1 week Ago By Annie Aguilar
Nothing is more American than small business. And the numbers prove it. With 32.
5 million small businesses in the U.S., 99.
99% of businesses are actually small businesses. Small businesses account for approximately 50% of U.S.
GDP. And in 2014 (the most recent data available from the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce) small businesses generated $5.9 trillion, compared to large businesses that generated $7.7 trillion.
Small businesses employ nearly 46 million Americans, covering a wide array from mom-and-pop stores to state-of-the-art professional services. And the numbers go on. They illustrate that small business serves as the heart of the American economy.
And what’s true for the U.S. is also true for San Diego.
According to the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, in San Diego “small businesses represent 98% of all firms and account for 59% of total employment.” They go on to state that, “The impact that small business owners have on local jobs cannot be overstated.” But the small business numbers don’t tell the entire story.
While it’s easy to demonstrate the financial contribution small businesses make to San Diego and the U.S., their value extends well beyond financial metrics.
Reinvesting Back into Community Propel Businessworks, a small business strategist firm, believes that “Behind every small business is a chain reaction of fiscal benefits. Local businesses contribute to the tax base, channeling funds back into the community. These resources can be reinvested into community projects, infrastructure improvements, and public services.
” But that reinvestment means more than just funds. By reinvesting back into communities, small businesses build relationships, cohesion, growth, pride, and a whole host of other benefits that drive the greater public good. Small business also help medium and large businesses grow and provide expertise they may be lacking.
But that speaks to some of the advantages small businesses deliver overall. Small businesses provide an extremely agile platform for innovation, adaptation, advancement, and development. While many large businesses become the acknowledged first adopters of different employment strategies and compensation schemes, small businesses often pioneer them as a testing ground.
And whether it’s unique ways to work or highly specialized expertise, small businesses empower large and medium-sized businesses as well as small-to-large cities to integrate proven successful methodologies and approaches. But what exactly does that mean for people who work for small businesses? Small Business’ ‘Unique Advantages’ for Employees Like everything else, working for a small business has advantages and disadvantages. For example, small business pay scales may lag slightly and one’s ability to transfer across the country or across the world may be limited somewhat limited, other benefits provide unique advantages.
While many corporations talk about work-life balance, small businesses live that virtue, bringing extra sensitivity and awareness to family, friends, and life outside of work and the concept of working only a 40-hour week. Small businesses also provide a singular platform for greater exposure and experimentation. Employees who want to broaden or deepen their expertise find greater support, opportunity, and facility, often driving their own exploration for the benefit of the business and themselves.
Advancing an employee’s career, it also makes them more valuable to both the small business and the marketplace as a whole. Employees, though, are not the only beneficiaries of small businesses. Sharing many of the same benefits of their employees, small business owners gain great satisfaction by delivering vital services and goods, while helping improve and advance communities.
They become invaluable members of communities and gain a degree and a quality of fulfillment that can rarely be matched in any other context. Doing well by doing good, they also help drive the economy on a micro and macro level. So why am I telling you this? Despite their vital role, small businesses can often struggle to survive, let alone thrive.
And while they may provide myriad benefits, small businesses can face serious obstacles in many ways. Whether it’s economic, political, social, or even an act of god, barriers can sometimes hinder a small business’s ability to fulfill its destiny. But you can help change that.
The next time you look to purchase a product or service or engage a consultant, consider a small business. The next time you look for a job, consider the local small firm as well as the monolithic behemoth. The next time a political body looks to pass a law that hurts small business, make your pro-small business feelings known to your representative.
The next time you look to turn your talent, idea, or profession into a financial pathway, start your own business instead of trying to join a multinational corporation. Nothing is more American than small business. And the numbers prove it.
But being an owner or a member of a small business goes beyond just numbers. It’s a family. And it’s one you get to choose.
So, choose wisely and support small business wherever you can. It will make your life and the world that much better..
