Why BizLink?
BizLink fills the needs of small businesses to provide the essentials of business promotion, financial empowerment and benefits access. In every small business scenario, the mix of these three components can determine the success and long term viability of any organization. BizLink is focused intently on providing a supplemental means for small businesses to grow and succeed. Through diligent research, field input and fact finding within many industries, we have fined-tuned our program designed exclusively for the small business.
The Big Contributions of the Small Business
We recognize the exceptional power and opportunity of small business. Consider the following:
Small firms at a glance:
- Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
- Employ half of all private sector employees.
- Pay 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
- Have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade.
- Create more than 50 percent of nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).
- Produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms. These patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.
- Are employers of 41 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer workers).
- Are 53 percent home-based and 3 percent franchises.
- Make up 97 percent of all identified exporters and produce 26 percent of the known export value.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census; Advocacy-funded research; Federal Procurement Data System; Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey; U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration.
The Big Challenges of the Small Business
While the opportunities are exceptional, small businesses also have hurdles to clear as well. Most small business owners start out as sole proprietors with a great idea that they build a business around. The focus quickly moves to making the business profitable, or at the very least, keeping one’s head above water before personal financing runs out. There is often no clear distinction between the business and the person running it as the owner struggles to breathe life into the venture. "I have to do it all because it is my business..." is the type of thinking that ultimately leads to limiting growth potential beyond a certain level.