Starting all over again - small business management tips - Brief Article

Black Enterprise, March, 2001 by Bridget McCrea

Gina and Raphael Bruce succumb to change to remain a fixture

Quick thinking helped this small business pick up and move on after the Y2K hype fizzled. Gina and Raphael Bruce were at Mass on the eve of the new year, praying for the safety of the world as the clock ticked closer to midnight on December 31, 1999. Armed with backgrounds in technical writing, computer support, and education (as well as $150,000 from an angel investor), the two co-founders of what was formerly known as Millennium 2000 Computer Consulting Group, located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, had spent the previous two years helping companies cure their Y2K computer woes.

And in the new year, they expected more of the same. But as the ball dropped in Times Square and the new century arrived, a shocking thing happened: nothing. "We were expecting a huge influx of Y2K business that never came," says Gina Bruce, president and CEO.

After realizing that Y2K computer glitches were no longer a threat, Gina enrolled in the Cobb Microenterprise Council at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. Funded in part by the United Way, the program helps fledgling entrepreneurs and current business owners in their time of need. There, they learn to create viable business plans, raise capital, and run their companies profitably.

Bruce realized that her company didn't have a business plan, and that she had simply been "riding the Y2K wave."

Patricia Harris, the council's executive director, says Bruce's business concept (mobile computer training for executives) was a viable one and that the company's lack of a business plan is common among entrepreneurs: 70% of businesses don't have them, according to the SBA.

Upon completion of the three-month program, Bruce's luck changed. She found a potential partner in Boca Raton, Florida-based MCT, which is also a computer training company. But a six-month trial partnership ended due to the companies' "incompatible goals?

Bruce's intensive training and the six-month trial partnership were enough to get Millennium 2000 CCG, now called Millennium Technology Group L.L.C., back on track. The company is now serving the Southeastern states with its mobile computer training units, charging $99 to $500 per course.

With five employees, the firm expects to earn $500,000 in revenues for 2001 (up from $150,000 in 2000). For other entrepreneurs who may be facing market shifts or other issues, Bruce has simple advice: have a business plan.

Bruce Strzelczyk, a partner with accounting group Richard A. Eisner & Co. L.L.P. in New York, a group that frequently deals with technology-focused firms, agrees.

Strzelczyk encourages businesses to not only develop a solid plan but also to review and update it periodically (every three to six months, for example). "We believe in a very simple principle," says Strzelczyk. "If you have a plan, you're more likely to execute it."

Millennium Technology Group L.L.C., 6853 Gledhill Way, Suite B, Stone Mountain, GA 30887-5414; 770-498-7940