 300 words or less. Yowzuh!) They never do tell you
that publishing a magazine is like owning a boat (otherwise known as “a
hole in the water into which one constantly pours money”). They
do tell you it’s not easy, but it sure is exciting. (Don’t
get me started.)
To its credit, today’s Entrepreneur now boasts a goodly
number of pages featuring Web sites quite helpful to folks like us. In
fact, a decent portion of the front of the magazine is actually a lot
more relevant than I expected and their Web site (www.entrepreneur.com)
has even more of it. For a while there, I thought, whoa, I’ve been
missing something since I stopped reading this regularly. Ultimately
though, I found more than half of this issue was devoted to franchises
and “business opportunities” (Franchise-Lite?). Everything
from public access Internet terminals to “concrete dressing;” vending
machines to maid services and something called Kiddie Academy (do you
really need to make a five-figure investment in a franchise to open a
day-care center?). With apologies to Dave Barry, I am not making any
of this up: Have FUN and Make Big MONEY with Party Hats! Synthetic “waterless
grass.” Two Men and a Truck. The Next BIG Thing! Create Your Own
Destiny!
Ouch! My head is spinning with all this blatant opportunity.
Do we really need all that here? No matter where you live in midcoast
Maine, aren’t you just delighted to see the variety of unique ways
your neighbors flex their e-Genes? And you know what? I’ll bet
few if any of those neighbors needed to acquire a bazillion-and-a-half
dollars in foreign venture capital to get their enterprises going.
Personally, I’m grateful that our little stretch of U.S. 1 doesn’t
look quite like Western Avenue in Augusta—but maybe not for long.
This is a discussion for another time. But keep this in mind next time
you’re driving to Wal-Mart.
When I look at our small business community, I prefer to see Handle It!,
Trillium Soaps and Sea Street Graphics. I see Lyn Snow and Planet Toys.
Lots of e-Genes at work here.
How about the All Aboard Trolley? Folks like Cellardoor
Winery, the, Rocky Bay Brewery, the Willow Bake Shop, Danica Candleworks,
Cedarworks and Maine Gold manufacture their products and some have even
developed international markets for them, thanks to the Internet. Take
a stroll through your local yellow pages and look at all the great products
and creative services available within a few minutes drive of your home.
Designers, artisans, consultants of all kinds—the diversity of
talent boggles the mind. Hooray! We still have a much larger proportion
of uniquely local enterprises to tip the balance in favor of local creativity.
Long may it wave.
Like all publications, Entrepreneur has to be able to pay its
writers, distributors, designers, printer, accountant. Their advertisers
carry most of that freight, and the ones who have the really big bucks
to do it are the franchise corporations. That’s the way the world
works.
I’m not saying many of these advertised “business opportunities” aren’t
a good way to make a living if you live in, say, Denver or Albuquerque
or Las Vegas where the population is many times that of the entire state
of Maine. I’m just saying that here where we live, a little creativity
and faith in your own ideas and talents, together with a good business
counselor and support system (not to mention a source of capital), if
you’ve got that “e-Gene,” you ought to be able to do
pretty well without all this canned folderol.
So, am I saying I wasted my $4.99? Not at all. First of all, I poured
a few bucks into my local economy but supporting my locally-owned independent
bookseller. And I found myself a valuable Internet resource. But I doubt
I’ll shell out $4.99 for another copy, because more than three-quarters
of it still doesn’t speak to me, or others like me. Subscribing
might be an option, because the subscription price is a bargain even
if you only read the first 10 pages.
If you are interested in “that next BIG thing” and think
your community would embrace it and you have (or can acquire) a small
fortune to toss at it, and you feel you need a corporate Big Brother,
by all means, go for it. I would never, ever discourage anyone from exercising
his entrepreneurial muscles.
If you’re in possession of that precious e-Gene, there is no shortage
of available advice to be found on its care and feeding. The trick is
to make the most of your time by investing it in learning what works
for you. I recommend Jamie S. Walters’ Big Vision, Small Business,
reviewed on Page 12 of this issue.
Ria Biley is Co-Founder, Editor and Publisher of the Midcoast Review.
Reader comments are welcomed at <editor@midcoastreview.com>.