Illinois Small Business Owner Highlight

Eric Cup

What comes after the pivot? Many small business owners who initially re-tooled their business to better suit the needs of consumers during the pandemic are starting to ask themselves this very question. Among them is Eric Cup who expertly adapted his business early on, but is now finding his pivot, while necessary, is not sustainable. 

Illinois Events

Thursday, April 4, 2024 | 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET

Join Small Business Majority for our quarterly Women Uplifting Women: Small Business Roundtable. Tax season is around the corner and tax preparations can be complicated.

Workshop | National
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 | 12:00pm ET

In observance of Second Chance Month, join us for a webinar focused on the benefits of Second Chance Hiring for small businesses.

Webinar | National
Friday, April 12, 2024 | 9:30am CT

Are you located in the City of Chicago and looking to start-up a new business or turn your side hustle into a full time job? Register today and learn the nuts and bolts of starting a sustainable small business that is prepared to weather economic changes.

Workshop | IL
Wednesday, July 17, 2024 | 12:00pm PT/ 3:00pm ET

Join Small Business Majority for our quarterly Women Uplifting Women: Small Business Roundtable.

Webinar | National

Illinois Policy

Browse our latest state-based regulatory comments and legislative testimony in this area below, or click the button to view all records.
Friday, March 1, 2024

Small Business Majority’s Illinois policy agenda outlines policies that advance and promote equitable pathways for entrepreneurship while centering small businesses as the key to a thriving and inclusive economy. The state’s 1.3 million small businesses employ 2.4 million people (about 44.1% of the private workforce), with firms without employees making up 80% of all owned businesses.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

On March 28, Small Business Majority's Illinois Director Tasha Brown testified before the Illinois House Financial Institutions and Licensing Committee on behalf of HB 2234, legislation that would enact critical protections for small business borrowers in Illinois.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

On March 28, Johnathon Bush, owner of Not Just Cookies provided testimony before the Illinois House Financial Institutions and Licensing Committee on HB 2234, legislation that would extend consumer protections for small business borrowers. 

Friday, June 25, 2021

Small Business Majority wrote to Illinois Governor Pritzker in support of HB117, a measure that would expand Illinois Secure Choice so that employers with at least five or more employees may participate and auto-enroll their employees. This is an important step to supporting very small businesses and their employees who are unable to access traditional retirement programs, particularly those who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Illinois Research

Published:
Wed, 01/25/2023

While small businesses employ nearly half (46.4%) of the private workforce in the United States, many are struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce. One viable solution to their persistent workforce challenges is the passing of Clean Slate policies, which seal and expunge certain criminal records and allow justice-impacted individuals to seek employment opportunities and entrepreneurship. Individual state analyses of small business responses in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas found widespread support for Clean Slate policies at the state and federal level.

Published:
Wed, 01/25/2023

Small businesses in Illinois are still struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce, persistent challenges in the wake of the pandemic.

Published:
Tue, 08/13/2019
Open for business

Policymakers at all levels, from town councils to the halls of Capitol Hill, emphasize the challenges of small businesses as a key talking point during political debates. But new opinion polling in four states—Illinois, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin—reveals small businesses feel their government officials don’t actually understand their challenges, and they support a wide array of policies to address their needs, some of which might come as a surprise to their elected officials.

Illinois Resources

The Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program, signed into law January 2015, helps small businesses that struggle to offer retirement benefits to their employees and provide retirement security to the 2.5 million Illinoisans who do not have access to an employment-based retirement plan. Below is an overview of what small businesses need to know about the program.