Acceler8Success Cafe Thursday 5.6.21

Posted on by Paul Segreto

Reasons Why Small Businesses are Important

Small businesses provide opportunities for entrepreneurs, jobs for neighbors and gathering places for communities. They’re rooted in the landscape where they grow, and they give back vitality and sustenance. Although running a small business involves taking greater risks than working for a large, established company, the rewards are both quantitative and qualitative, including broad-based prosperity and a web of symbiotic relationships.

Small businesses are important because they provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and create meaningful jobs with greater job satisfaction than positions with larger, traditional companies. They foster local economies, keeping money close to home and supporting neighborhoods and communities.

Although small-business ownership is a longstanding and traditional way of earning a living, it bucks an ongoing trend of large companies consolidating, building economies of scale and spreading homogeneity. A chain restaurant in the Midwest will be virtually the same as a version of the same restaurant on the East or West coast, and a pharmacy with locations across the country will reflect the same values, wherever it is located, whether it focuses on convenient delivery of pharmaceuticals or processed convenience foods. In contrast, independently owned restaurants and pharmacies reflect the culture and needs of their neighborhoods. Local restaurants feature regional specialties, and local pharmacies may supplement their stock of pharmaceuticals with anything from jigsaw puzzles to t-shirts from area Little League teams. Read more at smallbusiness.chron.com.

America’s Small Business – By the Numbers

No doubt, small businesses are the leading drivers of our nation’s economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy 2020 U.S. Small Business Profile reports on the leading indicators of American Small Businesses:

• 31.7 million small businesses (99.9% of U.S. businesses)
• 60.6 small business employees (47.1% of the U.S. workforce)
• 1.6 million net new jobs added by small businesses
• 5.2 million self-employed minorities
• 285,334 small business exporters

Visit the 2020 Small Business Profiles For The States and Territories and Small Business Facts to learn more.

Small Business Resources

Already in business or thinking about starting your own small business? Check out these various small business resources:

Remember, you can also receive free professional business advice and free or low-cost business training from your local Small Business Development Center!

This Small Business Week, Try 8 Habits Successful People Do Every Day

The set of habits doesn’t have to be complex, though. Take Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, for example. He has two key habits that he does every day without fail: gratitude and exercise. Each morning, he wakes up and asks himself what he’s thankful for. Acts of gratitude like this are shown to improve mental and physical health. Next, Nadella hits the gym. No matter where he is, he commits to going to the gym for at least 30 minutes. He says it makes a huge difference – and he’s right. People who are physically fit have improved cognitive function.

Your mindset determines how you perceive the people around you and the situations you find yourself in. For that reason, a positive mindset will also determine your success in leadership. Approach your employees and tasks with a positive, enthusiastic mindset, and the results will follow. Approach them with a negative mindset, and you will only get negativity in return. Read more at entrepreneur.com.

A Message from Acceler8Success Founder, Paul Segreto

As National Small Business Week starts to wrap up, I’d like to give a shout out to small business owners – entrepreneurs, moms & pops, franchisees, sole proprietors – for paving the way for future generations by keeping the American Dream alive. It’s through your hard work, persistence, dedication and commitment that you continue to improve business at the local level.

With your own money and time you’re actually field testing new ways of doing business – marketing, technology and other – continuing to innovate and explore across many industry segments. Taking risks, you continue to invest in growing areas while also helping to revitalize once great areas. And, whether you know it or not because you’re often in the shadow of big business and Corporate America, you are the backbone of our nation.

You, all of you, each of you are the spirit of Entrepreneurship and free enterprise that has made our country great and will continue to keep it great for decades to come. For all of that, and for all that you do, I thank you!

#SmallBusinessWeek #ILoveSmallBiz #TheAmericanDreamIsAlive

Fransmart’s Dan Rowe on the Coming Franchise Boom in Retail

Food, not very long ago — but before folks figured out how to spell “coronavirus” — was considered the answer to the incursion of e-commerce in the shopping district, along with fitness centers. Neither could be duplicated on the web, and people loved good food and meeting their friends at the next hot restaurant.

Then came the virus and the lockdowns, and the clientele just disappeared. While many restaurants tried to stay in business with “ghost kitchens” — kitchens that cooked strictly for the take-out crowd, or by hooking up with web-based delivery services like Door Dash and Seamless — even with their lenders bending over backward to keep them alive, the last year and change has been murder on eateries. More than 110,000 restaurants have been lost nationwide to the pandemic, according to March statistics from the National Restaurant Association. 

That was then. Now, there’s — excuse the expression — hunger for eating out again. And Dan Rowe, CEO of Alexandria, Va.-based consultancy Fransmart, calls 2021 “the year of the franchise,” meaning that real estate professionals and consumers should expect to see a fresh growth in franchise restaurants, due to all of the eateries that didn’t make it through the pandemic, or that emerged wobbly and financially unstable. Read more at commercialobserver.com.

Are Franchises Locally Owned Small Businesses?

Most people believe that all franchises are owned by a major corporation, but this is not the case. A franchise is actually a small business that has an established brand name and must pay annual royalties to a franchisor (the person who owns all of the trademarks, processes, etc…the “major corporation”). Franchising is often misunderstood by regular people and even government officials. However, there are nearly 800,000 franchise establishments in more than 120 industries employing over 9 million people in the United States. This makes it all the more important to understand franchising and what it really is!

A franchise is often a local small business. The owner is not likely to be a Steve Jobs figure, but more likely to be a local entrepreneur. A franchise is essentially the sharing of a brand between two independent companies: one company has an opportunity to offer (the franchisor) the brand name, and the other makes the investment in that opportunity by developing their own locally-owned business (the franchisee). Read more at fundingfuel.com.

The Key Stats That Will Drive 2021 For Women Business Owners

There are some staggering statistics when it comes to the number of successful businesses that are female-owned and operated. ​Bizjournals.com​ spells this out in stark detail with the following statistics: 

“The number of women-owned businesses has increased by 31 times since the first time the U.S. Census Bureau provided data on minority-owned and women-owned businesses in 1972, from 402,000 to 12.3 million. And while the number of women-owned businesses grew 58 percent from 2007 to 2018, firms owned by women of color grew at nearly three times that rate (163 percent).” 

The country is long overdue for a conversation about how women can also be business leaders. That conversation is beginning to take root more deeply, and it is having a real impact. Women-owned businesses are in great shape to continue to expand as even more women join the ranks of business owners. They bring with them a perspective that is different from traditional male-owned businesses. As more young girls see role models in the business world that look like them, we can expect that this trend will continue. Read more at blog.pailor.org.

‘If Not Now, When?’ – Women Entrepreneurs Launch Mid-Pandemic

They say necessity is the mother of invention — it is, at the very least, a parent of many startups. While the coronavirus crisis has forever altered our lives, and has had devastating economic consequences for millions of people, it has also fostered a groundswell of entrepreneurial spirit, especially among women.

The U.S. Census Bureau saw a significant uptick in new business filings over the course of the pandemic, with more than 4.4 million new firms created since March 2020 — a 24-percent increase from the previous year. Data compiled for The Washington Post by LinkedIn found that female entrepreneurship grew 5 percent during roughly the same period, more than double the pre-pandemic average.

Much of the rise in entrepreneurship is a consequence of unemployment, which continues to run rampant, with 114 million jobs lost worldwide last year. In the U.S., rates “peaked at an unprecedented level, not seen since data collection started in 1948,” says the Congressional Research Service, a public policy institute. By December 2020, the number of permanent jobs in America lost swelled to 3.3 million. Read more at thestoryexchange.org.

Student Entrepreneurship Fuels Business Growth And Learning

A recent study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers pointed to a disturbing trend. While graduates believe they are well prepared for a job, employers increasingly think otherwise.

Nick Bayer, Founder and CEO of Public Benefit Corporation and hospitality company Saxbys expressed it to me this way: “The job market demands skills like critical thinking, emotional intelligence, problem solving, cultural agility—attributes that are extremely difficult if not impossible to teach in a classroom.”  

Bayer developed the Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform (ELP), a student-centric entrepreneurship opportunity where partners with leading universities to give students the opportunity to run a business, specifically a bustling on-campus café. Read more at forbes.com.

Tips for Small Business Success: A Guide for Creatives

If you practice a creative profession, you’re likely one of the lucky people who take genuine joy in the work. According to Workforce.com, research suggests that people in creative jobs are generally happier and more fulfilled by their work than those in traditional industries. Certainly, if you want to make money with your creative pursuit, establishing it as a small business can help. This is why a few tips for your small business might come in handy.

Whether you paint or play music, there are many ways to take your artistic endeavors and leverage them to make money. Here at Musa Creativa Magazine, we help artists and creatives thrive with a dedicated community and useful resources to support their success.

This quick guide to establishing your small business as a Creative is another great resource that can help you in your path towards a successful creative business. Learn more at musacreativemagazine.com.

How Will Covid-19 Impact the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs?

Covid-19 has fostered a wave of innovation, both positive and negative, in the world of entrepreneurship. Researchers and entrepreneurs dedicate their lives to create a future for consumers and organizations. Scientific studies, along with considerable risks that entrepreneurs take, are essential for ending the Covid-19 crisis and designing new techniques to adapt to a post-pandemic world.

While entrepreneurs are optimistic and resilient, the pandemic will require them to shift their business approach for decades to come. Although some businesses may have plummeted, other elements surrounding the pandemic will build the next generation of entrepreneurs.

While Covid has drastically affected the elderly population, it has also shocked the global economy. Before Covid, there were 158 million Americans that were employed. Many people may not be actively seeking employment due to social distancing measures. Nonetheless, over 30 million Americans currently do not have a job.

Another economic issue we have seen over the past several months is the supply chain for goods and services. Most of our components come from China, where the flow of materials is significantly affected by the pandemic. A shortage of supplies has shocked our economy and may have long-term effects. Read more at entrepreneur.com.

12 Resources and Communities Entrepreneurs Should Follow for Industry Insight and Tips

Staying tuned in to the pulse of your industry is key to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Public groups, online forums and the like are among the most valuable resources for gathering and contributing industry information. But if someone is looking for in-depth insight into their business niche, locating the right groups where this discussion occurs is the first step. Learn more at smallbiztrends.com.