The Big Business of Small Business
By Casee Willoughby

When hearing the term, “small business,” one often envisions a local mom and pop store or neighborhood family business. The idea that the business could have an impact reaching beyond the community economy generally doesn’t cross one’s mind.

But these businesses likely have a greater effect than the small town image their name implies. The truth is small business contributes big numbers in terms of employment, tax revenue, spendable income and economic strength.   In fact, they employ millions of Americans and contribute a sizable percentage of dollars to our national economy annually. It isn’t too much of a stretch to say that small business is the oil that greases the machine of American commerce.

The numbers below show just how vital these businesses are to our future.  Kind of puts the term “small” business in a different light, doesn’t it? 

30 – Percentage of small-business owners planning to increase employee compensation in 2010.

38 – Percentage of small business owners who consider federal taxes to be the most significant challenge to the future growth of their business. 19 percent felt state and local taxes were their biggest challenge.

43 – Percentage of small business owners projecting increased revenue in 2010.  This percentage is up for the first time in over two years.

500 – Employees or less for most manufacturing companies to be considered a small business

600,000 – New small businesses started each year

97.3 – Percentage of all exported goods represented by small businesses

$7 million – The size standard for annual revenue of retail and service industries to be considered a small business

29.6 million – Estimated number of small businesses in the United States

9.1 million – Women owned, privately held businesses in the United States, employing more than 27.5 million people, contributing more than $3.6 trillion annually to the economy