5 Hot Business Fields For Women

Black Enterprise, Sept, 1999 by Roz Ayres-Williams, Phaedra Brotherton

Thinking of starting A company? These sectors Are proving to be Particularly lucrative for entrepreneurial sisters.

MARINA GRANT, PRESIDENT OF GRANT COMMUNICATIONS Inc., initially started her business out of a desire to help women fight discrimination in the workplace. She also happened to land squarely in one of the fastest-growing niches of the services industry--labor law consulting and conflict resolution.

It's also one of five hot industries for women that probably won't cool down for the next five to 10 years. Others include: home healthcare, information technology services, commercial cleaning and entertainment (television, motion pictures, publishing, recorded music and video games). Approximately 60% of black women-owned firms are in the service sector, according to the National Foundation for Women Business Owners.

For women entrepreneurs, these industries represent some of the best opportunities for success, which is always within your grasp as long as you are focused, prepared and have a plan and the determination to be the best at what you do.

Meet five women who, reading the clues and taking advantage of their industry knowledge and experience, started service businesses in our five hot industries at the right time, some even a little ahead of the curve.

Artistic Endeavors: Entertainment Consulting and Services

Consumers will spend nearly $270 billion on television and radio, recorded music, magazines, newspapers and books, home video, motion pictures, video games and consumer online services by the year 2002, according to a recent industry study, The Veronis, Sublet & Associates Communications Industry Forecast, 1998.

"Television is still an exploding industry," writes Lynne Rogers, author of Working in Show Business: Behind-the-Scenes Careers in Theater, Film, Television (Back Stage Books, $18.95). In addition, special interest television and video--both educational and corporate--continue to grow, which translates into opportunities for talent above and below the line, notes Rogers.

With the right skills and visibility, opportunities abound, says Pat Tobin, who serves on the board of the Los Angeles chapter of Women in Film and owns a 15-year-old public relations firm, Tobin & Associates in Hollywood, which helped put Spike Lee on the map, in the early 1980s.

"For me, staying operational throughout the years has required a proactive approach to obtaining business," says Tobin. Half of creating opportunities is networking and getting your name out there. "This industry requires nurturing key contacts and relationships, knowing your craft, and then exceeding your clients' expectations."

When a friend asked Nancy Carter to be the audience coordinator for her new television talk show, Carter realized there were business opportunities in supplying audiences. The show lasted one television season, which was just long enough for Carter to turn what she had learned into Applause! Inc., "The Audience Co." The five-year-old Santa Monica, California-based firm supplies audiences, page services (personal aides for a show) and consulting services for game shows, talk shows, infomercials and sitcoms such as Carter's first client, Moesha. Other clients include The Steve Harvey Show and The Hughleys.

A former actress, runway model, talent agent/manager and production company owner, Carter, 53, is an industry insider who knows how to network. "Once you prove you can fill the seats with a quality audience that fits the show's requirements, then producers will do business with you," says Carter. While Applause! has doubled its gross revenues each year since its inception, Carter is now ready to take it to the million-dollar mark with a full-scale marketing campaign set to roll out next quarter. Last season, the company earned almost $200,000.

Creating "content" or entertainment programming for the newer vehicles--such as video, the Internet and some of the smaller, specialized cable networks--is a wide open area, says Rose Catherine Pinkney, who sits on the board of Women in Film and is vice president of comedy development for Paramount Network Television in Los Angeles. The key is being skilled in the new technologies, getting in the door, working your way up, learning the business and making contacts.

For women, it's especially important to seek out mentors and establish your own network, says Marry Cavendish, executive director of Women in Film and Video, Washington, D.C. chapter. In such a competitive industry, people are always interested in working with people they know and trust. A broad liberal arts background is helpful as well as experience in some aspect of the entertainment business--theater, television or music. To bone up on the industry, Variety and Hollywood Reporter are must reads. Other publications, such as Script and Filmmaker, cover specific facets of the industry.

Carter suggests interning as a way to break into what can be a tough business. Carter ran her company for the first, year from her home with just a phone, a fax and a computer. As with all businesses dependent upon contract employees or consultants, have enough cash on hand to cover payroll, taxes and insurance costs for at least three months.