Small Businesses
Small businesses are the backbone of local economies. This article gives you an insight into the inner workings of small businesses.
This article will give you an introduction to critical small business concepts and help you understand the role marketing plays in the growth of businesses.
Before we dive in, it’s important to note that the definition of a small business depends on where you live and the local laws in your area.
Typically, a small business refers to any privately-owned corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship that doesn’t have as many employees or annual revenue as a medium-sized business.
In the United States, a small business is any business with 500 or fewer employees. However, this number is usually lower in other parts of the world and most small businesses are under 5 employees.
For example, a small business in Canada is any organization with 5-100 employees, whereas businesses with more than 500 employees are considered large enterprises.
Up to 80% of all new job creation comes from small businesses. They are the backbone of every economy.
Helping small businesses grow creates more jobs and more wealth dispersion rather than helping large enterprises grow.
Small business owners are much like yourself. They started out like you and progressed from being an employee to self-employed, and for some into business owners.
Small businesses range from bakeries, restaurants, small grocery stores, small-scale manufacturing, and even Internet-based businesses such as web design and computer programming.
Anyone who decides to start a small business is called an “entrepreneur”. An example of a well-known entrepreneur is Bill Gates.
In 1975, he started a company called Microsoft alongside fellow entrepreneur Paul Allen.
Microsoft initially started out as a “small business,” but it quickly grew into the multinational technology company that you know today.
As of June 2019, Microsoft has an annual revenue of more than $125 billion and over 100,000 employees around the world.
Although Microsoft is an excellent example of what happens when a small business becomes successful, it’s not the norm. In fact, as much as 96% of small businesses fail within the first five years of operation.
Many of those entrepreneurs end up opening new businesses when one fails. Like many things in life, failure happens and the key is to keep moving.
There are many reasons why businesses fail, but the two most common reasons are a lack of marketing and bad financial planning.
Marketers play a vital role in helping businesses succeed. Without marketers, it’s impossible for businesses to grow – no matter how great their products or services are.
