Small Business Saturday: What Small Business Owners Wish They Knew When First Starting Out
In honor of Small Business Saturday, we wanted to share our mini documentary called “I Wish I Knew.” In this new video, we feature some amazing small business owners as they reflect on what they wish they knew when first starting their businesses.
You can check out the mini doc below or here.
About “I Wish I Knew”
Directed by acclaimed Austin, TX filmmaker Adam Hootnick, our documentary features over 20 small business owners representing a wide range of industries including digital marketing, gourmet food trucks, architectural lighting, to custom built motorcycles. Shot over a period of 24 hours, each business owner was asked the same question: “What is it that you wished you knew when first starting your business?” Often humorous and at times poignant, the responses ranged the gamut, from learning how to manage cash flow better, to empowering your employees to make decisions on their own, to never putting drywall behind a sink, and more.
Regardless of the answers, it’s clear that these small business owners really love their work, even though for many, running a small business comes with its own unique set of challenges, like getting paid by customers.
The Case For Small Business Growth
One of the main objectives behind the production of this documentary was to use storytelling to bring attention to issues that impact the growth of the small business economy here in the US. For example, in November of 2016, Fundbox conducted a data analysis of over 50,000 small businesses connected through the company’s Small Business Graph, only to discover that:
- The value of small business unpaid invoices (US only) is $825 billion- equivalent to 5% of U.S. GDP. [Tweet this]
- It takes the average small business 21 days to get paid. [Tweet this] and lastly
- 81% of small business invoices are 30 days past due. [Tweet this].
Small Business Saturday
Based on these and other insights, it’s clear that small business owners, even in today’s technology-enabled business environment, continue face significant challenges. These insights are concerning when you consider that when according to a 2017 SBA study 99% of all businesses in the US are small businesses and they employ over 50% of the private sector workforce. So when small businesses don’t get paid on time or at all, it directly impacts the health and wellness of the US economy.
Please share this mini documentary on your social channels so we can help bring awareness to the growing issue that unpaid invoices has on our amazing small business community.