Entrepreneurs soar over hurdles to start enterprises of their own

Even with a historically challenging economy, with small and large businesses alike struggling, entrepreneurs are creating new businesses or expanding old ones in the Sunrise and Whitney areas.

Recently the state of Nevada and city of Las Vegas streamlined the process of creating a new business, going over old regulations, striking archaic ones and eliminating duplicated requirements. Clark County is looking into following suit.

U.S. Small Business Administration statistics show that would-be entrepreneurs have a tough row to hoe. In their first two years, 33 percent of all businesses fail. After four years, that figure doubles, according to the SBA.

Despite the odds, many entrepreneurs are setting out to make their dreams into realities.

It wasn't so much a business plan as a light-bulb moment when Leslie Valdes decided to start Abuela's Tacos.

"My grandmother was in the hospital, and we thought we were going to lose her," Valdes said. "It just came to me: 'Abuela's Tacos.' My dad just looked at me, thought I was going crazy, but I told him that I needed to do this - I'm going to open up my own taco shop."

The shop she opened at 4225 E. Sahara Ave. is operated by a staff of grandmothers working with their own traditional recipes. Initially, the restaurant, which was built in a former transmission shop, was frequented mostly by the employees of the auto shops that still surround it, but over the 18 months it has been open, its reputation and customer base has spread.

As it turned out, converting the transmission shop to a restaurant was the easy part.

"There was a lot of paperwork, and we had a hard time getting a loan," Valdes said. "Fortunately, everyone in the government offices was very patient and helpful."

Michelle Truman said the process was very straightforward when she decided to open her shop, Truessentials: The Center for Aromatherapy Education, at 1980 S. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 103.

"I did everything I needed to do with my business online on a Sunday afternoon," she said. "I had to do some follow- ups, but I got everything started in one day, and it was easy to figure out."

Truman said she found the online instructions easy to follow, and in some cases, a question on one application led to another. For instance, as she neared the end of one online form, it asked for her state business license number.

"I said, OK, what's that? So I went to the state website," Truman said. "It walked me right through it."

Truman said the entire process cost less than $1,000, with the highest ticket item being setting up a state limited liability company, which cost $350.

Valdes didn't find the process quite as simple, but she went through everything deliberately. She printed the forms she found online and brought them to the various government entities. She filled out the information she was sure of on duplicate forms and gave her best guess on the other information on one of the sets.

"I filled out all the paperwork twice before I went in," Valdes said. "I figured if I'd done something wrong, the people there could tell me what needed fixing and I'd have most of it filled out already."

Abuela's Tacos recently jumped over another set of hurdles when Valdes applied for a liquor license.

"It was going to cost $2,000 for a lawyer to take care of everything," Valdes said. "I don't have that to spare, so I just figured it all out again, bit by bit."

She successfully worked it out, and a month ago, the restaurant started serving beer and regular and mango margaritas, just in time for Cinco de Mayo.

"A full liquor license is really expensive," Valdes said, "but they told me about another kind of license that would include beer and a specialty drink, and that we could handle."

The rule of thumb is that it takes a business two years to become profitable, and both Abuela's Tacos and Truessentials, which opened only a few months ago, are still working on crossing that threshold.

"We just hired someone else, and I guess if we hadn't, we might be making a profit already," Valdes said. "But we were busy enough that we needed to. Every time we get some money, we put it back into the business."

For Truman's part, it has been a matter of starting small and not going over budget. Her shop is only 700 square feet, but that suits her needs for the time being. She maintains a full-time job as a teacher, her occupation for the last 17 years, and operates her business by appointment only after 3 p.m. and on weekends.

"I was renting space from other people and that was a pain," Truman said. "I'm used to having my own classroom, so I thought, why not start my own business and share my knowledge with people?"

For Truman, starting the business was almost a calling.

"When I went to my first class on the oils, and I learned about the power they had, I was sold after that," she said. "I did it part-time until I was certified. Now I've got my own place. The hardest part was getting the power turned on."

Truman added that another challenge was marketing.

"Marketing is the hardest thing to figure out," Truman said. "I've joined the Women's Chamber of Commerce and the Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and I'm hoping to do some networking through that."

For Valdes, some of her marketing is tied to her concerns about the community.

"Everyone is struggling right now," Valdes said. "We do what we can, and if it brings in some new customers, that's great."

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.