This year has been one of massive changes for small businesses. We started this year in the middle of what has been the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Many people are calling this period “The Great Recession” because of the convergence of economic forces the impact across the planet and the length of time that this downturn has been going on. Only now are some sectors seen an improvement but we are still faced with higher unemployment, massive federal debt and the prospect of stability still a ways away. In order for small businesses to grow you need three things – stability, predictability and reasonable access to capital.
February 2009 – Grow Smart Business Launches
As we look back at 2009 for Small Businesses, we have seen some companies go out of business and other learn how to be leaner and/or tune their business models to the changed economic landscape. It was during this time that Network Solutions launched this blog “Grow Smart Business” to serve the requests from businesses to understand how to do more with their business with what they have at hand.
April 2009 – The First Small Business Success Index is Published
In a partnership with the University of Maryland, Network Solutions published a report called the Small Business Success Index, or the SBSI as it is called by some, which took surveys from 1000 small businesses and created a scorecard grade based on six categories – capital access, marketing & innovation, workforce, customer service, technology and compliance. The Small Business Success Index Report showed what many knew – customer service was great and personal but getting capital and lines of credit was tough to near impossible in the current economic climate.
What it did do was set a scorecard and pulse on the state of small businesses. It also brought Grow Smart Business in the radar of many small businesses and set the direction for the remained of 2009 – help entrepreneurs grow their business.
July 2009 – Michael Dougherty joins as a regular writer on Grow Smart Business
In July, Mike Dougherty came on board after writing on Solutions Are Power to be a dedicated writer on marketing. Known as WickedJava on Twitter he has written in many places about marketing and has a great background in print and digital marketing. Here are some of his best posts of 2009:
10 Ways To Get More Followers Using Social Media
Eight Things to Have Figured Out Before You Meet Your Designer
Eight things to think about before you start your logo
Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk, Author of “Crush It!” Part 1
Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk, Author of “Crush It!” Part 2
Eight Things To Keep In Mind For Your Websites Search Engine Optimization
September 2009 – New Small Business Experts Sign on as Contributors
Starting in September we began our small business experts program and received some great content from some talented contributors. They do this on their own time and for free because they want to share their knowledge and expertise with other small business owners. Here are some of the best of those contributor posts:
What is Generational Marketing?
If You Have Time for Meetings, You Have Time for Marketing
Body Language and the Art of the Interview
7 Ways To Be More Attractive To Lenders
Social Media is a Two Way Street for Business
Understanding Angel Funding vs Venture Captial
Social Networking Etiquette 101: 5 Ways to Mind Your Manners While Online
October 2009 – The First GrowSmartBiz Conference and the Second SBSI Report is published
Keeping with a schedule of monitoring businesses and releasing a report every six months, the second SBSI report showed that people were still giving great customer service, were trying to get a handle on utilizing social media more and that access to capital was getting better.
Network Solutions also put on the first GrowSmartBiz conference with was virtually sold out event that covered many small business issues and topics. You can get a good GrowSmartBiz conference recap on all the speeches and content here.
November 2009 – The Rise of the Homepreneur
In November, Steve King at Emergent Research put out a new paper with the support of Network Solutions on the rise of a powerful trend in entrepreneurship. The “Rise of the Homepreneur” or entrepreneurs that work at home is becoming a rapidly growing sector in the small business marketplace. Some of his findings were:
- Home businesses employ over 13 million people.
- Nearly 6.6 million home businesses generate at least 50% of the owner’s household income
- 35% of home businesses generate $125,000+ in revenue; 8% more than $500,000.
