If I Can Make It There…

Successful Charlotte entrepreneurs offer their advice on making the transition to the Queen City

CHARLOTTE, NC—Welcomemat Services, Inc. was featured in the special edition of the Charlotte Business Journal - Charlotte Bound. The following article is property of the Charlotte Business Journal and is copy-right protected.

Opportunities abound in Charlotte for the newcomer wanting to start a business. Transplants advise leaving attitudes behind, expect to pay higher air fares and remember that half-and-half is not just a dairy product (it's the mixture of sweetened and unsweetened iced tea).

Entrepreneurs and the heads of growing businesses - who may have come here from somewhere else - say Charlotte has a nurturing business environment. But one must make the effort to network, reach out to others and become involved in the community to be successful.

"There are some places where it's difficult to come in," says Louis Foreman, founder and chief executive of Enventys, a product development firm in Third Ward he launched in November 2001. I've found the climate to be very pro business."

"The walls to meet people are relatively low if non-existent."

Chip Scholz cautions newcomers not to fall for stereotypes of the South or even as Charlotte just being a "banking town." He lived in Charlotte during the late 1970s and early 1980s. After living in California, he returned to the area in 1999 and started a leadership-training business, Scholz & Associates. "It's an amazingly accepting city if you accept it," Scholz says. "If you swallow the stereotypes, you're going to get eaten alive." One must approach Charlotte with a mindset of: "I'm here to learn and help you, and in the process of helping you, I hope you'll help me," Scholz says. Volunteering is a great introduction. Scholz encourages newcomers to seek out organizations in which to get involved. The YMCA of Greater Charlotte and United Way of Central Carolinas are both great places to start he says. "If you can be sensitive to attitudes, find your space and help others, the town will open its doors." While some new business owners say it is a task to penetrate established networks of companies and their established suppliers, new residents are able to make a living serving companies and individuals who also have relocated here.

Russ Gryzywinski, a financial adviser and president of Charlotte-based Oak Brook Financial Group, located his business here in 1996 after research showed there was a lot of growth in population and local companies. "They gave me a market that was more open to me," he says. One of his first clients was a company that had relocated from New York before him. The company has grown 40% to 50% in each of the last two years. "In my case, business has been exactly what I expected and anticipated, Grzywinski says. The influx of people from elsewhere is an asset, Foreman says. He says they create a nurturing climate for business. Newcomers look out for each other. Forman came to Charlotte from Champaign, Ill., in 1995 to start Track Gear, a NASCAR apparel company. He sold it to textile giant Tultex Corp. in 1997. His share of the sale allowed him to retire at 29. But Foreman was not ready for a life of leisure and started Enventys.

"You're always meeting people who have very diverse backgrounds," says Foreman, who also teaches classes in launching small businesses at Central Piedmont Community College. "People want to do business with people in Charlotte. I have found it extremely easy."

About 70% of Barbara Green's clients have relocated here. Green moved to Charlotte from Richmond, Va., in 2004 when her daughter became a freshman at Johnson & Wales University. Soon after, she launched Signature Style Custom Decorating, an interior design firm for homes, offices, and restaurants.

Networking is key to establishing one-self and your business, says Green, who has set up businesses in Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana and Kentucky, while moving for her ex-husband's jobs.
"I network profusely," says Green, whose involvement includes the Charlotte chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and the Charlotte City Committee, who mission is making the city appealing to a younger work force. "You could network all day long every day."

Charlotte's business environment is much more open, Green says. She's gotten referrals from other interior designers, something that didn't happen elsewhere.
"Everybody seems happy to have everyone succeed," Green says.

Brian and Michelle Mattingly own Welcomemat Services, Inc. and know a few things about newcomers: The Mattinglys moved here in 2000. In 2003, they launched their company, which sends direct mail vouchers to new residents for free or reduced-price services at clients such as restaurants, shops and salons.

Brian Mattingly says the area's large pool of talented employees has helped the business grow 350% in 2005 over 2004. "We feel very fortunate as we periodically seek new hires," he says. "When we have outsourced projects, we find a wealth of talented and creative individuals."

Discussed in private, the petty quibbles of many business owners who began life somewhere outside Mecklenburg County or even the Southeast include frustration when a potential client gives them what has become known as "The Southern 'No'" which is, "Why don't you call me in about two weeks?" instead of simply saying, "No thank you."

Scholz says Charlotte can be a confusing place to find one's way around. Indeed, we have streets that intersect each other, including Queens Road and Providence Roads.
But he notes, "It's not as bad as it used to bed."

Cultural differences can be overcome with time and effort. But where barriers to doing business are concerned, everyone is unanimous that the biggest one hands-down is the cost of air travel. US Airways Group Inc. has a virtual lock on gates at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport; it uses 90% of them. And that means the hub airline can charge high fares, except to its large-volume, business customers such as Bank of America Corp.

Many small-business owners doing business out of town hope for the entry of a major low-cost competitor such as Southwest Airlines Inc. Smaller economy-fare carriers have had mixed results.
On May 4, Foreman flew on US Airways to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with the U.S. Patent Office. He returned that night.
Purchasing the round trip ticket one week in advance cost him $1,160.

"There are plenty of businesses that could not justify the cost of that and may miss out on the business opportunities because they can't go someplace to make the sale," Foreman says.
Scholz's trips usually take him to an airport where US Airways faces competition; that lowers his cost of travel. He says is costs him $462 on US Airways recently to fly from Charlotte to Fort Myers, F.L. to Philadelphia and back to Charlotte.

But it would cost him $1,000 on the same airline to fly round-trip to Chattanooga, T.N.
Grywinski has a partner and clients in the Chicago area. Low-cost airlines flying into Chicago's Midway International Airport help his schedule and budget.

He lamented the loss of American Trans Air service there in 2005 but he looked forward to Air Trans Airways' new Midway service that started May 9.
"Now we're hopefully back to the ease of travel," he says.

Regardless, Charlotte's benefits - including excellent weather, restaurants and recreation - clearly outweigh expensive air travel, Foreman says. "But (Charlotte) would be more effective if we have more cost-competitive air service," he says. "There would never be an excuse not to be face-to-face with your clients. The absolute best is when you're sitting with your clients and prospective clients."
Although fares have gotten better in recent years, Mattingly agrees, saying they have been cost-prohibitive. "We have had to restrict travel to some degree," he says.

This article appeared in the May 19, 2006 issue of the Charlotte Business Journa – Charlotte Boundl. Copyrighted 2006 by American City Business Journals, 120 West Morehead St., Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202, (704) 973-1100.