1. The Megaphone on Main Street: Small Business Jobs Report

2. introducing score 11 million entrepreneurs served since 1964! Mission:
Foster vibrant small business communities through mentoring and education.
Facts
Resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration
10,000+ volunteers in 300 chapters nationwide
In 2017: 54,506 small businesses started, creating 61,534 non-owner jobs.

3. Who Does SCORE Help? Startups Pre- Startups
Firms in Business for a Year or More
Startups
Pre-
Startups
Growth
Opening
So, who can SCORE help?
Well, we’re proud to serve small business owners at all stages of the business life cycle.
About 1/3 are in the pre-start, or idea phase. They’re still thinking and researching, or maybe just beginning to plan how to make their dreams a reality.
Another third of our clients are actively in the start-up phase of their business, which means they’ve been in operation for a year or less.
The final third of our clients have been in business for one year or more, and they come to SCORE for help with growing or scaling up their business, perhaps opening a new location or offering new products and services.
Research & Planning

4. Mentoring Free. Personalized. Confidential.
Expert Advice For the Life of Your Business
Benefits of Mentoring:
SCORE mentors provide the specific resources you need through personalized, 1-on-1 mentoring.
Avoid timely and costly mistakes by learning from someone who’s “been there, done that”.
Feel confident knowing you have an experienced resource available for simple questions or more complicated strategy development.
SCORE helps businesses start and succeed. In 2014 we helped create over 56,000 new businesses. The next success story can be yours.
SCORE’s main service is free and totally confidential small business mentoring, and there are a few key reasons that this mentoring can benefit you as an entrepreneur or small business owner.
First, our mentoring is rooted in experience. Our volunteers are current and former business executives and entrepreneurs, which means they have firsthand business experience and practical business knowledge that they want to share with you.
Next, our mentoring is totally free! Or as I like to say, it’s pre-paid with your tax dollars. We are primarily federally funded, which means that we will never charge you for our mentoring services at any point in the process.
Finally, our mentoring is personalized – your mentor will work with you for as long as you like. Many of our clients and mentors enjoy relationships that are years long. This means the quality of the advice you’ll receive is invaluable. Your mentor will learn the ins and outs of your business, and help you to work through problems as you move from starting to growing and even eventually selling your small business.

5. Online Resources Templates. Tips. Blogs. Workshops.
Tools for Business Success Available 24/7
Get access to thousands of templates & tools, blog posts, and LIVE (and archived) webinars/workshops to help you start and grow your business.
Templates & Tools - Articles, assessments, outlines, templates, and other resources that you can use to learn and implement new strategies
SCORE LIVE Webinars - Live ,1-hour presentations by mentors and partners on a variety of small business topics and trends
Online Workshop – A business training module archived on score.org
SCORE Blogs - Business experts in a number of industries share information on emerging trends and topics facing today’s small business owner
SCORE Newsletters – Visit to get the latest business information, tips and resources delivered to your inbox
Besides mentoring, our website, score.org also offers hundreds of free resources that you can access 24/7 to help you learn about all kinds of topics related to starting and growing your small business.
Some examples of these resources are business plan templates, outlines and assessments that you can customize to move your business forward.
We produce a daily blog, and we also offer weekly live webinars on a variety of business topics. These blogs and webinars can also be accessed in our online archives at anytime on score.org
You can also sign up for regular newsletters, which offer best practices for small business, tips and other resources.

6. Why SCORE Works You Don’t Have to Go It Alone
Mentoring provides improved chances for startup and success through one-on-one business coaching.
Workshops provide training on critical topics in an environment where you can learn from experts and like-minded entrepreneurs.
Online Resources can be your playbook to provide step-by-step outlines for small business strategies.
The point I’d like to end with is just emphasizing that SCORE is here to help you. We know that starting a business is exciting, but it can also be really scary. Our experienced mentoring means that you don’t have to go it alone.
So please don’t hesitate to sign up for a mentor, take an online or local workshop, or take a look through our online resources and use whatever works best for you. 6

7. AGENDA Small Businesses and Employment The Impact of the ‘Gig’ Economy
Small Business Owner Sentiments Are Overwhelmingly Positive

8. Megaphone of Main Street Data Reports
Data from SCORE’s client engagement surveys (20,000 responses) and topical surveys
329,421,090 TPA; 1,682 media mentions (3 reports)

10. Survey Methodology & Respondent Demographics
Methodology: • Online survey administered to SCORE small business owner clients between Sept. 21 and Oct. 9, 2017.

11. Respondent Demographics
1736 business owner respondents, the majority being micro-businesses.

12. Respondent Demographics
77% of respondents had annual sales receipts under $500,000.

13. Respondent Demographics

14. Respondent Demographics

15. Respondent Demographics

16. Respondent Demographics

17. Respondent Demographics

18. PART I: Small Businesses and Employment
Hiring is Becoming More Challenging: • 55.5% of small business owners said it was more difficult to fill their hiring needs in the past six months than it had been previously.

19. PART I: Small Businesses and Employment
• 27.3% of small business owners had job openings in the past six months that they could not fill.

20. PART I: Small Businesses and Employment
• 51.3% of business owners cited an inability to find qualified applicants as their greatest hiring challenge.

21. PART I: Small Businesses and Employment
Hiring is Becoming More Challenging:
“Quality employees are hard to find.”
“I could hire a lot of reasonably qualified people, but I’m not even making minimum wage myself. How can I possibly hire someone and pay them three times what I make without any benefits?”
“As far as employees are concerned, turnover has been my biggest issue. I can’t afford to pay what large companies pay, so I offer work from home positions and they can complete the work when they have time to provide some benefits.

22. PART I: Small Businesses and Employment
Personal Referrals Help Find Qualified Workers
By far, business owners reported having the greatest success hiring through personal referrals, with 19% relying on personal referrals from workers and 17% relying on referrals from other business owners during the hiring process.
41%-53% of those business owners who used personal referrals reported successfully hiring someone.

23. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
What do we mean by ”gig economy”?
Small jobs (gigs) to make $ as needed
Short-term projects
Never heard of it
Millennial focused
No long-term commitment
Fractional services
Self-employment
Upwork, Fiverr
Unskilled day jobs
Highly technical, specialized skills

24. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
Definition for today:
US Census “small, unincorporated businesses, which may or may not be the owner’s principal source of income”
a high degree of autonomy
payment by task, assignment, or sales
Often a short-term relationship between worker and client

25. 20 – 30% of the working-age population in the US and the EU-15, (162 m) engage in independent work
Growing shift in the types of jobs generated by small businesses. While the number of firms that employ full-time workers has remained relatively
flat, non-employer businesses (also called “solopreneurs”) have been increasing . There has also been a marked increase in the “gig economy,” which describes the use of contractors and part-time workers to fill roles within businesses.

26. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
The Gig Economy Is on the Rise
Growing shift in the types of jobs generated by small businesses. While the number of firms that employ full-time workers has remained relatively
flat, non-employer businesses (also called “solopreneurs”) have been increasing . There has also been a marked increase in the “gig economy,” which describes the use of contractors and part-time workers to fill roles within businesses.

27. Gig workers can be found in all industries:

28. How Did We Get Here?
Technological change – it is easy and cheaper to start a business.
Structural shifts in the economy: Since 2000 the economy is not generating enough jobs for new workers entering the US workforce.
Improved networks and interest in steering personal and professional lives.

29. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
The Gig Economy Employment Is on the Rise • Business owners reported a 37% increase in hiring gig workers over the past six months, compared to increases of 13% for full-time employees, 22% for part-time employees, and 12% for part-time independent contractors. • 19.8% of businesses surveyed reported replacing employees (of any type) with contractors over the past six months.

30. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
The Gig Economy Is on the Rise
47% of non-employers/solopreneurs reported hiring other people part-time to help run the business, for an average of 3.2 workers, including the owner.
Why this matters: These businesses make up 80% of the 30 million American small businesses currently in existence.

31. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
Top reasons to hire contractors: specialized knowledge (50.8%) and temporary needs (41%).

32. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
Top reasons to hire an employee: consistency of work (57%) and commitment to the company, vision and brand (53%).

33. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
Top business functions for contractors: technology (42%), accounting (41%) and marketing (38%):

34. PART II: The Impact of the “Gig” Economy
“ I am actually experimenting with my business in that I am trying to only use contractors/ freelancers. So far I haven’t had any issues with this approach.”
“ For years I was in a Catch-22 situation: I couldn’t grow without help, and without growth I couldn’t afford help. An independent contractor was the perfect solution.”
“ If a contractor fails, you can cut them loose. If an employee fails, you’re stuck with the costs of training, the risks of training locally (competition), salaries, infrastructure and more. I need assistance, but I will not go the employee route again. “

35. PART III: Small Business Owner Sentiments Are Overwhelmingly Positive
69% of all small business owners are optimistic about their growth over the next six months.

36. PART III: Small Business Owner Sentiments Are Overwhelmingly Positive
Future Concerns • As a whole business owners were most concerned about policies that favor large businesses negatively impacting their growth outlook (48%), although fewer millennials worried about this (26%).

37. PART III: Small Business Owner Sentiments Are Overwhelmingly Positive
• “ Export financing for buyers has not been developed to match the demand for small manufacturers. I have been trying to get financing for my buyers overseas now for 25 years.”
“ It is very, very hard to start and maintain a small business. There is no access to investment capital.” “Healthcare is a huge issue. It… is daunting.”
“I don’t want to be in the health insurance business; I want to focus on running my business.”
“Major simplification of tax codes, federal, state and sales, would be a big help.”

38. Questions?
Contact me: Full-length reports and 3 infographics available at score.org. (Search “Megaphone”).