First failure may help young entrepreneurs
By Tim O'Reiley
The (Morris County, N.J.) Daily Record
BOONTON, N.J. — At the age of 23, John DiDomenico has seen his business career swing from a living nightmare to living the dream.
Gannett News Service
After a Web site he set up to sell novelties fizzled a year ago, he and a partner decided to try again in a decidedly old-economy sector: printing.
John DiDomenico, left, and Scott Santucci, of Booton, N.J., started their business, Printing Empire, a year ago. DiDomenico's attempt at Internet retailing had been unsuccessful.
While the first year's revenues of about $100,000 for the new company — Printing Empire in Boonton, N.J. — hardly challenge any of the industry leaders, all the bills have been paid, he said.
And there was enough left over to pay for a move to a new office.
"Sometimes, I think you need to fall flat on your face before you can get up and do it right," said DiDomenico, who finished classes for his business degree at William Paterson University in August.
Many people who start their own businesses learn the same lesson, although they generally have worked on someone else's payroll for several years. But for young entrepreneurs, that can be their first real world experience.
Little data exist on how well business owners younger than 25, sometimes referred to as youth entrepreneurs, fare compared with other age groups, but their ranks are relatively thin.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor published by Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., 14 percent of the people involved in a startup company were younger than 25, while half were between 25 and 44 years old.
One reason for the small percentage of the youngest business people, the study found, is that women are only one-third as likely as men to start a business so young. This stems at least in part from men forming blue-collar ventures that require little higher education or financial experience.
"Typically, money is the biggest stumbling block," said Dr. Ethne Swartz, an assistant professor in entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson University. "And the youth do not have access to power, (to) networks" that can lead to contracts.
Families can compensate with both capital and expertise.
One problem that James C. Barood, interim director of the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies at FDU, often sees with youth entrepreneurs is their failure to continue to build a customer base aggressively once the first wave of sales comes in. Without depth in the order book, a business easily can capsize in an economic slump, especially if the owner has little experience with hard times.
"Whether you understand the business cycles or not, once you go through one, it's different than learning from a book," he said.
After losing about $20,000 in Internet retailing, DiDomenico decided to try printing as cheaply as possible. He and his partner, Scott Santucci, 28, each anted up $150 to file incorporation papers with the state and to print business cards.
With DiDomenico working sales and Santucci overseeing design of paper items, Web pages, vinyl signs and silk-screened clothing, they have held down their overhead.
Printing is contracted out, avoiding the cost of a press. They use regular computer monitors instead of more expensive flat-panel models.
"We try to stick with what's essential," DiDomenico said. "We are saving our money now because things may not always be as good in the future."
