Atlanta Author Talks with UA Campers about Entrepreneurship

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Despite the lone wolf persona often associated with entrepreneurs, an Atlanta accountant, author and consultant told a group of high school students attending the 2010 University of Alabama Capstone Entrepreneurship Camp that successful entrepreneurs need to create a “network of friends and family and find a mentor.”

Gail Margolies Reid, author of a new book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Low-Cost Startups,” was one of the featured speakers June 21 at the entrepreneurship camp which drew Alabama high school students from Tuscaloosa, Fayette, Pickens, Clay, Sumter, Perry, Wilcox, Hale, Lowndes, Marengo and Greene counties.

Reid’s book offers information on more than 100 business opportunities such as landscape installation, elder companion and pet daycare, house cleaning and maid services and includes estimates of startup costs, first-year revenue, expected time commitment and pricing suggestions. She also discusses social media marketing and website building. Her book was recently featured in the business section of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“A lot of jobs lost in the past couple of years are not coming back,” she said, adding that more and more people are going to have to be responsible for generating income on their own.

Reid worked for Arthur Andersen LLP, and then she founded her own accounting firm in Atlanta, focusing on helping small businesses get started. She has been working with entrepreneurs for more than 30 years.

“We were extremely fortunate to have Ms. Reid as a speaker,” said David Ford, clinical professor and Sam Walton Fellow in the department of management and marketing at UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and associate director for the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute. “We learned about her from a former UA student who is now a successful entrepreneur.”

The camp will continue through Thursday, June 24, and it will include several more educational sessions and a number of social activities.

For more information about Reid or the book, visit gailmreid.com or e-mail gailmreid@google.com. She also is on Facebook.