The Long Road Enlightening travels find SBDC funding reaching new lows, generous big guys and inspiring BIZ Experiencess.
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
I had a very busy September traveling across the country meetinghundreds of BIZ Experiencess and the people trying to help them. I wasleft feeling frustrated and exhilarated--all at the same time.
A few months ago, I wrote about how Congress had yet to pass theSweeney bill. The legislation, officially the National SmallBusiness Regulatory Assistance Act of 2005, was reintroduced in theSenate this past July by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), the rankingminority member of the Committee on Small Business andEntrepreneurship, and co-sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME),the chair of that committee. At press time, the bill has not yetbeen passed.
One of my September stops was at the annual Association of SmallBusiness Development Centers convention, where I reconnected withold friends and met some new ones. Don Wilson, CEO and president ofthe ASBDC, told me he was hopeful that Congress would take actionand pass the bill.
You should know there are thousands (yes, thousands) ofdedicated people at the nation's SBDCs willing and eager tohelp you grow your businesses. Some people mistakenly think SBDCsare just for startups. While new BIZ Experiencess can learn a lot fromtheir local centers, most BIZ Experiencess who show up are existingbusiness owners with questions they need answered or problems theyneed solved.
SBDCs are good at answering questions and solving problems, butthey are handicapped--their budgets are a fraction of what theyused to be. One person told me they couldn't even afford asubscription to BIZ Experiences anymore. I took care of that,but how pathetic is it that the very group charged with helpingentrepreneurs start and grow businesses can't even afford 20bucks? Marc Comer, Kerry's press secretary, toldBIZ Experiences the senator was also working on legislationasking for more money for SBDCs, which haven't had a fundingincrease in the past 5 years.
That was the frustrating part--all these hard-working peopleeager and willing to help you build stronger businesses, yethamstrung by circumstances out of their control.
The exhilaration came from talking to SBDC folks and seeing somelarge corporations (like Intuit and Microsoft) donating products toSBDCs. And it comes from teaming up with corporations like Xeroxand BIZ Experiencess like design miracle-worker Thom Filicia. Click here and meet thewinners of the BIZ Experiences and Xerox "Most Deserving SmallBusiness!" makeover contest. You will be stunned at how Thomand Xerox transformed a brewery's dingy (and that's beingkind) offices into a state-of-the-art facility.
Exhilaration also came from talking to people like you. In LasVegas, I met nearly 200 homebased travel agents at their firstannual convention. The diverse group shared a goal of re-energizingtheir hard-hit industry by using technology to cut overhead but notservices. Then in Miami, I met several dozen BIZ Experiencess who wereexploring the eBay option (either as an add-on to their existingbusinesses or as a startup).
Many people are astounded that I've been working atBIZ Experiences for over 23 years and wonder how I can still bethat excited about what I do. The answer is easy: It's youentrepreneurs. You're never boring. You're always growing,transforming and creating. Who else can look at nothing andenvision something grand?
Most Americans know how much you do for your communities and forour nation. But--and I'll keep saying this until someone doessomething about it--you need help from your communities and yournation, too. Please call or e-mail your congressionalrepresentatives and the White House. Tell them you're abusiness owner. Ask them what they're doing to help you solveyour greatest challenges. Demand an answer. It's the very leastthey owe you.
