October 2022 - Page 5 of 12

Signs of a Successful Small Business Owner

When starting a new business, there are numerous signs that can indicate whether you’re succeeding as an entrepreneur or aren’t. A small business can be risky. This is particularly true if you specialize in a niche that bigger companies already excel in. However, if you display some particular qualities, it’s a sign that you’re doing a good job to stay afloat.

That’s because small business owner who have a positive attitude towards success are the most likely to get a taste of it than his counterparts. Their counterparts focus only on stability and nothing more. While business success has a lot to do with your initial idea and how you build upon that idea, it still depends on your personality and capabilities. Here are the few signs of a successful small business owner that you should develop as part of your personality.

You Like To Form Collaborations

Most successful entrepreneurs display this common trait. They understand the importance of having a well-connected network in the business world. Nevertheless, just like in every other change, collaboration needs to start from within your business. This means you’ll need to start delegating tasks effectively. Another crucial part of this is building good relationships with everyone on your team. This includes your employees and suppliers.

Of course, you also need to establish a position in the network of small businesses. It’s unwise to act alone without any partners. You needn’t form friendly relationships with your competitors. However, at the least, you should be on good terms with other small businesses that complement yours. By obtaining a position in the community of other businesses, you’ll be able to create new opportunities that can benefit others. Moreover, others can do the same for you. What results is a beneficial support system that allows all members to rely on one another.

You Have Your Eyes Set on the Future

You never know what the future holds, especially if it’s for something as volatile as a new startup business. That’s why successful entrepreneurs share a common characteristic of looking towards long-term future goals.

Some struggle to stay afloat amidst a rocky economic climate, and such desperate conditions can lead to business owners not looking farther than the near future. Such thoughts are understandable, but think of it this way; acting upon well-structured long-term goals at the same time as day-to-day tasks can ensure far more than financial stability and simple peace of mind.

Your Leverage the Benefit of Technology

Nowadays, when it comes to operating a small business, it all comes down to incorporating the use of technology, whether in marketing, management, or everything else. Technology and software have made it easier for entrepreneurs and small business owner to meet their goals, and now with services like Google AdWords and personal assistants, functions have become much more streamlined than ever before.

Take websites, for instance, they’re a business’ online identity and that’s where most potential customers will go to check whether your brand is legitimate or not. Then comes social media, which is a useful marketing tactic that produces results without requiring you to spend too much of your ad revenue. Then there are other business-related applications like customer support live chat software, fixed responses for keywords and budgeting tools that boost your productivity so you can focus on product quality.

You Love to Learn

You’re never ready to run a business until you’re prepared to improve yourself by learning from others. You may be determined to make it through with a method involving trial and error, but that costs precious resources; you need to start learning from others’ success and failures. Data is the most powerful weapon that a business can possess because it helps you discover trends and important details.

If you aim to learn about what strategies lead to profitable ideas and which ones are just downright terrible, you’ll be able to devise a solution of your own. The best way to fulfill your curiosity is to read and look into insights regarding management, marketing, customer satisfaction, and product quality. Archives can provide you with numerous researches and surveys conducted by different companies. While it isn’t necessary that the results apply to your business, you’re still bound to learn something.

You Don’t Just Think; You Act

While we’re at it, we might as well establish that being a smart business owner doesn’t mean that you’ll never have to take risks; it’s merely the ability to take risks with confidence. One sign that your business will soon see the light of success is that you don’t just think, you also act when the time is right. This sign is associated with the confident ability to make good decisions, even if they’re risky.

It’s true that before you put any plan into action, you need to examine it carefully all the way through. However, if you become stuck on the evaluating stage, you’ll miss your chance to implement your idea. That’s why you should have some faith in yourself and build confidence in your abilities to make a good decision.

You Seek Fulfillment

There are many small businesses operating in the market, but very few businesses owner seek fulfillment. The rest of them, however, only look at it as a means to make ends meet. Success-oriented entrepreneurs always chase after their goal of doing something fulfilling for a living. Your ability to see value in everything you create is contributory to success because you’ll want to build upon ideas to increase that value.

If you realize these traits in yourself, then congratulations; you have what it takes to turn your small business into a success! However, even if you don’t, do not fear! Owning a small business can change you as a person. But, it depends on you whether you take something positive from the experience. All these above-mentioned aspects will greatly improve not just the quality of business, but your life as well. If you can learn to find a hint of success-oriented personality within yourself, then you’ve hit the jackpot.

The Tinkering Entrepreneur

tinoker

n. To manipulate unskillfully or experimentally

As an entrepreneur, you probably like to tinker. You probably like to ask a bunch of questions to the point that you get annoying. You might like to experiment with different machines by taking them apart. Or you may even like to take peoples’ sentences apart while they are speaking to you and analyze every single word for their true meanings and intentions.

The tinkering mind is a great mind; it’s a sharp mind that stays hungry with a voracious appetite for understanding, manipulation, and the unknown. If you aren’t tinkering, then you should be.

Here is a list of 5 things that you can begin your tinkering journey with:

1.) When somebody tells you something that they have done and want you to give it a shot, then go for it but make sure to tinker. For instance if your friend tells you to try a new recipe for brownies, then why not add a few of your own ingredients to see if it’ll taste better. It may or may not, but that’s not the point. The point is to try new things and experiment.
2.) If you like to read books, then start combining ideas that you have learned from various books to make entirely new approaches to doing something. Many times, when you combine two concepts, they often have unknown synergistic effects.
3.) Never stop asking questions and trying to break down everything that people say to you. If you don’t understand something, then ask further. If you want to learn more about something, then keep on asking. It’s always good to tinker with knowledge that you are learning from people. Because when you do that… you sometimes stumble upon new ways of thinking – new thought patterns. Many teachers hate when student meddle with their lessons, but the entrepreneurial mind will not accept that.
4.) Take things apart. Seriously, spend some time every once in a while and take something apart – anything, it doesn’t matter. When you take things apart and attempt to learn about how they were constructed, you are exercising your brain and using your creative energy to understand new concepts. After some time, you will be thinking on new levels and applying new understandings to everything that you do.
5.) Look for patterns and put things together. I like to stare at random shapes and try to reorganize them in my mind. I picture them from different angles, with different lengths, widths, add new dimensions, etc… this is good, because you are enhancing your imagination with this type of thinking.

I know…. I know… many of you will deem these suggestions as a big waste of time, but what do you have to lose? Not much. The bottom line here is to continue to exercise your mind and strive for knowledge and understanding in unknown areas.

Entrepreneurs should never stop questions how things work, why things are the way they are, and anything else that they don’t understand or would like to dig deeper into.

Tinker with the world!

Freelancing Writing – A Good Home Based Business Idea

Are you fed up with your long hours of busy office works? Want to get rid of your crazy boss? Then freelancing could give you ample opportunities to be your own boss and find a fortune out of your skills. As it is told that ‘where there is a will, there is a way’, you could find your fortune through this opportunity once you have a willing mind and some time to spend over it.

Freelancing owes you many jobs including writing and translation, computer associated jobs, search engine optimization, web designing and so on. There are also several opportunities for data entry, form filling, internet marketing etc. Here the most important advantage is that the real benefit goes for both the employees as well as the employers. These days people prefer finding good home based business ideas rather than opting for an irritating day job. This may be the reason why more and more of us are attracted to the style of freelance writing.

Here the freelancers could work from home, can choose own hours of working and also could bring good financial benefit as well. If one wants to get to the freelancing style, then you should have a 24 hour internet service that will help you to find and advertise your job and the required skills. One of the essential gifts that any freelancer owns is the World Wide Web that helps to expand small business of freelancing to greater world of marketing and new opportunities.

Initial step that any of you should follow before entering freelancing is to write down your skills and achievements. This will act as a portfolio and will fetch you more orders. Another thing is to search for a good freelancing agency which is web based and that could pay you nicely. If you are confident to guide yourself and do your job well, then you have a long way to go with the help of this home based business idea.

Most of your writing jobs will revolve around writing quality SEO articles which will be used to promote the client’s websites on various article directories. Don’t worry if you don’t know about the topic. You can search on the internet, find ideas and group them and write in your own words.

Once you become a famous writer you will get tons of orders for writing articles, website reviews and product reviews. So, go ahead and start building your freelance writing career.

No Guts, No Glory! Leadership Tips For Entrepreneurs

Let’s get real. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. Some have the stomach for it, most don’t. What separates a real Entrepreneur from the dreamers is the willingness to take the first step, which usually involves spending and risking your own money. Hardly a comfortable notion. Knowing what you’re doing, what you’re getting into helps alleviate some of the anxiety. When it comes to going after what you love in life, Entrepreneurs don’t take no for an answer. The true Entrepreneur understands the risk vs. reward ratio, and lives by the motto…”No Guts, No Glory!”

Learning from people who have already “been there, done that” is the best resource available. But at the end of the day, someone else’s experience will not launch your company. It takes fire in your belly, passion and drive, and a deep and abiding belief in your idea and yourself. Nothing less will keep you on course in the turbulent waters that threaten an infant business. During the next few months, we will look at ways to optimize the chances for your start-up business to succeed. Stay tuned for more “NO GUTS, NO GLORY!” articles and tips for aspiring Entrepreneurs based on interviews with successful Entrepreneurs.

Tip #1: When in doubt, just take a small step forward.

Believe in yourself. This is the first rule of Entrepreneurship. There are enough barriers to starting a business without you questioning your own abilities. Once doubt creeps in, rash and ill-considered decisions are made. The vision loses focus and energy. Fear and doubt have an odor, and people can smell it. It is a natural repellent to investors or potential clients. It’s normal to be anxious when you’re embarking on a new venture…but don’t let them see you sweat!

You are so protective of your idea that you aren’t even willing to solicit feedback from your closest friends and family. Stop! Don’t be too proud or frightened to ask for help. That’s what family and friends are for, to listen to your crazy ideas. Even if they don’t see your vision, articulating it helps to refine and strengthen it in your own mind.

Often the biggest impediment to moving forward is the clutter in your own head. Get rid of all that useless baggage, it’ll just weigh you down. Live in the moment. Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note – today is cash!

Tip #2: Grow thick skin.

Take a deep breath. It calms the mind. As Entrepreneurs we already have leadership tendencies, but we confuse that impulse with the need to dictate the vision and fight to maintain its sanctity. Stop! Not every conversation has to end with a kiss. Don’t let business become personal. It’s a bad practice which leads to bad decisions. Learn to yield, listen, and agree to disagree when the occasion calls for it. Also, if presented with an unfavorable deal, walk away. Leadership is not about being right, it’s about accomplishing the objective.

On the flip side, a successful colleague once said, “If I’m the smartest guy in the room, my business is in trouble”. Hire talented people and let them shine.

Learn to laugh things off. Time heals all wounds. Give time, time. Everyone makes mistakes, so ask “in five years, will this matter?” Probably not in most cases. Life is too short to waste time staying annoyed and angry. Plus, it’s bad business to let anyone else live rent free in your head.

Tip #3: Don’t compare your situation to others.

If we all threw our problems into one pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d take ours back.

Often, when the work is overwhelming and nothing is going right, we have a tendency to feel like a victim, wishing we had never started the business. We may be envious of another person’s success. Stop! You have no idea what their journey has been like. Envy is worse than a waste of time – it’s a corrosive practice that blinds you to the blessings in your own life. You have all you need to unearth your own potential. At this point, go to a trusted friend who has started a business, and have a candid conversation about your situation. Vent with someone. It’s far better than licking your wounds in solitude.

All Entrepreneurs have been through what you’re experiencing, and most are happy to share some guidance. One of the moral imperatives of success is to lend a hand to the next Entrepreneur coming up, to mentor and inspire future generations of Entrepreneurs. Seek the counsel of experts.

Tip #4: Over-prepare, then go with the flow.

However good or bad a situation is, one thing is certain — it will change. So, the best course of action is to prepare yourself for every eventuality. Commit your game plan to memory, then factor in all possible scenarios that may arise. Hopefully, you won’t face the more dire problems that some start-ups encounter, but being prepared is the best way to combat adversity and sustain a company’s prosperity. And when faced with a tough decision, don’t agonize over it. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

As you go with the flow, new ideas will surface. Share credit. Does it really matter where a good idea comes from? Be grateful for any contribution to the success of your company, and acknowledge the source. Ignore the envious, the naysayers. Celebrate the idea because sometimes you’re the only one who will. Be the idea champion.

Tip #5: Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Come on, this is meant to be fun. This is what you always wanted. So show it. Smile, it’s contagious. Simplify. Some claim it is “lonely at the top”. Yes, if you’re a tyrant, bully, or a real pain in the neck. But if you respect your employees, treat them like family; running a business can be fun. It’s all a matter of your approach and attitude. If you go in with the mentality you are the “boss”, then it will be a lonely road, but if you go in with the design you’re the leader of a team and inspiration behind the plan, then you will create an environment which fosters growth and prosperity. Let people feel empowered, a sense of ownership, and a sentiment of belonging and being needed.

Confidence is important. Even if you don’t feel confident, fake it. Confidence breeds loyalty, excitement and productivity, which are contagious. Panic and fear result in chaos, which will ultimately destroy your enterprise.

In conclusion, I leave you with this…be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to have blue hair. Now go out and have fun. Good luck. Remember, “No Guts, No Glory!”

Home Based Business Ideas For Retired People

For a variety of reasons, retirement may not be an attractive option once you have entered that world. With medical advances, most people live longer and healthier lives. As a result, many retirees have too much energy and passion for life to simply do nothing. If you have spent the majority of your life in the work place, retirement can result in boredom, loss of enthusiasm or loneliness. You may find yourself missing that job you dreaded. Other retired people immediately realize their retirement savings just won’t be enough, especially with an uncertain world economy. So, what next?

Have you ever dreamed of having your own business? Believe it or not, there are definite advantages for retirees that want to start a home based business. In fact, home based businesses in general are increasing and proving to be very successful. If you structure the business correctly and remain in compliance with the Internal Revenue Service guidelines, you will qualify for numerous tax benefits.

As you think about ideas for a home based business, consider your options and do your research. There are, unfortunately, numerous scams and dishonest people that prey on senior citizens. Exercise caution but do not let the fear of a scam keep you from launching your own business.

Start by making a list of your hobbies, your work experience, special skills, talents and passions. Often hobbies can be easily converted to a profitable home based business. A few ideas to get your brainstorming started: photography, accounting, handyman service, crafts, pet grooming, cake design and decoration, web design, selling products on eBay, online tutoring. Once you start brainstorming and as you review your list of specific talents and skills, your list of possibilities will expand.

After you have selected two or three home based business ideas, do your research. Research can be done at the public library, online and discussing your ideas with trusted friends or family. Make a list of your goals before your start researching. Do you want to or need to supplement your income? Are you simply interested in staying active, feeling useful and maintaining contact with the world outside your home? Will you need help with the business? If you have a partner, this may influence your final selection.

What about startup money? You may already have the equipment needed to get started. For example, if you select photography, you may own the necessary equipment. A word of caution at this point is necessary. Be sure you possess the skills and talents required for the business; owning an expensive digital camera and being the family photographer is probably not enough. On the other hand, if you have a passion for photography, consider taking a class at the local community college and learn the skills and techniques needed. Or, find a part time job with a local photographer and learn from a professional. This word of caution applies to any business idea you may choose.

Keep in mind that the Small Business Administration can be very helpful. The SBA funds loans for home based businesses as well as brick and mortar businesses. As long as you meet the established requirements, you may qualify for a loan.

Another huge advantage for retired people starting a home based business is your maturity and years of experience. Our current economy has often been compared to the Great Depression; it is interesting to note that many profitable businesses were started during the Great Depression. Do your brainstorming, complete your research and get started!

The Advantages of Entrepreneur Club

You have heard of card game clubs, sports club, press club etc. but, now there are Entrepreneur Clubs also which can solve the entrepreneurial problems. Popularly known as Entre Club, the club is actually a group of people who get together to implement and promote entrepreneurial practices in the respective areas.

Entre Club and its Functions:

Every entre club has some objectives. Some clubs aim at educating students about entrepreneurship and some provide financial aid to the students for participating in a competition. Whatever be the objectives these clubs follow, they are directly and indirectly involved in the promotion of entrepreneurial spirit.

Generally, an entre club performs following functions:

1. The participants share their ideas and problems with each other.

2. A club organizes events to strengthen the network.

3. It invites experts to answer to the queries of club members.

4. It aims at getting the right knowledge to solve a problem or investment issues.

5. It invests its time and money in problems and sells solutions for the same.

6. It doesn’t work as a committee or commission. But, it works as an individual who has an ample amount of freedom to exercise.

7. It works on its own evaluation level and takes decisions more swiftly.

8. It promotes commercial goods and services by pooling the knowledge of various experts.

9. It solves problems of all its group members and provides them with enough opportunities to work upon.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you don’t need to have money but you must have an urge to earn money. You don’t need scholarly sense but you must have great ideas.

An entrepreneur must have right knowledge and above all a risk-taking attitude. He should have capability of converting few pennies into thousand dollars. An entre club uses the knowledge of all such entrepreneurs who have got skills, attitude and temperament to perform well.

As a small business owner, you must be a part of such clubs to get right kind of support to grow. You must share the problems and challenges you are facing and the ideas you are exploring. A group of opportunists in these clubs can act as mentors who can show you right path to follow and right strategies to implement.

A simple get together at entre club can actually come out as a great brainstorming session. And you never know where you get the great idea to invest. So, enter into an Entre Club and enjoy the benefits.

To know what kind of club is suitable for you and how it performs, you can consult market advisors or you can search over internet to learn about various entre clubs operating in your area.

Working Capital for Business

One of the greatest needs that small businesses have is the need for working capital. Working capital is the lifeblood of the business, the fuel that funds the daily operations and ability to pursue near-term growth opportunities for the business. Working capital is officially defined as “….”. The financial equation for determining working capital is as follows:

(Account receivables + inventory + cash on hand) – (Account payables + prepaids)

There are numerous sources of working capital for businesses. Looking at the equation, one way to obtain additional working capital is to increase account receivables (i.e., sell more) or convert the receivables to cash by getting customers to pay sooner. Continuing to examine the equation, another way is to increase inventory. When examining a company’s balance sheet for the purpose of acquiring that company, it is important to examine how these parameters fluctuate as part of the working capital. A company can increase inventory and receivables significantly, drastically increasing the amount of “working capital” denoted. However, those receivables could be essentially non-collectible and the inventory could be obsolete. Either of these would essentially nullify the advantages of a large “working capital”.

You can access cash by getting customers to prepay their orders by offering significant discounts for doing so. For example, if a customer buys a monthly service for $100, you can offer them a yearly pre-paid, discounted rate of $1,000. That’s roughly 20% off but when you factor in the time value of money, the discount drops by 5-8% (depending on your internal rate). If you sell much larger service contracts or products, the difference in actual cash can be profound with prepaids. On the other side of the equation, you can get your supplier(s) to extend terms. Instead of payment expected within 15-30 days you may be able to push payment out to 90 days. You never know unless you ask.

From the perspective of the company owner, the larger the proportion of working capital in cash, the better. Cash can be spent on anything – to pay suppliers, pay employees, pay rent, pay for geographic expansion or product line development. Receivables and inventory not quickly converted to cash through turnover must be converted to necessary cash via financing that uses either or both of these two as the collateral for loans.

Working capital for business is something many small business owners do not plan. They often do not think about it until they encounter a cash crunch. Or sometimes, not until they have encountered a number of cash crunches and are tired of the stress of not knowing how they’ll make payroll or pay irate suppliers.

Some of the myriad sources of financing working capital for business include short term asset-based lines of credit, term loans, equipment loans, signature credit lines, supplier financing or extended payment terms, economic development grants, and factoring. Typically loans against receivables and inventory are short-term lines of credit, renewable annually. Some banks and other financing institutions will extend a term loan for three to five years against high grade collateral. (i.e., Accounts receivables that typically pay within 30-45 days and are with highly credit worthy customers and inventory that is replaced within a similar time frame.)

The important thing is to continually keep in mind what “working capital” is and what goes into it. It is vitally important to track your business cash and how quickly your company converts its short-term assets to cash. Not doing so can result in a significant shortage in working capital and, in short order, a liquidity crisis. If your company qualifies for a line of credit, get one. You don’t have to use it but you should have it on hand to use in case of a crisis. I have had clients who have lost major customers to bankruptcy. That unfortunate scenario occurred more often in 2010 and 2009 than in previous years but it could happen anytime. If your customers have large outstanding receivables that are close to 90 days, your exposure to such a scenario is drastically high. Even if your risk is low, when a customer cannot or will not pay receivables in a timely manner, where will your cash to run the business come from while you deal with the problem? Plan for the future and track your working capital. Your business will thank you for it in the form of stronger financial health.

Small Business For Sale

When talking about a small business for sale, it is very important to understand the buyer and to create a customer through this understanding. This is called a buyer behavior study. The time and effort spent on this relatively new discipline have been of enormous magnitude. And every buyer-study has unfolded some new dimension of this discipline. The subject has been approached and analyzed from different angles and under different premises.

What motivates the buyer? What induces him to buy? Why does he buy a specific brand from a particular shop? Why does he shift his preferences from one shop to another or from one brand to another? How does he react to a new product introduced in the market or a piece of information addressed to him? What are the stages he travels through before he makes the decision to buy? These are some of the questions that are of perennial interest. It is around these questions that the product and promotion strategies ultimately revolve.

It needs to be emphasized at the very outset that there is no unified, well-defined, tested and universally established theory of buyer behavior. What we have today are certain ideas on buyer behavior. Some of these ideas have taken their cue from economics, others from psychology, and yet others have drawn cues from several of the social sciences simultaneously. Business firms and professional researchers have studied the subject extensively, contributing a large assortment of information on buyer behavior. However, a universally accepted theory of the subject has yet to emerge.

The buyer is a riddle. He is a highly complex entity. His needs and desires are innumerable, and they vary from security needs to aesthetic needs. These needs and desires are often at different stages of emergence and actualization. Some are latent, some manifest, and others highly dominant. The buyer has his own ways and means of meeting these needs. Some of these needs are within his means; he can easily meet them. Some others may be beyond realization.

Must See Resources for Maryland Small Business Law Issues

As any business owner can tell you, there’s a huge range of potential small business law issues which you can run into, starting from the business’s inception, and continuing practically each and every day from there. However, the good news is that there is a great deal of free information available online to help you sort through the mess. Here, you’ll find a list and overview of recommended, high quality resources for Maryland small business law issues.

The first place you may want to visit will be ChooseMaryland.org. This is Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development website, and it has many fantastic resources, including its step by step guide to starting a business.

You’ll also find a huge range of documentation and resources for Maryland business law, business-to-government issues, certifications, contracts and permits, and more. If you’re ready to jump right into it, you can download their 88-page “Guide to Legal Aspects of Doing Business in Maryland” to see for yourself what you’re dealing with.

Another destination should be Maryland.Gov. When you visit that website and navigate to “working” you’ll see a series of resources and links about business. This will take you to other official state websites and documentation on everything from labor laws to taxation and more.

The Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation website is available at DAT.state.MD.US, and has a great deal of helpful information for Maryland small business law issues, including the appropriate filing and registration of a new business entity, the tax levels and financial-legal concerns of small businesses and on down the line from there.

The next website doesn’t deal with Maryland law issues specifically, but it’s all about the successful operation of a small business, and dealing with common legal matters. The site is Nolo.com, and within that, its “Running Your Small Business” guide. It has in-depth guides on issues such as contractors, eCommerce, business litigation, buying and selling businesses, and more.

Of course, there are also official federal government websites, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Business.Gov. These will deal with federal issues, but will also provide information for state-level concerns, while providing access to the appropriate state-run departments.

Hopefully you now know about a few more places where you can go to learn more about Maryland business law issues. There’s a lot to consider, and whenever you’re in doubt, you should always seek professional legal assistance. The cost of hiring a lawyer is small when compared to the costs of not doing so, and in many cases, free consultations will be available.

Small Business Support Has Big Impact

Standing in front of the crowd at the recent Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards luncheon, I was awed to see so many supporters of the small business community.

This support is exactly what we need to help boost the economy as we continue to watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average fluctuate and read bleak business headlines on a daily basis.

Small businesses and organizations, such as the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center, need our support now more than ever. By backing entrepreneurs, we encourage economic activity, creating an increase in production levels and spurring businesses to add jobs. These new employees will spend their earned wages on goods and services that are produced by these firms, further adding to production levels. This cycle continues, prompting additional economic growth. Likewise, any reduction in small business support will decrease overall economic activity and can shrink the overall economy.

But why is it vital to focus on small businesses and not the larger companies? It’s these small companies that continue to adapt and change and grow.

Research by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy shows that small businesses create most of the nation’s net new jobs. It also revealed that small businesses are 13 times more innovative, and they bring dynamic ideas and fresh products to the marketplace.

It is this innovative mindset that landed Terry Daniel and Lou Pringle of Exhaust Productions Inc. in the limelight. The entrepreneurs were honored with the 2008 Small Business Person of the Year Award at this year’s luncheon. When manufacturing started to shift to China, the team decided to switch gears by moving into the performance motorcycle industry and Rush Racing products.

By taking the time to recognize companies, such as Exhaust Productions Inc., the Northwest Indiana SBDC is continuing to foster the development of small businesses and spotlight the entrepreneurial spirit. It is our mission to have a positive and measurable impact on the formation and growth of small businesses in the region and state. We have workshops, one-on-one consulting, referrals, training and other essential business tools to help guide small business owners toward success.

The entrepreneur is a risk-taker. It takes courage to make the leap, which is why community support and resources, such as the NWI SBDC, can make such a big difference.