Why the interest in small business?

I had a wonderful career in a big business (E. I. DuPont). And I owe much to that experience. A big company can give you many growth experiences. But I also really enjoyed the life of a start-up company (DTM Corporation - Austin). In the final analysis though I believe that the heart of all viable economic systems is in small business. Small business is the major provider of jobs. Peter Drucker wrote not long ago that if you lumped the Fortune 500 companies together and looked at the employee count it has been dropping for decades. So where is the vibrant growth of jobs in the American economy coming from? It is in small business. Not medium or large but small.

Another statistic I recently saw was that the top job provider is most economies around the world is businesses with less than 10 employees. Businesses with 10 or more but less than 20 employees comes in second, and those with 20 or more but less than 50 employees comes in third. Need I say more.

My business focus in my patent consulting is small business. The United States patent office defines small business as less than 500 employees. All of my patent clients fit that and several are less than 10 employees.

Welcome

Welcome - my name is Mike Ervin - a resident of Austin,Texas. This little blog is my attempt to write about what is on my mind. My interests are varied but focus primarily in the areas like small business activities, some philosophy (economic, political, and life in general), occasional forays into business strategies. I read a lot (too much) and may occasionally give a book review. I have major interests in technology (in general) and intellectual property (which I practice for a living.)