It’s a common dream. There are thousands of people who want to start their own business. They may have a great idea, but they just don’t know where to start.

Troy Henderson was like that. For years he worked for an electrical contractor, but he wanted to branch out on his own and knew he could do a good job. Although he knew the electrical contracting industry well, he  wasn’t an expert on the fine print of being self employed.  

“It was something I always wanted to do,” Henderson said. “I had lots of technical background. I just needed some business knowledge to help me with it and I needed an avenue to learn that.”  

Last fall, he turned to the University College of the Fraser Valley and enrolled in the Continuing Studies (not a possessive; a descriptive adjective) Business Start-up course. Taught by Ingrid Gauw, the course takes fledgling entrepreneurs and teaches them everything they need to know to successfully run a small business.  

“Lots of people have the skills, but they don’t have the business background. Or they know they need a business plan, but don’t know how to write one,” Gauw says.

“This course combines the two. You’ll learn how to write a business plan, but it will also help you acquire other skills you need like bookkeeping, human resources, management skills, marketing  on a shoestring budget, and market research.”  

The comprehensive, 60-hour program tackles the ins and outs of working for yourself. Becoming self employed is a growing trend. According to B.C. Government statistics more than 98 per cent of businesses in 2001 were considered small businesses and 54 per cent of those were operated by one person who employed less than five people.  

In the past few years, the number of newly established small businesses has declined slightly, but over a 10-year period more than 10,000 new small businesses were created in B.C.  

Yet many of those fail to thrive. They don’t falter because the idea’s no good, nor because the entrepreneur doesn’t work hard. They fail because that person didn’t conduct enough market research, or didn’t follow through with a business plan. Without those it can be hard to find financing, Gauw points out. And without financing your good idea is going nowhere.

“It’s a fairly lengthy procedure to write a good business plan,” Gauw said. “There are a number of people starting a new business or a cottage industry. And more and more people are going to the banks but there’s only so much money to be distributed. You have to make sure the bank manager is as excited about your new business as you. And you do that with a good business plan.  

“As we go along, I ask students to provide me with business development strategies. I review those, give constructive feedback, and at the end they have a really good draft for a business plan.”  

Along with the basics, the program will also take the new entrepreneur into aspects of financing the business, hiring or firing employees, employment standards, sales promotions, advertising, financial outlook, and cash flow ratios. Gauw has taught the course for several years and this is the second semester she’s brought the program to UCFV.  

Along with teaching the basics, Gauw explains there’s lots of one-on-one coaching for her students and even after the comprehensive program ends she keeps in touch with the pupils for a short while to see how they’re making out.

Electrical contractor Henderson, who runs Triton Electrical Services in Abbotsford, said he couldn’t have branched out on his own without the program. “It was well worth the tuition,” he added  “I highly recommend the program. Ingrid taught me the importance of a business plan and I didn’t even know such a thing even existed. If I didn’t have the course, I don’t know where I’d be.”  

The 60-hour Small Business Start-up course begins Tues, Jan 28, and runs Tuesday and Thursday evenings for 20 sessions. It runs from 6:30 to 9:30 pm in the UCFV Marshall Road annex in Abbotsford. For more information call 604-864-4615.