Small Business Majority's blog

As the owner of a catering company, Nicole Jordan has seen an extreme decline in contracts and income since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately for this Illinois-based small business owner, as a former banker she is well connected to the financial resources in her community.

Small Business Majority’s Outreach Team advocates for entrepreneurs on two fronts: It supports policies that would 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 during this global health and economic crisis. 

This week we are spotlighting Rachel Shanklin, Small Business Majority’s new Georgia Outreach Manager, to let small business owners know how our team members can assist them.

Derreck Johnson is painstakingly aware of how the current global health crisis has impacted not only his small business but the entire small business ecosystem in Oakland, Calif. 

Derreck has been an entrepreneur for the past 30 years and has always had a passion for identifying a community need and filling it with a business. His entrepreneurial journey started with a small car washing business, but now he is a restaurateur and the proud founder of the now employee-owned restaurant Home of Chicken and Waffles.

With open enrollment for 2021 now live and U.S. Supreme Court hearings that could determine the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) happening this week, healthcare is top of mind for many small business owners. Rich Gordon, a solo-entrepreneur and healthcare agent in Georgia is amongst them. 

Rich actually started his business in response to the passing of the ACA. He had worked his entire career in health insurance and was approaching retirement. He saw the ACA as an opportunity to both help people and sustain an income in his retirement. 

The pandemic has been an isolating time for everyone, but especially for seniors. Fortunately, D.C. entrepreneur Carleigh Berryman had already started testing a solution to engage seniors socially and mentally when the pandemic led to the shutdown of nursing homes and retirement communities across the country.

Kiev Morales has been an entrepreneur for most of his life. His product? His music. The 20-year-old violinist has performed all over the world, but these days is having to adapt to virtual audiences and online streaming and only recently began performing outdoors again. 

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. 

When you walk into My Corazon-Libros Y Cultura in Hanford, California, you step right into a ‘90s Chicano dream. The walls are covered with brightly colored murals and almost every product is designed and produced by owner Janie Isidoro and her family. My Corazon-Libros Y Cultura serves as a creative outlet for Janie, her husband and her three kids, but also serves as a bookstore and a place for people to either discover or reminisce about this distinct culture. 

Master Renard Beaty is not only a 5th-degree black belt, but he is also the owner of Kick Start Martial Arts, winner of the 2017 Wells Fargo’s Neighborhood Renovation Program grand prize and recipient of the 2019 Best of Atlanta Award in the Martial Arts School category. Despite his awards and popularity in his community, his small business is struggling just like everyone else’s.

When it comes to small businesses, the key to survival is to pivot, pivot, pivot. And that's exactly what Alfredo Zendejas did with his personalized party accessory business Accesorios Zendejas mid-March, after the coronavirus pandemic created a “new normal.”