Will Most Small Businesses Become Extinct by 2014 or Will Some Evolve Into Something More?

Feeling saddened and numbed at the prospect that so many local small businesses won't make it to 2013 or 2014 not only locally but worldwide, I'm finding myself sitting here trying to find the words to make sense out of all the emotions I feel right now by the state of our economy.

Many friends and others around me are moving on to the next stage in their life, whether by choice or not, by shutting their doors or using the last of their savings to move to another city. While a great deal of them are my friends who have lost employment, there are also those people that do something entirely different—they own local small businesses. These are businesses that are well known but may not be very popular, and of course for a lot of businesses it's about local economic growth. If people are going to Bellevue to shop at a local Walmart instead of shopping at their stores, that means we are soon to have less of an option in where we actually do shop. While that may be great news for major corporations like Walmart, it's not OK for our society, which has thrived on the convenience of having multiple options. So what do people do to get around this stump? We shop online or we go to where the shops are.

This is why these major corporations are winning and their growth is such a dramatic increase. They can afford to sell to us cheaper which due to state of affairs with local economy… and, they are providing jobs. "Walgate" we won't even get into… Lord help me if you get me going on that rant.  If you could see how cutthroat a lot of small business owners have had to become, as well as work twice as hard to make it work in today’s corporate competitive industry, you may think twice before shopping at a Walmart. This is becoming a eat or be eaten kind of industry, and I personally would prefer to stand outside of the mess (so to speak). It's definitely hard to know who your real friends are when you're dealing with a world that exists in business politics.

/rant ON By doing The Walking Mom Project, I accepted a path, a purpose, allowing myself to become a voice for local small businesses that were too busy to survive be heard by finding them, handing out flyers or ads etc., and by giving people word of mouth by general conversation or a review. I have found some of those businesses that truly needed help and I have also found some that will outright lie to get a good review and eliminate their competition that is suffering... Luckily there's a thing called karma! I understand what it means to survive, trust me when I say I’ve seen my fair share of the bad, but seriously, when you’re doing “good” in business and you decide it’s time to take everyone else out so you can up one… I could never consider that good business ethics, I would consider that lame and heartless. /rant OFF

Back to our primary discussion, when you look at all the businesses that started during the cigar blue dress man time period (yes you know who I’m referring to, and if you don’t please Google/BING It!), now look at what remains? Now, go to an area that attracts the wealthy and look at the progress... Big difference! Redmond after all, is no longer a farming community! So how does Redmond get where it's supposed to go? Well, if you look at Bellevue... They went through similar growth pains and growth to get where they are now. The harsh reality of today's economy is that most small businesses won't survive the transition. By 2013, Redmond may very well be just a small burb of the Greater Bellevue area, and with the future of small businesses in question, this paves the way for another corporate Walmart to take their place (Please, NO!).

I wonder how different everything would be if everyone shopped locally rather online? Or perhaps our world is simply shifting and changing, and we are the ones not accepting the change? , but it's also that personable customer oriented face-to-face presence and focus! That is a lot to chew and accept... I am so thankful for those connections and friendships I've made through whatever project I'm doing or attempting to do. I have faith that future projects will come into being, and I believe in Redmond. We are nothing without a strong community and we have some amazing people in that community that are residents, business owners and they are even in our local government that are willing to listen and help us plan ahead for what's to come. As a community we can do some amazing things… My dream is for Redmond to be the future of something spectacular. I can see that vision in my head, so I know it’s bound to happen.

External Reference Links:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-03/imf-lowers-u-s-growth-projections-to-2-percent.html

http://www.sba.gov/community/discussion-boards/internet-based-businesses-future-small-business

http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20101105/20-small-businesses-of-the-future