Success Lures Local Businesses Deeper Into ‘Net

Like most business owners who’ve hung their hats in cyberspace, Katharyn Lawrence didn’t think it would amount to much when she first logged on three years ago.

For the president and owner of an executive search firm in Ventura, the Internet was just another way to get her name circulating among possible clients.

She didn’t expect much because the potential seemed so limited.

Now, Lawrence spends up to four hours a day with mouse in hand, recruiting and placing clients online and using words like “indispensable” and “fantastic” when describing her newest work tool.

“At first, it was just another avenue to pursue some business, but I didn’t pay that much attention,” said the owner of the Pyramid Agency. “Now I’m using this all the time. . . . I’d have to say it’s become an important part of my business.”

Although hardly a new phenomenon, Internet commerce is blooming in Ventura County as local businesses begin to understand the importance of this widely used technology.

There are now thousands of area businesspeople using the Internet in a variety of ways to help their companies prosper.

Some are using it like a business card left for all to see, while others conduct commerce through Web sites that allow them to take orders, accept payments and ship goods.

“The potential of an Internet site for a business is amazing,” said Ben Alls, who along with his wife, Kristin Olsen-Alls, designs and maintains Web sites from an Oxnard office. “The options and freedom it gives them is incredible, and all at a really small price.”

Like Lawrence, Alice Scott-Morris knew little of the Internet and the Web when she opened a site several years ago to promote her home-based business in Thousand Oaks.

She’d heard about the Internet and its wildfire growth, and decided that establishing a presence in the amorphous world of e-commerce was a shrewd business decision.

“I saw the trend and figured that I’d better get on the bandwagon,” said Scott-Morris, who produces customized wood etchings. “I thought it would just give me another way to communicate with my clients, but the real benefit lately has been that business is starting to come in from the site.”

For others, it’s the core of commerce, serving as the place to conduct transactions.

For holdout business owners who regard the Internet and e-commerce as little more than a fad that will someday go the way of the Pet Rock, business and industry experts suggest they reconsider.

In 1997, the number of U.S. households that reported owning a personal computer climbed past 50%, with many respondents saying they owned one to have access to the Internet.

The number of people using the Internet on a regular basis is now more than 300 million worldwide and is expected to grow to 1 billion by the middle of the next decade.

As an example of how Internet commerce is growing, it’s helpful to look at companies such as Amazon.com and Smith & Smith in Ventura.

Although its concept of online shopping was originally panned, Amazon.com has emerged as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, awarding initial investors with lucrative stock splits and jaw-dropping dividends.

And Smith & Smith, a small Ventura firm that sells hot sauces and foods, now conducts most of its business over the Internet and through mail order.

“This is not a fad,” said Joseph Huggins, executive director of the Ventura County Small Business Development Center. “I think that for those businesses that aren’t using the Internet, they need to understand that they’re going to be out of the loop.”

The center, which offers advice to area businesses, recently began adding Internet and e-commerce seminars at its Ventura offices and will soon add more.

Bernard Gaffney used to think that chocolate and computers are best kept separate.

However, after opening Chocolate Rampage in Ventura four years ago with his wife, Audrey, he logged on, thinking it couldn’t hurt.

“At first it just sounded like a good idea. . . . It was something else we could do to get our name out there that didn’t cost very much,” he said. “But I’m definitely starting to understand how important this is becoming.”

However, operating a Web site takes more work than Gaffney said he has time for.

In order for a business to be successful on the Web, it requires frequent maintenance to keep the site fresh.

“You have to stay dynamic,” said Alls. “For the small business, it usually just means some massaging every couple of weeks, which isn’t at all difficult or expensive.”

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