Small Business to Resuscitate Economy
These days, it’s hard to remain calm if you’re trying to make a living.
If you’re in business for yourself, hell, even if you work for what you once considered a sound company, it’s pretty scary when all you read in The Wall Street Journal or see on CNN is a barrage of stories about layoffs, people walking away from their homes, corporate losses and the declining stock market.
For small and mid-size business owners, the times require careful financial planning, aggressive marketing and good financing (if you can find it).
Meditation helps, too. I do a lot of that these days and reflect on these truths: What comes must eventually go. What falls must arise. All is impermanent.
Another morale booster, particularly for small business owners and entrepreneurs, is reaching out to peers for advice on how to weather this storm. Recently, in search for some assurance of my own, I went to the Small Business Leadership Summit in New York, held by Moran Media Group.
The event was attended by NYC and US officials in charge of small business affairs, a number of private companies that serve small businesses and a good number of small businesses themselves. They had come to share knowledge on everything from the state of small business and future trends to tips on raising capital and cutting costs.
In a morning session, Jim Blasingame, radio host of The Small Business Advocate Show, posed a somewhat jarring question: “Is capitalism as we know it today dead, and if not, is it on life support?” By day’s end, entrepreneurs and small business owners in attendance provided an answer: ‘Capitalism has the flu, yes, but it hasn’t yet bought the farm, and small businesses will be a major force in getting the system back on its feet.’
I believe it. How do I know? Adrian Guglielmo. She’s founder and CEO of Diversity Partners, LLC, a Brewster, NY, firm that teaches companies about marketing to various communities “through social responsibility and diversity,” she said. Adrian was at the summit doing fund-raising consulting for the Veterans Support Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to improve the quality of life for deserving veterans and their families.
Bubbly and outspoken, Adrian popped up out of the audience during a panel discussing the state of credit from the government and banks for small businesses. She grabbed the microphone and told the audience about her struggles raising capital and offered this advice: “You don’t have to rely on banks and the government.”
Yes, Adrian got loans from all the usual sources, including the Small Business Administration and credit card companies. But she also got loans from family, her brothers. And she met an “angel” investor — someone who believed in her business and ponied up $2 million in financing.
I was impressed, and so were a lot of people in the audience. Impressed not so much by the $2 million she got, rather by her guts, determination and entrepreneurial spirit. She needed money to keep her business growing, and she made a move “out of the box” to do it.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot of Adrians from small businesses taking similar steps to keep this economy alive and move it forward.
I’m hopeful. What do you say?
Don
Mr. Don Munro is a business copywriting expert from NYC. He works with clients such as American Express and Success Rabbi. He is an avid tennis player with a great sense of humor. Mr. Munro publishes regularly to blogs including his own at writingthatsells.biz.
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