Tired of working for a major corporation, one entrepreneur decided it was time to make money on his own terms. "I felt like we could do a little bit better, I thought we could get back to what it used to be where they're home owned and operated. They have a lot more personalized service," Jerry White, General Manager of White Building Materials said.
Statistics show 80 percent of small businesses fail within 5 years, so White had to consider the stakes. "There are very few risk-takers, people willing to put everything up and gamble on it, in fact most people won't even gamble near that much," White said.
White Building Materials has been up and running for a year now, and he credits Texas Tech's Small Business Development Center with helping guide him through those first steps. "It's a time consuming deal getting into but you have to look at every aspect, every detail, which prepares you," White said.
Having an extensive and detailed business plan is just one ingredient to get the ball rolling. "Gain management experience, check your credit report, and start saving," James Wilhelm, Director at SBDC said.
Self-starters are able to utilize these experts to gauge if their plan can actually come to fruition. "We'll have a one-hour interview with an individual with their business idea and decide whether this seems like the appropriate time to pursue this venture," Wilhelm said. Bankers agree, "You need to take care of business on the front end before you even apply for a loan, because if you have a poor credit score, its going to be harder to get one," James Arnold, Senior Vice President of Lubbock National Bank said.
Arnold says many banks are willing and ready to dish out cash for the area entrepreneurs who show they can repay the loan. "People really have saved and are not spending alot of money so banks in Lubbock are flushed with cash and they're looking to loan it out," Arnold said.
For White, it turned out to be a risk worth taking, with him in the driver's seat of his career.
