Writing an entrepreneurship blog really puts me in contact with a lot of interesting entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and educational organizations, and sometimes I’m also pitched to write something for them. Either a guest post, or a review on an entrepreneurship events or something like that.
From time to time, during these interactions the idea that small businesses and entrepreneurship are the engine of the economy. That it creates work places, value and money. Or maybe sometimes I see on TV that the government should help more business to start, so that the economy grows further.
Well, in fact, I don’t really pay attention at this idea (of entrepreneurship as a factor in the economy) – I need to do some thinking to realise that the Turnover that we had last year means that we have created income per capita for the economy. Or the people we hired means we created workplaces.
Because in most cases, entrepreneurs don’t think about themselves as being part of something bigger, the country economy and stuff. They just care about making profit, hiring the people they need to do more profit, and have the turnover and margins necessary to take a loan to expand even further.
Entrepreneurs have an individual thinking, they don’t act like a group in most cases, but damn, it feels good being part of the statistics about small business owners!
I cant comment on the impact that small businesses have on the overall economy, but I can tell you that recent studies here in NH point to the conclusion that small busineses are a driving force in our local economy. I serve on the Board of our county’s Economic Development Council (www.bcedc.org) and, despite the fact that the majority of large manufacuters closed their plants in our area, our local economy has remained viable due to the large number of small businesses that we have and that are being formed each year. Our economic situation may be unique, but I dont believe that it is.
Finally, I agree with your comment about entrepreneurs being individual thinking and not acting like a group. I believe that this quality is what suits them for entrepreneurship. I know from my own personal experience as an entrepreneur (I am a partner in a small law firm), if entrepreneurs were comfortable letting other people think or make decisions for them, they would be not be working for themselves.
I live in Orange County CA and of the roughly 1.3 million workers employed here over 55% are employed by firms with <100 employees. When you and those employed by firms with 100 to 999 employees the total goes to 91%! That means only 9% of the workforce is employed by firms with 1,000 employees or greater.
With this being an election year it is good to understand the 11% of the registered voters are small business OWNERS and 32% of the electorate works small business. I can’t understand why those running for office do not pay more attention to this important part of our economy.
http://www.executiveforums.com
I dont mean to sound cynical, but I beleive that the reason why small business isnt a hot-button political issue is that the politicians are used to obtaining donations and being lobbied by large companies and organizations. As the original post noted, entrepreneurs dont generally act as a group and dont have a strong organization to lobby for their interests or to support candiates who might champion their cause. This, in turn, prevents them from weildign the political clout that they might otherwise wield given their numbers.