Reasons for startups

During a downturn, like what the Houston area has seen with oil and gas industry layoffs over the past year, many people re-evaluate their employment situations, said Don Ball, senior adviser with Lone Star College System Small Business Development Center.

In a September report, the Greater Houston Partnership announced that jobs are still being lost in the oil and gas sector, with 300 jobs lost in July. Meanwhile, the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area’s unemployment rate increased from 4.9 percent in August of last year to 5.8 percent in August, according to a Texas Workforce Commission news release issued this September.

“This puts many on the street that are looking for jobs and considering the startup of new businesses,” Ball said. “It is not surprising to see an upturn when the energy market drops off.”

Ball said he receives about 70-100 new clients a year at the SBDC, many of which come from Spring and Klein.

While the reasons can vary for starting a business, small business are on an upswing, said Barbara Thomason, Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce president.

“We have noticed an uptick in small business creation, which suggests people are in transition, and northwest Harris County is attracting a lot of new entrepreneurs,” she said.

People are driven by various reasons to start up their own businesses, said Myeshi Briley, Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce president.

“A lot of people migrate to small businesses,” she said. “It’s not just the oil and gas [downturn].”

She said people want to be their own bosses and have the flexibility to make their own hours.

Briley also suggested the new Fair Labor Standards Act law—which will raise the salary level at which companies must pay overtime wages to $47,476 a year beginning Dec. 1—could be affecting layoffs and prompting new business startups.

Spring businesses

Gabriel Montoya was laid off in September from Sunoco, a petroleum refinery company where he worked as a mechanical engineer for five years. At one point during his layoff, Montoya pursued a job opening to return to Sunoco but was told there were 900 other candidates. Ultimately the position was never filled, he said.

“I put out countless resumes,” Montoya said. “People I know are doing odd jobs just to stay afloat. One engineer I know is selling cars and has a nighttime warehouse job.”

In February, Montoya opened Space City Audio in Old Town Spring, a new and used record store that also sells audio equipment and installs home theaters.

“Business has been great,” he said. “We’ve been seeing about a 10 percent growth every two weeks. You got to give it at least a year. The first year is the most important. A year is the time that it takes to actually build your shop.”

Montoya said being laid off was the catalyst to starting Space City Audio, which he hopes remains his permanent occupation.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “It’s something I’ve chased for a long time. And of course we all have dreams, but they never come to fruition. I started thinking that life was too short to build a life that you’re not satisfied with.”

Tamara Claunch voluntarily left her oil and gas job in June as a senior consultant for Statoil. After eight years in the role, she switched directions and, in August, launched Golden Heart Senior Care in Vintage Park, a home care business that caters to the elderly and disabled.

“The bottom line is that my heart wasn’t in my job, and as idealistic as that sounds, I felt I enjoy so much more being around the elderly,” Claunch said.

She said her business background and passion for the elderly was a perfect combination to start her business. She also enjoys that she can have a positive influence on her community.

“Being able to feel like I’m making a difference in the lives of my community is a big draw for me,” she said.

Rod Gates is the proprietor of a franchise of The Gun Cleaners, located on FM 2920, which opened in September last year. [totalpoll id="192015"]

Gates worked as an operations manager at Epic Integrated Services—an oil- and gas-related company—three years ago. When it was sold, he turned to another oil and gas company for a period of less than a year but ultimately wanted to leave the industry because it was slowing down.

He and his wife researched Texas-based franchises and discovered The Gun Cleaners. With Gates’ 14 years in law enforcement before his oil and gas job, he knew a gun-oriented business was a good fit. He used some of his own money and procured a small business loan to help fund the franchise.

Gates said the business is more successful now than when it opened, and he has a goal to open a second location within three to five years.

“I love being my own boss, doing my own thing,” he said. “You’re not on someone else’s schedule. I’m on mine. I had to answer to somebody else, and now I don’t."

Local resources

Some individuals are not equipped to undertake the rigors of small-business ownership, Ball said. He said it is important that small-business owners seek assistance from area resources.

“That was one of my problems with my first business,” Ball said. “I thought I had to know and do it all by myself—not true.”

SBDC offers business consulting and training for new businesses, Ball said.

In the year to date, the SBDC staff have helped to start 45 new businesses, create 271 new jobs and obtain almost $34 million in capital in the Houston area, he said.

Other business startup resources available in the area include Houston Business Development, U.S. Small Business Administration-Houston and Accion Texas.

Pastel Gourmet, located on Cypresswood Drive, opened two years ago. Owner Marion Urbina sought the services of SBDC to open his bakery and said it was and continues to be a key part of operating his business.

“[SBDC] provided professionals, lawyers, bankers, realtors—people you can trust and people who will lead you to get the best information and deals,” Urbina said.

From his landlord to his realtor to his CPA, Urbina said an entire team supports his business.

“I’ve got to tell you I’ve been very lucky with people I have met through [SBDC],” he said.