Small Business

A Mediaplanet Guide to Empowering America’s Small Businesses

Small Business

Jamie Kern Lima The IT Cosmetics founder and bestselling author talks about the superpower all entrepreneurs have

Inside Google’s campaign to help Black-owned businesses succeed Why small businesses are finding it difficult to attract and retain talent

DECEMBER 2021 | FUTUREOFBUSINESSANDTECH.COM

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How the Right Technology Empowers Entrepreneurial Dreams For today’s small business owners, an entrepreneurial dream is just a dream without the right tools and resources to make it a reality.

And now more than ever, in this prolonged pandemic that has fueled economic and social disparities, access to technology and the right technology tools are a critical part of that.

This year, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), in partnership with Gusto, the all-in-one HR platform company, produced a series of quarterly surveys to gather data from women business owners on their health and needs.

One thing that emerged from the survey responses is that the accelerated shift to technology in 2020 and beyond has highlighted the need for broadband. When survey participants were asked to identify technology tools that would help their businesses grow and expand, the top tool, with 50 percent of business owners selecting it, was “more reliable and affordable internet.”

NAWBO has since been using its advocacy voice to let legislators know about this need. These technology tools have become a lifeline for many small businesses during the pandemic, allowing workers to collaborate while away from the workplace and opening new lines of sales while physical locations were closed or capacity-restricted.

NAWBO is proud to be working with partners like Gusto and Verizon to reach and impact those businesses most in need within the United States — because with the right technology tools and resources in hand, entrepreneurial dreams do become a reality.

Cristina Morales Heaney, 2021-22 Board Chair, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)

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Why It’s a Critical Time to Support Minority- and Woman-Owned Small Businesses The SmallBizLady Melinda Emerson is committed to helping struggling entrepreneurs get to the next level.

The numbers tell the story: More than 100,000 small business owners were forced out of business during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than half of those were minority- or woman-owned.

“People struggled with their digital pivot,” explained bestselling author, keynote speaker, and marketing consultant Melinda Emerson. “If they were not set up for eCommerce or with an email list to communicate with their customers, they were at a loss over the last 18 months. Traditionally, minority and women businesses are not in high-growth fields, and access to capital was a challenge even before the pandemic for African American and woman business owners.”

Providing opportunities Emerson, named by Forbes magazine as the No. 1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter, says the fact that women of color have started businesses at 4.5 times the rate of any other demographic over the past five years is encouraging, however, these businesses don’t tend to be in growth industries.

“Eighty-eight percent of women business owners don’t earn $100,000 in revenue, and African American women don’t earn more than $25,000. Thus, they are not scaling, and they are often underfunded ‘solopreneurs’ who need real business models and training.

“It’s so hard to get access to capital and hire a team when you aren’t generating recurring revenue. There are a few things that are needed to be successful in business: a great idea, confidence, marketing savvy, an amazing network, access to capital, access to business opportunities, mentorship, and training. If we don’t start developing a pipeline of women and minority businesses who get funded to build high-growth businesses in the United States, we will not achieve economic equity for all in our society.”

Speaking from experience When Emerson realized she wanted to start a business, she began doing her research.

“I bought business plan software, I took out a home equity loan and paid off all my bills, I even paid off my car,” she said. “I took in my younger brother as a tenant to lower my mortgage, and I worked part-time for one year for a business like the one I wanted to start.

I learned it takes relentless consis-

tency to be successful in business, and you must be a lifelong learner.”

Emerson ultimately wrote “Become Your Own Boss In 12 Months” because it was the book she’d never read.

“I wanted to shorten people’s learning curve as they started out in business,” she said.

Silent no more Emerson says that since the death of George Floyd, many of the powers that be finally started to realize that institutional racism has permeated every aspect of American culture and economic equality.

“Entrepreneurship is about wealth creation,” she said. “I am thrilled by the number of venture funds and initiatives from major companies like Verizon, Chase, Morgan Stanley, Amazon, and PayPal that are specifically trying to build the capacity of African American- and woman-owned businesses, but there needs to be much more.

“A lot of corporate brands and foundations made pledges, but there have been very few that have put out specific long-term programs designed to level the playing field. Today’s aspiring business owners should apply for everything and speak up if they feel like they are being treated differently.” n Cindy Riley

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Publisher Isabella Nielson Business Developer Abraham Freedberg Managing Director Luciana Olson Lead Designer Tiffany Pryor Designer Tiffany Jackson Lead Editor Mina Fanous Copy Editor Dustin Brennnan Director of Content and Production Jordan Hernandez Cover Photo Courtesy of Jamie Kern Lima All photos are credited to Getty Images unless otherwise specified. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve USA Today.

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Google Spotlights Black-Owned Businesses This Holiday Season Over the last year and a half, Black-owned businesses have continued to face significant challenges. At the same time, consumers are looking to shop based on their personal values.

Two-thirds (66 percent) of consumers who actively support Black-owned businesses say they use digital tools to find them.

So, for the second year in a row, Google partnered with the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. to reimagine Black Friday as “Black-owned Friday” — a day to celebrate and support Black-owned businesses this holiday season.

This year, Google worked with T-Pain, Grammy-winning artist and founder of Nappy Boy Entertainment, who wrote a new original musical track for Black-owned Friday. The track features T-Pain and Normani and is brought to life in a shoppable film featuring more than 100 products from 50+ Black-owned businesses.

Google sat down with some of the featured businesses to talk about their successes and challenges over the past year, and what they’re looking forward to in 2022.

What does “shopping your values” mean to you?

“Shopping your values means understanding the power of your purchasing habits and directing it to issues and businesses that resonate with your morals. It’s much easier for people to shop with organizations that align with them and I’ve seen heightened support of Black-owned businesses in recent years. This ultimately has a positive residual effect on the economy as a whole.”

Rod Johnson Co-Founder & CMO BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages

How have you seen more consumers supporting Black-owned businesses this year?

What have some of your challenges been and where have you seen opportunities to grow your businesses this past year?

What are you looking forward to and excited about next year for your business?

How do you see e-commerce and digital tools helping Black-owned businesses?

“As a small business in a crowded industry, it can be a challenge to get your brand out there among all the noise. Using creative social media, your own e-commerce platform, and digital tools like Google can help you stand out. You can control your voice, engage with your community, and find new shoppers who have been looking for a product like yours!”

Marie Kouadio Amouzame Co-Founder & CEO, EADEM

“I’ve definitely seen consumers want to support us as a Black- and woman-owned business to grow our brand and follow our journey. For us, it’s been incredible to see how excited our audience has been to attend music festivals and concerts again — we’ve seen a major opportunity now that in-person events are coming back.”

“It’s been a challenge to continue to maintain a personal connection with our customers as we’ve grown and scaled. This same challenge also represents a tremendous opportunity to connect with customers online in new ways and strengthen brand loyalty.”

“One of the quickest ways to gain a new customer in our business is allowing them the chance to try our products.

While we’re excited to connect in-person again in 2022, we will continue to engage digitally with potential customers and experiment with even more creative ways to try partake as we expand our offerings and retail partnerships!”

Asia Hall CEO & Designer Neon Cowboys

Randy D. Williams President, Talley & Twine Watch Company, Inc.

Denise Woodard Founder & CEO Partake Foods

Alice Lin Glover Co-Founder, EADEM

Visit g.co/smallbusiness to find tips and tools to help your business stand out.

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What to Consider When Starting a Business The business ownership journey can play out in any number of ways, but what is almost always certain is that there will be uncertainty.

Lay the foundation As associate administrator of the Small Business Association’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development, my goal is to help more people have the opportunity to live the American dream. That dream often begins with the basics of deciding the best legal structure to operate your business. Once you have decided the legal structure of your business, it’s time to move on to your business plan.

Build a business model Business plans come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing is clear: Business owners who methodically plan — and plan in a way that they are able to change course quickly if things don’t go well — are much more likely to succeed.

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Determine viability One of your biggest hurdles in the early stages of your business, especially during the first year, is to validate that you have a viable business model. A key tool to determine viability is a break-even analysis, which is available on www.SBA.gov.

Do a break-even analysis as early as possible, and update it regularly in your first year of operation.

One of our goals is to ensure small business owners are aware of the counseling and training resources, and other technical assistance provided for free or at a low cost to business owners. My hope is that more people will have the confidence, skills, and resources they need to succeed as small business owners, and we can continue to revitalize a spirit of entrepreneurship in our country. n Allen Gutierrez, Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, Small Business Administration

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tions have massive accounting teams.

Small businesses need the same type of help but on a scale that fits them.”

Entrepreneurs and small business owners know the scenario all too well: they open a business to pursue their passion, but end up spending as much time, energy, and money on the administrative tasks that keep the operation running. Even getting ahead by forecasting cash flow is a pipe dream reserved for corporate CFOs, not small business owners.

amaica Trinnaman, owner of HelloBulk Market, has seen this firsthand.

Even with experience in the grocery industry, Trinnaman still found running her bring-your-own-packaging market in Salt Lake City a challenge. It wasn’t the grocery-side that presented problems — it was managing the backend of her business. “I thought it would take about a day each week,” Trinnaman says. In reality, she was spending half of her working hours on business operations instead of managing the store.

“Everybody sees a cute little grocery market and they don’t understand how much time and effort it takes to get every one of those products here,”

she says. “Paying invoices and all the bookkeeping becomes even more challenging because you’re often in this awkward spot where you can’t afford a real bookkeeper or an attorney, but these things would really help you with growth. It’s an ongoing battle.”

Time-saving tools Research shows small businesses spend up to 240 days a year on administrative work. Invoicing, billing, and payroll, ensuring suppliers, contractors, rents, and insurance are paid — it all needs to be done by someone. For small businesses, that “someone” is often the business owner.

“It’s critical for business owners to find resources to handle the tasks that aren’t their strengths,” says Brock Blake,

PHOTO:COURTESY OF HELLO!BULK

Small Business Finally Has an Answer to “Do I Have to Do It All?”

CEO and co-founder of Lendio, which began as a small business lending marketplace and recently added accounting and financial management tools for small businesses, too. “If owners are spending their time on manual tasks that aren’t driving growth or revenue, finding another way to get these tasks done is essential. Day-to-day cash flow and accounting are great places to start.”

This, says Blake, is why Lendio launched Sunrise, a free small business accounting tool and app that runs on both mobile devices and as a desktop service. “Money is essential for every business. We started Lendio to help small businesses connect with the right financing, but business owners also need to manage their cash flow without it becoming all-consuming. Corpora-

Streamlining business Kori Jean Olsen-Gerrard couldn’t agree more. Her growing, luxury real estate business is currently booming, but it’s overwhelming at times.

“Sometimes it feels like you’re working all day, every day,” says Olsen-Gerrard, “which is the opposite of why I opened a business. Going into it, you have a lot of uninformed confidence.

Then you actually start running your business and realize you’re also the accountant, marketing person, customer service team, and the person paying the bills.”

This is where accounting tools like Lendio’s Sunrise software take over: by streamlining finance management tasks and processes. The software is free to use and creates invoices, accepts payments, catalogs expenses, and assists with reports and expense tracking. The mobile app also allows invoicing on the go. Sunrise’s new subscription service gives small businesses another option to include professional accounting services as well as cash flow forecasts and alerts plus insights into where a business is spending and making money.

For Olsen-Gerrard, any tool that simplifies operations means she has that much more time to spend on what she loves: working with clients and raising her growing family. “You might start your business knowing that you’ll be the one wearing all the hats, but eventually you have to figure out how to take some of those hats off and put them somewhere else.” n Kristen Castillo

Find out how Lendio's Sunrise financial management software can help your small business at lendio.com/sunrise

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What is the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs and small business owners today?

I believe the big thing is still the big thing; if you create a product or service that’s better than — or solves a problem better than — what is out there, and you find a way to effectively communicate it before running out of money, you can build something that truly lasts. I believe that when entrepreneurs figure that part out, they can overcome almost any challenge.

In this moment in time, I believe one of the greatest challenges facing entrepreneurs is distraction. Not just with the impact of the pandemic on businesses and consumers, but also with the changing landscape of digitization and social media. Now more than ever, it’s easier to get distracted by what the competition is doing because it’s all visible online. It’s easy to get distracted by what appears to be successful for everyone else on social media, and to risk getting sucked into the comparison trap.

I believe the biggest risk to any business isn’t what your competition is doing, it’s getting distracted by it in a way that tempts you to change your own authentic mission and dilute your own secret sauce.

Having total clarity around your own mission, and making sure your team is clear on it, is more important than ever to building something novel, to continuing to innovate in a way that gets you a competitive advantage, and to building something that lasts.

What technologies and resources do you believe are the most critical for developing and inspiring entrepreneurs?

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Turning Your Business Setbacks Into Setups for Success Jamie Kern Lima founded the beauty product company IT Cosmetics, and in 2016 sold it to L’Oreal for $1.2 billion. She also wrote the New York Times Bestseller “Believe IT: How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable.” She shared why an entrepreneurs’ instincts are their superpower, and offered inspiration for small business owners facing setbacks.

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that if they raise more money, implement better systems, or hire more people, it will solve things. And while each of these is important, being a successful entrepreneur is an inside job first.

You have to get your mindset right and protect yourself from burnout.

I can share applied business technologies all day long, but I believe what truly moves the needle in your business is mindset, mental and physical health technologies, and resources. You can’t go to your employees with your personal

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problems and deficiencies, since as the leader you have to have appropriate boundaries, generate contagious vision and momentum, and be the one inspiring your teams.

So as an entrepreneur, the most valuable technologies and resources are those that keep you sharp, well, and inspired yourself. A few of my favorite resources are apps like GrowthDay, medication/prayer practices, a restorative morning routine, assembling a circle of friends who sharpen you, and assembling a group of incredible mentors who have already done what you’re hoping to do.

Taking inventory of the people in your life who deplete your energy is also so important. Once you do that, you might realize it’s critical to put up a few new boundaries so you can protect your energy, your vision, your business, and your calling. Because if you’re not filled up, it’s almost impossible to pour into everyone and everything else.

Why is it important for companies to digitize their processes for growth?

Technology has literally erased barriers to entry in

almost all businesses. It’s also erased barriers to access. Consumers are no longer limited to products and services in their neighborhoods; they can access them just about anywhere in the world. Consumers now shop in a digitized world, and if you don’t find a way to digitize your process, it’s likely only a matter of time before you’re not operating in the world in which people seek goods, services, expertise, and information.

I remember the years when perfume companies felt no one would buy something online that they can’t smell.

indicator to quit or an indicator to reinvent?” “Are the struggles an opportunity to improve an area of your business you didn’t realize was broken?” In my book “Believe IT,” I go into detail about how to build your intuition, as I believe it’s your superpower.

When you learn to get still, then ask yourself if you’re supposed to keep going, and then listen for the feeling, that’s your answer.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JAMIE KERN LIMA

You are a big advocate of using setbacks to propel forward into success. How would you encourage entrepreneurs to do the same?

Countless other goods and services had the same initial logic that was quickly proven to be wrong. Just about everything is getting digitized, and this has only been sped up by the COVID pandemic.

Once you digitize, you can also scale quicker; maximize workforce hiring, location, and efficiency; and of course get massive cost savings out of it. One of the downsides as things become more digitized, automated, and streamlined is a decreased sense of community. While working remotely or autonomously might be appealing for many of your

employees, lack of community can also have negative impacts on mental health and fulfillment, which is something I believe needs to be a huge focus for all managers and leaders as “best practices” evolve so quickly.

What advice would you give to an entrepreneur whose business has struggled during the pandemic and is questioning whether to continue moving forward?

This is unconventional advice, but is the single biggest reason I was able to take an idea in

my living room, with close to no money, and grow it to a billion dollar business: Get still and listen to your gut. To your knowing. Your intuition. Are you supposed to keep going?

If you get still and ask yourself this question, you’ll know the answer.

See, I believe we all have an intuition, or a gut feeling, and I believe your gut is always more powerful than anyone else’s advice. I went through years and years of rejection and setbacks when launching my business, but my gut told me I was supposed to keep going. I’m a person of faith,

and when I pray, I get a feeling or a knowing, and I always listen to it.

I believe we all have access to our own intuition, and I believe the single biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is not tapping into it. And I get it, when you have the weight of hitting numbers, and managing cash flow, investor expectations, and the pressures from the world, it’s easy to listen to all of that (especially when it’s SO loud), and it gets to the point where you literally can’t hear your own gut anymore.

When you get still and ask yourself, “Are the struggles an

I believe we go through the setbacks and hard times so we can become strong enough and wise enough to carry the weight of our successes when they do come. All successes come with new, next-level challenges that require us to be stronger leaders, visionaries, and momentum-generators.

When we see our setbacks as setups for greater things to come, it can change our entire outlook and energy. It might seem counterintuitive to say “thank you” to your setbacks, but that simple mindset shift can be the differentiator between you being tempted to give up, or you believing in great possibilities ahead.

As Jay-Z once said, “The genius thing we did was we didn’t give up.” We all face setbacks, and the most important thing is to not see setbacks, rejections, or hard times as an indication that your dream won’t happen.

See them as the development chapter on your journey to great things ahead. n

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Why More Small Businesses Are Getting Grants for Digital Export Strategies As virtual connections and digital transactions become the new normal, U.S. small businesses are positioning themselves to sell to a broader range of customers at home and abroad.

Business owners are embracing new tools to enter and grow in the virtual world, and reach the 95 percent of the world’s consumers located outside the United States. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has extensive resources to help.

This year, SBA is proud to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP). For the past 10 years, STEP has provided grants to help small businesses with the fundamentals of exporting, including participating in trade missions and trade shows, and utilizing technology to connect virtually with buyers.

Recently, STEP has pivoted to help businesses take advantage of new and existing virtual tools. STEP grants help small businesses quickly prepare and serve an international customer base by funding the translation and optimization of websites, developing marketing strategies, and designing global marketing products and campaigns.

Since STEP was created, it has helped more than 12,000 businesses achieve $3.8 billion in exports across 141 countries.

A key to expanding any business is finding more customers. In today’s global economy, small businesses have more tools to access the virtual world and grow their operations by entering the international marketplace.

When you’re ready to take your business global, SBA is ready to be your partner. Visit STEP at sba.gov to find out how to apply for STEP funding, boost your access to the virtual world, and grow your global business.

Loretta Greene, Associate Administrator, Office of International Trade, Small Business Administration (SBA)

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Why Small Business Owners Are Feeling Hopeful About the Future Small business owners have faced unprecedented hardships over the past two years, yet every day I hear story after story of entrepreneurs who are facing challenges head on, finding innovative solutions, and serving as leaders and job creators in their communities.

T

ake for example TJ and Hadley Douglas, owners of The Urban Grape in Boston, and the recent winners of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s annual Dream Big Small Business of the Year award.

Working his way up through Boston’s restaurant and wine scene, TJ Douglas didn’t encounter many other people of color, yet he opened a successful wine shop dedicated to expanding access to the wine industry for the Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) community.

When COVID-19 forced The Urban Grape to close its retail store, TJ and Hadley added a text support line to make remote shopping easier, quadrupled their delivery fleet, and hosted virtual tastings and educational events.

When the store was looted during racial unrest and protests, they focused their attention on creating an Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color to fund internships and wine studies classes at Boston University.

Fighting adversity The resilience of entrepreneurs is evident from the conversations I have with small business owners like TJ and Hadley Douglas every day. Our Dream Big Awards received the highest number of applicants ever this year, and each of their remarkable stories are the threads of the economic fabric in our communities.

But there’s more than just anecdotal evidence suggesting small businesses are resilient and hopeful right now. The latest data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife’s Small Business Index shows small business owners are optimistic about their current business health and recognize improvement in the overall economy.

More than half believe the health of their business is good, twothirds believe their cash flow situation is good, and 58 percent expect their revenue to increase in the next year. One in three say the U.S. economy is in good health — higher than any point since the pandemic began.

All this comes at the same time small business owners are citing ongoing challenges that include inflation, worker shortages, revenue, COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, and supply chain disruptions as top-of-mind concerns. In fact, 73 percent said rising prices have had a significant impact on their business in the past year, while 80 percent of restaurants and shops said it is difficult for them to manage disruptions to their supply chains.

Now is the time for policy leaders and elected officials at the local, state, and national levels to recognize and support America’s small business owners who choose business as their calling, who serve their communities and our economy, who persist through times of caution and times of growth, and continue to empower our national economic recovery. n Tom Sullivan, Vice President of Small Business Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

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This Platform Is Helping Small Businesses Modernize Payments Thryv’s end-to-end customer experience platform was built with small businesses in mind, offering the custom tools, simple functionality, and interoperability to help your organization grow.

Most entrepreneurs decide to start a business because they’re passionate about a service or product they can provide, not because they want to deal with the day-to-day intricacies of running a business.

That’s where Thryv comes in. Thryv is an end-to-end customer experience platform that brings all aspects of business (including billing, customer relationship management, Google listings, and much more) into one central hub, and gives you the ability to manage or automate all of these tasks with an easy-to-use interface.

“Small businesses have been adopting platforms as single point solutions — when they need help with billing, they get a billing solution; when they want help with scheduling, they get something for scheduling,” said Ryan

Cantor, Thryv’s chief product officer.

“What they really need is an all-in-one solution.”

Thryv is designed with its clients (primarily small businesses looking to grow) in mind, and many of its features were created to meet the needs and desires of small business owners.

Making payments simple One example of this is Thryv’s payment solution, ThryvPay. ThryvPay specifically caters to the needs of service businesses that mostly deal with large transactions (the payment platform’s average transaction size is over $500).

When you charge customers through ThryvPay, they’re given the option to pay by credit card or direct bank account transfer (ACH), a service that other payment processors like Square, Stripe, and PayPal don’t offer.

You can even require customers to pay using ACH if their transaction amount will exceed a set limit. Plus, processing fees for these ACH transactions will never exceed $9 with ThryvPay. However, just because you use

ThryvPay doesn’t mean you have to run all of your transactions through it — Thryv easily integrates with other payment processors to let you and your customers handle payments any way you like.

“ThryvPay is perfect for a business if, say, you want to make transactions with a POS (point of sale), but also want the ability to charge larger invoices to customers,” Cantor said.

You can try ThryvPay for free by downloading the ThryvPay app.

Don’t wait to automate Thryv does more than just make payments easier than ever — it can help you manage and even automate nearly every aspect of your business.

When running a small business, there are many tasks that humans (the business owner and their employees) add value to by completing themselves.

This is especially true for businesses that offer services, where the work you perform provides your identity.

However, there are many “rinseand-repeat” tasks involved with run-

ning any business (such as scheduling appointments or sending follow-up texts or emails) that tend to waste a business’s most valuable resource — its people and their time.

“The benefit of automation is that you’re able to do more with less,” Cantor said. “It removes human error.”

Thryv can help by automating the areas of your business to which you and your employees don’t add value. Thryv can send out reminders to your clients about appointments, help schedule payments, and even hold off charging an invoice until a set date. n Dustin Brennan

With Thryv, it’s never been easier to see and manage all aspects of your business from one convenient dashboard. Join the more than 45,000 businesses already using Thryv by visiting thryv.com.

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“Shark Tank’s” Daymond John on the Fundamentals of Networking Success in business depends on a robust network of connections. We spoke with businessman and “Shark Tank” investor Daymond John for his insights on effective networking.

Bringing Entrepreneurs Together to Overcome Today’s Biggest Challenges

Networking is a term that has increased in use over the past decade. How do you define it?

I define networking as connecting and interacting with people to expand and strengthen my own rolodex. It can’t be just about meeting people; it has to be more than that. It needs to be seen as an opportunity to meet ambassadors of industry and different types of jobs where you can build deeper relationships with those people to grow your contacts and access to various ecosystems.

What should attendees get out of a networking opportunity or corporate event?

Attendees should get a better sense of people; what they do and why they do it. See their approach and look to see how they balance the process versus the result. Then take personal inventory of the problems they might be confronting and how you think you would solve them.

After a networking event, what are some of the best practices for following up with new acquaintances?

It may sound obvious, but following up is crucial.

You’d be surprised how many people go to a conference, trade show, or other event and don’t follow up with everyone they met. Hopefully you made a genuine connection with that person, so re-mention that similarity you have or reference that joke you both mentioned.

What are some opportunities business professionals should consider to make networking during their event more interactive?

The biggest opportunity is being prepared. Be prepared to give your own “personal elevator pitch” to tee up the conversation. Be prepared by knowing the type of attendees and maybe even knowing you want to meet certain people.

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Dave Anderson Chair, Entrepreneurs’ Organization

Carrie Santos CEO, Entrepreneurs’ Organization

By fostering collaboration among small business owners from around the world, Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) aims to empower these critical leaders to overcome adversity and thrive for the sake of our communities. We talked to EO CEO Carrie Santos and EO chair Dave Anderson — an entrepreneur who founded the public relations company Off Madison Ave — about how small business owners can succeed amidst the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Why are small businesses and the entrepreneurs who run them so critical to our local, national, and global communities?

Dave Anderson: Every statistic will show that small business is what drives not only the U.S. economy, but the global economy as well. Entrepreneurship is where innovation comes from.

Corporate America counts on us entrepreneurs to innovate — I’m not saying they don’t do that on their own, but a lot of corporate innovation comes from entrepreneurs; acquiring entrepreneurial businesses, and adapting those businesses and their platforms.

Small business is the backbone of driving employment and innovation around the world.

There’s also no shortage of challenges that this world faces on

any given day, and we believe that, while the government plays a role, the entrepreneurs of this world are going to be the ones who solve the world’s problems. We are the innovators, and we are the ones who will solve the world’s problems, with the support from our governments.

Carrie Santos: Entrepreneurs are crazy about solving problems — they just can’t help themselves. So anything we [EO] do as an organization, we use that energy. And wherever people feel despair or discouragement, we as entrepreneurs can say, “Wait, I know there’s a way. I’m not going to give up until I find it.”

That’s just one of the most beautiful things about humanity.

What are some things entrepreneurs can do to help

their small businesses thrive over the next couple of years?

CS: Your time and attention are the main resources you have to manage as an entrepreneur and a business owner. Being deliberate and intentional about where you’re putting your attention and where you’re putting your energy can really help you through the tough times.

DA: Whether or not it’s EO, you need to find a community to be a part of as a business owner that can help you find like-minded people who might be suffering as bad as you are.

And find those who have found a way to get through the tough times, because we need that mental and emotional experience that can only come by working with each other. n

Ensuring Your Small Business Has the Fuel for Success

Having the right accounting platform and partner can make all the difference.

According to the SBA, small businesses make up 99.7 percent of companies in the United States, but most small business owners lack fundamental accounting knowledge.

A recent survey revealed that fewer than half of small business owners understood basic terms used in accounting.

“Most people start small businesses because they have a passion for what they do, not because they’re accounting experts,” says Ben Richmond, U.S. Country Manager at Xero, a cloud-based accounting software company.

“So, they’re keeping busy, moving lots of stock or doing lots of service, but they don’t know what their cash flow looks like.

And that gives you this sense of not being in control.”

Control and confidence The result of not being fully in control of the finances underpinning your business is stress and anxiety — and lost opportunity. “When businesses are feeling confident and feel in control, their confidence inspires growth,” notes Richmond.

Sam Alter, founder of Atlas Pet Company, agrees. “I did really well on my accounting courses in college,” he says.

“But once I started a business,

it was totally different than college — there’s a bit of a learning curve.”

Alter combined his desire to travel the country with his love for his faithful Black Lab Atlas and launched his company from a customized 4x4 Sprinter van. One reason he had the confidence to take a chance like that was his decision to use Xero’s cloud-based accounting platform. “We started with Xero pretty early on in the process because Shopify and Xero had an integration, which made it pretty easy to do everything kind of automatically,” he says.

“The best part has been that Xero has been able to grow with us and every program that

PHOTO: COURTESY OF ATLAS PET

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we’ve looked at has had a Xero integration by default.”

The right partner Richmond believes that ease of use is the key consideration when small business owners are exploring accounting platforms. “We looked at a lot of accounting software,” he says, “and all this accounting jargon was in there. When we built the Xero platform, we asked ourselves, how do we make it speak the language small business owners speak? So instead of using jargon, the Xero dashboard says, ‘total cash in and out, invoices owed to you, bills you need to pay.’ So, we’re using the terms that they use,

as opposed to them having to have an accounting degree to run the software.”

Being based in the cloud is another key feature of the platform. At one point, Alter spilled a beverage on his laptop while traveling in the company van. “If I lost all my accounting because of a drink spill,” he says, “that would have really destroyed me.”

“The cloud shouldn’t even be a decision point,” Richmond notes. “We all use online banking — our personal lives have moved to the cloud. Xero was born in the cloud; we don’t have a legacy desktop application.” Being cloud-based also means the platform can offer a vast array of services, ranging from thousands of small business apps that serve the unique needs of each client to more than 100,000 bookkeepers and accountants who can act as business advisors for Xero’s customers.

“Accounting doesn’t have to be boring,” Richmond says with a laugh. “You see people like Sam and the common story of people turning their side hustle into their main hustle — with a platform like Xero behind them they can actually have fun, go on the road, travel, do things with their families, all while building sizeable businesses that are having an impact on the communities they are serving.” n Jeff Somers

Small business owners interested in learning more about Xero’s cloud-based accounting platform can sign up for free 30-day trial at xero.com/us/signup.

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What Small Businesses Offer That Others Can’t

John Waldmann CEO and Co-Founder, Homebase

Mary Ellen Coe President, Google Customer Solutions

David Ross SVP of Growth, Partnerships and Revenue, Community

We asked our panel of experts about what small businesses have to offer employees — beyond better pay — that can help them better attract and retain talent.

Why is it so important to support America’s small businesses and entrepreneurs?

John Waldmann: When we support small businesses, we support our local communities, and the people and places that make them special and unique. Supporting small businesses — and the entrepreneurs and teams behind them — means supporting families, a thriving workforce, and a healthy local economy. Small businesses are the engine of growth and job creation in this country, and it’s incredible that we can support the entrepreneurs that take on risks and overcome challenges to make it happen.

Mary Ellen Coe: Small businesses are the backbone of our communities and a cornerstone of the U.S. economy.

They were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

But we know that consumers want to support small businesses. Right after the pandemic started last year, Google searches for “support local businesses” grew by over 20,000 percent and 60 percent of U.S. consumers say they’ll shop more at local small businesses. With nearly half of U.S. shoppers saying they now expect to buy from any store online, digital tools can help small businesses get back on their feet and meet their customers where they are.

What is the top challenge facing small business owners today?

David Ross: It’s difficult for many small business owners today to find effective ways to reach current and potential customers, and build genuine and meaningful connections, while also trying to create value and opportunities that impact their businesses. It’s becoming increasingly more

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difficult to reach all your customers directly. Most recently, the Apple iOS15 update impacted how marketers (and email marketers in particular) effectively target their users.

These added privacy protections include things like: Mail Privacy Protection, a free feature that allows users to opt in to masking their IP address, which, in turn, blocks third parties from tracking email open rates; ICloud+, a premium iCloud subscription that allows users to opt in to preventing Safari sites from tracking their data, location, etc.; and My Email, an email address-cloaking feature that allows the user to give sites an aliased email address, sending all promotional emails to a different inbox and removing brands’ access to the user’s real address.

JW: It’s never easy to run a small business, but COVID

made it even harder: fewer customers, fewer workers, and supply chain issues. As small businesses bounce back, they have to do more with less, and they also have to do more to attract and retain team members.

Luckily, technology can help. It can streamline the administrative burden of running a team, and it can create a better work experience for team members to keep them happy, productive, and successful.

What would your advice be to small businesses looking to work on their brand purpose?

DR: Today’s consumers care deeply about authentic engagement and creating community by aligning with the people and brands that mirror their own interests, experiences, and needs.

More than ever, what consumers are buying into is

more important than what they’re buying. It’s critical to have a channel to reach audiences where they are, directly and instantly.

How can small businesses adapt to the new workforce?

MC: When it comes to adapting to the new workforce expectations and the war for talent, small businesses should think about how they can meet their employees where they are and offer a better employee experience. Are there jobs within an organization that can be done hybrid or remote? Does a small business’ purpose and culture appeal to employees’ values? Can businesses offer flexibility for parents that struggle with child-care?

These are all things current and prospective employees will be looking for as the nature of our workforce continues to evolve. n

What Small Business Owners Need to Know to Survive

Gary Vaynerchuk CEO, VaynerMedia, Chairman, VaynerX

Ben Richmond U.S. Country Manager, Xero

Joe Walsh CEO, Thryv

Small businesses have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, but they’ve also learned how to use, and gained access to, a wealth of technology and tools that will help them grow into the future. We asked our panel of experts about which of these technologies is most vital to small business success.

What is the top challenge facing small business owners today?

Why is it so important to support America’s small businesses and entrepreneurs?

We all know of someone who runs a small business — whether they are a sole trader, a gig economy worker, or a business with a staff of, say, 50 people. We buy goods and services from our local businesses, some of us have family members who work in a small business, and some of us are business owners, too.

We’ve all watched over the past 20 months or so how small businesses have struggled in the face of a global pandemic that forced many to have to adapt their business model and adopt digital tools in order to keep operating. I believe this is the right time to be talking about how to support small businesses.

Ben Richmond: The United States is one of the largest small business markets in the world. Almost half of the American workforce is employed in small businesses.

Joe Walsh: The pandemic was a bucket of cold water in the face for a lot of independent businesses. This came at a time when national and regional companies were coming into

Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s a tricky question because you have the people that were affected by COVID, much more than others in the small business world, so to break it up into a subset, one group is just looking to survive, because the rules of COVID are unfortunately not in their favor.

And then the other group is in the macro, more general; it’s how to make marketing money drive their business.

their local markets and bringing sophisticated, professional, mobile tools.

Small businesses are the backbone of America, and they have realized they better modernize their businesses, or they’re not going to be here.

In the last decade — 2010 to 2020 — we saw enterprise businesses moving computing into the cloud. Twenty-twenty to 2030 is the decade of adoption for small businesses as they begin harnessing the cloud. Through the pandemic, they’ve woken up and realized they really need to do this, and it’s finally taking off.

product, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook are where to go. You can’t think that social networks are changing the world through democracy and politics, and not also then recognize that they are the massive driver of business today. And we continue to have a large percentage of the world underestimate social media as a nice little thing, versus the fundamental force of communication, which leads to business.

which allows us to put our people and customers front and center. Our values help create our unique culture — they’re part of our DNA and have a great level of resonance with people, and serve as the basis for many of my guiding principles as a leader.

What would your advice be to small businesses looking to work on their brand purpose?

What are some of the technologies you feel can help elevate small businesses?

BR: My advice is to think about why you started your small business and what you stand for. At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for small businesses, their advisers, and communities around the world. One of our core company values is “#human,”

JW: People’s attention spans are razor thin at this point.

If you’ve got them for even a minute, you need to somehow connect with them and make it easy for them to complete business with you so they can draw a line through their to-do list — everyone loves that.

Fingerprint those connections and stay with them throughout their journey. That’s what the most successful, fastest-growing businesses do. n

GV: If it’s a B2B small business, it’s LinkedIn — pictures and videos, but then spend media behind it. If it’s a consumer

Why is it important for small businesses to create an effective digital experience for their customers?

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Why You Need to Treat Your Employees as More Than Just Workers The CEO of the Total Rewards Association at WorldatWork, Scott Cawood, Ed.D., offers some of those opinions through suggestions to HR and business leaders.

Why is employee engagement so important for overall business success?

It’s clear business success and engagement are directly correlated. Every person in an organization decides when to deliver good, lousy, or outstanding service. What fundamentally keeps the needed outcomes alive in an organization is its people, so whether those people are engaged determines the fate of nearly every interaction, transaction, and outcome. An elevated employee experience, driven in part by a dedication to well-being, yields an elevated customer experience — and an elevated margin.

What are some key first steps an organization can take to change their employee engagement model for the better?

First, know if you are a lousy, good, or great place to work from the employee’s perspective. When I worked on the 100 Best Places to Work program in Fortune magazine, I was often visiting companies and CEOs who wanted to be on the list. Every one of them would tell me they all wanted to be a great and rewarding workplace. Then, I would walk around their workplace for a bit as an observer.

Often, I’d have to give them the bad news: While I appreciated their strong desire to be a great workplace, their people didn’t even say “hello” in the hallway. They needed to figure out what kind of workplace and culture they wanted to have, and then hold each other accountable for building it. Part of that is involving their people in any decision that impacts their work life. Finally, never quit working on engagement. Some success factors must be constantly nurtured, and employee engagement is one of them.

How Small Business Puts Diversity to Work Businesses of all sizes face many of the same challenges and turn to similar solutions to operate, survive, and thrive in today’s rapidly shifting environment.

With less cash reserves and thinner margins, small businesses have been especially vulnerable to the revolving crises of the last 20 months as they have encountered steep barriers to success.

Given that more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, their fate is tied to the broader society. It is critical for the health of the U.S. economy and society at large to have thriving workplaces where workers and businesses both succeed.

One of the largest threats to business right now is the fluctuating talent market, termed the “Turnover Tsunami” or the “Great Resignation.”

Throughout the pandemic, many people have reimagined how, where, and for how much they want to work. With a reported 10 million unfilled U.S. jobs as of August (Source: U.S. Bureau

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of Labor Statistics, September 2021), businesses are struggling to sustain productivity.

Talent acquisition and retention have become critical, especially for small businesses competing with large corporations with greater resources.

spectives, and beliefs all encompass a widely overlooked aspect of diversity: diversity of thought.

However, if diversity exists solely for superficial motives without adding value, then it becomes a detriment to business performance.

To this end, small busiPower of ness must diversity be comWe find mitted to ourselves putting at a point d i ve r s i t y We find w h e re to work. ourselves at a business W h e n point where can still building a business can afford to team, start ill afford to leave any by being leave any talent on open to talent on the bench. a diverse This is spectrum the bench. where the of canfocus on didates. diversity Amassing can give an array of businesses perspecan advantage. tives and talents helps Understanding our cover individual weakown biases allows us nesses and blind spots, to expand pools of taland cultivates workforce ents to include people agility and adaptability. who might not look like us, experience life Make it meaningful in a similar manner, or There is no point in even think like we do. achieving diversity if Increasingly, diversity we aren’t being incluinvolves more nuanced sive. Inclusion seeks to traits we can’t easily engage the workforce see, such as cultural fully by integrating heritage, age, sexual diversity into meanorientation, physical ingful work. It involves ability, and lifestyle. maximizing the potenVaried opinions, pertial of that diverse tal-

ent to improve performance. In reality, the best workers — the ones you want on your team — want to be challenged and valued.

It takes a specific skillset as a leader to engage those with whom we share little in common. As business owners and managers become better at extracting performance from the people least like them, they become better at engaging all workers.

Inclusion, in practice, positively impacts all workers, not just the “diverse.” Inclusion fosters a sense of belonging where workers feel the talent that they bring to the table is valued and who they are as a whole is welcomed.

When belonging is achieved, retention and productivity advance.

SHRM research has shown that those businesses that get diversity and inclusion right also perform better financially. True diversity isn’t merely a “feelgood” initiative; it is a business imperative. n

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. SHRM-SCP, President & CEO, SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)

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M

eet America’s New digital entrepreneurs: the students, the fully employed, the previously unemployed, the retired, the stay-at homes, and millions more who are turning their passions and ideas into businesses and brands overnight at unprecedented rates.

They make up a significant portion of the more than 4.4 million new businesses formed in the United States. in 2020, which is more than any other year on record, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and the first increase in entrepreneurship since the 1980s. This new generation of entrepreneurs all share one thing in common: they use digital solutions like ecommerce marketplaces to turn their dreams into a reality and start and run their businesses, and they are doing nothing short of revolutionizing global retail along the way.

Starting a business is unquestionably one of the most difficult and rewarding undertakings for any person, and many turn to Alibaba.com to access the nearly $24 trillion global B2B ecommerce market. To help these new digital entrepreneurs succeed on their own terms, Alibaba.com has partnered with Hello Alice, a

Empowering America’s Entrepreneur Economy resource platform that aims to help small businesses through every step of the entrepreneurial journey, in our first Alibaba. com Grants Program, which offers hands-on support from real ecommerce experts and a total of $500,000 in cash grants.

The idea is to equip the new digital entrepreneurs in the entrepreneur economy with the capital they actually need to get started and grow. We were inspired by the fact that 44 percent of new digital entrepreneurs report needing $5,000 or less to establish their businesses in the first six months.

Ultimately, 50 amazing U.S.based grant recipients received double that, or $10,000 in cash each, as part of the inaugural Alibaba.com Grants Program.

The program received more than 12,000 applications in only six weeks, and more than half of the applicants were solopreneurs, meaning they run their businesses themselves. All 12,000 applicants gained access to the Alibaba.com Digitization Sprint for Retailers to learn about key business topics such as ecommerce basics, marketing and customer engagement, sourcing and supply chain, finance and operations as well as overall business growth. The talent and drive of this new generation of digital entrepreneurs is made clear through the 50 recently notified grant recipients — who span dozens of industries, business structures, finance levels, and showcase diverse business strategies.

Our esteemed panel of judges from across the ecommerce ecosystem poured over the applications to score them on everything from how well they demonstrate the market opportunity, to their business model or product innovation, to their plan for how to use the funds if they win.

Among the judges are myself; Elizabeth Gore, president and co-founder of Grants Program partner Hello Alice; TJ Hyland, the director of global partnerships at Elevate Brands, which maximizes the potential of Amazon brands; Ines Belakhdar, the founder and CEO of conscious fashion retailer Bynes NY; and Tatiana James, ecommerce expert, all of whom were chosen to bring

a diversity of perspectives to the process of awarding the grants to outstanding businesses.

I think you will find the 50 recipients as inspiring as I do, and I invite you to read about each and every one of them on Alibaba.com. Over the next few months we will share their stories and celebrate these amazing entrepreneurs. Being inspired is just as important as having access to the right expertise and capital. Who knows, maybe you will catch the bug and join the entrepreneur ranks yourself or gain inspiration to develop a new revenue stream? Thanks to the incredible digital tools and platforms out there, your own ecommerce business is just a few clicks away. n John Caplan, President of North America and Europe, Alibaba.com

At Alibaba.com, our mission is to make it easy for businesses to do business anywhere, and we are proud to empower the new digital entrepreneur and the entrepreneur economy, which will shape our shared future.

From the judging panel:

Congrats to all 50 Alibaba.com Grants Program recipients!

Learn more about these New Digital Entrepreneurs here: alibabaus.co/grants_program

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John Caplan

Elizabeth Gore

President, North America & Europe Alibaba.com

President and Co-Founder, Hello Alice

TJ Hyland

Ines Belakhdar

Tatiana James

Director of Global Partnerships, Elevate Brands

Founder and CEO, Bynes NY

ecommerce Expert

Empowering America’s Small Business Recovery The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the American small business community has been felt in every sector and geographic location throughout the country. Throughout it all, entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and resilience continue to lie at the heart of our nation’s economy.

S

mall businesses have learned to adapt to doing business in new ways, and despite the difficulties faced by small business owners during this twoyear-long pandemic, a record number of Americans have taken the leap to form a small business and become their own boss.

As the nation’s leading advocate and resource for America’s smallest businesses, we have focused on the recovery — and empowerment — of the growing

small business demographic.

The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) is dedicated to the success of American entrepreneurship by ensuring small businesses have the necessary resources and benefits, combined with a robust advocacy effort, to survive.

We give a voice and realworld support to our nation’s smallest businesses, focusing on the self-employed and those with fewer than 10 employees. From advocating for tax equity and fairness, to affordable healthcare and

improved retirement options, we were on the front lines of ensuring the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) worked for all small businesses. We also called on Congress for a larger loan forgiveness program, and for finding long-term, creative ways to support the small business community.

It’s no secret the small business community was devastated by the novel coronavirus, illustrated by our small business survey which found that 62 percent of our members experienced a loss in revenue and 52 percent either

had to close or partially close their business for extended periods during the pandemic.

Resources and benefits We first created a COVID-19 pandemic resource hub at the start of the pandemic for both our members and all of our nation’s smallest businesses. The portal, which was applauded as a leading resource center, included information from PPP application deadlines to legislative actions in Washington, D.C. Our website also remains available with a host of free

resources and tools for the small business community.

We have boosted our member benefit services, particularly the Ask the Expert series and Growth Grant program, a leading effort to directly fund small business growth and expansion recognized by experts.

We understand recovery doesn’t come exclusively from the government; it is also a partnership with industry.

Therefore, we were proud to expand our Growth Grant program of up to $4,000 financial awards each month by partnering with DELL Small Business, an important sponsor of the program.

With a slew of new loan opportunities prompting confusion about requirements and deadlines during tax season, we communicated through the media to update the small business community about tax code changes, including loan forgiveness terms of the PPP loans. As the Internal Revenue Service released updates about tax filings, we have ensured the community knew the rules of the road.

America’s small business community — including the mom-and-pop shops along Main Street to those in the gig economy — is the lifeblood of our nation’s economic engine.

Small businesses represent the true entrepreneurial spirit of American ingenuity, and they need our support now more than ever.

We continue to advocate strongly for this community’s recovery to ensure the sign on the door continues to read “Open for Business.” n Keith Hall, Certified Public Accountant, President and CEO, National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)

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Are Women-Owned Businesses a Priority or an Afterthought?

Since the onset of the pandemic, we have seen considerable attention given to small businesses, and the importance of supporting women- and minority-owned businesses is always acknowledged. But have womenowned businesses been getting the consideration they deserve when it comes to actual business contracts?

While progress has been made, it has been at a glacial speed for many women- and minority-owned businesses. Public sector procurement initiatives and goals are critical; they are often the impetus for the private sector to diversify its supply chain to include women and minority businesses.

While this occurs most of the time, there are public sector agencies that do not always assure a fair distribution of procurement opportunities for women and minorities.

As one example, the Illinois Tollway missed an opportunity earlier this year to significantly expand its inclusion of women in connection with its technical assistance funding to support the distribution of massive construction projects.

The construction industry has many qualified women-owned businesses, but women-owned businesses, like minority-owned businesses, are not seeing enough opportunities for participation.

The funding was to enable business support organizations to provide outreach and technical assistance to women- and minority-owned businesses.

It is critical that the public sector continues to set the standards for the private sector so we can fuel more economic growth and strengthen our communities. But in the example above, the public sector agency could have given more consideration to the affirmative inclusion of women-owned businesses, leaving us to wonder if women-owned businesses really are a priority, or merely an afterthought?

Emilia DiMenco, President and CEO, Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC)

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Why Small Businesses Need Hiring Support as the Holidays Approach There’s no question that small businesses play an important role in the United States labor market, employing nearly half of all workers and contributing to 41 percent of all economic activity. However, small businesses are facing significant challenges right now to hire and retain qualified candidates.

W

e’ve all seen it: a favorite h o m e t ow n restaurant closing early due to staffing issues or local retailers asking for patience as they struggle with being short-staffed.

A recent data report by SCORE, mentors to America’s small businesses found that hiring the right talent is the No. 1 challenge facing small business owners, with nearly two-thirds reporting unfilled job openings within the past six months.

When asked what specific issues are making hiring so difficult right now, small business owners cite the need to raise salary and wages to be competitive (54.7 percent) as most challenging, followed by an inability to find qualified applicants (53 percent) and general lack of applicants (48.9 percent).

What do small businesses need right now? SCORE’s “Megaphone of Main Street: Small Business Jobs Report” found that entre-

preneurs are advocating for additional, outside resources to recover from the pandemic and attract top talent, including better healthcare options for small business employers (51 percent), loan forgiveness/debt relief (49.9 percent), and better access to capital (41.5 percent).

In the meantime, small business owners are doing what they can: 60 percent have increased wages and more than a third of those surveyed report offering professional training and skill development, and remote work options to attract and retain staff.

Finding support America’s small business owners are demonstrating incredible resilience and perseverance in the wake of unprecedented challenges.

SCORE client Jennifer Jones, owner of Cosmopolitan Plated in Arlington, Virginia, is just one example. Her business, which offers in-person creative group cooking and food experiences, launched right as COVID hit and all social gatherings stopped. With guidance from her SCORE mentor Ed Coleman, she was able to find new ways to achieve her mission, developing new service options in the wake of COVID, including digital and hybrid classes.

Throughout these challenging times, SCORE is here to help small businesses with tools designed to help them succeed, including the Small Business Resilience Hub, expert mentoring, and free, on-demand educational resources.

To learn more, visit SCORE.org.

Bridget Weston, CEO, SCORE

n

Helping Small Businesses Thrive in a Changing World Doug Mayorga of the U.S. Minority Chamber of Commerce discusses diversity, finances, and income empowerment.

Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are incredibly important. They account for 99.9 percent of all businesses in the United States, which makes them crucial for the nation’s

economy — not to mention the prosperity of their owners and employees. As wages and the way we approach work go through unprecedented evolution, the challenges faced by SMBs continue to mount. The key to meeting these challenges lies in two connected factors: financial literacy and an empowered, diverse workforce.

“These days, working some-

where isn’t just about being paid well, it’s about being recognized,” said Doug Mayorga, president of the U.S Minority Chamber of Commerce (U.S. MCC). “It’s about growth and creating an empowering organization that will sustainably develop talent to reach higher standards — and maybe, one day, they, too, can go out on their own and start a business.”

Diversity Mayorga has been president of the U.S. MCC — which promotes the economic development of its members, clients, and associates — since 2000.

When asked why it’s crucial for small businesses to focus on hiring diversity, his response was immediate.

“Diversity means innovation,” he said. “Diversity

is the single most unifying ingredient in developing the future workforce. If you are operating without considering diversity, equity, and inclusion when planning the future of your business, you will face a roadblock in the collaborative, global economic community of the future. Diversity in your company’s culture is essential — the human element is what keeps your brand and business relevant across borders and boundaries.”

Mayorga’s advice for workers is to look for SMBs that offer income empowerment, and the opportunity to develop your skills.

“If you’re going to work somewhere, make sure it’s somewhere you can grow and feel good about it, too,” he said. n Jeff Somers

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