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Main Street versus Wall Street (Part 2)

Topic: Business Management,Growing Your Business | Comments (2)

Posted on October 27, 2009 by admin

My recent posting on last week’s Wall Street Journal article got some lively reader mainstreetresponse.  In case you missed either, the Journal described the White House plan to stimulate the economy by increasing the funds available to SBA lenders.  My take was that, in addition to making it easier for banks to access funds, why not make it easier for small business owners to access funds?

Based on the feedback I received, my comment clearly resonated.

If you’ve spoken with as many small business owners as I have, understanding their issues isn’t difficult.  What’s hard, however, is creating a voice for small business that can be heard over the noise of their Big Business counterparts.

It’s an interesting dilemma; a circle that starts with what is considered “newsworthy”.  Everyone knows the names of Big Business companies.  They’re always in the news.  Big Businesses get the vast majority of media coverage, but only comprise half of the United States Gross Domestic Product.

The other half of the United States GDP, however, comes from small businesses – all 26,000,000 of them.  Why is it so difficult for all of these men and women to be heard?

Unlike their Big Business counterparts, small business owners don’t have access to capital, and as a result, smaller companies are closely held.  They have neither the need to report quarterly earnings nor the need to defend or explain their performance to a large number of shareholders.  That’s convenient, because they also lack the media and public relations budgets enjoyed by their Big Business counterparts, which brings us full circle.

So, absent a significant budget and an even larger megaphone, it’s hard to find an audience who truly understands what we small business folks are all about.

Your thoughts?