In other words, microbusinesses are small and that’s why we don’t get what we need.

Except for those microbusinesses that are not small (in revenue, if not in head count). The high earners “prove” that success is possible with what’s already there, which is why we still don’t get what we need.

And, if we point out that those few high-earning microbusinesses are the exception that prove the rule, and that microbusinesses may be too low-revenue to care about but they are too numerous to ignore, we get vague promises that somebody will look into it.

I don’t mean that you can have the same kind and quality of influence as the corporate giants who fill the campaign coffers of politicians, directly or indirectly.

I mean that you can have influence because of something it won’t take you a second to understand: relationships.

The relationships you develop with your elected representatives and their staff can accomplish a great deal, if you give them sufficient time and attention.

That is why it is sometimes said, among us microbusiness advocate types, that a small business with 40 employees has a lot more in common with a “small business” that has 400 employees than it does with a small business that has 4 employees.

The 4-person business, the microbusiness, is just too small to even have the option of approximating something like a large business. So, it’s owner has two options: grow enough to “fit in” or thumb your nose at all that and figure out something else.

Over the last twenty years or so, increasing numbers of microbusinesses have chosen to explore what’s behind Door Number Two.

As you know, I don’t normally provide an unfettered platform for politicians like this but I thought this op-ed from Chairwoman Landrieu (which originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal) was timely, since she will convene a hearing on health care reform and small businesses later this week. This is another instance in which terminology [...]

At approximately the same time that the Census Bureau was releasing the 2007 nonemployer data, another important bit of research into nonemployer businesses was also released — this time, by The Enterprise Center at Salem State College. The study, entitled “Proprietor Employment Trends in Massachusetts and Essex County: 2001- 2006,” was commissioned by The Enterprise [...]

Do you remember the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights? That piece of legislation, co-authored by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), was supposed to ride herd on credit card issuers and their sometimes nightmarish practices, such as arbitrarily altering contract terms, retroactive billing and seemingly deliberate obfuscation of [...]

When it comes to reassuring the nation’s microbusinesses that the days of being ignored are over, this recovery package certainly didn’t get it done.

Of course, it’s still early days yet. Mr. O is only one month into his term of office, after all. He still has lots and lots of time to make good.

On the other hand, he’s not going to get an entire four years for this, either.

It’s cute and quaint to think of microbusinesses as nothing more than the “Mom & Pop” restaurant down the street. And many of them are precisely that. But the fact is that microbusinesses are also developing new business models, new ways of structuring businesses, new products and services, and new ways to add value to existing products and services.

Microbusinesses are cutting edge; they are leading the way into the future. If American capitalism were working properly, these should be the very last firms that have trouble accessing capital.

Large organizations, large companies, large numbers of people. Generally speaking, lawmakers tend to seek information on the issues from outfits that often have little in common with each other except their size: BIG. They do that because these sorts of outfits speak for or deal with large numbers of people. Volume. That’s what they care [...]

Given what is happening in the rest of the economy, it should come as no surprise that most taxpayers are filing, on the lookout for a tax refund that can give them a bit of fiscal breathing room. Still, there are always those last-minute types — including a certain number of microbusiness owners who may [...]