Turning the American economy around in one dayPHOENIX, Ariz.,—The facts are indisputable, the opportunity right before us—right now, said Farrell Quinlan, Arizona state director for National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a group for the true engine of the American economy.
“There is only one way out of this recession, and that’s when small businesses – not big corporations – start ringing up sales. Period!” said Quinlan, who is calling on Arizonans to reserve the day after Black Friday for a trip to their nearest small business to make a purchase or two.
Indeed, all the evidence bears Quinlan out. In its latest Small Business Profiles for States and Territories, the U.S. Small Business Administration pegs small-business employers as constituting 97 percent of all of Arizona’s employers, providing almost half of all private-sector jobs.
But Quinlan’s group, the National Federation of Independent Business, which has been The Voice of Small Business since 1943, has been doing its own research on issues particular to small businesses for seven decades. In its latest NFIB Small-Business Optimism Index, a key bellwether economic measurement used by Federal Reserve chairmen and Congress, it found the No. 1 problem facing small businesses continuing to be “poor sales,” followed by government regulations and taxes.
“Small Business Saturday is about Main Street, not Wall Street,” writes Dan Danner, president and CEO of NFIB. “It’s about entrepreneurs and families selling things that the chains and e-commerce companies aren’t. Only small businesses can offer truly unique gifts and the most genuinely friendly customer service. Small Business Saturday is also about supporting the local economy. The chain stores are owned by bigger companies that are probably based somewhere other than your hometown, but small businesses are usually owned by your neighbors. When you shop at a small business, you’re supporting your local economy and your local job base.”
Small Business Saturday is a concept started by American Express last year. NFIB is helping encourage its adaptation into a longer-term theme. Quinlan, however, qualified his piggybacking on an unrelated hot topic, “I just want people to occupy a small business on Saturday long enough to make a purchase so others may occupy that small business.”
