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Keeping a small business moving in the right direction can be a time-consuming task. Now enable, a new business based in Lewes, is offering a range of services aimed at assisting businesses in reaching maximum potential.
“Enable is a small business-support center that uses my eclectic background and skill set,” said Patricia Kirby Gibler, company principal.
On an as-needed contract basis, enable offers financial management, bookkeeping, vendor management, word processing, research, database management, appointment setting, follow-up calls and a variety of other services.
Gibler began developing the ideas for enable a year ago, using an informal form of focus group known as the business lunch. She launched the company in August.
“I like to listen to what’s going on in a small business. When I’m talking to business owners, I’m thinking about the kinds of things I could do to support them,” she said.
Gibler holds a master’s degree in business administration from Loyola College in Maryland and has more than 25 years’ experience in small-business operations, including establishing a restaurant owned by her family. She has assisted a variety of businesses in completing the myriad tasks required to keep them running.
“I’ve got a lot of entrepreneurial spirit. I’m always hustling and thinking about what could happen. When I look back at my experience – when I’ve offered that experience to people – they’ve done very well,” she said.
Gibler said many business owners could free up significant blocks of time they could then use to grow their enterprises or work on other things, such as product development or customer service.
She said all it takes to have that free time is someone else – an enabler – to handle the basics.
“I believe in the power of grounding a business - that is, taking care of the basics. No one should have to worry about the bills getting paid, the lights working, the telephones working, the computers being availEnable
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able,” Gibler said.
She said enable puts together, in a client-specific package, whatever services are needed.
“Some people really like to do QuickBooks [accounting software]. It’s their way of relaxing at the end of the day. But there might be something else, such as a lot of outstanding invoices they haven’t been able to collect. Or maybe they haven’t even billed their clients.
“I find that happens with a lot of small businesses. They’re letting receivables go when they could have another couple thousand dollars a month income,” said Gibler.
She said every business has potential to improve the bottom line by using an outside company to provide at least one service.
Gibler said in researching her company’s viability, she learned small businesses in small towns rank confidentiality very high.
“I only need information that’s needed to do the job,” she said. She said some internet-based companies are offering services similar to enable’s, but they can’t provide face-to-face, on-location service.
“The way documents look when they go out is very important. Having accurate information on a financial statement, as well as coming up with different ways of presenting it, is also very important,” Gibler said.
She said rates for enable’s services are slightly higher than those charged by a temp agency for comparable tasks. “But I don’t have to spend a lot of time figuring out what to do. There’s going to be synchronicity between the client and me before we start working. I’ve done a lot, so I know how to do a lot,” said Gibler.
She said enable is also capable of developing a formal business plan if a business doesn’t have one. “In figuring out whether to start a business you’ve got to be able to show a bank that you can run the business you’re trying to set up,” she said.
Whether it’s a series of little tasks or development of a bigger picture, Gibler said enable is all about the art of business empowerment.
For more information about enable, call 302-682-1888.
Contact Henry Evans at hevans@capegazette.com
Contact Henry J. Evans Jr. at hevans@capegazette.com.
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