The Lone Rangers

In Southwest Florida’s busy business world, a few bold

entrepreneurs dare to go it alone. They answer phones, schedule appointments,

handle paperwork, pay bills, deal with and recruit customers, market

themselves, order equipment and supplies—and then they get down to work.

To survive as a sole proprietor, it takes certain

characteristics—self-motivation, organization and a solid business plan,

creativity and passion for work. We found three stand-alone entrepreneurs and

asked them how—and why—they run a company of one.

In touch with his clients

After 15 years of pushing patients through mass treatment

centers, Kevin Ribbel left the arena of hospitals, occupational medical centers

and acute-care facilities to open a practice in Naples where he could treat

every patient as an individual, not a diagnosis. “The whole idea is to give

better care and more healing,” he says.

Ribbel, a registered physical therapist who received his

degree from Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y., started his business in 2000 with

$2,000 in savings from his wages as a musician. By the end of 2001, his

caseload had stepped up

50 percent higher than the previous year. Now, Holistic

Physical Therapy, located in an office complex at the corner of Goodlette Frank

Road and Fifth Avenue North in Naples, accounts for 70 percent of his time and

60 percent of his income. He continues to set aside funds from his practice and

four-night-a-week guitar gigs to buy additional equipment, such as an

ultrasound machine and a refrigerator to store cold packs.

Ribbel, 38, notes that strong personal and professional support

systems are vital in surviving as a business of one. In his specialty of

reducing swelling associated with lymphedema, cancer and trauma, he calls on

fellow physical therapists, state board licensing experts, manufacturer reps

and legal counsel. Florida Gulf Coast University’s Small Business Development

Center has helped him learn cold-calling techniques and cope with unexpected

obstacles.

But getting a foot in the door with physicians remains a

challenge. “My business depends on getting a strong referral base, not the

brush-off,” says Ribbel. He’s learned to bring in lunch—his treat—during noon

meetings. He persists in the face of rejection and stays alert to opportunities

for personal connections. He attends medical meetings and events. He advertises

for private patients in Natural Awakenings magazine. Marketing tools include a

Yellow Pages listing, a magnetic sign on his van and a Web site,

www.holisticphysicaltherapy.com.

Ribbel, who keeps two changes of clothes and a spare pair of

running shoes in his car to make it to all his various meetings, sacrifices

hours of personal time to take care of administrative duties. He handles

billing, insurance paperwork and laundry in between secretarial and reception

duties. A cell phone is indispensable. After working two months without a day

off, Ribbel made a commitment to take either Saturday or Sunday off each week

for personal time. This year, Ribbel plans to tap schools for interns. He also

is considering expanding services with a contract employee but he doesn’t want

that to affect his standard of care.

Still, Ribbel says that working alone allows him to have it

all—his family, music and a physical therapy practice. “I’ve known I was

supposed to do this for a long time,” he says. “It’s finally come into being.”

No bozos in her office

Lori Stamm, 43, has been in business for herself most of

her working life and wouldn’t have it any other way. As Fruit Loop the Clown,

she makes at least eight appearances a week, from corporate events to

children’s parties.

A professional clown for 12 years, including six in Lee

County, Stamm took Fruit Loop full time in 1998. Playing on a local reputation

gained through three years of word-of-mouth referrals and prominent Yellow

Pages advertising, she decided to “go gung-ho” and it paid off.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Companies called. Parents called.

Half of all bookings are repeat customers, and expenses eat

up 30 percent of revenue. Stamm’s Web site, www.fruit-loop.com, lists her

upcoming appearances, allowing potential clients to check out her shows before

booking her. She staged 425 shows in 2001, including charity fundraisers,

company picnics, school and library events, grand openings and retail

promotions. “There’s never a slow time,” says Stamm.

By 7 a.m. on weekdays, Stamm is in her home office in Cape

Coral, where she handles bookwork, scheduling, contracts, purchasing and

marketing. At 3 p.m. she packs props tailored to the day’s audience, dons her

clown suit, makeup and giant shoes, and heads out. Three nights a week find her

at R.J. Gator’s in Fort Myers and Sal’s Pizza Parlor in Cape Coral. On

weekends, Stamm goes to as many as three events a day. Mondays and Fridays are

potential down time, but work often calls.

Additional marketing strategies include gifts for guests,

thank-you notes to clients and Fruit Loop’s play money, which doubles as a

promotional flyer. Quarterly classes at magic seminars, clown clubs, colleges

and conventions expand Stamm’s repertoire of sight gags, skits, comedy magic,

face painting and balloon sculpture.

As a kid, Stamm loved to pose for photos with goofy

expressions. Now she deems a job “where everything you do is perceived as

funny” as pure joy. Her fulfillment comes in the notebooks filled with cards,

coloring pictures and circus artwork from big and little customers saying they

love her, which is why Stamm is confident she can count on clowning around for

years to come.

Bucks in the oven

Business doubled when Priscilla Bletterman started charging

for her work. Before 2001, the artistic cake designer gave away her intricate

cakes to local charities as well as friends and neighbors to celebrate

birthdays, anniversaries and retirements.

Averaging $150 and up, these are no ordinary cakes.

Decorated with handmade, multicolored buttercream icing, her creations have

taken on the form of bridges, Barbie dolls, logos, trains, buildings, antique

cars, helicopters, Mack trucks, baby rattles and yachts, not to mention

straightforward layer cakes.

Working alone in the kitchen, it takes Bletterman four hours

to create a cake to feed 25 people and 20 hours to bake a cake for 200 guests.

Some cakes have taken 80 hours of near nonstop labor, often until the wee hours

of the morning.

In 2001, she had orders for 70 cakes and donated another 20

cakes to events. This year, she aims to equalize sales through the seasons and

balance deadlines with more midweek orders from corporate clients. Even though

she refers wedding cakes to other caterers, Bletterman, 44, still may have as

many as five projects due on a single Saturday. “The hardest thing is spreading

myself thin, producing product and proposals and meeting with people,” she

says. Sleepless nights find her weighing which one takes precedence.

Help comes from the SCORE (Service Corps of Retired

Executives) Association and FGCU’s Small Business Development Center, where her

next steps include transferring accounts to computer, refining market

strategies and formalizing a business plan. The single mom’s long-term goal is

to support her two children, 10-year-old Carl and 7-year-old Christina, through

their growing-up years and put them through college on cakes. Attaining her

goal will require creating regular demand for $1,000 one-of-a-kind cakes.

Currently, prices range from $100 to more than $600.

Fortunately, she says, Naples hostesses try to outdo each other with lavish

entertaining.

With a total of $10,000 invested, including $2,000 in

start-up equipment and materials, and $25,000 in supplies bequeathed by a

former shop owner, Bletterman’s business is now breaking even. She operates

from Naples, subletting a kitchen licensed as a bakery, and storing bowls, pans

and additional supplies at home.

Bletterman thrives on the artistry of sculpting beautiful

cakes and enjoys the freedom of creating without interference. But she’s learned

to work as both artist and businesswoman. Little extras, such as delivery of

beribboned cake boxes by a tuxedoed Bletterman and complimentary “to go” slices

in small boxes topped by a business card served to guests at corporate and

community events, are among her unique marketing strategies. She also provides

a photo keepsake of the cake. “I do a little bit extra here and there, and they

remember me,” she says.