BRIGHT IDEAS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

"It is possible to be successful in a small business if a person looks very carefully at the market." -- Gil Degenhardt

Survival for a small business, Gil Degenhardt knows, can be difficult, which is why he says that nowadays he'd rather advise people than be in business.

"Sometimes people ask me what business I'd start and frankly I'm at a loss to know what business I'd go into," he said.

Still, it is possible, he believes, to be successful in a small business if a person looks very carefully at the market.

Degenhardt, an independent business counselor who works closely with the Small Business Development Center, spends most of his time these days traveling throughout Southeast Missouri talking to people about any and all aspects of business, from manufacturing to distributing and marketing.

He knows his subject well. In his 76 years, Degenhardt has worked in most every area of the business world. Today, he shares his experience and expertise with others, especially small business operators.

"We talk about business ideas and the challenges in business. Sometimes we try to answer the question, 'Should I stay in business?'" Degenhardt said.

To be successful and stay in business requires, Degenhardt believes, an ability either to fill a need that isn't being met or to create a desire for a product that isn't a critical need. Above all, it requires an understanding of the market.

"We've had a lot of people trying to duplicate West Coast stuff here in Cape, people trying to transport the West Coast into the Midwest, but the areas are different," he said.

He points to several specialty coffee shops in the region that have gone under because the owners mistakenly believed that what worked in Seattle or Los Angeles will also work in Southeast Missouri.

"They had good stuff, but the Midwest may not be the place for it," Degenhardt said.

"Here people drink their coffee straight and aren't as willing to pay $1.75 per cup. Here, if coffee goes up a nickel, people go somewhere else for their coffee."

When a would-be small businessman is thinking of simply duplicating a business that was successful elsewhere, but has no presence here, he should ask some very basic questions, Degenhardt believes. If there is no shop of that kind in the area, the businessman should ask why there isn't such a shop in the area, if there ever was such a shop in the area and, if there used to be but is no longer, why it is no longer here.

Degenhardt does admit that there is no consistency to the market and that the reason eludes even the experts why some businesses succeed while others fail.

"A lot of times you can't figure out why," he said. "Sometimes you click."

Still, the basic American desire for innovation may help the small business become successful, Degenhardt believes.

"The American public is starved for experience," he said. "The public wants and likes innovation, a new experience."

He points to Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston as a prime example of that innovation.

The restaurant, which started out in a small bungalow at Sikeston's busiest intersection, had so little room that diners would sit in any available chair at any available table during the crowded lunch hour.

"The fare was meat and potatoes, which was good for the market -- a hefty meal for a reasonable price," Degenhardt said.

"Because Lambert couldn't get through the crowd, he started throwing the rolls. Somehow it caught on."