LISA
JOHNSON
O WNER
MODERN PILATES
BROOKLINE, MASS.
Employees: 22
Founded in: 1999
Projected 2010 revenues:
$535,000
A Pilates studio which just
opened its fourth location
in suburban Boston.
EILEEN
HASSI
OWNER
RITUAL COFFEE ROASTERS,
SAN FRANCISCO
Founded in: 2005
Employees: 42
Projected 2010 revenues:
$2.4 million
A coffee roastery that sells
beans wholesale and retail
and operates two cafes.
LAURA
BUCKLEY
CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT,
AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
STORSERVER
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.
Founded in: 1995
Employees: 40
Projected 2010 revenues:
$10 million
A technology company specializing
in hardware and software to back
up, archive and recover data.
© Jennifer O’Keefe
Photo
LISA
JOHNSON
EILEEN
HASSI
LAURA
BUCKLEY
The pointers:
Think creatively about financing. At a time
when banks are less likely than ever to lend to
first-time entrepreneurs, be prepared to find
alternative ways to prime the financial pump.
Hassi borrowed from friends and family after
several banks rejected her loan application.
Johnson went directly to family members,
suspecting she had no chance of getting a loan.
Buckley says she and her co-founders “sold
[their] time to fund [their] product” by taking
on outside consulting projects.
Take full advantage of available resources. The
US Small Business Administration, many state and
local governments, and even some public and private universities offer resources for entrepreneurs at
no or low cost—and, of course, your local library is
a treasure trove of free information. “I didn’t realize
how much help I was eligible for or how much easier life would have been had I known,” Hassi says.
Identify your value proposition. Johnson
found most Pilates studios serious to the point
of being intimidating. She deliberately chose the
opposite approach. By presenting herself and
her studio as laid back, casual, and upbeat, she
attracted clients who otherwise might never have
tried Pilates at all.
