Entrepreneurs

If you know me well enough,
you’d know that I love analogies.

Granting me a little creative
license, I can’t help but draw the
comparison between the Wizard of
Oz and the story now playing out in
the current economy where so many
Americans are looking to the government to
solve this worst recession in decades.

At the end of the movie, Dorothy discovers
that the Wizard is a mere mortal with
no greater ability than that already possessed
by her and her companions. And
at the end of the movie Dorothy’s hope of
returning to Kansas is dashed when the
Wizard’s balloon, you guessed it, full of ‘hot
air,’ departs without her.

Far too many of us are relying on the
federal government to bail us out of this
mess. The same government that is the
architect of Social Security, Amtrak,
Medicare and Medicaid.

Despite what I hope are good intentions,
I don’t believe that we as small business
owners can afford to waste valuable
time waiting for the ‘Stimulus Package’ to
‘kick in.’

To date only about 7% of the targeted
stimulus dollars have found their way into
the economy. And it is doubtful that much
of this will directly impact small businesses.

As a small business owner, I am growing
increasingly frustrated by our federal
bureaucracy which we are told has job
creation as its top priority, but then does
little or nothing to help small businesses
who they look to to create 70% of this
much awaited new job growth.

Just in case anyone in Washington is
listening:

“SMALL BUSINESS IS NOT HIRING!”

While the failure rate of small businesses
surges, Washington has allocated billions of
dollars in ‘earmarked’ pork spending and
100’s of billions of dollars to bailout a multitude
of big businesses who will produce
few, if any, new jobs and whose business
models, in some instances, failed a decade
or more ago.

Their salvation? They have been deemed
‘too big’ to fail and thus have been elevated
up the ‘food chain.’

And further while the federal government
has injected countless billions of dollars into
banks throughout the nation, federal regulators
have raised lending standards to a level
which has all but choked off badly needed
capital to credit worthy small businesses. I
was recently told that even our ‘Creator’
would require a co-signer today.

My advice to small business owners?

Give your elected representatives an earful
if you think it will do any good.

Otherwise, like Dorothy and her companions,
look to yourself and don’t wait on
the Wizard.

Focus on cash flow, cost containment
and customer retention. By improving
productivity and increasing customer
value, you will re-evaluate and refine your
existing business model. In fact, adversity
can drive innovation, creating new opportunities
for small businesses in the future.

Bottom line?

Put Toto back in the basket and head
back to Kansas. The solution to your challenges
rests with you and not in Washington,
Oz or elsewhere.

You and other like-minded small business
owners embody all that is great about
this nation.

Roll up your sleeves and look for the
innovative ideas that will assure your future
success.

You are your best and only ‘Stimulus
Package.’ EK