The first chamber of commerce in the English-speaking world was started in New York City. The date was 1768, six years before our Declaration of Independence was written. The qualities of equal empowerment and the appreciation of the individual right to self determination were the starting points to our becoming a free nation.
Those first Americans coming to the New World had fled poverty and were contracted into indentured servitude in order to cover the cost of transportation to the colonies. The New World held promise for those brave enough to walk into the unknown. The struggle to survive and the belief in their own abilities, as well as their deep and abiding faith in power greater than their own, became the foundation upon which our nation was built. We hold in great esteem the memories of our forefathers who suffered great loss so that we could be free and dream what most felt impossible to comprehend.
For many, starting their own business is the beginning of fulfilling a dream. Each year, an estimated 600,000 new employer firms open for business. Seven out of ten new businesses survive at least two years, half at least five years, one third last at least ten years and a quarter stay in business fifteen years or more. Most people who go into small business are aware of the risks at the start. Small business survival rates help to dispel the myths on small business mortality. Internationally, the U.S. ranks among the top three easiest places to start a business, with only Singapore and New Zealand slightly higher.
Today there are over 27 million small businesses in the U.S. The Small Business Administration considers any business with less than 500 employees to be a small business. This represents 99.7% of all employer firms, and they employ half of all private sector employees. During this difficult and challenging job market, it is small business that has created between 60-80% of all new jobs in our country. Minorities and women account for 20% of the privately owned businesses. Dr. Martin Luther King talked about equality of opportunity. The promises put forth in our Declaration of Independence now seem even more compelling than they have in the past. “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Are we still brave enough to walk into the unknown venture of starting a new business? Do we possess those qualities of our forefathers–a belief in our own abilities emboldened by a deep and abiding faith in a power greater that our own? The facts prove that we do. With unemployment running high, we are not running scared. We take our futures into our own hands and look for solutions undeterred by the unknown. The only limitations we face may be the limitations of our own imaginations.
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