Entrepreneurs need support through the good and the bad

Editor’s note: Michelle Stockman works with Little Rock-based Arkansas Capital Corp. to promote entrepreneurship development around the state. 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.

There is a lot of focus targeted towards entrepreneurship and small businesses, especially in assisting those businesses to open their doors. However, many entrepreneurs get lost in the “system” of programs once the business is operating. Sadly, many communities may even turn their backs on the entrepreneur once the business starts to struggle. It gets even worse if the business does not survive as the finger pointing and the “I knew it wouldn’t survive” attitudes surface.

While communities need to get behind their start-up businesses and work towards creating a local environment conducive to supporting entrepreneurship, they also need to consider the needs of the struggling entrepreneur. If the community is aware a business is struggling, ask why. If there is anything the community can do to help put the business back on track, ask what. These are your neighbors who need your encouragement, not your criticism.

It is easy to drive through the community and not even notice the businesses that are there. It is even less of a burden to not even know when a business closes its doors. However, when members of the community take a negative stand on when a business opens where one closed or when one needs to close the business, the whole community suffers from what may seem like a harmless criticism.

If a community wants to support entrepreneurship, it is going to have to support the entrepreneur first. From the start-up process to the exit process as well as from good times with the business through the bad, the community needs to support and encourage the business owner. Everyone needs a friend and that includes our entrepreneurs.

For the business owner, losing a business is next to losing your own child when the loss is not planned or wanted. I know, I experienced the loss of my own business after the stress of caring for a terminally ill family member took over my focus for the business. I also watched business men and women go through the emotions of loosing their dream, their passion and their love for the business. It is hard on the entrepreneur alone, and they don’t need the community to remind them of this loss through negativity.

When experiencing the loss of a business, the entrepreneur is likely to experience emotions associated with grief. Some will manage the loss better than others as one person may land a new job or start another business quickly. Meanwhile others may become depressed or sad. Some may feel angry at the reasons the business did not survive, while others may feel shocked and unsure of what happened with the business.

Businesses start and stop, and every business owner will exit the business whether by choice or by death. However, business owners do not need to feel alone in their efforts.

Whether the business owner seeks help from other entities designed to help businesses, or they simply seek trusted friends, our communities need to support our risk taking business heroes. In good times or in bad, entrepreneurs need to know they “can do it.”

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Stockman can be reached at [email protected]