Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007
With a newborn baby and more time on her hands staying home to care for him, Antonette Hoffman-Robinson was flipping through a women’s magazine in her apartment last year when she noticed an article about stay-at-home mothers reaping sometimes millions of dollars in profits with small businesses.
Hoffman-Robinson, then 22, thought of her encouraging professor from a marketing course she had taken at the Frederick County Career and Technology Center near Frederick Community College during high school. She remembered the ambition of her classmates, all driven to launch their own business, she said.
‘‘I knew I wanted to start my own business,” Hoffman-Robinson said. ‘‘It just took me having a child and finding something I’m so passionate about.”
At 23, the Hagerstown resident last spring began sewing colorful slings to hold her baby while breastfeeding. She marketed the $30 ‘‘Boobie Bibs,” formerly called ‘‘Boobie Bags,” to other new mothers in her Frederick Mommies club. She launched a Web site — www.theboobiebib.com — and caught the attention of a Brunswick boutique interested in carrying them.
Hoffman-Robinson, who grew up in Brunswick and plans to return to Frederick County with her family early next year, is among a wave of young entrepreneurs branching out in the Frederick County region.
More young families are moving to new developments in Frederick and are trying to work near their homes and families, said Heather Gramm of the city’s Department of Economic Development.
‘‘It’s not about following the jobs any more,” Gramm said. ‘‘It’s about following the feel of the place they want to live. ... Particularly with downtown, we are attracting a younger generation of professionals. I think they’re drawn by the arts, culture and eclectic mix of retail and businesses.”
Mirroring Frederick County, the percentage of the city’s population ages 25 to 44 is slightly declining — from 35 percent in 2000 to 31 percent in 2007 — but Gramm said young entrepreneurship is nonetheless on the rise.
‘‘What we are seeing is a rise in the entrepreneurial spirit in Frederick,” Gramm said. ‘‘More young professionals who are in the area are taking that big step to start their own businesses.”
The number of younger entrepreneurs in the United States is significant, according to the U.S. Census 2002 survey of business owners. Of 20.5 million respondents, 2.8 million, or 13.8 percent, were younger than 35. The vast majority held majority ownership in their enterprises.
Networking groups springing up
Several local young professionals and entrepreneurs, such as investment adviser Henry Becker, 38, of New Market, are starting networking events in the city for a younger crowd.
Becker founded the Frederick Young Professionals Group in August for professionals ages 25-40 wanting to connect with his peers. The group has 50 members and is growing.
Frederick Young Professionals meets monthly for happy hour to share business ideas and socialize at bars downtown. Its next gathering is 6:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Mirage bar, 243 N. Market St., Frederick, where members plan to discuss securing a co-organizer, options for volunteering as group and changing the group’s Web-based format.
Becker is considering shifting the Web site on meetup.com, for which he pays $72 for six months for the public site, to a less expensive blog, which he hopes could draw advertising dollars. Most members joined the first three weeks after Becker founded the group, but several have trickled in since, he said.
Among them are a bevy of entrepreneurs starting insurance firms, and Web design companies, plus a member starting a slumber party business.
‘‘We have entrepreneurs from all over the map,” said Becker, who himself is gearing up to launch a financial services business for post-baby boomers. ‘‘There are a lot of resources for young people who want to start their own business,” including two incubators and several angel investors willing to fund promising startups, Becker said.
With a wife and two young children, Becker moved from Pittsburgh two years ago and said more than half of his Frederick Young Professionals members have moved to Frederick County.
‘‘People from Montgomery County and Howard County are being squeezed out by housing prices,” Becker said. ‘‘You can still find more affordable housing in Frederick. ... That’s the boom in Frederick.”
James Fair of Hagerstown, who started his own travel agency, Awesome Travel Club, founded the Frederick-Hagerstown Entrepreneurial Group in July for members to plug their new companies at social events. So far, the meetup.com group has drawn 18 members, according to its Web site.
Meanwhile, Hoffman-Robinson is shoring up business with Frederick Mommies, with more than 100 members. She has sold several bags to group members and has received dozens of referrals from them. Soon she will market Boobie Bibs to baby boutiques in downtown Frederick.
‘‘I’m on the fence about whether I want to have it manufactured or start hiring some work-at-home moms who are great at sewing,” Hoffman-Robinson said. ‘‘It’s not odd that I’m doing this at 23.”
