Blog For HuffPost's Small Business America!

The small business world has been called -- by President Obama, no less -- "the engine of job creation," and credited with contributing approximately more than 60 percent of American jobs.

But as any entrepreneur knows, the actual process of running your own company is, by turns, exhilarating, terrifying and downright all-consuming.

HuffPost Business is looking for a few great voices from the small business community. We'll be launching Small Business America, a new section focused exclusively on the issues which American entrepreneurs face, the nitty-gritty details of startup life and the inevitable highs and lows of running your own business. We're looking for your take on what it takes to succeed as a small business owner and your uniquely entrepreneurial musings, secrets to success and your most important lessons.

We'll be selecting the best bloggers from the HuffPost community to contribute regularly to our new section and to engage in collaborative conversations with their fellow bloggers and some of the top entrepreneurs in the world.

To submit, please fill out the form below. We'll be contacting you shortly.

 

 

Comments

[Luv2Purple]

06:03 PM on 09/23/2010

Twelve years ago I walked into a store that was going under. I went to spend a dime & bought the business. It took every penny my wife and I had. We took all our savings, plus the equity in our home (I promised her "I won't lose our home dear") and we borrowed from my Dad. The risk paid off. We made the business work and grow. We repaid my Dad, restored the equity in our home - paid off my wife's student loans. We managed to save and get ahead of the curve. We carried no debt, didn't invest in the stock market, so when the economy crashed we didn't lose. We've overpaid our mortgage for 15 years to build our equity, so we're not underwater. Business has taken a hit the past two years but we're managing by reducing expenses. Part of our business model is being generous to employees and give to local charities. Despite not seeing a penny of benefit from Bush tax cuts & policies, we've managed to actually live the American dream during this nightmare! Working smart as well as hard ~ being optimistic and calm helps too (meditation takes you there!) I could not have even thought about accomplishing this without the love and support of my wonderful wife who believed in me and our hard work. Thanks honey! Also, we are in an industry with a long history and believed it would survive most slowdowns....so far we have been proven correct.

[memememeeeee]

01:02 PM on 09/23/2010

Please post an email for us to fill out the "survey" since the Submit button is not working.

Thank you!

[bbbbmer]

10:45 AM on 09/23/2010

Your 'submit' button didn't work.

[Pennstategirl]

10:40 AM on 09/23/2010

People are so afraid to make a wrong decision these days...even though 90% employment and record low interest rates, there are few buyers out there right now. If we don't get some optimism and confidence back, we will be talking about all the same things a year from now. Folks need to know that their jobs are not going anywhere and that the country really is on a recovery. It still feels like a recession to me.

[gogogadget]

03:54 PM on 09/23/2010

The economy is Rocking. Joe BIden says so.

[ragtag]

08:02 PM on 09/24/2010

But I thought that was the reason the GOP originally didn't want to extend UI benefits...

[scarletxoxoxo]

09:47 AM on 09/23/2010

I hear hooking is hot these days. Someone should make a blog about that on this site :0

[sophistwatch]

09:52 AM on 09/23/2010

"hooking" has been hot since people discovered they could rent body parts by the hour.

[scarletxoxoxo]

02:38 PM on 09/23/2010

meow

[ragtag]

10:18 PM on 09/24/2010

Mrs. Slocum, is that you?

[scarletxoxoxo]

01:00 PM on 09/25/2010

Of course:)

[Joseph Joyal]

09:37 AM on 09/23/2010

The bottom line to our economic health is energy cost. Oil especially.
Get oil to $35-50/bbl and our economy will grow.
Alternitive energy will not help mainly because it is being developed by the oil companies. Not to mention we are a long way off from having a viable source.

[ekg]

09:15 AM on 09/23/2010

I signed up but doubt I will be considered since I am a conservative, from the Southeast nonetheless.

[LivingDebtFree]

09:29 AM on 09/23/2010

I'd follow you ekg. I signed up as well.

[ragtag]

10:19 PM on 09/24/2010

It's not your political affiliation, it's whether or not you have anything useful to add to the conversation...

[JavaJuice]

08:41 AM on 09/23/2010

Attention saps, blog for free while Huff Po racks in the ad money.

[LivingDebtFree]

09:28 AM on 09/23/2010

No different than you commenting in my opinion.

[wtchyldy]

07:54 AM on 09/23/2010

I'm a nurse during the day but at night I turn into: Super Writer....well...actually just plain old writer.
So far this year my royality checks (one of which I received yesterday) total $53. Does that qualify me as a "small business" - maybe a teeny, tiny business?
BTW: I'm blogging my way through a year of reading/listening to 100 books. www.witchlit.blogspot.com

[LivingDebtFree]

09:30 AM on 09/23/2010

Nice. That sounds like a good dinner to me. How long have you been doing it?

[wtchyldy]

03:12 PM on 09/23/2010

I've been writing for publication for 50 years - got my first rejection from Family circle when i was 12 - time out for nursing school, marriage, family.

[Joseph Joyal]

09:38 AM on 09/23/2010

It's a start thats more than most people will ever do.

[TankMan]

11:48 PM on 09/22/2010

http://www.americanmadeheroes.com/ ... interesting small USA made businesses shown here with videos -- shoes, socks, lace panties, suits, t-shirts, golf balls, pin ball, bikes, vacuums, furniture, sneakers, beer,

AmericanMadeHeroes.com recognizes, honors and applauds those companies that continue to manufacture their products here in the United States of America. We recognize all those involved in American domestic manufacturing as "heroes". These heroes provide more value to our society than they may realize or acknowledge! They are our front line warriors in America's battle in the global trade war.

[Mafdet]

11:44 PM on 09/22/2010

My most disappointing experience as a small business owner was bidding on a 3m per year government contract that was a small business set-aside for companies with an annual income under 6.5m. The winning company was to have supplied 60% of the contract terms in-house. The award was made to a "consultant" who did nothing but take her cut off the top and turned around and sourced it to another company.

We filed a formal and detailed complaint with the agency even drawing pictures illustrating why a one-person consultancy could not produce and deliver the massive structures required under the contract and  without explanation our protest was simply dismissed.

There's a consultant on the west coast named Linda who gets 7 figures for filling out a dynamic spread sheet once a year...basically...and a large company on the east coast that snaps up a small business set-aside no muss no fuss.

[LivingDebtFree]

09:32 AM on 09/23/2010

The old "requirement" was that 23% of government spending went to SMB's. The new Small Business Act of 2010 took away that requirement. They should have named it the Anti Small Business Act.

[curmudgeon99]

11:23 PM on 09/22/2010

All the folks who have started a business that is still going are to be commended - but that does not mean they should look down on people who want work but do not have the resources(including imagination). Some of us older workers with there own businesses who ran out of work due to age discrimination on the part of new clients would be more than happy to work with ANYONE - large or small and share their drive and expertise.

[Kache]

10:36 PM on 09/22/2010

60% of jobs are created by "small businesses".

That includes 670,000 S Type corporations that are not "small" by any standard but are organized as an S Type to escape paying corporate taxes. Bechtel, the nation's largest engineering firm and 5th largest privately held company employees 44,000 and has revenue of 32 billion - it's a "small business" according to the SBA and IRS.

Actual "small businesses" probably create only 40% of new jobs. And with a 5 year startup failure rate above 70% only 30% of those jobs are career jobs.

I'm a small business owner and I take pride in it. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking we're more important, or virtuous, than we are. After-all, with a 70% startup failure rate, we produce more losers than Ceasar's Palace.

If we want more successful small businesses we should look at how Brazil (1/2 our population) has created 2 times more small businesses in the last 5 years than we have, with a success rate of 60%.

[verycold]

11:15 PM on 09/22/2010

"Small" business according to the SBA is any company with less than 500 employees.  My husband runs a manufacturing company that employs around 140.  It is a substantial facility with an annual sales of 30 million.  I really don't consider his business "small", but technically it is.  I think of "small" as the micro businesses  that line the streets of mainstreet America. 

In my town the small businesses are most definitely the ones creating jobs outside the hospitals and t government like the university system. 

According to the SBA...

Employ 1/2 private sector
Pay 44 percent of US private payroll
Generate 64 percent of new jobs
1/2 of nonfarm payroll
Hire 40 percent of high tech people
52 percent home based  2 percent franchise

[weekendpartier]

12:14 AM on 09/23/2010

BMW's USA Financing division is a LLC!

[weekendpartier]

10:30 PM on 09/22/2010

Do I get paid?

[kcinpa]

08:09 AM on 09/23/2010

Seems only fair that you should be able to share in the ad revenue on the page your blog appears, doesn't it?

[sonoffestus]

09:52 PM on 09/22/2010

As one who has started 3 different businesses in two different countries, I suggest that businesses small and large demand universal single payer health insurance. That is if you really want to stimulate the economy and create new businesses and jobs.

We shut down two companies and left the States for exactly that reason. To think we could have employed Americans if we had reasonable HC insurance. Obviously, it is too simple of a concept for most Americans to grasp.

Good luck, you will need it because rational thought is lacking.