Small Business Is Too Big To Fail! Business Planning For The New Age

Business planning just got easier for many small businesses. In his address Saturday, President Barack Obama said small businesses have created nearly two-thirds of the nation's new jobs over the past decade and a half.

"They must be at the forefront of our recovery," he said.

This year's $787 billion economic stimulus package made $5 billion in tax breaks available to small business and cut the costs of Small Business Administration loans, Obama said. Last week, he asked Congress to increase the size of some SBA loans and announced a plan to provide low interest loans to small banks that agree to lend more money to small businesses.

So many times it feels like government just doesn't "get it". The trickle down economics that has been popular for so long just doesn't trickle down to the businesses can really jump start the economy. It is essential for government to provide assistance directly where it will do the most good: to the small businesses themselves. Small business can -- and will --be the catalyst to ignite our struggling economy if they are given half a chance.

There are a lot of reasons why the government's money should go directly to small business, not the least of which is that small businesses are just more agile, more able to adapt, than big businesses, without the bloated salaries and bonuses. Small business owners are dependent on the success of their companies, unlike their large business counterparts, and are therefore much more inclined to put the money where it will do the most good, and not in their own pockets.

Business planning for small business means having the ability to NOT plan everything, to be open to shifting economies and trends, to see ahead of the curve. And this is where small businesses really do excel.

And did small businesses really provide two-thirds of the new jobs in the past fifteen years? My guess is that we provided much more. I don't think that statistic takes into account the millions of new entrepreneurs on the web, or others that are just so "small" that they fly under the statistical radar. And many of these businesses are hugely successful by any measure.

It is good to see the financing flow to small business. Very good indeed.