The Birth of Small Business Markets

There is a basic problem with the concept of small business because from the onset it is a vague reference and yet it is referred to as if it has very specific meaning. In a few articles about Solopreneur Studies, I present a perspective that argues that microbusiness or microenterprise is a better term for the generic small business reference.  I also explore American microbusiness types of products and service. 

We will begin by parsing the social narrative that begins with a vague and populist reffrain that 'small business is ubiquitous and woven into the American fabric of life.' This Norman Rockwellian type of narrative is perhaps constructed by experiences and snippets of 'truth' that are aggregated into American fabric that may be perceived slightly differently by varius demographics as to form and function but still express the same underlying message that 'small business is critically important to the economy and identity as members of the American community. The narrative exposes the well-known myth that this business type is an expression of freedom and a hope for a better life. 

However this is the tip of the iceberg. There is an underlying complexity in the case of small business and the narrative; actions and facts seem to get in the way. Certainly the number of small business and its presence among other types of business seemingly support its economic importance, however, it is also widely accepted as normal from a Capitalist perspective that these businesses also disappear in great numbers very quietly. This is the refresh or Darwinist explanation The ironic dichotomy believes that it is good for these businesses to die while our economy and way of life are dependent upon this form is considered normative. So it is not out of the norm that business-support constructs and processes are untouchable or at least not considered as systemically corrupt. It is possible that the same system that creates and destroys this form has winners who profit by not properly supporting the target entity. An analogy is a company that sells parachutes while profiting from the reclamation of bodies whose chute did not function properly. Consider the types of supports that exist for small businesses. Do small business products truly aim at small businesses? Do these support services truly provide assistance or do they propagate the systemic expectation of death and therefore unquestioned?

The Narrative

One way the narrative is established is through natural exposure to small business. The cyclical presence and demise of small businesses in 'maturing' communities' and the stories of small business success and demise are told in various news forums and the retelling of news on the street corner and around watering holes. 

The Freedom Narrative

Politicians and motivational speakers engage in passionate calls for leadership and business prowess and endurance. Those who peddle membership in multi-level marketing (MLM) businesses extol the virtue of freedom, to be 'the man' instead of working for 'the man', the maker of one's own destiny. Freedom is found in the ability to innovate upon what is already there: making a better mousetrap. Freedom is found in herding support around a cause or business concept. The ease to which one can create a web presence in so many domains of social media, email, and websites makes the illusion of startup analogous to printing a name on a business card. 

The Nostalgic-Fragility Narrative

This narrative is a nostalgic reverence captured by the quaint names of small businesses in the context of a time, a place, and a type of business. This fragility narrative includes stories of larger enterprises crushing small businesses to plant a reverence for the fragile small business. Many now think of warehouse retailers and fast-food chain restaurants as our local go-tos while nostalgically recalling 'five and dimes', 'mom and pops' and 'greasy-spoons.'

The Hope Narrative

The young learn about American folk heroes including George Washington, Andrew Carnegie, and Abraham Lincoln. It should be noted that it is unfortunate that inclusion and racial diversity are not characteristics of this list but the sentiment of rugged individualism and leadership is communicated clearly. The message has changed some in recent times but the idea that people before you found a way to make good and 'you can too' became a part of the American narrative that there was hope for everyone. The takeaway from learning about the industrial giants of the 19th century was a incubator for dreams.  So the social story of making good with a small business is sown. 

But this narrative has its share of cognitive dissonance. The Hope Narrative includes the social story of the good worker, if you get a good job or do well in college, you can succeed. The social story of calamity (sickness, injury, susceptibility to predatory behavior of businesses) and exclusion (unable to attend college, no access to startup capital) mixes with the stories of failed startup business in the news, entertainment, and life. The Hope Narrative is transformed to finding a job to comfort the move to employment for greater certainty.

Narratives and The Myth

These narratives support the creation of a myth, an amalgamation of ideas: innovation, 'rugged individualism', and a hope to control one's destiny. There are the few who grow up in the right household, have no other opportunity, or stumble across an influential person with an opportunity and decide to create a small business, deaf to the negative aspects of the business narrative. For these chosen, surprisingly, the myth fuels the dream, the passion to build. This is the small business birthplace and a marketplace to provide products and services that undergird the startup process. One would hope that the support for startups is easily accessible and helpful because, after all, small businesses are everywhere.

It seems obvious that small business b2b vendors would know the lay of this land: the size, makeup, and idiosyncrasies of their target marketspace. After all, product and service offerings require the right fit and need to be scaled appropriately. However, I posit that the defining of small business appears to be a point of failure and, in fact, misleading to those acting on the myth. I further assert that the small business myth leads to blind spots for b2b vendors aiming at an over-generalized small business marketspace.

Under-reporting
Hips don't lie