The Rural Voice, 1991-08, Page 25were spent outside the fishing village of Port Stanley. Since
they lived on land that had once been farmed and still had an
orchard, Frances and her sister operated a roadside fruit and
vegetable stand when they were girls.
"That was our first experience with self-employment,
growing the produce and trying to sell it," she reflects.
Her family later moved from an area where the economy
was based on fishing, to the farming community of Wardsville,
where her father worked in the local co-op. "So in one sense,
I guess, our family income depended on the strength of the
farming community, but we didn't take the same personal
risks, in a lot of ways, as the farmers and fishermen did."
By their late teens, the Shamley sisters realized that they
couldn't earn enough funds fora university education solely by
picking tomatoes or working in the local canning factories.
Instead, with their father's help, they bought the drive-in
Frosty Cone ice cream outlet in Glencoe. Support from the
community, combined with valuable advice from other
business people, made the venture a success. The shop's
profits paid for the sisters' first university degrees.
After graduation, Frances taught in an inner-city Toronto
school, eventually returning to university to study marine
biology. She then spent several years in New Brunswick,
involved in aquaculture, or the farming of marine animals.
"I noted they (the New Brunswickers) were having almost
exactly the same problems as the farmers and fishermen that
I'd grown up with and that I cared about," she recalls.
Eventually Shamley returned to southwestern Ontario to be
closer to her family. Her new career, as a "self-employed
research consultant and educator," led to a job organizing a
conference for women operating small businesses.
"All of the women at the conference said we need more
A SATISFIED CLIENT: LEARNING TO
START PROPERLY IS A KEY TO SUCCESS
Sheila Ripley, who lives on a Mel-
bourne area farm, is one budding entre-
preneur who has already used the services
of Women's Community Enterprises.
Two years ago, Ripley and a friend came
up with what seemed like a brilliant idea
for a service that would be a boon to their
community: Ripley, who combines
supply teaching with a very active vol-
unteer career, had always been intrigued
by the idea of operating her own business.
"I value the fact that (by being self-
employed) I can do what I want when I
want to do it," she says. As well as
teaching, she also helps to feed, market,
and deliver the 500 chickens the couple
raise on their cash crop operation every
year.
Living in the Glencoe area, Ripley
already knew Frances Shamley, so when
the partners started debating the pros and
cons of going into business, they called the Women's
Community Enterprises office.
Shamley immediately came out to the Ripley farm — "she
was really obliging" — and sat down with the prospective
partners to discuss strategy. During the session, Shamley
supplied the women with titles of useful reference books, tips
on budgeting, and loaned them some of her own books on
financial management. Ripley recalls that Shamley also
shared her philosophy that "self-employment is good for the
community."
The partners had already completed some of the job
strategy steps that Shamley recommends. For example, they
had already met with the owners of a similar business in
Woodstock. That meeting alerted them to some of the pitfalls
Sheila Ripley
they might encounter and gave them a
more realistic idea of the funds required to
establish the service. The Woodstock
partners also shared what they would do
differently if they were setting up their
business again.
Shamley also suggested other market
survey and research tasks, which the part-
ners divided. Ripley notes they were so
certain they had a winning idea, that she
even went to the business registry office in
Toronto to ensure that no other company
was using the name they'd selected.
It was during this research phase that
the two friends encountered a roadblock.
One very necessary piece of equipment
for their business simply wasn't available
in the Glencoe area. This would greatly
increase the driving time involved in
operating their services and significantly
eat into their profits.
On the other hand, their research proved they could operate
most of the service right from their homes, with the help of an
answering machine. Since both partners already use
computers, they didn't regard record-keeping as a problem.
"When we were in the process of dreaming, we thought we
could even have an offshoot in Dutton," recalls Ripley.
After deciding to postpone their venture, the partner
returned to school while Ripley increased her volunteer act-
ivities. But now the friend has completed her course and, like
true entrepreneurs, the women are toying with the idea of
opening a business — which is why Ripley won't reveal
exactly what the service is.
After all, says Ripley, "There's still that niggling thought
that maybe we'll pull it off!"0
AUGUST 1991 21