It’s National Small Business Month

Editor’s note: Michelle Stockman is an independent consultant with her company, Fort Smith-based Msaada Group. Stockman earned a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University-Chicago in communications and fine arts, and earned a master’s in entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University. Her thoughts on business success appear each week on The City Wire.

You know when there is an international entrepreneurship week, a U.S. entrepreneurship week, a small business week and now a National Small Business Month, there is growing accolades and support for the economic engines our communities mostly ignored for almost a century.

However, the importance of small business has returned to each community as the “slow and steady” economic engines who have pulled this country through two recessions.

Knowing that small business is important and actually supporting small business are two different actions that many communities still struggle to balance.

As an entrepreneur, how do you know if you are starting your business in a small business friendly (or entrepreneurial) community?The RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship has developed a community self-assessment on how well your community supports entrepreneurship by asking you to rate a series of statements about your community.

(Link here to the Rate Your Community test. And please feel free to share the results of your assessment with your community leaders.)

Without the RUPRI test, it is also easy to spot an entrepreneurial community (or one that’s on its way) simply by asking questions of small business owners.
• Does the community offer any free or low fee assistance or coaching?
• Does the community have financial opportunities to all types of small business owners?
• Does the community believe in the entrepreneur’s vision and do they support the business as a customer?
• Do the entrepreneurs support other entrepreneurs?
• Does the Chamber do everything it can to promote and support local businesses and business owners?
• Through all the available programs for communities to utilize to support and grow their entrepreneurs and small business owners, what does your town or community promote?

It doesn’t take a lot of money to support entrepreneurship, but it does take a strong commitment and time. The payoff is a vibrant and diverse community that has a healthy economic ecosystem that is equally diversified to sustain employment even in economic downturns.

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Stockman can be reached at [email protected]