WATERLOO - Starting a small business is tough. Keeping it going is tougher.

Most small businesses - about 80 percent - don't survive. The U.S. Small Business Administration reported in 2005 that two-thirds of new businesses survive for two years, but less than half - 44 percent - make it four years.

Reasons vary why some businesses succeed and others don't. According to the SBA, reasons include poor planning, lack of experience in a specific business or industry, ineffective marketing, poor cash management, ignoring the market or customers' changing needs and the inability to manage unexpected growth.

In 2001, The University of Northern Iowa opened the Regional Business Center in downtown Waterloo to foster business development in the city. One of the RBC's services is a business incubator - a collection of suites for business startups to operate from for up to two years to reduce overhead and give them easy access to other RBC services.

Businesses that survive two years in an incubator have an 87 percent survival rate three years after they leave, according to the National Business Incubation Association.

In March 2002, the incubator was beyond full. Its seven suites were occupied by eight businesses - Autocredit Online, Cedar Valley Systems, Cedar Valley Vikings Football Club, The CE Solutions Group Inc., Darning Pixels Inc., KGC Entertainment Inc., Precision Planning Event Management, and Event Innovations.

Of those eight businesses, five are still going concerns. But business success and failure is not so easily defined, said Mike Hahn, senior program manager at the RBC.

"It's kind of an exploratory period," Hahn said of a businesses first couple of years, "but sometimes people will find things they never thought of before that they would enjoy. … It's kind of up to personal preference. … In that period of growing a business, you're kind of defining yourself and also finding a niche that you enjoy. Some people will make lots of money on it, and some people will make a living on it, doing something that they really enjoy doing."

The paths taken by the six of the eight businesses illustrate that. One business founder - Dora Raine, of KGC Entertainment Inc. - could not be reached. Another, Jason Evan of Autocredit Online, declined to comment.

JIM O'REGAN, owner, Cedar Valley Vikings Football Club

O'Regan didn't start the Cedar Valley Vikings Football Club - DeWayne Brasfield did, in 2002.

But the football club went broke its first year, O'Regan said, and O'Regan - who was and still is a player on the team - bought it from Brasfield. O'Regan took over on Jan. 1, 2003.

Brasfield could not be reached for this article.

O'Regan owns SBT Inc., an industrial consulting business. The Cedar Valley Vikings isn't making O'Regan rich, and he said it never will. That's not his goal for the team.

"Our whole goal with the team is to break even. We're getting real close to that," O'Regan said. "So no, it's not a profitable venture. But then on the other hand, we're doing it for the community."

When O'Regan took over the team, he started working with the team's league to schedule closer games, thereby cutting its travel expenses. Because the team's revenue is driven by home games, with only five home games that average 500-600 fans, the options for boosting revenue are limited.

"It's significantly easier to reduce expenses than it is to increase revenue."

O'Regan said he makes up the team's financial shortfalls out of his own pocket. How long he can sustain that practice, he doesn't know. But it's worth it, he said, because the football brings a lot to the community. Besides entertainment, he said, the team helps turn out leaders. Some of the players on the team are what O'Regan called "at-risk adults," and team play helps them become responsible family men and community leaders.

"We treat the team like a community asset," O'Regan said.

JASON WELLNITZ, founder, Cedar Valley Systems

Wellnitz had been running his own business, Cedar Valley Sytems - a software application business for the Internet - part-time for about 1.5 out of his home before he took it full-time in February 2002.

He set up shop in the Regional Business Center's incubator and did projects mostly for small businesses around the Cedar Valley. Then he took on a project for Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids that took up more and more of his time, until it was the only thing he worked on.

He officially shut down Cedar Valley Systems in late 2004. He and his wife moved to Cedar Rapids in early 2005. By the middle of that year, Wellnitz had finished the project for Rockwell Collins, then took on another project for the company. Then Rockwell Collins offered him a permanent job.

Wellnitz explained why he decided to go back into the work force.

"It was a real process of learning over the course of the business, where I thought that what I wanted to do was interact with a lot of small companies and sort of help them grow their business. What I really learned was what I enjoyed was more building specific products. If I had it to do over again, I would not do the consulting route, I would do the Web-based application route."

"And really at the end of the day it was a lifestyles question," Wellnitz said. "I was married during the course of Cedar Valley Systems, then she was expecting a child. … And when you move from single to married to father, you really need a more steady stream of work."

ELIZABETH WILSON, owner, Simple Solutions in Access

Wilson discovered a few things after she started her original business, Precision Planning Event Management.

She learned it involved a lot of work for little pay. "In terms of the hours you have to put in, it was starvation wages," Wilson said. "I would put in hundreds of hours for a conference."

Put another way: "It kept me busy, but it didn't keep me fed."

She learned that developing databases actually interested her more and paid better.

She learned that when Joan Ketels, owner of Ketels Contract Training, called Wilson and asked her to develop a database for a client. It was a skill Wilson picked up while at UNI, when she developed software to coordinate the logistics of conferences.

Wilson had been looking for ways to supplement her income from Precision Planning. Instead, she made database development her new job. Precision Planning became Simple Solutions in Access. Ketels continues to subcontract database jobs to Wilson.

Making the switch saved her business, Wilson said.

"If it wasn't for Joan sending me clients, I would be back in the work force calling somebody else boss," Wilson said, adding she doesn't have the skill set to scramble to find new clients. "I hate doing that, and Joan is extremely good at it."

ROSEMARY SCHWARTZ, founder, Event Innovations

Schwartz knew she had the skill to organize events. She had done it for four years as the Northeast Iowa district manager for the American Diabetes Association. Translating that experience into a successful business of her own wasn't so easy.

She founded Event Innovations. Schwartz is out of that business now. She's back in the work force, raising money for Quakerdale.

Schwartz listed a variety of reasons why her business failed.

One, she didn't devote enough time to it. Schwartz took 2002 off from her business to run for the Iowa Legislature. She lost.

Two, she needed money, and Event Innovations didn't supply it.

"I thought there was a need for someone to do events for people. And there is," Schwartz said. "I think the problem that I had was I wasn't connected, or didn't give myself enough time to get connected where I need to be to get clients."

"I was trying to make a living off the business, and that's pretty tough to do when all you're selling is your expertise," Schwartz said.

Looking back, Schwartz said, she should have done more marketing to help keep Event Innovations going.

She still operates the business part-time out of her Vinton home as a consultant- people know she has the skills to plan an event - but has not actively pursued it for awhile. Schwartz said she has no plans to leave the work force for an entrepreneurial career again.

"I went through a couple of years where I didn't have any reliable income," Schwartz said, "and I just know I need something with an income that I can count on."

LINDA FISK, president, The CE Solutions Group Inc.

After four years in business, The CE Solutions Group Inc. is on the verge of turning its first profit. President Linda Fisk expects it to happen this year.

Fisk, a nurse who also has degrees in business and marketing, started the business to provide continuing education to health care professionals.

"There was a real need out there. I had community colleges that came to me … and said to me, we don't have anything to sell for these people who cannot get away to go to a seminar," Fisk said. Ninety-five percent of the continuing education is done online.

The business spent a year in incubator before moving across the street to the Black's Building, 501 Sycamore St., in 2003.

Measuring the success of the business depends on the yardstick you use. On one hand, not only has it stayed in operation for four years, it has grown. Fisk started with a secretary. Now she has two full-time workers and two part-time workers. The business serves clients in the military and nurses in all 50 states.

But keeping adequate cash flow is a recurring problem and Fisk has maintained a part-time job, teaching at HCC, partly as a way to supplement her income (the other reason is she loves to teach).

Fisk said the idea of leaving her business to re-enter the security of the full-time work force has crossed her mind "about a million times," and she has even had two offers to buy the business in the last six months.

"But you know, you're building a dream and I was not ready to let go," Fisk said. "And I'm not sure I am ready yet to let go. We're getting awfully close to being successful."

ANDREW VAN FLEET, president, Darning Pixels Inc.

Van Fleet had worked for multiple technology companies and found himself unemployed when his employer closed the small branch office in Cedar Falls where he worked. He decided it was safer to be the master of his own destiny, so he went into business for himself.

He created Darning Pixels Inc. to map out Web site applications in 2002 and set up shop in the Regional Business Center. He stayed there two years and then bought a storefront just two doors down.

Since it's founding, Darning Pixels has continued to grow. Van Fleet used to be the only employee; now he has two full-time and two part-time employees. Sales are up, the company is taking on bigger clients and bigger projects and posting bigger profits, Van Fleet said.

The key to Van Fleet's success, he said, is carefully managing his growth so it doesn't happen too fast.

"The mantra that I go by is slow and steady wins the race. … I don't want to grow too fast and take on too much debt," Van Fleet said. "I want to grow the business one employee at a time, and take on quality projects. I want to avoid this uncontrolled hyper-growth" and retain control over the quality of projects he takes on.

Contact Jeff Wilford at (319) 291-1423 or jeff.wilford@wcfcourier.com.