There are 16 posts tagged small business.
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A study of 3,060 counties in America shows a direct and consistent correlation between a higher density of locally owned businesses, and the health of everyone living there. Want to be healthy? Get the city council to stop giving breaks to Giant Corporation, Inc., and promote local small businesses instead.
In April I shared Why Small Business is Fed Up With Government – both sides are addicted to “big”. That addiction continues to escalate and hurt small businesses nationwide. And a Washington Post survey say you’re tired of it.
The overwhelming majority of small business advice is from people showing us how Giant Corporation, Inc. managed to free themselves from the drudgery of being small to finally become “great”. It’s time these patronizing forces understood that small business and big business are two entirely different animals.
What really grinds the gears of small business owners is the near-complete inattention by lawmakers on who creates jobs.
So said Kimble Fletcher Ainslie in a Cato Institute article from December 20, 2001 titled “Bush Ignores Small Business.”
Eight years later under a different president, Catherine Clifford’s article in CNNMoney.com on September 30, 2009 continued the criticism of lawmakers ignoring small business:
I’ve never used my blog to directly advocate for an issue, but the SBA’s long-term focus on big business has moved from absurd to something there is no word for. I don’t want more handouts. I just want them to stop giving them to big businesses, and expanding to include even more big businesses to give handouts to. Help us stop it.
I’m working on my third book “Retirement is a Bankrupt Industrial Age Idea” and the research confirms everything I’m seeing in the world around us – the title of my book reflects reality. We’ve got to rethink the whole idea.
In 2009 our economy was rated by the National Security Agency as a higher threat to our national security than terrorism. One side blamed big government and the other blamed big business and big banks. But virtually no one was angry with local business or local government. This is very instructive as to where the problem is and where the solution lies.
Palo Alto Software, which makes business planning software, just did a survey to their own users to show that those who completed business plans that they started with Palo Alto were nearly twice as likely to successfully grow their businesses or obtain capital as those who didn’t finish.
This research is a classic example of “there are lies, damnable lies, and statistics” (stolen from Twain who got it from someone else). An even more reasonable conclusion – people who DO SOMETHING and follow through on it are twice as likely to successfully grow their business.
Wells Fargo is likely the “great bank” among the big ones, with the highest integrity and the lowest tolerance for bad banking practices among the bigs. But if my experience is typical as I believe it is, that should scare us all.
Our desire for safety is paralyzing. We’re so afraid of hitting a sandbar that we’re willing to just sit in the harbor for years on end. Then we have the audacity to wonder why our business never grows up.
You’re too busy making money; no business can survive that. Your business should give you both time and money. Not just money.
I started Crankset Group out of a desire to help small businesses in the Denver, Colorado area grow and mature. It continues to mature itself as we bring a lot of the tools and practices that I’ve created working one-on-one with business owners over the years online. Now these tools and resources are available to you.
Twitter is a great way to get ahold of me or interact with me.
I’d love to let you know what I’m up to from time-to-time.