Number of women-owned firms up nearly 20 percent

The report, Women In Business: A Demographic Review of Women’s Business Ownership, was released Aug. 17. It shows that between 1997 and 2002 – the latest period studied – women-owned firms grew 19.8 percent nationally, while the number of all U.S. firms increased about 10 percent.

Other findings in the report include:

• In 2002, 6.5 million – or 28.2 percent – of all U.S. nonfarm businesses were owned by women. More than 14 percent of these women-owned firms were also employers, with 7.1 million workers and $173.7 billion in payroll.

• Women-owned firms accounted for 6.5 percent of total employment among all U.S. businesses in 2002 and 4.2 percent of total receipts.

• Significant portions of women-owned firms were in professional, scientific and technical services, and in health care and social assistance.

Jag’s Gonzales used a $200,000 SBA 7(a) loan from Commerce Bank to start the Ozark-based company, which sells high-end building products. The company, which has 10 employees at its 6003 N. 21st St. Ozark office, posted 2005 revenues of $2.2 million. Gonzales expects 2006 revenues to come in at about $3.5 million.

“It’s very rewarding,” Gonzales said. “We enjoy seeing our products go into a lot of the homes around town.”

Lessons learned

Gonzales said that one of the biggest challenges – or surprises – she’s encountered is the cost that actually comes with ownership, particularly for insurance.

She said that a well-organized business plan is a good idea for anyone who’s considering business ownership, regardless of whether they plan to use SBA’s help – which requires such a plan – to obtain funding.

“I would recommend talking to people in similar businesses, maybe in other cities, to get an idea of expenses and what kind of volume it takes to support that kind of overhead,” she said.

Nancy Dickey, president and owner of Springfield-based Work Evaluations & Ergonomic Assessments, has learned an entirely different lesson as an entrepreneur.

The company, which Dickey founded eight years ago this month, provides physical and occupational therapy, evaluations and treatment, functional capacity evaluations, and trouble-shooting assessments to improve workplace safety. The problem is, she said, not everyone gets that from the company’s name.

“When I started the business, I only planned on doing work evaluations and ergonomic assessments, and then I started adding therapy services,” she said. “It’s probably hurt me some, because my name doesn’t imply that I’m doing physical and occupational therapy services.”

After several years in business, Dickey said she doesn’t want to change the name of the company, which has four employees at its 4350 S. National Ave. office. Instead, she and her colleagues do the best they can to make sure that potential clients understand the full range of the company’s services.