How To Take Advantage Of Being A Micro-Enterprise
If you’ve been calling yourself an entrepreneur, yet feeling more like a freelancer and less than a business owner, stop for minute. You may actually be a micro-enterprise. Okay, if you’re like most people, you may not even know for sure what a micro-enterprise is, or if it’s a good thing. (Hint: it definitely is). By the time you finish reading this article, you will not only know what a micro-enterprise is, but you will either appreciate yourself and your micro-enterprise, or you will be ready to get one started! Either way, it’s a win-win situation!
Go Micro!
You may be a micro-enterprise if you own a business that has been started with less than $35,000 and employs less than five people. Actually you will definitely be a micro-enterprise because that’s the business term used to describe someone who actually has started a business with less than $35,000 and employees less than five people. Isn’t that a great feeling to look around your office, or spare bedroom or garage, and realize that all along you have been a micro-enterprise owner and not just “that guy spending his 401K on a pipe dream.”?
Micro-enterprise has a pretty nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It even sounds like you’re part of something bigger than your office-in-a-box, because you are!
Would you believe that around 87 percent of all businesses in the United States are considered micro-enterprises? It’s true, according to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity. With 24 million micro-enterprises in the country, there’s a good chance that yours is one of them, which is actually a really good thing!
Micro-enterprises are great for many reasons, including such thing as:
The low start-up costs involved. While $35,000 is the cap to be considered a micro-enterprise, many are started with much less, sometimes with no more than the change you find in the couch or have socked away for a rainy day!
The low overhead that you usually have once you do get started. With less than five employees, or being the only employee, you don’t have to worry about meeting a big payroll each month or paying huge health insurance premiums for your team. You can put a desk in the spare bedroom, or in the kitchen or basement, hang up a white board and call a box your filing cabinet and be totally cool.
You can easily capitalize on one of your talents and make it your source of income. Doing this with larger businesses is much harder because you have to convince investors that your talent is worth their funding.
The Internet has made it easier to reach your audience. No longer do you have to try to sell to only those in your city, or compete with entrenched and long established stores. So the possibilities are endless!
Kudos, Fellow Micros
Micro-enterprises are all over the place! Some you see, some you don’t. The not-so-obvious ones are run out of homes, cars, or in backroom offices. They may be the daycare center down the road, the cookie or cupcake maker who sells their product each week at the farmer’s market, or the online used bookstore that specializes in Civil War period books. There are micro-enterprises selling honey from their bee-keeping hobby, produce from their gardens or grooming dogs out of an RV.
Together they are people who are fulfilling their dream of owning their own business, doing what they love. Collectively, they make up the largest area of business in the country. And because they rock, their popularity will continue to grow!
If you are a micro-enterprise owner, you should feel good about it. After all, you are part of the backbone of this country. You may feel like a small piece of the pie, but when you really look at it, by being a micro-enterprise owner, you fall into the category that makes up nearly the whole pie!
For those that haven’t yet started their micro-enterprise, now is the time! And shooting for a micro-enterprise is a smart move. They are an important part of the economy in this country, as well as around the world. So dig around for that pocket change, tap into your talent, and start running your own micro-enterprise!