Laid-Off Workers Turn to Consulting

Downsizing in the aerospace industry has resulted in layoffs for many Ventura County employees who worked for Northrop Corp., Raytheon Co. and other large aerospace businesses in the area. That’s the bad news.

The good news, says Chuck Maxey, dean of business at Cal Lutheran University, is that those laid-off workers now make up a tremendous consultant base for local small businesses.

“There is a strong network of people with skills in accounting, communication technology and job training out there,” he said. “There are people who are now consultants who know planning, management, how to meet the requirements of European trade. When you have a small business you can’t really hire full-time people for specialized tasks, but you can get consultants.” It is small business tips like this that will compose the curriculum of Cal Lutheran’s FastTrac program for entrepreneurs, set to begin this month.

The university’s business department is offering a seven-session course, FastTrac I, beginning Sept. 13, for those who are planning a new business or for owners of businesses that have recently begun operation. A 12-week FastTrac II course, for those with established businesses who are looking to expand, will begin Sept. 19.

The FastTrac program, to be taught by university faculty and members of the local business community, was developed nine years ago at USC. Cal Lutheran was licensed two years ago to teach the program in Ventura County, a region that Maxey said is very small-business-oriented.

“There are about 15,000 small businesses with less than 250 employees in Ventura County,” said Maxey. “Small business here is really diverse, everything from landscape [maintenance] to high-tech communications.”

What distinguishes the county from other areas, he said, is the number of small businesses that are suppliers to big corporations. In fact, said Maxey, it is the big corporations that create the need for small businesses.

“When large employers come into an area, they often want to do business with the local community, so small business opportunities will spin off of the large companies,” he said. “Aerospace is still the leading industry, but biotech and health are coming on. People thinking about getting into small business should ask themselves, ‘What will these biotech and health people be interested in?’ ”

For information on the FastTrac courses, call (805) 493-3360.