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If you’re a veteran and a business owner, you’ve likely looked into a veteran-owned business certification in the past. You’ve also probably found the whole process confusing. There are several ways to get certified, and considering the substantial time commitment, it may not seem worth it to go through the process.

However, becoming a certified veteran-owned company can help you win more business from both government agencies and corporations. The certification can also be used as a marketing tool to help you reach potential customers who want to support veterans.

Read on for some tips on how to get certified, as well as a breakdown of the different types of certification available to veteran-owned businesses. 

Why should I register?

The primary reason to register your business as veteran-owned is to win more business. Specifically, both government agencies and many large corporations set aside a certain amount of business each year for veteran-owned businesses (as well as women and minority-owned firms). 

The certification process is pretty time consuming but necessary to compete for contracts for government agencies. But if your small business focuses on selling to government agencies, it’s worth the time and effort.

Corporations will also prioritize giving business to veteran-owned companies. For example,  nearly 15% of Fortune 1000 companies have set goals to give business to veteran-owned businesses. The process of registering as a veteran-owned supplier for corporations tends to be less time consuming than the process for government agencies. 

Additionally, many businesses and consumers like to prioritize purchasing from veteran-owned businesses, so getting your business listed on more consumer-facing sites like buyveteran.com can help you reach a larger group of potential customers. The process of getting listed is relatively simple compared to some of the other certification options.

How do I qualify for a veteran-owned business certification?

To be eligible for most veteran-owned business certifications, your business must meet the following requirements:

• More than the majority (51%) must be owned by a veteran.
• The veteran owner must have been honorably discharged from service.
• The veteran owner must be involved in management and daily business operations.

If you’re looking to qualify for the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), you must meet the above criteria. In addition, the veteran business owner will need to prove a service-connected disability (which should be included in your discharge paperwork). 

What are the different ways to get certified?

There are a few different levels of certification.

Federal contracts

To compete for national government agency contracts, you will need to get either veteran-owned small business (VOSB) certified, or SDVOSB certified via the Vets First Verification Program. The verification process includes submitting business ownership-related paperwork, your honorable discharge papers, and a federal review.

Private contracts

If you’re looking to be included on national registers of veteran-owned businesses to attract work from other private businesses, you simply need to register with the National Veteran Owned Business Association or the National Veteran Business Development Council as a Certified Veteran’s Business Enterprise (VBE).

State contracts

You can also apply for state-level certifications, which may be necessary if you’re looking to work with state agencies. Some states offer their own veteran-owned business certifications, while others use third-party certifiers like the National Veteran Business Development Council (NVBDC) or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

As mentioned above, you should also consider listing your business on websites like buyveteran.com.

Beyond specific veteran business owner programs, you are also eligible for broader contracting assistance programs with the federal government as a veteran business owner. The SBA website provides the full list of programs you may also qualify for.

Are there other resources for veteran-owned businesses?

Sometimes it can be helpful to connect with other veteran business owners, whether for advice while going through the certification process or just general mentoring and networking. The SBA runs outreach centers across the country where you can get in touch with other local business owners who served in the armed forces. 

SCORE, a non-profit organization that provides resources to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses, has also pulled together educational articles for veterans.

Looking for additional funding for your business? Learn more about business loans for veterans.

Because the international reach of the internet has impacted every business in some way, it is likely that the scope of your small business goes beyond the boundaries of your state.

You may be conducting interstate business in a myriad of ways. Perhaps you are a freelancer working for a client across the country. Maybe you own an e-commerce shop and you ship items around the United States every day. In a more traditional sense, you could be considering a second location of your brick-and-mortar store in another state. 

Even if you are a sole proprietor, you may technically run an interstate business. However, there are several factors to consider depending on the scale and goals of your company.

Defining ‘doing business.’

If you operate an online store or perform freelance services, you probably don’t have to do anything special if you ship to other states or have clients located elsewhere. Making money from people or companies in other states does not legally require you to incorporate there—that would place an extraordinarily high burden on freelancers.

However, as the connection between your business and a specific state strengthens, you will want to look into that state’s regulations to see if you need to register with the state’s agencies. For example, hiring a remote worker in another state is a much weaker connection than opening another office there, but there could be cases where you would still need to incorporate.

Regulations differ from state to state. Famously, state governments compete to attract businesses to their borders. For peace of mind, it’s always smart to check the rules for the states where you do any business. Typically, you will find relevant small business registration regulations with a state’s Department of Revenue, Secretary of State, and Department of Labor.

Situations to consider.

If you are thinking about opening a physical office, store, or restaurant in another state, you will need to register with that state. This process is called “foreign qualification.”

You may have already incorporated your business in a state that is not your home state, perhaps for tax reasons. But if you conduct most of your business from your home state, you will need to register for a foreign qualification there. Generally, it is recommended that you incorporate in your home state if you have fewer than 5 shareholders.

Even if you have an online business, you may need a foreign qualification. If you are incorporated in Nebraska but own and operate a warehouse or other shipping facility in Oregon, you probably need a foreign qualification in Oregon.

You probably need a foreign qualification f you have waged (W2) employees or pay payroll taxes in a state. Other factors may include the location of your bank accounts and where you have a physical presence. If you find yourself taking frequent face-to-face meetings in a state, you might need to file a foreign qualification as well.

Research different agencies.

States usually have several agencies involved in the operation of small businesses. Check with the Small Business Administration or local Chamber of Commerce groups for detailed, state-by-state information about what you need to do to set up your business in a specific state.

To register and incorporate your small business, you will have to get in touch with the Secretary of State. Payroll withholding and sales tax remittance can usually be set up with a state’s Department of Revenue. If you have waged employees, many states will require you to register with their Department of Labor.

You may also need to be aware of business licenses or business-specific taxes you. Many cities have agencies you have to register with, too.

A state typically wants to know 3 details: your intention to do business in the state, the nature of your business, and your contact information.   

Strength of nexus.

The concept of “strength of nexus” will be your guiding light when determining where your business should be registered. Strength of nexus describes how strong the connections of your business are to its surroundings. For example, if you open an office in a state, there is a very robust strength of nexus between your business and the state.

Again, different states have different definitions of nexus. If you have a remote employee working from his or her home, one state may simply require employment taxes. However, another state may require annual reports or even sales tax from products sold in that state.

Foreign qualification

The Secretary of State is usually in charge of overseeing foreign qualification filings. Corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) are only considered domestic in the state where they were formed, which is why they are considered “foreign” for other states, even though they are American-operated.  

Occasionally, the office might require a certificate of good standing from the state where the business was formed. Therefore, you want to ensure that you closely follow the regulations in your business’ home state—things like paying taxes and holding the proper business licenses—before you plan to go interstate.

Without a foreign qualification, you can be fined and found liable for back taxes. Importantly, you cannot file a lawsuit or defend against lawsuits in a state without a foreign qualification.

Beyond initial fees, there are usually annual costs to keep a foreign qualification in good standing. Because of this, you want to have as few foreign qualifications as possible.

Registered agents

Some states require annual reports, and only so-called “registered agents” or “resident agents” can file these reports. A registered agent is an individual or business legally residing in the state. This entity will have to accept mail and file documents.

If you cannot be the registered agent, you want the person or company you designate to be reliable and responsible, as they will serve as the company’s contact in the state. There are companies dedicated to being registered agents, and some legal or accounting firms offer registered agent services.

The unemployment level in the United States is at its lowest point in 50 years, which means different things to different sectors of the economy.

For many workers, this is generally good news–it shifts the power dynamic toward employees. The theory is that they have more choice, although other factors are at play that prevent us from saying that 2019 is an unambiguously great time for labor.

Small business owners, however, may look at the statistics with some queasiness. An environment of low unemployment makes it harder to attract and keep good employees.

Some companies might respond to this environment by trying to “churn and burn” your staff. By reducing pay and the amount of training a workforce needs, some businesses attempt to adapt to a future where a constant stream of workers are hired for short amounts of time before they quit or are terminated.

Not only is this strategy morally dubious, but it is also costly. Studies show that the price of losing an employee can amount to tens of thousands of dollars, even for small businesses. One study contends that the cost of losing and replacing an employee can cost up to double the lost employee’s annual salary.

A survey of human resource managers found that some businesses believe over half of staff turnover is caused by employee burnout, defined as job dissatisfaction marred by poor pay and an overwhelming workload.

“As the economy continues to improve, and employees have more job options, companies will have to provide more compensation, expand benefits and improve their employee experience,” business author Dan Schawbel said of the findings. “Managers should promote flexibility, and ensure that employees aren't overworked, in order to prevent employee burnout that leads to turnover.”

Employee burnout appears to be an issue at businesses of all sizes across the country, but the survey, conducted by analyst firm Kronos, said it seems to get worse as employers grow in size.

“Though burnout touches organizations of all sizes, larger organizations seem to suffer more,” the researchers said. “One in 5 HR leaders at organizations with 100 to 500 employees cited burnout as the cause of 10% or less of their turnover while 15% of HR leaders at organizations larger than 2,500 employees say burnout causes 50% or more of annual turnover.”

Treating your employees well can have benefits that go far beyond the walls of your business. Happy employees are happy customer –a business that treats and compensates its workers fairly can impact its whole region.  

“Beyond boosting companies’ competitiveness, improving service workers’ jobs could have a huge impact on the US economy,” Zeynep Ton wrote recently in the Harvard Business Review. “It would increase the earnings and spending power of the working poor and reduce the enormous amount of public assistance they receive.”

Many HR experts today think about employee “engagement,” a term that attempts to explain how to hire and maintain top talent. Ideally, not only does an engaged employee have a decent work-life balance, but he or she feels fulfilled, at least on some level, by the job.

“Engagement has been the workforce buzzword for the past decade,” explained Mollie Lombardi, an expert in hiring matters, in a statement. “We talk about ensuring that employees are challenged, appreciated, and in sync with strategic objectives, but even when they have an intellectual or emotional engagement with their work they sometimes still feel overwhelmed.”

She recommends that employers take a customized approach to each employee. Compensation and workload are huge elements for keeping employees happy, but so is a feeling of achievement and community as part of a staff.

“While not all burnout can be eliminated, much of it can be avoided using critical strategies that balance consistency and personalization of schedules and workload; leverage managers as models for how their team can achieve work/life balance; and implement tools and technology that proactively manage burnout or otherwise support these efforts,” Lombardi continued.

Probably the oldest customer service mantra is that the customer is always right. 

Writing in Forbes, customer experience expert Shep Hyken believes that we should adapt this motto toward how we treat employees, with a bit of the Golden Rule thrown in for good measure.

In essence, an employer should treat employees the way you want your customers to be treated.  

“If top management berates those in middle management, leadership cannot expect line-level employees to be well-treated by their direct supervisors–even if there is something in a mission statement somewhere that makes the proper treatment of employees a high priority,” Hyken maintains. “The do as I say, not as I do approach doesn’t work.”

While the dynamics between the nation’s employees and employers will continue to shift, treating your staff with dignity is a time-tested method for growing a business and saving money in the long run.

Started in 1939 by the proud son of small business-owning parents, Rick Segal, Mom and Pop Business Owners Day is celebrated every March 29. Mom and pop businesses make up 54% of all small businesses in the United States and are quintessential examples of the American Dream — hard-working men and women building companies of all kinds from the ground up.

The Challenges Mom and Pops Face

However, running a business is not always as dreamy as many business owners would like, especially when it comes to finding funding. According to a recent Lendio study, on average, mom and pop businesses take on significantly smaller loans than other businesses, but they leverage a greater percentage of their monthly sales in order to take on that financing.

“Unfortunately, the traditional lending ecosystem isn’t set up to support mom and pop shops,” says Brock Blake, CEO and founder of Lendio.

Mom and pops have an average credit score that is 30 points lower than other businesses. Additionally, their time in business tends to be nearly two years less than non-mom and pops,  and their monthly revenue is $35,000 less on average. These facts often sink a mom and pop shop’s chances of getting funding from traditional lenders.

Mom and Pops’ Unseen Value

Access to small-dollar loans allows mom and pop businesses to keep their doors open and increase their economic impact. According to a national study on the economic benefits of online lending to small businesses, for every dollar lent to a small business, its sales increased an average of $2.31. Even more, that same borrowed dollar creates an average of $3.79 in gross economic output to local communities.

The importance of independent businesses is undeniable. Local restaurants return more than twice as much money per sales dollar to the local economy than national chains. And in retail, independent stores return more than three times as much per dollar in sales than their big-box competitors. But their contributions extend far beyond the economic value they provide.

Mom and Pops in the Community

“Mom and pops aren’t solely focused on their own success,” says Blake. “These businesses create neighborhoods, enhance the sense of community, carry on local traditions, and contribute to local causes that big businesses just can’t.”

Lendio’s mom and pop customers come from all over the U.S., representing industries ranging from restaurants and healthcare to manufacturing and education. Lendio is proud to support these independent businesses on Mom and Pop Business Owners Day and beyond. Mom and pops represent 53% of the customers funded through Lendio’s online marketplace, and their loans account for 34% of the total loan volume funded. Through more than $260 million in loans, Lendio has facilitated financing for more than 7,000 mom and pop businesses across the country.

Congratulations. You’ve beaten the odds and turned your retail dream into a small business success story. Maybe it took a few years, or maybe it happened much faster. Either way, your hard work has paid off and you’re at the helm of a profitable business, or at least one that’s breaking even month in and month out.

So, what’s next? If you’re like other ambitious business owners, the answer is probably pretty straightforward. It’s time to start growing your retail operation. You might have some ideas for getting started. It’s also possible that growing your business is a new topic, and you could use a little inspiration.  

In either case, the following tactics will help. We’ll give you proven growth initiatives that you can use for creating your own retail expansion strategy. If you already have ideas of your own, you can validate them against our list, and if you need some inspiration, our practical tips will make getting started a breeze.  

1. Target a Broader Audience

One of the most straightforward ways to expand your retail business is to target a broader audience. For example, maybe you run a retail shop that specializes in vintage women’s clothing. To begin targeting a broader audience, you could start selling men’s vintage clothing as well. Depending on the demographics of your market, this move could effectively double (or more) the size of your target audience.

There is, of course, some risk in making such a drastic change to your underlying business strategy. To mitigate this risk, we recommend starting small. For example, perhaps you stock a few men’s accessories like sunglasses, wallets, and rings instead of adding a full line of men’s clothing to your inventory. This technique allows you to test your audience’s appetite for this new product line. The goal is to avoid investing too much capital in inventory you may not be able to move.

Another approach you can take is to participate in some kind of a local market or to host a pop-up shop of your own. The goal of these events is typically to introduce yourself to a new audience, which makes them a perfect testbed for your expansion strategy. Shoppers will approach your brand without the biases or preconceived notions of your regular shoppers, allowing you to test a broader audience’s appetite for a more diversified product catalog.

Regardless of which approach you take, if you see initial success, begin further initiatives that’ll help you better reach this new audience. For example, you may want to send a few emails informing your customers that you now offer men’s merchandise and update your shop’s interior design. Similarly, you may want to move from offering a few accessories to a full line of clothing. 

2. Expand Your Product Offerings

Another approach to expansion is to begin offering a wider variety of products. While similar to the first strategy, there are some differences. It’s not quite as dramatic a shift as beginning to target a very different secondary market. Instead, the goal is to better serve your primary audience by offering them more products that they can purchase from you.

The best approach is to consider complementary product lines. If your retail shop specializes in cooking supplies, you could begin offering bartending or mixology tools. If you’re a bookstore or a record store, you could blur the retail lines a little bit and set up a small cafe so your shoppers can sip drinks while they browse books or listen to music.

Similar to our first point, you will want to expand in small steps. For our cafe example, you could start with a hot plate and a stovetop espresso maker before investing in a full-size machine. Once you’ve run enough tests that you’re confident in your new offering, it’s time to take the next step and invest capital in the equipment and inventory you need to fully commit to this new segment of your business.

3. Kickstart Your Marketing

No, you don’t need to be Don Draper, but if you want to grow your business, you do need to market it effectively. That means you should do more than send a monthly email or run an advertisement in the local paper. You need a comprehensive strategy that markets your business in the channels and mediums your potential customers use to find and research new businesses.

Up until the advent of the internet, marketing was tough for small businesses. Most of the channels and media for reaching customers like TV, radio, and billboards were expensive and dominated by larger brands. But the internet leveled the playing field. We’re generalizing a bit here, but the way your customers consume media has almost certainly changed. People rely more on online tools like social media, review sites, search engine queries, and online videos to find businesses and engage with brands than they do traditional media.

This shift helps you because marketing online is often far more affordable and targeted than traditional media. Not only can you maintain a sizeable marketing presence cost-effectively, but you can ensure the money you do invest only goes toward reaching your specific target audience.

The specific marketing tactics you use will depend heavily on the preferences of your audience, as well as your skill level and available financial resources. With that in mind, here are a few ideas that can get you started:

• Customer reviews: Despite the shift toward digital marketing, word of mouth is still king. Claim your profiles on popular review sites like Yelp and Google, then incentivize happy shoppers to leave you great reviews.
• Email marketing: It may be one of the oldest digital marketing channels, but email is still highly effective. Make it a habit to regularly send a variety of marketing messages including promotional email and newsletters.
• Social media: You don’t need a presence on every platform. Instead, focus on the ones your customers use most. For retail, Instagram is particularly powerful because of its visual nature.
• Targeted advertising: Using social media platforms and Google AdWords, you can run highly targeted and cost-effective marketing campaigns.

Outside of these tips, you’ll want to ensure that you have the right tools at your disposal. One of the most powerful for retailers is a modern point of sale system (POS). This system can help you reach new customers and build repeat business with tools like customer loyalty programs, gift cards, and integrations with marketing platforms like email marketing software. Many POS allow you to collect email addresses right at the point of purchase where they’re automatically synced to your email list and available to receive your next marketing emails.   

4. Start Selling Online

Tapping into the booming world of e-commerce is another surefire way to expand your retail business. According to Statista, retail e-commerce sales are expected to reach over $550 billion in 2019. And with e-commerce platforms more affordable and easier to use than ever, there’s never been a better time than now to start selling online.  

Here are a few tips to help you start selling online:

• Pick the right technology: Use a reputable e-commerce platform like BigCommerce or Shopify. Ideally, it will integrate with your POS system and other business tools to streamline your operations.
• Brand your shop: Your online store is an extension of your online business, and as such, it should represent your brand. Incorporate colors, imagery, and even tone of voice into your online store’s design.
• Marketing matters: Your online shop is almost a separate business of its own. To succeed, you need to set aside marketing dollars and create a dedicated strategy for reaching new customers. This plan and investment should be distinct (but it can integrate) with what you’re doing to market your brick-and-mortar business.
• Consider online marketplaces: Getting started on eBay, Amazon, and other marketplaces is often easier than building your online store. Plus, you can tap into shoppers that are already on those marketplaces and ready to buy.
• Use experts if necessary: E-commerce isn’t easy, especially if you aren’t tech-savvy. Don’t be afraid to hire a freelancer or agency to help you with everything from store design to marketing to operations and logistics.

Adding an online store to your business can certainly be a challenge. As we mentioned earlier, it’s like running an entirely separate business, so be sure you have the time and resources to commit to its success.

5. Open a Second Location

It’s a sizable undertaking, but opening a second location for your business is another proven method for expanding your customer base and revenue. However, outside of opening an online store, it’s also the most expensive and time-intensive. You shouldn’t head down this road unless you’ve done your homework and can commit the time, capital, and effort to making it work.

To help you start the planning process and avoid the most common pitfalls along the way, let’s look at some strategies and tips to consider:

• Max out your main market first: Before opening a second location, you want to ensure you’ve done all you can to tap into your local customer base. Otherwise, you’re wasting an opportunity unnecessarily.
• Location is everything: Ideally, you want to locate your second shop in an area where you already have some name recognition, but you want it to be far enough away that it won’t cannibalize your primary store’s sales.
• Formalize processes: When you add a second location to your business, complexity increases. Standardized processes can help you maintain operational efficiency so you can better manage inventory, as well as financial and human capital.
• Set goals: Clear goals will help you stay focused on why you’re opening a second location while also giving you a straightforward way to measure performance.
• Get your financing in order: Expanding locations isn’t cheap. It’s likely that you’ll want to want to seek outside financing in the form of a retail business loan from a bank or other entity. You might also consider venture capital funding if you want to avoid traditional loans.
• Seek expert advice: In your local small business community, there are likely entrepreneurs that are running or have run multi-location businesses. Fellow business owners are often friendlier than you think. Buy one of them a coffee in exchange for a little bit of expert guidance.

There you have it —  proven tactics to power your retail expansion strategy. While none of these tips are easy, they’re all straightforward, proven paths toward growth. It’s unlikely they all will work for your business or situation right away. Our recommendation is to think long and hard about the objectives you’d like your retail expansion strategy to achieve. From there, select the tactic that you think will get you where you want to go most efficiently.

Ready to get financing to fuel your expansion strategy? Learn more about retail business loans.

A survey done by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) showed that record-breaking levels of small businesses are experiencing growing profits and, in turn, investing significantly more money into investing, hiring, and continued growth.

Small businesses are making a number of capital investments, such as purchasing new equipment and vehicles, as well as improving their infrastructure. Many other industry experts predict that small business startups will continue to rise.

Inspired by the success of their peers, entrepreneurs across the country are  springing into action and starting their own businesses. But 30% of new businesses fail during their first two years. About half fail within the first five years.

These figures may seem intimidating. After all, starting a new business is expensive, and you may be putting up your life savings to get it going.

But you shouldn’t be afraid. If you're interested in starting your own small business, here’s what you’ll need.

1. Time

Many businesses fail within their first year because the owners can’t invest enough time in their business. In a market saturated with small business owners, the competition is fierce. Time is one of the most important things you’ll need to create a business plan that will make your enterprise successful.  

2. Money

As a business owner, you’ll need enough cash to hit the ground running. If you don’t have the financial resources you need, you will have to be willing to take out a loan or get a credit card to start funding your business. If you have a solid business plan, the time you need to devote yourself to your business, and the courage to make it grow, you shouldn’t fear taking out a loan.

There are lots of things a small business loan can help you cover costs for:

• Advertising, including a website or business cards
• An accountant or accounting software
• Point of Sale processing equipment
• Licenses and permits
• Business insurance
• Retail, office, or warehouse space
• Legal fees
• Equipment including appliance, office furniture, and machinery

3. Patience and Confidence

The bottom line is that as an aspiring entrepreneur, you need to be patient and confident. There may be things you have to deal with, such as stagnant profits, the loss of money, regulations to adhere to, and more. The overarching point is that staying in the game is worth it. Being patient and having confidence is what it's going to take to make your business succeed.

4. Information and Research

Another thing to research is market trends. You may think you have a brilliant idea, but unless you do research, there’s no way of predicting whether your idea will be successful. You’ll also want to research costs that you’ll need, such as raw materials, space, employees, and everything else that goes into running a business.

The Final Word

As entrepreneurship continues to expand across America, many who have caught the small business bug are desperate to find a profitable field to make their mark. A recent study released by Sageworks ranked small business industries according to their profitability. The overall winner was financial services, with accounting, tax prep, bookkeeping, and payroll processing coming out on top with an 18.3% growth in sales this year.

Rising Trend: Accounting and Legal Firms

Accounting firms have a number of built-in benefits that make them perfect for small business. They are low-cost enterprises, requiring little capital to get started. All firms really need are trained employees who can crunch numbers. There are no inventory costs and, with the rise in popularity of coworking spaces, finding office space is much more affordable.

Accounting is not the only field, however, that has these built-in benefits. Legal firms also lack inventory costs and require only well-trained employees. The legal services field saw a 17.4% growth this year.

Legal firms can rake in significant sums of money depending on their specialty. The highest paying legal fields at the moment are litigation and intellectual property. Litigators handle high-dollar, high-profile, and high-stakes cases that usually end in large settlements.

Intellectual property law protects ideas: patents, copyrights, trademarks and other profitable concepts. As technology innovations continue, the demand for patent lawyers increases. Because of this, intellectual property law is also the fastest-growing sector in the law field.

Other Highly Profitable Industries

While accounting and legal firms made the largest profit strides this year, they aren’t the only industries on the rise. Here are some other profitable industries from the Sageworks study:

• Lessors of real estate: 17.4%
• Management of companies and enterprises 16%
• Outpatient care centers: 15.9%
• Offices of real estate agents and brokers: 14.8%
• Offices of other health practitioners: 14.2%
• Offices of dentists: 14.1%
• Specialized design services: 12.8%
• Automotive equipment rental and leasing: 12.5%
• Activities related to real estate: 12.3%
• Warehouse and storage: 11.6%
• Offices of physicians: 11.5%
• Nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying: 11.2%
• Medical and diagnostic laboratories: 11.1%
• Other schools and instruction: 10.5%

The Least Profitable Industries

• Oil and gas extraction: -7.6%
• Support activities for mining: 0.6%
• Beverage manufacturing: 0.8%
• Grocery and related product merchant wholesalers: 1.9%
• Lawn and garden equipment and supplies stores: 2.0%
• Miscellaneous durable goods merchant wholesalers: 2.3%
• Petroleum and petroleum products merchant wholesalers: 2.4%
• Grocery stores: 2.5%
• Automobile dealers: 3.2%
• Building material and supplies dealers: 3.2%
• Continuing care retirement communities and assisted living facilities for the elderly: 3.3%
• Other motor vehicle dealers: 3.3%
• Home furnishings stores: 3.3%
• Furniture stores: 3.4%
• Beer, wine, and liquor stores: 3.4%

Many of the least profitable fields have huge inventory and overhead costs. The Sageworks study qualifies their research by saying, “not all private companies are necessarily shooting for high profitability; maybe their industry is price sensitive and relies on volume for growth or maybe they are sinking profits back into the business for R&D.”

Nevertheless, profitability is an important consideration for entrepreneurs, and is a good indicator of potential success. If growth in the aforementioned industries continues, there will be significant upticks in small businesses seeking opportunities in those fields this year.

Ever feel like big businesses have too much money and power? They do. But there’s one thing they don’t have that you probably do: happy workers.

Small Business Employees Are the Happiest

A recent report found that people working in firms with 10 or fewer employees have the highest happiness levels, while organizations with 10,000 or more employees report the lowest. Likewise, 43% of small business workers say they feel happy at work while only 27% of their peers at large businesses report the same.

If that’s not enough to prove that big business is losing the happiness game, consider this: 95% of small business employees say that at least some of their happiness is due to working for a small business. Of that percentage, 39% attribute most of their job satisfaction to working for a small business.

The discrepancies between small and big business satisfaction widen every year. In fact, small business optimism is currently the highest it’s been in 43 years. Because of this, small businesses enjoy the benefits of having employees that actually care about their work.

So why do small businesses have the edge over the big guys?

Small Businesses Appreciate Their Employees More

• Being appreciated (67%)
• Having a flexible schedule (27%)
• Seeing the fruits of their labor (23%)
• Feeling like their input matters (17%)
• Being rewarded for hard work (14%)
• Getting noticed by people who matter (9%)
• Broadening their skill set (6%)

Why? Because small businesses have less bureaucracy and more authentic human interaction. This leads to tight-knit communities of professionals who support each other in achieving common goals. In other words, small businesses help employees feel needed and appreciated when they’re at work instead of leaving them feeling like a small cog in a giant machine. 

And there's more: happy employees lead to happy bosses. In fact, happy workers:

• Are 12% more productive
• Have more active and creative minds
• Are more willing to collaborate