Entrepreneurship

They say you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. But leave it to government to try. In the case of California, the turnip is small, start-up businesses, and the attempt to draw blood is something called the "minimum franchise tax." Any new business incorporating in California--or one incorporated elsewhere that wants to do business here--must pony up $800 to the Franchise Tax Board just for the privilege of doing so.

While the idea of running a Dunkin' Donuts may not conjure up entrepreneurship's most glamorous images, a franchise can offer a game plan for being your own boss. It's true that owning a franchise isn't always a picnic. The hours are long, the work hard and relationships with employees can be tricky. Still, franchises have their charms.

Pacing its cage on powerful legs, the Asian black leopard uttered a low, wild-sounding growl that seemed to speak of its frustration with captivity and a yearning for the dark heart of an untamed jungle. "She's in heat," Randy Miller explained as he unlocked the cage door. "She's just letting me know what's on her mind."

Fists on his hips, Bill Parker paced the small, crowded conference room. "Why are you doing this? Anybody?" he said. Arranged in rows before him, 44 local business people sat with pens and notebooks, students in their first class at the Ventura County Entrepreneur Academy. More than two months of classes stretched before them, and Parker, one of the instructors, was sizing up his charges. A babble of answers followed his question. Make more money. Whip the business into shape.

No excuses accepted for missing this workout. * First, Fred Daniels blocks your driveway with a rig the size of a moving van. Then he cranks up the stereo, laughs like a maniac and begins a private workout personally tailored to you. Only Daniels watches your flab melt. He alone sees you sweat, makes you gulp for air and hears you scream when the muscles can take no more. "Ready, push out. Come on. Where's the fire?" he coaxes client Nancy Spekman of Falls Church.

At Betsy's hotel in this capital city, it's cash up front in U.S. greenbacks, please. But business is so good that double rooms at $100 a night are booked weeks in advance. * Undaunted by war and want in Georgia, Betsy Haskell from Baltimore has proved you don't have to be a corporate giant to do business in one of the former Soviet Union's most violent trouble spots.

Akeli Slade is not one to hide his pride in his accomplishments. Just ask the 14-year-old Compton resident about competing in the Inner City Games' track and field events, and he quickly pulls from his pants pocket three gold and two silver medals. All together, Slade said, he and his teammates from a youth center won 31 medals. "It was good competition, but we worked hard and we deserved these medals," Slade said Saturday during the game's official ceremonies at the Shrine Auditorium.

Oprah's Eccentric, Harry Caray's and Michael Jordan's Restaurant all stand among antique stores and art galleries in the gentrifying River North neighborhood near Chicago's glitzy Magnificent Mile. But the latest celebrity to open a restaurant in this heartland metropolis chose a site 12 miles to the south, in a setting where tourists rarely stray. Minister Louis Farrakhan proudly describes the location of the Nation of Islam's new Salaam Palace of the People as "the heart of the ghetto."

The best place to start learning how to be an entrepreneur is found in that thick yellow book near the telephone. Go directly to the listing for colleges and universities and look up the nearest one's school of business administration. No, you don't need an MBA degree to open your own business. But you'd be a fool to ignore the knowledge and guidance offered by nearly every school's small business assistance program. And you shouldn't need to take on a second job to pay for a program.

Bare-chested in their Levi's and clutching the American flag, these guys look as glamorous as Calvin Klein Obsession models yet as down-to-earth as Bruce Springsteen's rock 'n' roll band. You might have never guessed, but these heartthrobs are young Asian American actors. And they have taken off their shirts to shed the stereotype that Asian men are sexless nerds. Their platform? A new line of greeting cards featuring five hot-blooded Asian hunks.