BusinessReport.com

After her first daughter was born 11 years ago, Elena Keegan decided to trade in her career as an Episcopal High School Spanish teacher and start her own business. She wanted more flexibility, and figured if she was going to spend time away from her newborn, it should be while pursuing her passion.

Keegan had become obsessed with health and wellness after the untimely deaths of her physician father at 51 and her brother at 28, each from heart disease. She pinpointed overwork and diet as the culprits, and began a dogged study of stress management and nutrition. With a yoga certification in tow, she examined the local market for opportunities.

“I thought it would be easier for people if I brought it to them at work,” recalls Keegan. Her Baton Rouge Yoga Company, founded in 2000, provides on-site yoga instruction in the workplace, a growing venture that offers workers affordable stress-relief while also giving businesses a chance to showcase their commitment to employee wellness.

Today, Keegan and her team of eight instructors teach lunchtime and afternoon yoga classes at nine local companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, Amedysis, LUBA, two State of Louisiana office buildings and Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson Attorneys at Law.

Charging them $100 per class, Keegan has carved out a lucrative market, particularly since she has no overhead. She says that allows her to pay her teachers twice the local rate of instruction, thus building loyalty. That, in turn, helps her operate as a broker, and gives her more time for her other job: raising three children.

Part of a new wave of so-called “parentpreneurs,” Keegan’s approach to entrepreneurship combines business acumen with a demand for flexibility. Rather than shy away from self-employment, parentpreneurs embrace it as a vehicle for both making money and freeing up time.

Parentpreneurs also play to their strengths as parents, using the same resourcefulness, time management and determination they use in childrearing, says Julie Lenzer Kirk, author of the 2007 book, The ParentPreneur Edge, What Parenting Teaches About Building a Successful Business.

“Starting a business isn’t a lot different than raising a child,” says Kirk, a Maryland-based software developer who left the corporate world to open a successful software development firm. “With parenting, you don’t give up just because you had a bad day or things get tough. It’s the same in business.”

Women-owned business grew more than 42 percent between 1997 and 2006, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research in Washington, DC, with most of that growth coming from ventures with no other full-time staff. Last year, the estimated 10.4 million women-owned companies reported more than a $1 trillion in sales, according to the organization.

Still, many would-be parentpreneurs are afraid to pull the trigger, says Kirk.

“The number one challenge for women is fear of failure,” she says. “But so what if you fail. Ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen, then plan for it.”

Kirk advises studying potential competitors being realistic about cash flow.

“Most entrepreneurs underestimate the amount of money they’re going to need,” she says. “Before you launch, save as much as you can, then keep it simple. Friends and family are a good place to go for financing, but you need a solid business plan. The business planning process is absolutely crucial.”

Carol Carter, assistant director of the Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute at the LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business, agrees. A business plan that combines personal interest, existing skills and market needs makes the difference in securing a loan, she says. She doesn’t buy the argument that access to capital is harder for women.

“It’s not so much gender as it is the businesses that women are often drawn to that can make financing tough,” Carter says. “Things like retail stores, catering and real estate have lower rates of success and crowded fields.”

Identifying initial clients is also critical, says Kirk.

It made the difference for Covalent Logic, a local graphic and website design firm launched by mother-of-two Stafford Kendall, 34, and business partner Bryan Murphy.

Kendall and Murphy spied an opportunity to start their own firm when their former employer, Eatel, phased out their department. Each wanted more creative freedom and more time with their families. Kendall particularly wanted to be available for her son, who has extensive health problems and requires out-of-town treatments.

Before launch, they secured two key clients, former employer Eatel and the State of Louisiana. They infused cash from their own pockets just once and kept start-up costs low. Today, the three-year-old downtown company has five full-time employees, and Kendall has time for her son.

“It’s been much easier and faster than I thought it would be,” she says. “Bryan and I had similar goals when we started. We wanted to support our families, and to support our clients. We can do both in an immediate way.”

Kirk says a parent considering entrepreneurship, but who lacks experience, should fill in missing proficiencies like accounting or negotiating by taking classes or networking. Lacking skills, however, shouldn’t be a deterrent.

“It’s no different from parenting,” she says. “When you got pregnant, you had to research and learn everything about school districts, neighborhoods and college funds. Everything else, you learned on the job.”

Otherpreneurs

Parents aren’t the only ones whose enterprise has earned them a place in the Preneur Hall of Fame:

• codgerpreneurs (a.k.a olderpreneurs and seniorpreneurs)—Those over 50

• mommypreneurs—Mothers running a business from their homes while minding the kids and driving carpools

• copreneurs—Couples in business together

• knowledgepreneurs—Self-employed professionals, scientists and techies

• teenpreneurs—Bringing in the bucks between episodes of Hannah Montana

• ecopreneurs—Merchants of the green scene

• serialpreneurs—They’re addicted to starting and building

• petpreneurs—Banking on America’s love affair with Fido and Fluffy

• agripreneurs—Their tomatoes go straight to the supermarket or restaurant