Entrepreneur vets cope with shattered businesses
By: Mike Mathis
Bob Griffith spent 10 months defending the United States against the threat of terrorism.
Now he’s fighting to save his business.
When Mr. Griffith departed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to guard suspected terrorist detainees, he left a thriving residential and light commercial business behind.
When he returned home to Hamilton Township, the electrical business he began in 1985 was in shambles.
He was $80,000 in debt, he said. When some customers Mr. Griffith’s business had residential and small commercial clients learned Mr. Griffith was leaving and not due to return for nearly a year, they decided not to pay what they owed him.
Believing the federal government could assist him because he’s a veteran, Mr. Griffith said he has found there are few if any places he can turn for the assistance he needs to get his business back on track.
"If it wasn’t for the debt, (the business) would be non-existent," as debt is the only thing that the business had to show for itself, said Mr. Griffith, 57, a member of the New Jersey National Guard and a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War. "I never asked Uncle Sam for anything. Now I can use the help, and they say, ‘Sorry,’" there is none.
Some say Mr. Griffith’s plight is not unusual among veterans who own their own businesses, then return to find it teetering on the brink of collapse.
While large corporations often hold jobs and pay the salaries of employees who serve in the military, there are no comparable protections for entrepreneurs who are veterans, they say, and there’s no government safety net to protect them and preserve their investment when they return.
Veterans were less likely to be unemployed than non-veterans in August 2003, the most recent date for which statistics are available, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Veterans had an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, compared with 5.9 percent for non-veterans, the department reported. Veterans who had been recently discharged from the military had a jobless rate of 6.9 percent.
There are local efforts under way to help local returning veterans get their small businesses back on track. Several organizations, including the federal Small Business Administration and the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce, recently sponsored a workshop for veterans to educate them and answer their questions about small business.
"A lot of them are small and only have themselves or someone else" to maintain the business, said Lorraine Allen, regional director of the Small Business Development Center at the College of New Jersey, which hosted a seminar on Thursday[gsp: Nov. 10: ]. "They come back (from the service), and their businesses are having a tough time recovering"
Ms. Allen said the effects of failing small businesses reverberates across the economy, because it causes the unemployment rate to rise and compels those who are out of work to spend less.
"A lot of people are independent, and they’re thinking they’ll have the income" to sustain their business until they return home, she said. "There’s a whole different impact other than the service of their community. There’s a ripple effect."
Jerry Rovner, a business consultant who assists entrepreneurial veterans in getting back on their feet following their return from the service, said the situation differs from past overseas conflicts because the war on terror has required massive call-ups of National Guard troops to support active duty soldiers.
Mr. Rovner said small-business owners will spend tens of thousands of dollars on advertising, equipment maintenance, and bills to resuscitate their businesses when they’ve returned from the service.
"Who’s doing anything for them?" asked Mr. Rovner, a veteran of the U.S. Navy whose consulting firm, The Rovner Group, is based in Allentown. "Who’s helping them? When they come back, they have to start all over again. Everybody’s concerned about the guy who works for the big company, but no one talks about this. There’s no one looking after the small guy."
In addition to losing the income they generated as small-business owners, some veterans stand to suffer greater financial hardship, because the military doesn’t pay as well as the businesses they left behind, said Mr. Rovner, an Allentown councilman.
"When you substitute one income for another and you don’t have anything to go back to, then what?" Mr. Rovner asked. That’s exactly the question Mr. Griffith is asking himself.
Before he left for Cuba, he spent last November and December pre-planning. He asked several people if they could run his business while he was gone. He held business meetings and delegated responsibilities to those who agreed to work with him, he said.
Conflicts among those in whom he confided helped accelerate the demise of the business, according to Mr. Griffith. "The whole thing came unglued because I was the glue that held everything together," Mr. Griffith said. "People were bailing out because they couldn’t get along with each other."
Mr. Griffith said he can’t collect unemployment, and he’s used his credit cards to meet expenses.
Frank Burke, of the SBA, said his agency has assistance programs that are available to anyone who qualifies including veterans.
Among the programs for which veterans could be eligible are economic injury disaster loans and management counseling and planning, he said. Mr. Burke said there are also special considerations given to veterans for government contracts.
The SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development has programs geared specifically to veterans. For example, the Office of the Chief Army Reserve has published "The Small Business Mobilization Planner" to help reservists prepare for covering their business interests before mobilization occurs.
The SBA is increasing its use of technology through its Web site, www.sba.gov, to disseminate information on its programs and hold online chats about initiatives, Mr. Burke said.
"The content on our Web page has become a valuable source of information," he said.
Despite the financial setbacks he’s faced, Mr. Griffith is confident and upbeat that business will return to profitability.
"For a while, it was touch and go," Mr. Griffith said. "I am confident I can get it back together again."