For years, Judy Taylor was a welfare mother. Today, she operates her own shoe store.
Taylor's success story began when she heard about the Women's Self-Employment Project (WSEP), a nonprofit organization in Chicago that helps low-income women start their own business. Many of the women whom WSEP seeks to help lack the basic skills necessary to get and hold a job; others are limited by family responsibilities; still other have ideas and initiative but cannot get credit through normal banking channels. Through WSEP, these women are offered training, personal development, peer support, and access to loans so they can try their hands at entrepreneurship.
The idea of running her own business had never occurred to Taylor before she heard of WSEP. She decided to enter WSEP's training program, where she learned the steps basic to starting a micro-business: how to develop a marketing plan, keep financial records, manage inventory, advertise, and so on. She also participated in personal development sessions aimed at enhancing self-confidence and practical life skills, such as keeping a schedule, dealing with stress, and organizing family life.
Taylor started out small with a business she could run out of her home - or, more precisely, out of her car. She bought shoes at wholesale prices and then drove door-to-door, business-to-business, offering her products at discount prices. Her sales strategy was simple: She would find out the payday of a local company or utility, and on that day she would be there, offering potential customers the advantage of lower prices and the convenience of personal delivery.
This strategy worked so well that within a year Taylor was able to rent a storefront and open Judy's Exclusive Shoes, her first retail outlet. Like many of the women who go through WSEP's training program, Taylor has moved from welfare dependency to self-sufficiency. WSEP currently has a directory of 130 business begun by program graduates, including cosmetologists, jewelry makers, retailers, designers, teacher, tailors, cooks, and caterers.
Micro-Businesses: Smaller than small
Jeanne Anthony studied at the Art Institute of Chicago but was unable to parlay her education into a marketable skill. That is, until she started painting fabrics. When she painted a design on one of her daughter's outfits, her little girl received so many compliments that Anthony decided the idea might sell. She attended a twelve-week training course at WSEP and received a first-time loan of $1,500 to purchase inventory, paint, and other equipment. She began to sell her hand-painted "wearable art" for children through several Chicago-area stores.
At first, Anthony's goal was simply to pay the bills and support her family. After reaching those goals, she decided to take and advanced course at WSEP, apply for additional loans, and open a small store of her own. She is also diversifying into hand-painted clothing for women.
Anthony's story demonstrates that low-income people can be successful if they start small, with minimal overhead and debt, and build gradually. Robert Friedman, founder of the Corporation for Enterprise Development, calls it the "Add-a-Pig"
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