What is a Small Business?
What is a small business? There are many different perspectives. Businesses that are considered or labeled as small range from a single-person business with minimal revenue to one with 500 employees and annual revenue of $100 million. With a such wide range, lumping all businesses within this range as small is very misleading and not very useful. Businesses at opposite ends of the spectrum have very little, if anything, in common. According to Census Bureau statistics 94% of all businesses in the U.S. have less than 20 employees and annual revenue of under $5 million. An average-sized small, owner-operated business (SOOB) has less than $500,000 in revenue and less than 5 employees. These are the real small businesses. Owner-operated Owner-operated means that the business is owned by a single individual or a very small group of people who work in the business on a daily basis. Not as executives but hands-on doing whatever it is that the business does. Sometimes these owners may ...