Mark Westby Company just celebrated 20 years of being in business. Please check out our Facebook page to see some pictures from our celebration. The day really was about giving thanks to those who helped us get off the ground. Our banker, our accountant, financial planners, graphic designer and our systems engineer…our first cable guy even made it! As I reflect on those early days, months and years, I realize our story of starting a small, family-owned business is like so many others across the country.
Even though I had already been in the trucking industry for 19 years, no bank would give us a small business loan. Instead, we cashed our 401-K and took out a loan using our home as collateral. Our first employees were sometimes paid with whatever cash we had on hand and the only benefit we could offer was “Employee Meals.” We cooked at home on Sundays, brought it all to the office on Mondays. My “company car” was an old Ford Explorer that my father-in-law George donated to me. Our office furniture consisted of metal folding chairs and a card table. None of it matched!
I had always heard that most folks work for small companies, so I set out to learn how many there actually are. Here are some interesting statistics:
- Companies with less than 500-employees are considered “small businesses” and represent 99.9% of all businesses.
- 94.5% of Americans work for “very small” businesses consisting of less than 50-employees.
- As of January 2023, 61.2 million citizens work for small businesses.
- Small businesses have been creating 64% of all new jobs since 1995.
- The average small business reports an annual profit of $53,000
We have all seen the news about the big corporations laying off thousands of employees. Maybe they ran out of new ideas and/or lost some edge over their competitors. Regardless, their sales were sliding, and they predicted a gloomy future. They would still make money…just not as much. With public shareholders and board members (always impatient and hungry for high returns), cutting people is the fastest and easiest way for them to shore up the bottom line in time for the next quarterly report.
Small businesses owners usually have much different relationships with their employees. They know their people and their families well. Our mantra around here is, “We work hard to take great care of our customers so we can take great care of our families.” Our Company will weather a storm instead of sending people to the unemployment line. As noted earlier, small businesses not only employ millions of US Citizens but are responsible for the majority of new jobs. So when politicians boast about all the new jobs they somehow helped add, I think it’s important to remember that whatever that real number is…most of those new jobs will be in a small business.
For that reason, I wish our 20-year anniversary to be a celebration of all small businesses in America. May they find a customer or two to simply give them a shot. May they find great people to work for them and in turn, treat them well. And may we all keep in mind that in spite of what dominates the news…good things are happening everywhere.
Looking forward to the next 20,
Be Safe,
Mark