“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
The annual national holiday of Thanksgiving for many businesses is the official start of the holiday shopping season.
For some businesses, this period represents their peak sales for the year.
But there are many reasons why I’m grateful to be a small business owner in the U.S. (The following is adapted from an earlier blog.)
Opportunities
I’m grateful that in the U.S., just about anyone can become an entrepreneur.
You don’t need a college degree (only 44% of entrepreneurs have a college degree and only 30% finished high school). And you don’t need a pedigree (70% of billionaires are self-made). All it takes to get started is an idea, some capital, grit, and luck.
Statistics in the U.S. show that whether you’re a women, minority group member, veteran, foreign born, or any other minority, you can become a business owner. For example, women own 43% of nonemployee businesses (12.5% of employee firms). Nearly one in five businesses (18.5%) have been started by foreign-born individuals.
People
I’m grateful for all the people in my life that I work with regularly.
One of the best aspects of being a business owner is creating a great team of people to work with. For many small businesses, the staff becomes family, sharing personal ups and downs and supporting each other. As an owner, you can be grateful for the loyalty of your employees.
Connecting with customers and clients is another thing to be grateful for. Sure, there are problematic people, but if you stay in business, it means you have cultivated a customer base that’s happy you’re there to serve them.
Being a business owner may mean keeping it all in the family. About 27.3% of all companies are family-owned.
Doing good
I’m grateful that through my business I can do good.
Small business owners contribute substantially to the economy and their communities in a number of ways.
- Contributing to the economy. According to the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, small businesses:
- Account for 43.5% of the gross national product
- Have 39% of private sector payroll
- Account for 97.4% of exporters, making up 34.9% of export value ($541.6 billion).
- Doing charitable work. Small businesses contribute cash, property, and time to help various charities. Small businesses donate 250% more than larger businesses to local non-profits and community causes. A number of businesses advertise that a percentage of revenue or profit goes to charity. For example, eBay enables sellers to donate a percentage of their final sales price—10% to 100%–to chosen charities. Some businesses donate inventory, such as Bomba, which donates one pair of socks for every pair sold. Regardless of the type of business you’re in, you can choose to give 1% of annual sales to environmental organizations through 1% for the Planet.
Final thoughts
Thanksgiving is a time to express thanks to those around us—family, friends, and neighbors, as well as employees, customers, business associates and vendors. I know I’m so grateful to you, my readers, and to all the people who I interact with in the course of my business day. And I remember the words of John F. Kennedy:
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
To read more on the subject of Thanksgiving, see this list of blogs.
