Main Street Shop Owners are an important component of the sector however in my honest opinion small business should be broken into at least three sectors:
- Main Street Shop Owners -- 1-10 employees, mostly retail in nature, some people refer to these as lifestyle businesses where the owner can make a good living to care for his family
- Professional Service Firms - doctors, lawyers, accountants, and consultants
- Growth Entrepreneurs - firms that are focused on creating a significant business with 50 plus employees - they take on debt and change the economy - it is not unusual for the owners of these firms to leverage everything to grow their companies
- Established Stable Entrepreneurs - owners have a comfortable lifestyle, little debt and are focused on keeping their train rolling
The challenge is that much of the talk doesn't address the drivers of any community - the Growth Entrepreneurs. These companies are the ones that become BIG and occasionally these companies do just die. The reality is without these growth oriented entrepreneurs there is no need for professional services firms, or for Main Street Shop Owners. The Growth Entrepreneurs create new technology, are often disruptive in nature AND occasionally get purchased by larger institutions where their technology changes the marketplace.
While every group of small business supports our community the ones that change communities, create jobs and drive towards more tax revenue are the Growth Entrepreneurs. I challenge you to change your perception and discussion on "small business" and drive towards supporting Growth Entrepreneurs.
