A compilation of short speeches and remarks from the 50th anniversary of National Small Business Week (2013). Speakers celebrate small businesses, describe SBA outreach (including Google Hangouts and nationwide events in Seattle, Texas, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Joplin), and emphasize entrepreneurs' traits (passion, perseverance, people), mentoring, and practical advice for handling customer complaints and navigating government via programs like ESBEA.
Chapters
From mom and pop grocery stores to independent bookstores to tech startups, small businesses represent some of our country's core values.
Welcome to National Small Business Week. This is the 50th anniversary and it.
Has been an incredible opportunity to celebrate.
All the innovators and all the entrepreneurs like all of you.
During the course of the week, we have had a series of truly remarkable events across the country.
We took the whole show on the road. We started in Seattle, we were In Texas, in St. Louis, in Pittsburgh, and then here yesterday evening.
The SBA has done something so innovative this year as these Google hangouts as we try to spread Small Business Week all around the country.
What we did is bring tips and tools and matchmaking and workshops and, and value to small business.
We don't choose to be small business entrepreneurs. Something happens that we commit to, it clicks in all of us and we decide, I'm going to do that. It came from here.
Perseverance is a, is a critical ingredient. People are a critical ingredient. Passion is a critical ingredient. So those three Ps, you know, people.
Passion, perseverance, it is always going to.
Be up to you.
It's never going to be delivered on a silver platter. But the best part about Seattle is we are the top city in multiple industries.
The first entrepreneur I ever saw was my father providing for his family. He was a small business guy.
And then I was in St. Louis and one of the folks there said, you know, the SBA is the best kept secret in the federal government. I said, wait a minute, this has got to stop.
Now, you may be a best kept secret in some places, but the SBA is not a best kept secret. In Joplin, Missouri.
I want to play big ball, not small ball. I want to make a difference. I want to get something going. It's a combination of public sector and private sector. Rather than fight and clash, we have to corroborate. We have to cooperate with each other.
I don't like getting complaints about myself or Angie's List, and no one likes to get complaints. But, you know, in many ways it's part of, part of being in business because you're not going to please everyone all the time. We're all human. I try to talk to them about. The opportunity to speak a complaint now and then is not going to hurt your business and in fact, might actually give you an opportunity to really shine, to really show what you're going to do when things don't go well.
It's just so hard to start anything. You have people telling you no constantly. And ESBEA represents a simple interface into government which enables you to navigate more and to really go through some of those hurdles and some of those barriers.
If you. If you do not have a mentor or advisor that you see on a regular basis, you need to see one of our SBA folks before you leave here tonight.
The best tool I found is very simple one, which is asking the question why? It's the easiest question to ask. It's the hardest question to answer.
