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C/D LU Call (313) 477 5366 for more information - clb C/D LU CC LU CD UJ F- 3 0 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today, Call 354-6060 RISK TAKERS page 34 hours a week. I have three kids that I don't see as much as I'd like." While there are no statis- tics which track how many children leave a family business to strike out on their own, the Labor Department reports entre- preneurs in general have increased in numbers dur- ing 1992 due to corporate downsizing and other fac- tors. Research also reveals new-business starts often increase during hard times. Recent data from Dun & Bradstreet shows that new- business incorporations rose 7 percent in the first six months of recession- racked 1992. That was after five successive years of decreasing starts. "You really must possess that fire in the belly, because no one else can drive the company but you," said Sarah Wolk, president of Sarah Wolk Associates, Inc., a public relations and marketing firm she founded in Birmingham 14 years ago. A retail expert, Ms. Wolk could have taken a job with her brother, Douglas Mossman, a managing partner of Oakland Mall Ltd., which owns Oakland Mall in Troy and a host of other retail shopping cen- ters. Ms. Wolk said she start- ed the company with per- sonal savings and listed the late restaurateur Chuck Muer as one of her first clients. Today she has over 20 clients ranging from Oakland Mall to Follmer Rudzewicz & Co., a mid- sized accounting firm in Southfield. "Certainly I could have found a job with a relative, but that wasn't my style," said Ms. Wolk, whose hus- band, Erv, owns Wolk Advertising and The Think Tank, a graphic design agency. Both firms are based in Birmingham. "I guess I had something to prove. I wanted a firm that favored quality over quantity," she said. "It's been a tough struggle, but I wake up every day ready to go to work. You don't get that same adrenaline rush when you're working for someone else." The secret to a successful business venture, be it run- ning a bakery or a print shop, say these entrepre- neurs, is to plan slowly, research the marketplace, and to look long-term for future competitors and opportunities. Other advice includes securing adequate financ- ing to run the company at a potential loss for the first year, using outside experts like lawyers instead of hir- ing in-house counsel. Renting equipment when- ever possible to avoid being saddled with debt if the business fails also is an option. "When I made the jump I knew there was a chance I could be back on the streets in a year, but I don't mind risk" said Scott Eisenberg, vice president of Onset BIDCO Inc., a capital investment firm in Livonia. Formerly with Deloitte & Touche, a Big Six account- ing firm with offices in downtown Detroit, Mr. Eisenberg said he was on the partner track up until 1991 when the opportunity to join Onset BIDCO became available. "At 'Deloitte & Touche, I was manager of the corpo- rate financial group but all I could do was advise clients on certain matters," Mr. Eisenberg said. "What I really wanted to do was sit down with entrepre- neurs and help provide them with the tools they needed for long-term suc- cess. "I wanted more control over my destiny. Right now there's five of us at Onset who work as a team. That make-or-break decision making is with us every- day." Onset is one of 10 private investment firms in the state designated BIDCO, or Business Industri ii Development Corporation. Through use of its own cap- ital, Onset provides funding for companies with strong- growth opportunities. Meanwhile, Sanford Mall, 39, president of Integrated Enterprises Inc., a management consulting firm in West Bloomfield, has slowed down his eight- year-old practice in recent months to prepare for law school in the fall. "Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a lawyer, so it's really a dream come true," said Mr. Mall, who worked at the Canvas Product Co., a marine textile manufacturing firm his family owned in Oak Park. "It was exciting moving away from the family busi- ness and into the consult- ing practice, but there was always a yearning in the back of my mind for law school." ❑ R.J. King is a Detroit freelance writer. (