As we close down on 2009 and reflect on the year’s successes and failures, I look towards 2010 with some minimal optimism.  That’s not saying that I had a great year, on the contrary, but more as an acknowledgement that I’m a typical optimistic entrepreneur.  This was a tough year for everyone, maybe not so much for the big banks who received billions of bail out money, but definitely for us entrepreneurs.  If you are still alive at the end here, congrats! You’re probably a lot leaner, with less cash and really tired, but at least you’re still alive.

Listening to our President talk about job, jobs, jobs made me think of my Economics 101 college class.  What I loved and hated about the economics class was there never really seemed to be the right answer, just theories.   Listen to our Congress today debate on the right stimulus formula and you will see that economics is just a theory.  Whether its micro or macro economics it seems that economics is more about who is better at debating then actually understanding the business world.  I always felt more comfortable in my accounting classes where the answers were much more straight and factual: Assets = Liabilities + Equity, period.  Unfortunately I have now learned from Bernie and Enron that even GAAP can be debated. 

So Mr. President is out on the trail pitching jobs, jobs, jobs and how the small business owners are the back bone of our economy.  How “we” need to support the entrepreneurial spirit and that this spirit is what makes our country great.  His suggestion is that “we” need to provide more jobs to get the country out of the recession and that small business is the key to that change.  Wow Mr. President, how many economists did it take to learn that? 

2010 is about job creation and pulling ourselves out of the recession.  Who are we going to count on?  Is it the government, no way, they have no money?  Is it big business, are they going to start hiring, no?  It’s on our shoulders ladies and gentlemen, our country needs the entrepreneur to step up and grow.  I’m not joking here when I say that.  We are the leanest, smartest and best qualified to make the change.  

Think about it, the government is spending money they don’t earn so they have no emotional attachment or understanding how hard it is to get.  Big business is spending their investor’s money so they are only looking out for themselves personally.  They are planning to give out billions (yes that is with a B) this year end in bonuses to their employees instead of their shareholders.  It’s up to us, it’s the small business owner who stresses every day about not having enough work, or we have too much work, about payroll on Friday, Christmas bonuses, taxes, cash flow and employees. 

We are the team they have just called on to bail out the country.  I’m not happy about it, but I can honestly say that I would rather it be on our shoulders then the government and big business.  So 2010 is all about us, the small business owner and entrepreneurial.  The government is asking us to get them out of what they and big business greed got us into. 

Mr. President, you want us to hire more employees than let me help you understand it from our perspective.  We are not looking for stimulus money, just free up loans.  We can’t grow without investment and we can’t invest without a loan.  We don’t need a tax break, just stop reaching into our pocket and pulling out the scraps that we make.  We don’t need you to dictate the benefits plan we offer our employees, lead by example and manage your own health care system.  We aren’t looking for help, just stay out of the way.

Entrepreneurs, it is our calling right now!  2009 was a defensive time and now 2010 is the offensive time.  We have to get up and put the country on our shoulders to make us great again.  The world economics needs the

I wish I was given stimulus money, I wish I didn’t have Uncle Sam as a business partner and I wish big business could make the difference.  But what I have learned is that a dream without a plan is just a wish.

I will you all the very best in 2010!    

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Sell Your Business, Selling a Small Business, Exit Stories, Exit and Answers, Emotional Selling, Buy a Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.