I would like to congratulate Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and the City Council for holding its first Small Business Summit in March.
Forty of us were invited by Council Members and the Austin Independent Business Alliance to come and give our thoughts on the major ways the City could address business owners concerns. I was invited to participate by Council Member Laura Morrison, who was the former President of the Austin Neighborhoods Association among her other achievements. [Read more...]
A small business owner's response to the President's State of the Union Address 2010.
Mr. President, as a small business owner for over 25 years it was very encouraging to hear you acknowledge some of our contributions to the economy.
According to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy, small businesses have been responsible for all the net new jobs since the 1970’s. We are the ones that hire and train most first time job seekers or retrain returning workers.
We are also credited with inventing: the airplane, audio tape recorder, fiber optic examining equipment, heart valve, optical scanner, Pacemaker®, personal computer, soft contact lenses and the one thing none of us can live without, the lowly zipper. SBA research indicates that small businesses produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large firms. My own father was one of those inventors. [Read more...]
