Like most successful entrepreneurs, Juli Muncaster knows how to survive an economic meltdown.
Muncaster launched JDM Business Services Inc. in her home in 2006 and has added new customers and grown the bookkeeping and payroll firm by at least 20 percent annually.
Today, JDM has five employees and a comfortable office on Main Street in Cromwell. Muncaster says she is ready to expand her business and is getting ready to launch several new services targeted to small- and mid-sized companies. She hopes to hire more employees too.
Muncaster’s entrepreneurial chops are part of a growing trend of women who are starting or expanding businesses in Connecticut.
In fact, the number of women-owned businesses in the state has jumped 35 percent since 1997, and sales at women-owned firms shot up nearly 67 percent during that same time period, according to a recently published report by American Express OPEN.
“I’d like to see more women take the risks that I did,” Muncaster said. “If you have an idea for a business, give it a try. I am also interested in helping other women who want to learn what it takes to start a successful business.”
JDM Business Services is among an estimated 97,800 women-owned companies in Connecticut that generate $15.5 billion in sales and employ 92,200 workers, according to the American Express OPEN study.
In comparison, there were 72,393 women-owned firms that generated $9 billion and employed 78,598 people in 1997.
Nationally, women-owned businesses have seen similar growth. There are more than 8.6 million women-owned firms in the United States, generating more than $1.3 trillion in revenue and employing nearly 7.8 million people.
While much of the U.S. economy has slowly recovered from the recession, women-owned firms have steadily added jobs. Over the past six years, the only businesses that have provided a net increase in employment are large, publicly traded corporations and private, majority women-owned firms, according to American Express.
Muncaster, who graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University with a business administration degree, spent 20 years working as an accountant in various public, municipal and non-profit jobs before she launched her first business running a daycare center.
Muncaster had been doing the financials for her daycare operation, so she knew the critical role accounting played in the success of a small firm. That’s where she got the idea for her current company.
Muncaster started JDM to serve local entrepreneurs who excel in their fields but don’t have the time or expertise to maintain the finances associated with running their business.
The company currently works with more than 130 clients in the Greater Hartford, Springfield, Providence and New Haven areas and is getting ready to expand its services to include IT, human resources, graphic design and marketing assistance.
Muncaster and her team have also been working to secure contracting opportunities — and a slice of the more than $400 billion federal contracting pie — for women-owned businesses in Connecticut. She doesn’t have any deals in the works yet, but Muncaster said the contracting opportunities would allow her to hire more people and differentiate JDM from competitors.
Muncaster says she helps a variety of people every day, and that no two days — or clients — are alike.
Recently, for example, JDM was hired to implement a bookkeeping system for a contractor who was looking to access all of his company’s financial, billing and payroll records in one place, instead of the large garbage bag he used to store the papers.
Another client hired Muncaster to handle his payroll, and convert his manual hand-written process to a computer-based system. After the conversion, Muncaster discovered that one of her client’s employees had been embezzling money from the company.
“I’ve worked with a lot of different people since I started JDM,” said Muncaster. “I enjoy helping clients set up and organize their books in a way that makes them more efficient at what they do.”
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