Small Business Majority's blog

Danny Caine never thought his job at a small bookshop in a college town would lead him down a path of entrepreneurship and antitrust advocacy. However, the community the previous owner of Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kan. fostered really resonated with Danny who feels as though the bookstore is a vehicle for positive change and community enrichment. In 2017, he was able to purchase the shop through a seller-financed loan. 

As Sylvie Hutchings approached 50, her professional growth began to stall at her corporate job. Feeling like there were fewer opportunities as she got older, the former fraud analyst decided it was finally time to realize her lifelong dream of becoming a small business owner. She searched for a franchise she could purchase so she could focus on running the business rather than worrying about creating her own marketing and building name recognition.

While Leo Carr began his career in sales at Philip Morris, he “always had the bug to own my own business.” In 1999, he started his entrepreneurial journey and bought Express Personnel Services, a franchise staffing company. Leo had the opportunity to act on his passion, which was to fill a need by helping small businesses with their workforce needs while also helping people get jobs. This has given him unique insights into how small employers can meet the moment in addressing their staffing needs. 

Sisters Lakila Bowden and Kamille Richardson are reframing disability and disproving myths that providing accommodations for differently abled employees is expensive and burdensome to businesses through their consulting company, iSee Technologies. 

After a quarter life crisis, former social worker Alanna Ferre took a course in makeup artistry–as suggested by her mother–and was surprised to not only find a thriving second career, but also a passionate community in her home state of New Mexico. 

After more than 45 years of business, Dante Hamilton, owner of Internet Webpages Newspaper Inc., has found himself in a resource renaissance thanks to the newly prevalent online tools that have been available since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Small Business Majority’s Outreach Team advocates for entrepreneurs on two fronts: It supports policies that benefit small firms and it offers workshops and events that help small business owners grow their companies. We have found this work to be even more important as small businesses experience rising inflation, supply chain disruptions and workforce challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic.

This week we are spotlighting Tasha Brown, Small Business Majority’s Midwest Director, to let small business owners know how our team members can assist them.

During lockdown, New Mexico transplant Skylar Shafer found herself homesick for the flavors of her New England childhood. Looking to connect herself back to her roots and find a distraction from her emotionally intensive day job as a community support worker, she started Sky’s Sweets, a bakery that specializes in Jewish and Brazilian desserts. Skylar’s role as a small business has helped her feel connected to her New Mexico community while her baking connects her to the community she left behind on the East Coast.

In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we co-hosted a Twitter chat with Women's Business Development Center (WBDC), Support Latino Businesses and America’s Small Business Development Center (ASBDC) to share opportunities and challenges facing Hispanic and Latino small business owners. 

Below is a brief recap of the questions and a sample of the great tips and information shared during the chat. 

Full-time health policy advocate and part-time doula Knetta Adkins is striving to make the Georgia healthcare system more accessible for everyone–especially families of color.
 
Knetta started practicing as a doula three years ago in Alabama, but soon after she relocated to Georgia and started her own practice, Douwella, where she supports parents through their pre and postpartum journey.
 
She says, “It’s important to me that I ensure that the families I work with have agency over their birthing story.”