SINGLE LIFE

All Work and No Play?

Single business owners have a rough time
balancing their working and social lives

DONNA RAPHAEL

Special To The Jewish News

C

lothier Lynn Portnoy
learned the hard way
that not having a spouse
can be an obstacle when
starting a business.
Five banks turned her down for a
loan seven years ago before she found
one that was willing to finance her
downtown Detroit women's clothing
store.
Securing financing is one obstacle
some singles, such as Portnoy and
Gayle Steinhardt, owner of Gayle's
Chocolates in Royal Oak, say they
face when starting a business. Others,
such as Stuart Gorelick and Ellen
Firestone, find it difficult to juggle the
demands of business with a social life
or parenting.
"A single woman doesn't have the
use of a husband's money or line of
credit," said Portnoy, 49, who
relocated her business this year to the
Penobscot Building downtown.
At last, the "old boys' network"
provided the path to the capital she
needed. "A male friend introduced me
to a banker and to the Detroit
Economic Growth Corp. (a quasi-
public corporation that supports
Detroit developments)," she said.
Because of her experiences, Port-
noy has introduced several single
women to bankers, to help them get
started in business. "It is more possi-
ble to do this today than it was even
five years ago," she said. "The
women's network is much stronger
now."
For Portnoy, owning her own shop
was "the next natural step" after
working in retailing for nearly 20
years, she said. After studying
English literature at the University
of Michigan, she started working at
Joseph Magnin's in San Francisco.
For many years, she was at Claire
Pearone in Troy, before opening her
own store in 1980.

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FRIDAY, AUG. 7, 1987

Most of her customers are ex-
ecutive women, short on time, who
need help putting a wardrobe
together.
As a businesswoman, she is active
in community activities, and has
served on the board of the
Metropolitan Detroit Convention and
Visitors Bureau and the Central
Detroit Business Association. She
also volunteers for charity organiza-
tions such as Focus Hope and the
Goodfellows.
Portnoy said the lines between
her business life and social life often
merge. "I travel a lot, so I try to in-
corporate leisure with business when
I travel," she said. "I am so busy,
when I get an evening alone, I think
it is heaven."
Steinhardt, 40, owner of Gayle's
Chocolates in Royal Oak, said her
growing business absorbs most of her
life. She spends any free time with her
daughters, age 8 and 11, leaving lit-
tle time for dating.
"I've gotten real boring;' she said.
"I figure another year and I'll
blossom?'
Steinhardt started her candy-
making business business in her
Huntington Woods home in 1979 as
a hobby. But her divorce in 1981 com-
pelled her to expand and agressively
build up the business to provide sup-
port for herself and daughters. "Fear
is a great motivator," she said.
Steinhardt took out her first
$5,000 loan for the business when she
was still married, and faced no trou-
ble at all. But, after her divorce,
securing a second loan to renovate her
current location was "very difficult,"
she said. After being turned down by
the Small Business Administration
she secured a bank loan by "putting
up for collateral everything I owned?'
She moved into the renovated
5,000-square-foot Royal Oak location
in 1985, after city officials in Hun-
tington Woods sued her for operating
a business in a residential area. The

Ellen Firestone finds that her work leaves very little time for dating.

,

Stuart Gorelick finds that his job and children take up most of his time.