As the economy all around us keeps getting shook left and right, the American Small businesses are struggling to stay alive.
We here constantly of the “bail outs” being performed for all of the banks and other huge industry companies. But what about the small business owners. Have they been offered any chance to keep their dreams alive and have some sort of finacial stability offered to them to keep their heads above water while they wait for the other shoe to drop?
The answer is NO! Small businesses are not being given any opportunities of assistance. The for-profit small business are struggling all over our nation, being threatened with closure, putting even more people out of work, throwing more debt into the economy, possibly even forcing many out on to the streets because the economies they thrive in can’t support them or won’t rather.
Some of the small businesses that are feeling the crunch the most are: Tea and Coffee houses, restaurants, boutique shops that sell specialized merchandise like dresses, handbags, etc. Specialty candy shops are also feeling the crunch in some aspects. Sales dropping daily, some having non-existant sales and trying to figure out which way to go to stay alive.
Many have tried turning to banks only to be turned down over and over again, because of their drop in sales, investors are also turning away companies. They are afraid of taking any risks to help these people out.
Many anaylsts are telling small business to hang in there, but how can they? Many business are cutting costs as much as they can, having to lay off people, which then forces people to have to go on state assistance. Or on the road to look for another job. Which are also scarce.
Even in smaller communities the crunch is being felt. Many people staying home rather than helping out the fellow membersof their community. This of course causes more issues for that community as well.
Some companies attempt to turn to advertisement for assistance. Many can’t afford it, so they hope and pray that by word of mouth, their message will get through to their community that “Hey, We are OPEN!”
There have been suggestions to try the “Small Business Administration.” But many times small businesses are even being ignored by this organization, causing even more strife.
Many small business owners are stressing and trying to figure out how they can feed their own children let alone make all of their bills to cover the basic expenses to keep their shops open and running.
Utility companies are of no help, many have told horror stories of their local utilitiy companies sending out their “gang” of pressers to collect money out of the companies. Many of course try and explain to the utility companies the problems, but they don’t care, they just want their money and give no assistance in return. You will find many companies with a “good neighbor” fund. To this day many have not seen any assistance from this fund when they have paid into it.
If you live in a small community and you have a lot of local businesses, if you can, try and help them out as much as possible. They need your help to survive and help our economy to survive.
If we all stick together and try to provide each other assistance, in the long run we will all benefit.