The February 2007 issue of Fortune Small Business (a GREAT magazine) has some really interesting comments and statistics about the record number of Americans who are starting small companies. Here are some of the ones that caught my eye:
- 672,000 new companies with employees were created in 2005 (source: SBA)
- 74 million Americans say they want to start a business within the next 5 years (source: SBA), and some 66% of Americans tell pollsters they want to be their own boss one day!
- The percentage of 2004 income taxes paid by business owners or partners is over 54%, proving how important small business is to the U.S. economy (source: The Tax Foundation).
- The number of woman-owned small firms went from 5.4 million in 1997 to 7.7 million in 2006 (percentage growth: 42%!) (source: The Kauffman Foundation).
To that last point: a healthy fraction of those millions of people (especially women) who are or will become business owners are probably better candidates for buying, joining, or partnering with a small business or franchise. Help spread the word that even if "everybody" wants in, not everybody has to start from scratch.
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