The article goes on to focus on small business, and how small business is getting hit the worst. So why is this important? Small business is where all of our growth and job creation is coming from. From the NY Times article:
In recent months, smaller companies have been adding jobs even as larger firms have been shedding workers, according to the ADP National Employment Report, which tracks changes at companies with payrolls overseen by ADP. From May to October, 276,000 of the 378,000 jobs added were at companies with fewer than 50 employees, the report found.
It is the entrepreneurs that are building startup and small businesses that are contributing to the greatest growth of the US economy. Programs that are being structured by the government should take this in account- and support small business- versus focusing on solutions for large, slow moving corporations that typically are the benefactors of the pork coming out of Washington DC.
So what can entrepreneurs do in lieu of dealing with a drying up of financial capital other than make sure that they voice their vote strongly in the coming election? Although I will go over this in a coming blog post and also in my forthcoming book, given today’s news, it is worth mentioning here sooner as well. Even though financial capital might not be as available, social capital can be utilized to continue to build businesses. Social capital, called “human capital” in Paul Hawkin’s book called Natural Capitalism can be a somewhat replacement in lieu of financial capital. Creating social capital is what we have been doing in Bootstrap Austin and other entrepreneurial social networks that I have been building. To get an idea of how this is happening… think back to times when farmers helped each other raise barns together… these farmers were creating social capital with each other (“I help you, you help me”). As many stories from my family members can attest, they had no access to financial capital… but they could help each other, and survive the worst of recessions. It appears that the US is entering into a time that once again that entrepreneurs building social capital together will be the way that we are going to be building our businesses, as financial capital runs and hides during the storm. Thanks goes to David Armistead for one of the conversations that helped me clarify some of the distinctions in this capital transformation.
Dear Kevin and reders
I’d been reading at your blog, however I was a litle embarrassed for my English, but with these article I felt that I needed to reply.
I don’t know why is that goberments don’t see the potencial of small business,
In chile, where I live, things are happening in the same way because we’re to close to the American Economy, and when you have a flu, most of the time we feel it with fever.
Now the problem has the same remedy. In Chile 80% of the employees are given by small and medium bussines. How does Pareto’s law works in these case?. We need politics concern about this matters. People loose them jobs; while older and expensive you are, harder is to get another job. Now, how does entrepreneurship has a solution for this people if Goverments does not helps to back up them. Crisis are the solution for us.
I love the way Googles incentives people to entrepreneur with android, how do we replacate this iniciative that google has take. This is the hand that we need to take and save this situation that we know this has started, and we don’t know how long it’s going to stay with us.
So, this is the way I see the focus is need it. Goverment provably won’t see it. Social network must grows enoght to spread (Spreading) this solution that the social remedy is the change of moods. Recession it’s only the fever of this colective belief.
Un abrazo,
Gonzalo Torrealba
Gonzalo,
Thank you for your comment!
Si en el futuro se desea escribir en español, por favor, y se traducirá en los comentarios. Me gustaría mucho gustan de conversar sobre este blog en español y en Inglés.
(If in the future you would like to write in Spanish, please do, I will translate the comments. I would really enjoy to have conversations on this blog in Spanish and English!).
Estoy de acuerdo de los gobiernos de Chile y los EE.UU. deben hacer más para apoyar el arranque y las PYMEs!
(I agree- the governments of Chile and the US need to do more to support startup and small business!)
Gracias por tu comment!
Thanks for your comment!
Un abrazo grande amigo!
(a big hug my friend!)
Kevin