6 Reasons For You To Love Small Businesses


small business surveysAccording to a 2012 Public Affairs Pulse Survey, 88% of adults interviewed have a favorable view of small businesses. Only 16% said the same about major corporations.

Below are six reasons for you to love small businesses and continue to support small business owners in every way possible:

1. Small Business Owners Work Tirelessly

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are used to working long hours. The latest SMB Wellness Index from Manta found that small business owners are working longer hours than they have in the past. Nearly half (49%) said they worked more than 50 hours/week in 2012, compared to 40% in 2011 and 26% worked up to 60 hours a week in 2012, 14% worked up to 70 hours, and 9% admitted to working more than 70 hours a week.

2. Small Businesses are the Heart of the American Economy

If you had any doubts about the importance of small businesses to our economy, take a look at the following statistics from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Small firms:

  • Make up more than 99.7% of all employers.
  • Create more than 50% of the non-farm private gross domestic product (GDP).
  • Make up 97% of exporters and produce 29 percent of all export value.

3. Small Businesses Spurs Job Growth

It’s the small business engine that’s turning our economy around and putting our country back to work. The latest figures from the SBA show that small businesses create 75% of new jobs in our economy, creating more than 15 million new jobs between 1993 and 2009. Small businesses employ half of all private sector employees and hire 43% of high tech workers (scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and others).

4. Small Business Owners are Gutsy 

The bulk of small businesses are self-financed, with owners digging into their savings, home equity, stocks, 401k/retirement accounts, and credit cards to fund their business. The large number of bootstrapping startups is, in part, due to a tighter lending market. Most small business owners find they need to sign a personal guarantee in order to get a loan.

This kind of bootstrapping makes a small business self-reliant, but it’s also risky as owners may stand to lose their entire wealth if the business fails. Yet despite this fact, small business owners are ready to take the plunge because they believe in their vision and want to do whatever they can to make it happen.

5. Small Businesses Build Relationships 

As the founder of a small business, I enjoy doing as much business as I can with fellow small companies. Small businesses often share a uniquely genuine culture – after all, small business owners typically have a closer connection to their customers and marketplace. There are fewer bureaucratic layers and armies of consultants standing between the owner and customer. Smaller organizations take a vested interest in the needs of their customers, and build strong relationships with their customers and community.

6. Small Business Owners are Optimistic

2013 brought a flurry of small business surveys all pointing to increased optimism for the coming year. The SMB Wellness Index from Manta found that more than 75% of the small business owners polled are confident about their company’s growth prospects in 2013. A Dell Think Tank poll showed that business owners in their six markets expect their finances and sales to improve this year. And the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor found that 77% of small businesses polled are optimistic about their business prospects.

While these findings are certainly indicative of positive trends in our economy, I think that by nature, small business owners are an optimistic group. It’s an unfailing belief in themselves and a hope for the future that gives entrepreneurs the strength to take risks.

I hope more courageous and creative individuals join the ranks of small business owners in years to come.

Pastry Business Owner Photo via Shutterstock


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Nellie Akalp Nellie Akalp is a passionate entrepreneur, recognized business expert and mother of four. She is the CEO of CorpNet, the smartest way to start a business, register for payroll taxes, and maintain business compliance across the United States.

23 Reactions
  1. Great piece and I agree with every point. Small biz owners truly are the lifeblood of our economy and we aren’t afraid to be risky to get to where we want to be.

    Ti

  2. Mark @ ThinkTraffic

    It’s definitely true about working hours. I work much longer hours than I did back when I had a job, and I earn less for the privilege…

    But it doesn’t really feel like work when you’re doing it for yourself does it?

  3. Great stats! I had no ideas 99.7% of all employers were small biz! I love it!

  4. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Glad Nellie posted this because it is so true.

  5. Great set of points,how true they are. I have been self employed for 20yrs, starting, bulding and selling them. Long hrs, finacial hardship (at times), unbelivable risk and a passion for what you do is critical. However with current economic conditions and more goverment regulation it is getting harder to see the dream.

    • Carl, congratulations on being a small business owner. It’s the True American Pedigree. I talk with small business owners every day, and many agree with you. Our government is in the way. Hopefully things will change, but I’m not holding my breath.

    • Thanks for reading my post and for all of your support and Kind word. And although you have a point…don’t forget as entrepreneurs…if YOU have the vision, drive, and the determination …nothing can stop you from making your business dreams into a reality. Really do not forget that!!!

  6. Same story in my country Kenya. Is the American Government according em the recognition they deserve and require?
    Here, there’s so much talk about the importance of small businesses but little material/tech support.
    I am a small business owner myself and I know how tough it can be, but I am damn proud of it.

  7. Nellie:
    Your article is spot on. Now here’s the challenge. How do we get big organizations to start supporting small businesses???
    To fix the economy, we need to create jobs. Most jobs are created by small business. Seems pretty straight forward to me. Yet big companies just don’t “get” it.

    • Continue to engage and spread the awareness as to why small business is the core answer to getting our economy back into a stable position, which is what I do each and every day!!!

  8. Point #5 is especially near and dear to my heart. As a coach to small businesses in building a customer centric mindset, the building and nurturing of the customer relationship is something that many big businesses fall short on. Perception has now become fodder for the small business owner to have “We’re not too big to care” as their slogan. Small businesses have the opportunity to get to know their customers like no one else. They can make changes faster, recognize the impact faster, have more fun, the list goes on and on. Small businesses ROCK!

    Kristina Evey
    http://www.KristinaEvey.com
    Transforming the Customer Experience

  9. Great article; I will be re-posting! All great points and I am particularly partial to #4 because I am in the midst of getting my business launched and using my own capital to do so. I also like #5 because this is the core of small business and something that drove my departure from corporate life.