Many small businesses have enjoyed at least some amount of growth over the past few years, and this is largely due to the improving U.S. economy. And while many may not be back to the point they were at when the recession hit, it seems the federal government is now doing more to help small businesses specifically.
One thing many entrepreneurs may not know is that as recently as 2012, the portion of America’s exports made up of products from small businesses accounted for 97.7 percent of the total, and nearly 2 in 5 of those companies shipping goods overseas were doing business with at least two countries, according to a report from the U.S. Small Business Administration. And in 2014, the U.S. exported some $2.3 trillion worth of goods and services, setting a national record.
Moreover, small business exports are a huge supplier of jobs to the national economy, the report said. About 1 in every 5 jobs with companies of all sizes are directly related to exports in some way, and those workers tend to make about 20 percent more than others on average.
Moving forward
During the recent State of the Union address, President Barack Obama specifically called for the creation of a Trade Promotion Authority that would help to further engender more activity of this type, specifically for smaller companies, the report said. While negotiations haven’t even begun yet, the hope is that the organization would be able to get more small businesses to bring their products to the international market in the coming years and decades.
“By 2030, more than 2 billion Asian consumers are expected to join the global middle class,” SBA administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet wrote. “In 15 years, the Asian market is projected to be six times larger than the American market. If we’re going to maintain our global economic leadership as a nation, our businesses must sell to these consumers.”
And while that’s certainly not a near-term issue for many companies, the more they can do to streamline their budgets on an ongoing basis in the years ahead will likely do them a lot of good. For instance, finding ways to save money on small business insurance policies including those for tech insurance could end up saving them thousands annually which could then be put toward improving other aspects of their companies.
