Interest still strong in starting businesses

If small business is your game, you'll find the playing field a popular one in Virginia.

As the recession continues and companies continue to look for ways to cut costs, employees who have been axed or feel they may be in danger of being laid off are looking at self-employment as an option.

Perhaps they start their own small business. Maybe they purchase an existing franchise or a business that's on the market.

Whatever the avenue, electing to work for yourself is gaining popularity across Virginia.

"Our indicators tell us that the impulse to start a business is as strong as we've ever seen it," said Will Vehrs, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Business Assistance.

The Greater Richmond Chamber experienced a double-digit increase in the percentage of people working with the group in the final months of 2008 to start new businesses, said Mike Leonard, director of the Greater Richmond Small Business Development Center.

The Richmond development center is one of 29 in a statewide network dedicated to providing professional business counseling, training and other resources to grow and strengthen Virginia businesses.

The network is an alliance between the U.S. Small Business Administration, George Mason University and local sponsors throughout Virginia, including municipal governments and local chambers of commerce.

Vehrs said the increased activity at the network's local centers is being reflected statewide. For example, records indicate that there were 213,809 businesses established in Virginia in 2007. Through the first 10 months of 2008, there were 216,042 established.

And not only are the numbers up, but the type of new business owner is evolving as more laid-off workers enter the world of entrepreneurship.

"We're tending to see a more sophisticated entrepreneur recently," Vehrs said. "People tend to have done more research."

The Department of Business Assistance has a number of tools to help people with that process, including "Entrepreneur Express," a series of half-day seminars designed to help people become business owners.

And in May, the department rolled out "Business One-Stop," an online service for starting a business. In July, 302 people completed "Business One-Stop" packages; in October, that number increased to 446.

Vehrs said that even with the recent start-up activity that appears to be recession-related, "our numbers were strong before the economy really went south and before the spate of local downsizings. Even if we accepted that a lot of new businesses are being started by displaced workers, the act of starting a business shows optimism and confidence."

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .