Lisa Price,
right, founder and CEO
of Carol’s
Daughter, a
$40 million lotion and makeup company, talks with Linda Murray Bullard.Being an entrepreneur isn’t as sexy as people seem to think.
At least that’s what Warren Logan has discovered as president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga. In the last year, about 200 aspiring entrepreneurs have stopped by the Urban League’s Entrepreneur Center for help starting or growing their businesses.
“Quite frankly, most of the people who have come through willing to start a business are not prepared for the entrepreneur journey,” he said. “Nobody told them it was more than a 40-hour week, nobody told them there’s no annual leave, no sick leave, and sometimes you work six, seven days a week. No one told them about the tax burden, about spending your last dime on inventory. Nobody bothered to tell them you can’t borrow from the banks because they’re not credit-worthy yet.”
Somebody has to sit down and tell would-be entrepreneurs what it’s all about, Logan said. And that’s what the Urban League tries to do. He spoke to a crowd of more than 400 during the Urban League’s second-annual entrepreneurship luncheon Wednesday.
The event featured Lisa Price, founder of the $40 million beauty company Carol’s Daughter. Price started the company with $100 and a vision in 1994, and now is about to roll out her products in mass-market retailer Target. She’s in charge of 75 employees and is already selling in similar retailers like J.C. Penny and Macy’s.