Small Businesses in Today's Shaky Economy

I'll be avoiding the craziness this year. But good luck to all
braving the Black Friday crowds!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving all!

With the smorgasboard of turkey and trimmings behind us and Black Friday (also known as the craziest shopping day of the year) upon us, I have been thinking more and more about the state of the economy and how it has been affecting the small business owner. I'm sure you have heard the media and politicians go on and on about how the economic crisis (as it has officially been called at one time or another in all major newspapers, television news networks and online blogs) has had a negative impact on entrepreneurs of all kinds around the country.

I'm generally a glass-half full kind of person, but unfortunately, for the most part, I agree with the pundits and politicians on this one. Of most concern to us, since we are a growing business and will most likely need to expand our production capacity and our marketing plan in the future is the ability for small businesses to secure additional funding. This is typically done through a small business loan, but since the economy has gone beserk over the past few months, banks have been tightening up on credit.

The issue is that even before the economic crisis happened, it was pretty difficult to secure a small business loan from a bank, even if your business had great credit and you had good personal credit. If your company is just 2-3 years old, in many cases banks still consider you a start-up, which puts your company into a higher risk category for defaulting on a loan. Adding the economic woes on top of this scenario doesn't give small businesses, especially the newbies, much of an opportunity to prosper in a timely way.

I'm hopeful that this time next year, SBA loans will be on the rise, instead of declining as they are at the moment. Sorry if this sounds so pessimistic. I do actually think that things are looking up.
With a new administration in the White House come January 2009, I am curious to see what kinds of changes will be made to improve and encourage businesses to grow.