Entrepreneurs Get Back to Basics
They make suction cups, hair ribbons, toothpaste, surveying flags and energy-efficient light bulbs.
There wasn’t one high-technology or biotechnology product among the winners of this year’s U.S. Small Business Administration awards, reflecting the back-to-basics theme of America in the 1990s.
At a White House ceremony marking this week’s 29th annual national Small Business Week, President Bush praised the hard-working entrepreneurs for being “the heart and soul of what makes America work.”
Amelia McCoy, an Oklahoma grandmother whose company produced $5 million worth of ribbons and hair bows for Wal-Mart and other retailers last year, was named Small Business Person of the Year by SBA Administrator Patricia Saiki.
McCoy, who brought along more than a dozen relatives to the festivities in Washington, said her greatest challenge was “overcoming the Oklahoma image that a grandmother and rancher’s wife should cook, clean house and take care of her grandchildren rather than start a business.”
She started her business in the late 1970s with $7.78 worth of ribbon.
“I was making bows for my granddaughter to begin with, and because they were the best around, other people wanted to buy them,” McCoy said.
Today, this former cattle rancher has 450 home-based workers crafting ribbons and bows for her Lamar, Okla.-based Handmade Ribbons & Halos by Amelia Inc. Her cottage industry workers buy the materials from the company and sell the finished products back to her. An elaborate bow is worth 55 cents, with some of McCoy’s veteran craftspeople earning $100 or more a day. While all the work is done in homes across Oklahoma, a full-time staff of 12 runs the business from five offices.
McCoy’s advice to small-business owners just starting out: “Follow your instincts and don’t listen to people who tell you you can’t--because you can.”
McCoy, who said she felt “like Miss America” after receiving the award at a congressional luncheon, was honored along with first runner-up Richard W. Stewart, chief executive of Frontier Cooperative Herbs of Norway, Iowa.
Stewart started his herbs and spices business as a hobby in 1976. Today, Frontier’s annual sales top $13 million and his company employs 165 people.
Frederick R. Ruiz, president and chief executive of Ruiz Food Products Inc. of Dinuba, Calif., won the SBA’s coveted Entrepreneurial Success Award. The award is designed to honor a company that has benefited from the SBA’s loan guarantee program. Now one of the nation’s 25 largest Latino-owned businesses, Ruiz’s family-owned Mexican frozen food company employs 1,100 workers and is no longer considered a small business by the SBA.
President Bush offered all small-business owners a reward when he announced a revamping of the burdensome payroll tax system.
“We want to stop having businesses do the government’s paperwork,” Bush said.
Under the proposal released this week by the Internal Revenue Service, business owners who now make up to eight payroll tax deposits a month will be able to file quarterly, monthly or twice a week, depending on the amount. Tiny businesses with a total payroll tax liability under $500 will be able to file quarterly. If your payroll taxes are between $500 and $12,000, you will be able to make monthly deposits under the proposed regulations.
Check with your tax adviser on the details and news about when the new deposit regulations take effect.
