Big or small, all businesses can profit from a boom in the economy. An economic boom is defined by Kimberly Amadeo of the Balance.com as the expansion and peak phase of the business cycle. When the economy is good, people are more likely to spend their money at businesses such as restaurants or retail stores. These upswings in the economy can lead to an expansion of the businesses, giving entrepreneurs to grow from their business which will in return create jobs, introduce innovation, and create opportunities to diversify business owners.
Small businesses can give back to the community that supported them in the first place. With more people visiting and spending money at small businesses, it increases the demand for services that the business provide. To meet that demand, small businesses have to add to their workforce, thus leading to the creation of new jobs. According to Jared Hecht CEO and Co-founder of Fundera, “since 1995, small businesses have been responsible for creating two out of every three–or 64 percent– of net new jobs in our country. While the small business gets to profit from the expansion of their company, the people in the community get the benefit of new jobs too.
Not only does a booming economy create jobs for small business but it also increases the chance of innovation within a company. With the extra flow of money, a small business will feel more comfortable with investing in innovational products or methods. Compared to large franchises, small businesses spend more on creating innovations. In one study conducted by Anthony Breitzman and Diana Hicks, over a four year period, 26.5 patents were created per employee in small business, compared to the 1.7 patents per 100 employees in large companies.
Business owners are typically a workforce dominated by white men, with a good economy it gives the opportunity for other groups such as women and minorities, to create and own a business. This notion is evident especially when we look at trends in the economy from the past. Jules Lichtenstein wrote a report on the demographic characteristics of business owners and commented that when the stock market crashed in 2007 only 11.5 percent of business owners were minorities. After the economy began to recover from that financial crisis, that percentage rose to 14.6 by 2012.
All in all, a boom in the economy provides benefits not only to small business but the surrounding community. With the U.S. GDP projected to rise to 2.5% in 2018, it may be time to start investing in your own small business.