Once a month, Alex Bellinger allows me to post a Small Business Letter from America at the SmallBizPodUK. It’s a pretty tall order for this small town gal to seem to speak for the whole of American small business.
This month, I didn’t think I could avoid the topic of the economy. If you’ve read The financial crisis in small towns and Hard times lessons from my Dust Bowl grandmother, then you won’t be surprised too much by what I had to say. I did try to include a bit more perspective from across the country, so it turned out to be about A shattered economy.
Two questions for you:
1. What would you say to the UK readers if you wrote the Small Business Letter from America?
I’d love your feedback and ideas.
2. For those outside the USA, what would you write for the Small Business Letter from your country?
I think it would be interesting and useful to share some international insights here on a regular basis. (Bonus points if you are from a small town outside the USA!)
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
About question #1 – One thing you can do is talk about the common challenges businesses face in every country :-)
Marco, you have some international perspective. What do you see as the common challenges?
Varies by country. In the UK, i’d think the challenges are similar to the US although getting funding might be a little tougher.
Becky, what you write about is pretty universal. Small businesses still have the same problems:
1. Finding clients
2. Keeping clients
3. Managing growth (or lack thereof)
One subject you can talk about is how the credit crunch is affecting small biz. That is also universal in the US, Europe and Asia (I suspect).
Now, in latin american countries – it’s a whole different ball game :-)
Seems straightforward. Glad to have your thoughts.
NOW. About Latin America. You’ve mentioned visiting relatively often. It would be truly interesting to hear what makes it a whole different ball game.
Becky –
That is a tough questions to answer since it’s complex. Some things that are important. In no specific order:
1. Who you know: In latin america, who you know if very important. Having good contacts is vital to sucess. You could have the best company in the world but by mot knowing the right people (or hiring someone who does) your chances of sucess will be much limited.
2. Legislative & Taxation: Starting a company and managing one is much more complex. Many regulations, in both businesses law and tax law. This makes running a company substantially harder.
3. Hiring good people: Many countries have laws that make it tough to fire a non-performer. And many have laws that require that somone fired should receive one month salary for every year served. Therefore hiring is a big risk.
4. Court protection: Need to sue someone? Good luck. And get in line. Oh, an expect the process to be veeeeery long.
5. Have an invention: Great! It’s patent and $3 will get you a coffee. No such thing as intellectual property protection in many areas.
6. Political Stability: This is getting better, but sometimes changes in government can make or break a business. I won’t name names, but there are at least 3 countries in South America that have developed strong leftist governments with anti-business feelings. BTW, I don’t intend to make this political, but it is a fact that certain government styles make life harder for business owners.
These are just some issues and why I *love* owning a US company.
Marco, thank you! I think you just wrote a guest post!