Entrepreneurial Energy - How Small Businesses Power the American Economy

Entrepreneurial Energy: How Small Businesses Power the American Economy Although facing new challenges in today's economy, there are thousands of thriving small businesses in America thanks to the energy, creativity and perseverance of entrepreneurs. Represent 99.7% of all employer firms SMALL Employ just OVER HALF of all private sector employees BUSINESSES • Pay 44% of total U.S. private payroll ARE • Have generated 64% of net new jobs over the past 15 years POWERFUL SMALL BUSINESSES DEMONSTRATE PERSEVER ANCE A sign that small businesses are bouncing back in 2012 is that the outlook for business prospects is improving, enabling businesses to offer more job openings and increase healthcare coverage: 35% POSITIVE VIEW SMALL 2012 ON BUSINESS BUSINESSES WITH 31% PROSPECTS JOB OPENINGS 2011 59% SMALL BUSINESSES 2012 48% OFFERING 56% 49% HEALTHCARE HAVE A POSITIVE VIEW HAVE A POSITIVE VIEW 2011 SMALL BUSINESSES ARE PIONEERS During economic uncertainty, small businesses have proven to be innovative, such as using social media platforms to drive traffic to their products and services: SMALL BUSINESSES THAT PERCENTAGE OF FANS 55% 51% USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO LIKELY TO BUY FROM A REACH NEW 2012 BRAND AFTER CUSTOMERS 50% BECOMING A FAN 2011 TOPSOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS USED BY SMALL BUSINESSES E 10% You f38% 8* 14% in 13% B11% BLOGS 6% First Merchant Services ABOUT FIRST MERCHANT SERVICES As a company that believes in and supports small business, First Merchant Services offers free touch-screen point of sale (POS) systems and free electronic cash registers (ECR) with fully integrated credit card processing to retail and hospitality merchants. Establishing a merchant account is easy with First Merchant Services. To learn more, visit http://www.FirstMerchantServices.com/. SOURCES: • U.S. Small Businesses Administration: http://web.sba.gov/faqs/faqindex.cfm?arealD=24 • U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Census Bureau and Intl. Trade Admin.; Advocacy-funded research by Kathryn Kobe, 2007 (www.sba.gov/advo/ research/rs299.pdf) and CHI Research, 2003 (www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs225.pdf); U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. • The American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor and Optimism Review: http://media.nucleus.naprojects.com/pdf/Spring%20 2012%20Monitor%20Release%20-%20FINAL%20-%20OF%20Formatted%20version.pdf • U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf • Constant Contact: http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/press/press_2011_0912facebookfans.jsp ... 2012 2011