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By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
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WEST MICHIGAN — While the biggest companies in the region dominate headlines, the smallest of businesses are finding opportunities in going it alone.

The U.S. has more than 23 million sole proprietorships according to 2007 U.S. census figures, and tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit has become a centerpiece of Governor Rick Snyder’s direction for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. For some, it is taking an idea from the garage and making it a reality. For others, it is the realization that they’ve gained an insight into the business they’ve made a career and see new opportunities that others have missed.

MiBiz spoke with four entrepreneurs that took wildly different paths in funding and starting their businesses.

Katie Schmidt

K(EIGHT) : Advertising and Design

While most of her classmates were busy looking for their first job, Katie Schmidt knew she had one lined up. Schmidt, a 2011 graduate of Grand Valley State University, had a business plan and knew she wanted to be her own boss.

The entrepreneurial spirit might be in Schmidt’s blood, as her grandparents, uncle and mother have owned and operated framing shops and galleries around West Michigan. Her entrée into her eventual business started when her mother asked for help revamping the website of her gallery and framing business, Gallery 293 in Coopersville.

“She wasn’t happy with the way it looked, and (the website) turned out well. People started to notice and asked who did it. After that, I started getting a lot of referrals,” Schmidt said. “I grew up in an art gallery, and owning my own business had been embedded in my mind from an early age. I’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit. Once I started getting my own clients and building a customer base, it became a passion.”

Now operating out of an office at the back of Gallery 293, Schmidt is working on growing K(EIGHT), her web and identity design firm, into a full-time job. A large part of her strategy is educating clients about the need to keep their brands and websites fresh.

“A lot of people look at design as a product. It is hard to get people to understand the need to constantly update their site,” Schmidt said. “It is about educating clients as to what the purpose of design is and what it does for them.”

Richard Marcus

Pro Water Treatment

After working 23 years in the water treatment business for others, Richard Marcus decided this year to take the plunge and go into business for himself. He opened Pro Water Treatment in June, selling water softeners, reverse-osmosis filtration systems and servicing them in the area around Otsego.

“I had a dream to be my own boss for some time, but I had to go through the learning curve,” Marcus said. “I was going to try to do this nine years ago. Had I done that, I would have fallen flat on my face.”

As Marcus was considering purchasing an existing business last year, a friend recommended that he get in touch with the SBTDC to help him work through his business plan. Since late 2010, Marcus has worked with advisers to help him hone his business plan, conduct market research and take a hard look at the feasibility of his plan.

“Because I’ve been in the business so long, I know the mechanics of the business,” he said. “Now it is about being much more aware.”

He credits the market research with helping him evaluate his advertising spend and has made changes as he saw some promotions get traction with customers and others fall flat. Marcus is focused on building positive word of mouth with his first customers.

“I’m a serviceman, not a salesman. I can go in and do what is right for the customer. If it is a problem that I can repair, we’ll repair it,” Marcus said. “If they need a replacement, we’ll go from there. It is my intent to stay a small independent business. Being your own boss gives you great flexibility — that is definitely something I need.”

Ruth Terry

Ruth Writes LLC

Ruth Terry started her freelance writer and nonprofit consulting business after becoming frustrated with the lack of upward mobility in nonprofit organizations in West Michigan. Hanging her own shingle afforded Terry the ability to look farther afield as she markets her consulting and grant-writing business, insulating Ruth Writes LLC from the uncertainties of the local economy and philanthropic environment.

“Though there’s a lot of lip service paid to innovation and attracting young creative workers, I found very little upward mobility for young professionals in the local nonprofit sector. It’s really hard to innovate when you’re never in a position to make strategic decisions,” Terry said.

A boss that gave her greater freedom provided a glimpse at new opportunities working on her own.

“Having that kind of freedom, though, made me realize that I needed more variety and more challenging projects to keep me happy,” she said. “And by ‘challenge’ I mean things that involve the risk of actual failure. Things I’m not sure I can actually do.”

Terry admits that she learned business skills somewhat through the school of hard knocks.

“In short, I went to every possible wrong place for advice. Because my business is kind of more like two businesses, I was trying to cobble together the usually conflicting advice from all these books for freelancers and consultants,” she said. “I ended up overcomplicating things in the beginning, putting the cart before the horse. I talked with other small business owners, whose businesses were entirely unlike mine, and decided I needed to learn accounting and buy Quickbooks, set up an LLC and put together a formal contract. A year later, I realize a lot of this was a waste of time. I can hire a bookkeeper for less than I charge per hour as a consultant.”

Bruce Betzler

Tobacco Outfitters

Bruce Betzler’s two businesses could not be more different. When Betzler sold his interest in his family’s funeral home business in Kalamazoo after 19 years to set out on his own, he had no idea his search would take him to Big Rapids as the owner of two Tobacco Outfitters stores.

“After selling my shares, I was looking for a business that would allow me to disengage — anything short of bars and restaurants,” Betzler said. “I saw them as being similar to the funeral service industry (because) you are very much tied to it. I was an owner, and I was working all but four days a month.”

Betzler started his search with attorneys and accountants in his social circles, asking them if they knew of owners looking to exit their businesses. He searched the Internet for businesses for sale, worked with brokers, and eventually evaluated 15 different businesses before finding Tobacco Outfitters in Big Rapids.

“The search process really was a reality check out there. I was looking at financial statements and trying to determine if there was any long-term stability to it,” Betzler said. “I saw this as a business I could grow. With the way it is set up on somewhat a passive basis, the cash register is moving whether I am there or not.”

Working with the SBTDC helped Betzler structure a purchase agreement that incorporated a Small Business Administration 7a loan, his cash, and kept the owners on board for a period while he learned the business.

“If I were to advise others, the seller paper part of it was most important. Keeping the sellers engaged to some extent was important to the transition,” he said. “I am not a connoisseur. I don’t even smoke. I had no experience in tobacco business. It was important to keep them engaged. It is almost like you’d have in a franchise agreement, just so I can understand the intricacies of the business.”