Why the Health of Small Business is Critical to Us All!

THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH AND U.S. SMALL BUSINESS - MUCH IN COMMON!
 
In the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, the nation of Israel rallied together in a grassroots movement to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and thus restore stability, safety, and a promising future to that great city.  There is relevant application in the book of Nehemiah to today’s business climate.
 
Specifically, many small businesses in the U.S. are broken, in disrepair and in need of rebuilding.  Excessive debt, inadequate profit, increasing expenses (taxes, insurance, fuel, and labor), and almost impossible to get credit have all combined to place many small businesses at the brink of disaster.
 
You may be saying so what.  However, the health of our small businesses in the America is critical to every one of us.  Consider some important facts in the balance of today’s message:  

Currently, businesses with fewer than 10 employees, account for 70% of the private sector employers in the United States.  Small business, defined in the U.S. as companies with less than 500 employees, create 75% of the net new jobs in the U.S. economy.  Small business represents 97% of all the exporters of goods, and incredibly represents 99% of all employer firms. 
 
Small business provides 55% of all innovations and about 14 times the number of patents per employee than large patenting companies.  Small businesses are experimenters and explorers in the United States economy.  Remember it was Stephen K. Jobs, who by tinkering in his garage, created the Macintosh, which sparked home computing and empowered the masses.  Fred Smith created Federal Express.  These guys were entrepreneurs.  They started small, but went on to change our lives.
 
Every day, over 2400 hundred Americans decide to go into business for themselves, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  In a 2007 article in Fortune Small Business, it was reported that we are in the midst of the largest entrepreneurial surge this country has ever seen.  According to Small Business Administration projections, nearly 672,000 new companies with employees were created in 2007. That is the biggest business birthrate in U.S. history: 30,000 more startups than in 2006 and 12% more than at the height of dot-com hysteria in 1996.  That’s almost 700,000 businesses per year with employees. Factor in solo entrepreneurs, and you have between 12 million to 35 million more, according to various estimates. 
 
Rebuild the Broken Walls of Your Business - Why Service Matters

The success of your business rides on the wings of your customer service. Deliver more service than your customers expect, and your business will soar. Deliver less, and profits will plummet.  Unfortunately, with the 671,800 new businesses started in the US in 2007, at the same time there were 544,800 business closures.

“In today’s hyper-competitive market, the ability to identify and satisfy customer needs isn’t the key to success-it’s the key to survival,” says Chris Bogan, CEO of Best Practices, LLC.

Great customer service translates into customer loyalty. And loyalty boosts your bottom line. It’s simple: Loyal customers buy more.

Loyal customers make bigger purchases. They purchase more often. They’re less price sensitive. Loyal customers form the foundation of your small business-whether you sell products, services or both.

“At a time when customer relationships are of utmost strategic importance for service providers, customer retention is crucial, ” says Abby Pinard, vice president of marketing services at Mobius Management Systems. “And good customer service is an effective way to stem the loss of customers. The bottom line is that good customer service isn’t only about customer retention; it’s about expanding the customer relationship.”

Loyal customers help your company grow because they refer others to your business. And word-of-mouth advertising is gold to small businesses.
 
The Nation’s Leading Resource for Small Business
The National Association for Self-Employed (NASE) was founded in 1981 to provide day-to-day support, benefits and consolidated buying power that traditionally had been available only to large corporations. Today, the NASE represents over 250,000 entrepreneurs and small/micro-businesses, and is the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan association of its kind in the United States.   NASE has been an important partner in the explosion of micro-businesses in the United States, supporting the interests of the self-employed with benefits and advocacy initiatives aimed at leveling the playing field between these businesses and larger corporations.  If you or someone you know owns a small business checkout www.nase.org. 
 
> The survival and thriving profitability of small business is critical to us all;
> It is the responsibility of us all;
> It is a wall that we all need to help ensure gets rebuilt!

DAILY PRAYER  
Father, the walls of our community are largely made up of small businesses.  Much damage and disrepair exists there.  We seek your help, your blessing, your supernatural guidance to repair and rebuild these walls.  Help us to accept joint responsibility for the welfare of our small businesses, they directly impact the welfare of our community, which impacts the welfare of every citizen.  In Jesus name, Amen.
 
Small Business health and welfare is every ones responsibility.  At the heart of health for a small business is service. If you are a business owner - make extreme service your mission. 
 
Grace and peace multiplied to you.