Are you a small business person (actual or in your heart), and you wonder whether there’s a place in America for you? There is! The SBA Advocacy Group (AG) www.sbaonline.sba.gov/advo says you represent more than 99% of all businesses, you are 53% home-based, your represent 96% of all exporters of goods to the rest of the world, and you have an annual payroll of about $1.4 trillion! There’s more.

The U.S. Census Bureau (CB) www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html says that nearly three quarters of all U.S. business firms have no payroll, and you collectively account for over a half trillion dollars in sales annually. However, you’ve got to get bigger if you want any clout because the same report shows that firms with one to nine additional employees account for 1.6 trillion in sales! The AG says there are 17.7 million sole proprietorships, 1.8 million partnerships, and 5.3 million small corporations.

Are you a non-white-male in business? You’re in the majority with 57.9% of the business of America. Broken down, 4.6 million of you are women (39.3%), 0.8 million are Hispanic (7.1%), 0.8 million are Black (6.8%), and 0.6 million are Asians (4.7%). AG says the number of non-white-male businesses is increasing rapidly.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old story about the high attrition factor in small businesses. It’s true that some types of business have a high attrition, but overall AG statistics show that small business bankruptcies have dropped dramatically since 1991, and the number of firms going out of business is 9.4% while the number going into business is 10.4%. That’s a gain in small businesses no matter what!

Are you looking for the business sector with the most growth potential? The Third Millennium: Small Business and Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century (TTM) (available from the AG in Washington, D.C.) makes it clear that services and retail trade will lead the way with manufacturing decreasing dramatically. Another growth area is exporting, but TTM warns that tariffs, quotas, and other trade barriers make this a difficult sector to use.

Don’t wonder whether the Internet will take over commerce, it is! AG, in a report titled Small Business Expansions in Electronic Commerce that more than 65% of business-to-business (B2B) purchases will be made by six sectors in 2003: retail trade, motor vehicle manufacturing, shipping, industrial equipment, high-technology sectors, and government. Not only that, but B2B electronic commerce will account for almost 24% of all B2B commerce.

It’s employees! With the aging baby boomers retiring and an undereducated workforce coming of age, the problems of finding employees will increase. TTM warns that you are going to have a tougher time finding competent and qualified employees as you grow. They project the use of part-time and job-sharing workers will be part of the mix you will have to deal with. The rise in workers of Hispanic origin will represent almost one-third of the increase in the labor force by 2006, and Hispanic Americans will surpass African Americans as the largest minority in the labor force. Asians will more than quadruple their numbers in the labor force by 2006.

TTM notes that you will have to spend money training your workforce in the basics neglected by our school systems. By 2006 you will have to conduct extensive training in basic language, math, writing, and problem solving techniques, or you won’t have a workforce. In addition, TTM projects a great need for education in how the economic system works and for specific courses in entrepreneurship and small business skills. America’s Learning Exchange (ALE) www.alx.org lists only 86 business courses offered, either computer based or on CD-ROM.

Finally, the burden of regulation tends to fall disproportionately on you, the small business person. TTM says that the regulatory burden on small firms must be lifted if you are to succeed. The Small Business Survival Committee (SBSC) www.sbsc.org ranks states by how they treat small businesses. If you live in Vermont, Iowa, California, New York, North Carolina, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Montana, Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Hawaii, or the District of Columbia, you are doing business in the most anti-small business locations in the U.S., ranked from 37th through 51st.

So, what do you do? Check out your state’s position on small business, then form a Small Business Action Committee in your state to get things changed. You have two charges: education and business. Maybe the above statistics will penetrate the bureaucratic head, and maybe not; but if you sit there sucking your thumb wondering if someone’s going to come to your rescue, you’re doing just that … sucking your thumb wondering if someone’s going to come to your rescue. Do something! So … What’s keeping you from success? For hundreds of other tips and ideas, or to request help, visit http://www.tulenko.com; or snail-mail your request to: Paul Tulenko, 2320 La Vista Court NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120.