Thank our local entrepreneurs during National Small Business Week

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Friday, May 13, 2011, 2 p.m. — The men, women and families that drive small business in America are being honored this coming week for their hard work, vision, dedication and integrity, during National Small Business Week.

Ask anyone involved in economic development and you’ll hear the same story — small businesses are the heart of our national economy. Small businesses are where jobs are created quickly; it is where needs are met and problems solved. Small businesses are the embodiment of the American Dream that anyone, with a good idea and hard work, can succeed.

In his proclamation, President Barack Obama highlighted the importance small businesses make in the overall national recovery. “Countless new and saved jobs have come from small businesses who took advantage of tax relief, access to capital, and other tools in the Recovery Act, the Small Business Jobs Act, and other initiatives launched by my Administration to put Americans back to work,” he said. ” To ensure the stability of our recovery, we must continue to provide new opportunities for small business owners and the next generation of entrepreneurs, who will help us out-innovate and out-build our global competitors to win the future.”

Here closer to home, we see the impact small business success can have in a small town. Downtown Bardstown is blessed by an active collection of a wide variety of small businesses, from restaurants to clothing stores, from florists to travel agents to  jewelers. All one need do is compare downtown Bardstown to the downtown district of other similar-sized cities. Those of us who live here and shop here don’t always understand how fortunate we are.

Small businesses in Nelson County come in all shapes and sizes. As I write this, contractors are busy with a room renovation project down the hallway from my home office. Without these self-employed and skilled local craftsmen, homeowners would have to look outside our county to find quality contractors.

One way to appreciate the impact of small business is to reflect on the small businesses you’ve frequented in the past week or two. In my case, I had my daughter’s car towed (by a small business owner) to a mechanic (another small businessman) who bought the parts locally from — you guessed it — another small business. I stopped to buy some latex paint this week too — from a locally owned business. I bought some flashlight bulbs from a locally owned franchise small business, and I stopped for an ice cream cone — again, a locally owned small business.

Nothing drives home the impact of a small business like its disappearance; the In & Out Market in Cox’s Creek closed recently, and with it closed our quick run-to-the-store access to the usual staple items — milk, bread, gas and soda.  Sure, there are other businesses within 7 miles that sell those items, but the change led me to wonder what would happen if we lost a great many of our small mom-and-pop businesses? The economic toll on our county would be much greater than the inconvenience of driving further to buy a gallon of milk — it would mean a tremendous loss of jobs, commerce and the intangibles that small businesses ad to our sense of community.

So let’s truly celebrate our small businesses this coming week, May 15-21, and lets always remember that shopping locally helps maintain our local economy and adds to our community’s quality of life.

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