Small businesses are struggling with...

Of course, this is a difficult environment for small businesses, and the goal of the BBRP and numerous other Main and Elm Street programs across the state is to assist businesses to succeed and thrive. But, how exactly can we do that?

It's a good question, and a difficult one to answer. That being said, in order to determine how we can help small businesses, we must first figure out what specifically what is causing them problems.

Well, we are starting to try to answer that question. Thanks to some research conducted by the BBRP's new intern, Dave, as well as conversation with some of our small business owners, we are starting to get some answers. Here is what we know so far.

A survey was conducted in 2001 to answer this very question. The data is a little old, but I'd venture that many of these problems are still the same (if not exacerbated). The top ten problems are:
1) The Cost of Health Insurance
2) Federal taxes on business income
3) Locating qualified employees
4) Unreasonable government regulations
5) FICA (Social Security) taxes
6) State taxes on business income
7) Workers' Compensation Costs
8) Federal Paperwork
9) Cash Flow
10) Cost of natural gas, fuel and oil

I would also guess that properly utilizing technology (such as the internet and social networking) has become a big issues lately as well.