I first wrote this blog post, for Indy-Biz almost 4 1/2 years ago. Amazing how little has changed from a government perspective.

Every day the press focuses on big business in Indiana. Will we or won’t we get the latest Toyota, Honda or other plant? While important to our economy, I think we are missing a very large business segment: Small and Micro Business.  In Central Indiana, there are more than 65,000 companies with sales under $1 million dollars. Isn’t it about time someone paid attention (not just lip service) to them??

If even 10% of these firms add one employee this year, it will have a greater impact on our economy than three manufacturing plants. So instead of planning trips to Japan, maybe just once in awhile our leaders should plan a trip to the local business community.

And maybe instead of multi-million dollar incentives for large companies to move here, and then leave, we should spend just a fraction of that creating real opportunities for small local business owners.

What has changed since I wrote that original post is the amount of conversation in the small business community about their role and their impact.    For example check out this video I found explaining how the combined efforts of small businesses  “echo” each other.  Thanks to Sandra Conner who posted it on Facebook.

And be sure to celebrate American Express Small Business Day.  I know it is a made up holiday, but it is designed to encourage and rewared small business owners for shopping local, stimulating their local economy.  And while I stayed home for Black Friday, I will be out supporting my peers on Small Biz Saturday.

So what about you?  What are you doing to support the growth or small, local busines?

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