Business in Ireland: Gateway to the EU
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Kathleen McGinn Spring and Bart Jackson were
prepared for the May 22, 2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights
reserved.
Masking a Home-Based Business
Entrepreneur or employee? So many people wrestle with
the choice, some flipping back and forth between the two work styles.
That was the case with Sue Johnson. Now regional director of
the Small Business Development Center at Raritan Valley Community
College, she has been a business owner, a corporate employee, and
is now heading up a start-up branch of a non-profit. Her current
career
combines the initiative, creativity, and multitasking associated with
the entrepreneurial life with the regular hours and limited
responsibility
associated with the life of a wage slave.
For Johnson, for now, it is the perfect choice. Before she accepted
the position with the SBDC she had been through a life-changing event.
“I had a life threatening disease, cancer,” she says. “I
was in bed for a year.” Now her priority is lots of time with
her family, a luxury many business owners have to curtail, especially,
she says, if growing the business is on the agenda.
Johnson takes part in Small Business Day on Thursday, May 23, at 9:30
a.m. at First Union bank in Flemington. Sponsored by the SBDC at
Raritan
Valley Community College, the free event includes one-on-one
counseling
as well as a number of sessions and programs, including “Home
Based Consulting Business.” Call 908-526-1200.
Johnson grew up in Somerset and Hunterdon counties, graduated from
Seton Hall (Class of 1979) with a degree in accounting and computer
science, earned an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson — and, “every
year faithfully” returns to Seaside Park for her summer vacations.
She worked as a home-based computer consultant from 1985 through 1992
and then again from 1998 through 2000. During her first stint as a
consultant she did a lot of computer training. Personal computers
were just making an appearance on desks, and many office workers were
still afraid the things would explode if they pressed the wrong key.
By 1998, however, she found “major software overload.” There
was so much to choose from that paralysis had set in. Her consulting
then often came down to “finding out business requirements and
matching them with the best software fit.” The job was an analysis
that involved the whole company and all of its functions.
Through both periods, Johnson dealt not only with her clients’
changing
needs, but also with the challenges of operating a business from her
home. She has some definite opinions on the right way — and the
wrong way — to run a successful home-based business:
Don’t let clients know you are working in a spare bedroom.”Clients still perceive a home office as a negative,” saysJohnson. Yes, home-based businesses have been around for a long time,and yes, many have prospered while proclaiming to the world that desksare lined up next to the washing machine. Nevertheless, Johnson saysit is risky to be too upfront about operating from a family room ora corner in the bedroom. Once relationships with clients areestablishedand your work is sought after, okay, but don’t let potential clientsin on the secret.Create a front. There are a number of companies thatspecializein creating an office presence for home-based businesses — withoutactually giving them an office. Some have receptionists to answerphones, office park addresses to which business mail can be sent,desks available by reservation, and conference rooms to rent by thehour. Find such a quasi-office, says Johnson, and never, ever eventhink of inviting a potential client to a confab at the dining roomtable.Get a business phone line. It’s a definite “nono,”but a surprising number of home-based companies use the same phoneline for general household calls — from grandma and the kids’school chums — and for business calls. Do not do this, saysJohnson.Get a separate phone line for the business, and use any threatsnecessaryto keep other members of the family, especially those under 10, fromever picking up that phone.Move away from the action. A home-based business shouldnot be headquartered anywhere in the flyway between, say, therefrigeratorand the television, or the family room and the deck. “Be assecludedas possible,” says Johnson. Then, she adds, “forbid the familyto go into the room. Period.”Be creative with communications. Families must be trainednot to interrupt unless it is an emergency. An empty container ofchocolate ice cream, it must be explained, does not fall into theemergency category. Still, Johnson admits, there are times whencommunicationsthat fall short of a request for transport to the emergency room doneed to get through. Her office had glass doors and her kids got intothe habit of holding up signs. Things like “Can I go play atConnie’shouse?” This worked for her, she says. Others might find the signsa tad distracting. If so, something like E-mail or Instant Messagingmight do the trick.Eliminate barking and crying. If the family pet barksevery time a squirrel passes in front of a window, it needs to besequestered far from the home office. Clients, says Johnson, do notwant to hear barking when they call to check on a project. The samegoes for crying, or for the gut-wrenching screams that tend toaccompanyan intense scuffle between two toddlers intent on playing with thesame dump truck. Get a sitter, is Johnson’s advice here. No seriousbusiness person can field client calls while feeding an infant orseparating combatant pre-schoolers.Get a website. On the Internet, Johnson points out, sizedoes not matter. In cyberspace, a one-person business operating froma cubby in the dining room can appear just as big as a multi-nationalin cyberspace. Build a professional, full-featured website.Keep a suit pressed. The business may be at home, butthe businessperson needs to get out. Selling is a part of everybusiness,and some of it needs to be done in person. Networking is importanttoo, and Johnson encourages home-based business owners to attendchamberof commerce, association, and trade meetings.Keep good records. Many home office expenses are taxdeductible.Keep records for the IRS, but perhaps more importantly, says Johnson,keep them to project cash flow, to track operations, and to buildbusiness success.The SBDC is seeing many individuals interested in startinghome-basedbusinesses right now. Many are downsized executives who have alwayshad a bit of the entrepreneurial itch. The SBDC offers free counselingto anyone thinking of scratching that itch, and to anyone who isalreadyin business, but could use a little help in getting to the next level.All would do well to keep Johnson’s experience in mind. Running ahome-based business is full of rewards, but it does take a substantialcommitment. “It’s time consuming,” she says. “You’re theperson doing it all.”Top Of PageBusiness in Ireland: Gateway to the EUShe remains ever an island, off an island. And whileher lush, emerald shores may embrace 3.8 million warm and friendlysouls, ’tis Ireland’s location that determines the jobs and businessopportunities for her 1.82 million work force.This willing and efficient portal into the European Union will bethe focus of the Global Business Center’s breakfast seminar onThursday,May 23, at 8 a.m. at the West Windsor campus of Mercer CommunityCollege.Cost: $25. Call 609-586-4800, ext. 3639. Speakers include PaulCronin, vice president of Investment and Development Agency:Ireland,and George Lee of Red Devil Inc. They discuss the potentialfor both industrial partnerships and distribution connections forsmall to larger New Jersey-based businesses.The Center for Global Business at MCCC runs an ongoing seminar seriesof monthly workshops for firms and investors seeking to expand abroad.In addition, its Action Group program serves the needs of Garden Stateenterprises with a specific nation focus. Group members swapinformationon customs problems, finding a good bank, an able attorney — everyaspect of doing business on that nation’s soil.Historically, sharp Western hemisphere traders have used Ireland asa swifter and more amenable back door for distributing goodsthroughoutEurope. Now as the E.U. continues to standardize and inter-connect,this gateway role has grown more important. Of her $81.9 billion GNP,an impressive 95 per cent is exported — and two thirds of thatfloods into the Common Market. For the past 25 years, seminar speakerCronin has been involved in this growing import/export process. Anative of Dublin, he took his degrees at Trinity College, majoringin economics and political science. Since 1977 he has served twosix-yearstints in New York as American/Irish liaison for the Investment andDevelopment Agency.”Particularly during this last decade,” Cronin says,”Irelandhas labored very strategically and successfully to handle theexpansionof Western hemisphere business throughout Europe’s markets.” Andthe benefits are several:Logistical convenience. Of course, the Emerald Isle liescomparatively closer to major U.S. shipping ports. But being the firststop across the pond no longer provides an absolute trade advantage.Also, while the unification of European markets increasingly luresforeign investment, all tariffs, value-added taxes, and other customsfees are standardized, allowing no specific nation any priceadvantage.”Instead, Ireland’s real competitive edge must and does come fromour greater logistical ease — both in distribution and inindustry,”Cronin says. All business is personal, it’s just a little more soin Ireland. The old joke claims that in Germany and France you dealwith companies, in England you deal with representatives, but inIrelandyou talk with people. Seminar speaker Lee, of Red Devil, says thata can-do atmosphere prevails.Labor restructuring. Nationally, Ireland has worked toretrain its labor force with what Cronin terms “more relevantskills.” The country’s leaders have worked to initiate a spiralof better education that leads to higher wages and to higherproductivity.”And for the past five years, this cycle seems to have impressedforeign firms. Those seeking to industrialize here, have perceivedit as well worth their investment,” says Cronin.Where marriages are made. From parts, to product, topackaging,fewer and fewer items are totally manufactured and shipped from asingle home plant. More typically, a New Jersey enterprise may gatherpieces from Brazil and Thailand to be assembled and then placed inpackaging shipped in from Wisconsin.Increasingly, Ireland’s industry is establishing such marryingcapabilities.A growing list of companies exist solely to unite and reconfigureall the product elements and ship the finished item out to marketsabroad. While the cost and time saving in this process are obvious,there is one caveat. As your product slips further from your immediateoversight, more diligence must be taken to maintain control.Beyond Europe. American firms in general are cluelessabout all of Africa. Our news media and trade sources still treatit terra incognita, proffering little more than occasional snippetsfrom the Associated Press or from World Bank reports. Rooted in along missionary history, Ireland retains a strong trade through manyAfrican nations, with representatives who know their way around theports, distribution networks, and regulations. They provide manyWesternhemisphere firms with an experienced launching point. These sameadvantagesapply to both the Middle East and to the burgeoning markets of EasternEurope.Emerald Isle and the Garden State. While the Irish Gatewayis convenient and swift, it is definitely limited. “High profitmargin, low weight products,” says Cronin, “are what we mostspecifically seek. In fact, it’s all we can handle.” A glanceat a map would quickly discourage the selection of this small isleas a site for livestock or large truck transfer. The New Jersey-basedpharmacology/health industries, however, find Ireland an ideal matchfor both distribution and product reconfiguration. “Also, aselectronicsshifts to phototronics,” Cronin says, “we stand ready toconvert.”Not only is the labor properly skilled for such work, but Ireland’sflat, 12.5 percent corporate tax rate makes the country more enticing.So, while economic indicators at home are still in a wee bitof a slump, it may be time to look across the waters to greenershores.For the right business, a profitable gateway with a friendly pubawaits.Bart JacksonNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
