Would you like to help create an index of economic indicators that captures the health of small businesses in the United States?
Fit Small Business is developing a Small Business Health Index with a goal to provide accurate data on the state of small business health in the United States, and the Women on Business audience has been asked to help!
While the term of “small business” has been used to describe businesses as large as 500 employees, the Small Business Health Index created by Fit Small Business will focus on companies of 25 employees or fewer, or as close to this size as the data will allow.
Mark Prosser, Fit Small Business co-founder, explains, “We don’t expect to get the project right on the first try, however, our hope is to get a preliminary index of indicators out quickly and make adjustments based on the feedback of the community of small businesses and economists.”
While different government departments, such as the BLS, BEA, the FED, and the IRS, publish reports that include data on the state of small business in the United States, there are two fundamental problems with these various reports according to Fit Small Business:
- Many of them are outdated by the time of publication. Mark points out, “The IRS Statistics of Income report, which provides information on the revenues of small businesses, comes out a full two years after the data is collected.”
- The economic indicators all capture an aspect of small business activity. Mark explains, “The FED has wonderful quarterly national data on bank lending to small business, however, the scope of the data is limited to lending. There is no good overall indicator which includes information on lending, employment, revenue and income, owner confidence of small businesses.”
If you’d like to provide your thoughts on creating the Small Business Health Index, you can add your comments here. What indicators should be included in the index? How should the indicators be weighed? The team at Fit Small Business will review and consider all of the suggestions provided in an effort to develop the best overview of the health of small businesses in the United States.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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