Small Business Owners – Unite!

There is strength in numbers, but only if those numbers join together.  The U.S. has about 26 million small business owners (defined as having under 500 employees) but there is very little in common between these businesses.  Of the 26 million, most (about 20 million) were solo businesses, with no employees.  That is a lot of one-person businesses!

The average income for these solo small businesses is under $10,000 in annual receipts.  Not a wealthy group, by any means.  Small businesses struggle in the best of times, and these certainly aren’t great times for business.  And it is difficult for small businesses as a group to be heard and to have issues understood by local, state, and federal government entities.

Imagine what power small businesses would wield if we could all unite!  Is it going to happen? Probably not.  Small businesses are both isolated (most operating in homes) and widely dispersed across the U.S.  And we are too busy trying to keep our businesses going to stop to talk to legislators.  There are some advocacy groups for small business, particularly the National Federation of independent Business (NFIB), which has lobbyists in Washington and state capitals.  The organization lobbies on behalf of small businesses on issues such as the “Cap and Trade” energy bill, Employee Free Choice Act, and health care reform.

But small businesses are not going in Washington and the states to get favorable legislation or help with easing credit unless we band together more vocally and visibility. During the presidential elections last year, no one stood up and spoke for small business interests.

What can small businesses do? You can:

• Get together locally with other small businesses, through your local Chamber of Commerce or other local business organization, and make your voice heard on small business issues at the local government level.
• Keep in touch with issues through feeds and other online resources.
• Contact state legislators about state issues that concern you.
• Join with other small businesses to lobby Congress, through the NFIB or other organizations.
• Use Twitter and other social media to follow and contact legislators.

If each small business owner spent just a few minutes a month speaking out on small business issues, legislators might realize we are serious.  And if we banded together more, we might even make changes to help all small businesses survive, even thrive.

The statistics in this post are from a recent report on small businesses and credit/finance, from the SBA’s Office of Advocacy.

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