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9/11-Shock of Sept. 11 spawns wave of
entrepreneurs
Reuters,
07.04.02, 10:42 AM
ET
ADVERTISEMENT
| By Carla
Mozee
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Donna McGuire decided to make something good out of the horrific
events of Sept. 11.
The New
York City Web developer watched as her town plunged into emotional
and economic chaos the morning of Sept. 11 as hijacked jetliners
slammed into the landmark twin towers of the World Trade
Center.
In the fallout, she
became one of the area's 100,000 workers who lost their
jobs.
In trying to figure out
her next move, McGuire reexamined her priorities and resolved to
combine her need to work with her desire to help others whose lives
had been turned upside down.
So
she and a former colleague started their own company -- a Web site
design and marketing firm called
UpperWestWeb.com.
"I saw a lot
of people folding up. We had a lot of expertise and knowledge. We
thought, 'Why don't we help small to mid-size businesses,"' said
McGuire.
McGuire was not alone
in choosing to launch a business after Sept. 11 in a
less-than-booming economy. Many other people have since started
small companies -- computer and software development firms,
restaurants, even services for emotional
well-being.
"Sept. 11 was one
of those events where people found themselves rethinking their
priorities and reexamining what they wanted out of their lives,"
said John Challenger, chief executive of the Chicago-based
employment outsourcing firm, Challenger, Gray and
Christmas.
A FRESH START
A recent report released by Challenger's company
shows that the number of out-of-work managers and executives under
the age of 40 who are starting their own businesses has risen in
each quarter since Sept. 11.
In
the first quarter of 2002, 36 percent of 3,000 unemployed
respondents said they had started their own companies. The survey,
conducted quarterly, indicates that figure is up from 25 percent in
the fourth quarter of 2001 and up from 6 percent in the third
quarter of 2001.
After the
attacks, many people created work for themselves with the help of
the Small Business Administration. The SBA issued $340 million in
loans as a reserve of funds for start-ups and small companies in New
York that were physically or economically hurt by the attacks of
Sept. 11.
Others, like McGuire,
are using their savings to begin new lives as entrepreneurs. She
said her company, in spite of the circumstances surrounding its
origin, is satisfying her career and community assistance
goals.
"I've talked to people
who lost loved ones, lost businesses. I keep telling them, 'We could
either roll over and play dead and let it take us on, or take it on
and do something you really want to do, service-wise,"' she
said.
Jennifer Kushell, head of
the Young Entrepreneurs Network in Marina Del Rey, California, said
Sept. 11 and its emotional aftermath also fostered a new business
trend: firms that offer so-called "grieving
products."
"We had a woman who
contacted us about providing gift baskets and resources for parents
who have lost children. Another is helping young people who are
cancer survivors or struggling with cancer. I think people are
looking to improve our communication, our connectivity," she
said.
SECOND TIME AROUND
Not all new companies cropping up are being run by
entrepreneurial novices. Kushell said many people who opted for the
security of traditional office jobs after the dot-com crash and
economic slowdown are poking their heads back out to consider new
ventures.
"There are a lot of
entrepreneurs in Corporate America who don't belong there, and they
are starting to get very antsy," said Kushell.
While some people are choosing to return to their
entrepreneurial roots, others are being pushed back to
them.
New Yorker Bill Weber
spent months looking for work after being laid off from his
publishing job. He reached his breaking point while standing on line
at a jobs fair in Madison Square Garden.
"There were people around and around the block. I
thought, 'This is ridiculous. I'm management level. They aren't
going to hire me to be a salesman for copiers. So I'm going to have
to follow my opportunity and do it myself,"' he
related.
Years ago, Weber had
his own magazine about parenting. So he decided to give
self-publishing another try by launching a trade directory for
Internet companies looking for resources such as Web designers,
programmers and server providers. The directory will begin operating
in September.
Weber said it is
not easy to start a magazine during an advertising dry spell. But he
feels it's the best and only way for him to make ends
meet.
"The odds against
starting a publication are horrible. But I did it before and I was
successful for a long time," he said.
A DREAM COME
TRUE
Sept. 11 brought an
unexpected and bittersweet opportunity to Barry Gribbon, a
38-year-old former television production executive living in Los
Angeles.
In early September, he
went on a business trip and his wife Jennifer decided to go along.
They woke up on the morning of the 11th to images of destruction
being played out on their television set.
"We were staying at a bed and breakfast and
watching television, and I said, 'Our world is going to change.' I
had no idea what that meant at the time, but now we know," Gribbon
said.
Two months later, already
hurting from the advertising slump, his company laid Gribbon off.
But it also gave him two television projects -- and the accompanying
budgets -- as a springboard to launch his own production
firm.
Today, he and Jennifer
run their own production house called Homerun Entertainment in
Beverly Hills. They produce shows for the Food Network, among other
television outlets.
Jennifer
said they had always talked about starting a business together, but
it took the forces of a terrible tragedy, a struggling economy and a
renewed sense of purpose to get them off the
ground.
"I'm not so sure that
that decision would have been made if 9/11 had not happened. But I
can say it certainly changed our passion and our direction as
people," she said.
"We're
thrilled, " said Barry of owning his own firm. "This rocks. This is
totally cool."
Copyright 2002,
Reuters News Service
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