Putting Small Business on 'Fast Track' to Job Creation

Many small-business owners have been unable to hire new workers over the past couple years. It's a problem that has contributed to our still-high unemployment rate. No real answer has emerged on how to get small businesses in a position to hire again.

One program that's working is from the ever-entrepreneurial Kauffman Foundation. New York City tried out its FastTrac NewVenture initiative recently -- and the results may offer a ray of hope.

Here's how the program works:

FastTrac offers several programs tailored to help entrepreneurs at all points in their journey. "FirstStep" is for people thinking about starting a business, "NewVenture" aims to assist new businesses that have launched, "TechVenture" is geared toward tech businesses and "GrowthVenture" aims to help existing businesses to thrive. 

The courses are 30 hours of instruction and cost $1,200 -- but in many cases municipalities or local organizations may sponsor all or part of the cost.

FastTrac has been around for 17 years, but since the downturn has seen an explosion in interest and has added more locations where the courses are taught. There are more than 200 universities and community organizations that offer FastTrac.

There's proof that it works, too: In a major initiative, the city of New York has seen 1,000 entrepreneurs go through FastTrac program at SUNY's Levin Institute since 2008. The results: The Institute estimates 300 jobs were created. 

Among the New York alumni, 33 percent launched a business within six months of completing NewVenture, and nearly 90 percent of the businesses are still operating. For those who went through the GrowthVenture program, more than half grew their business within six months, and over 90 percent continued to operate.

Results were similarly positive in Michigan last year, where more than 800 people took the NewVenture course through local Small Business & Technology Development Centers. Participants helped start 560 businesses. More than 240 jobs were created and another 143 retailed. 

The SBTDC also helped raise more than $3 million in capital for the participants. So the course can also help connect entrepreneurs to funding.

This is all great news, since small-business job creation is a proven engine of economic growth. The Kauffman's research data from 1980-2004 showed that firms less than five years old account for all net job growth in the U.S.

Besides being offered at local universities and through other providers, entrepreneurs can take the programs online through Kaplan University.

What will you do to make your business grow in 2011? Leave a comment and let us know  your strategy.

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Small Business Saturday, Another Reason to Pay Attention

By now you may have heard about Small Business Saturday, an American Express social-media marketing campaign that launched last week. OK, Amex calls it a "movement."

The company is offering $100 in Facebook advertising free to the first 10,000 small businesses when they sign on to the campaign. Any small business with $10 million or less in annual revenue can participate. Amex card holders can get a $25 statement credit when they use Amex to shop at participating companies on the Saturday following "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional holiday-shopping season kickoff. It's off to a roaring start, amassing more than 271,000 fans.

Who wouldn't want to support the little guy?

It's not just a marketing campaign, it's a cause.

Mobilizing customers around a social purpose was a hot topic at the recent New York Entrepreneurship Week conference.

"Make the cause the engine of your brand," keynoter Jeremy Heinmans, chief executive of Purpose, a cause-marketing company, told an audience at the meeting.
Companies that are doing cause marketing well include: Recycle Bank -- a program that rewards people for recycling and other environmentally friendly actionsVestas Wind Systems -- a wind-turbine company whose slogan is: "It means the world to us."1BOG -- a company offering group discounts for solar panels whose name is an acronym for "One Block Off the Grid" Patagonia -- an outdoor clothing-and-gear company and an early pioneer of environmentally friendly policiesTom's Shoes -- a shoe company that gives a pair of shoes to someone in Africa for each shoe purchaseMany folks are eager to affiliate themselves with these causes. Becoming fans of these companies on Facebook helps them build their "display identity" online, according to Heinmans.

Your company doesn't serve a larger purpose? Adopt one, says Heinmans. Dove soap, the brand from the conglomerate Unilever, is one example of successfully adopting a cause with its "campaign for real beauty."  

Another is Amex, whose Small Business Saturday builds on its OPEN Forum community and advice site for its small-business customers.

Recognizing the strategy, and finding a way to make it work for you, might be the campaign's biggest benefit to your company. And it may help you win over a few extra loyal customers Nov. 27.

Related: Three Tips for Cause Marketing

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