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Meanwhile, the number of small businesses in the United States is Steady growth over the last 20 yearsis a local non-profit organization founded just three years ago that supports the entrepreneurs who make up this large, but often unprofitable, segment of the U.S. economy.
Entrepreneurs Forever has served more than 500 businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania with annual revenues of less than $1 million, said CEO AJ Drexler. Through her organization, the business her owner joins her support her group peering with about 10 other entrepreneurs, including trained facilitators.
“Most of the businesses we work with don’t necessarily end up being billion dollar unicorn businesses,” Drexler said.
She said it included providers of various goods and services, such as hair salons, restaurants, bakeries and gyms. Entrepreneurs Forever also has operations in Buffalo, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Drexler said the nonprofit plans to expand to a new location in 2023.
“We are focused on community businesses that want to remain community businesses for the long term. I don’t wish to.”
However, she said growth remains a priority, partly to ensure stability for owners, but also to enable more local employment.
In December, Entrepreneurs Forever invited 96 more Allegheny and Westmoreland counties to join its membership. They are free to attend, Drexler said, thanks to his $320,000 grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. She still estimates she has 50 spots open.
Nationwide, 99.9% of businesses are considered small, According to the U.S. Small Business AdministrationThis category includes companies with up to 499 employees, 80% of which have no employees. The average annual revenue for these ventures is less than $50,000. According to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It’s not a sustainable economic situation,” Drexler said. “Our families and communities cannot thrive if the majority of our businesses do not generate enough revenue to support their owners. I need someone.”
After working with Entrepreneurs Forever for a year, she says, business owners report an average revenue increase of 32%. In three years, that growth jumped to her 63%, she said.
Members of the nonprofit meet once a month for three years to discuss topics such as marketing, finance, and staffing, as well as how to manage the ups and downs of business operations.
“Most business owners start their business with something they’re good at or passionate about,” says Drexler. “But usually what draws them into that business is not actually running the business. It requires skill and support.”
“It’s a skill of its own,” said Donald Robinson, member of Entrepreneurs Forever. ’ and agreed.
In 2017, he opened a personal training studio in North Point Breeze called Global Human Performance.
The program has taught him how to better manage his workforce and improve the customer experience, he said. His staff has grown from his one to he has six coaches and GHP now has about 60 clients.
Other members of his support group include bakers, landscapers, artists, gift package makers and bookkeepers, he said. He said their facilitator owns a professional wig salon.
Unlike some members of his group, Robinson doesn’t have to manage product inventories. But he hears how they think about such challenges, and he says it helps to “ask the right questions and think things outside of his four walls of himself.” I was.
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