If you own your own independent
business, there are two organizations that
hopefully your are already aware of. They
are doing great work promoting small,
locally owned independents by promoting
community and government involvement. It
takes all of us, working together, to
improve our communities and the local
business environment.
The National Federation of Independent
Businesses helps individual business owners
with planning, taxes, and legislative
matters. They have representatives in all 50
states and in D.C. I visit their site often
for advice and articles. I guarantee that
you will find several useful items of
information within their site.
The American Independent Business
Alliance, based in Bozeman, MT, promotes
independents buy helping business owners
form IBAs, or Independent Business
Alliances. These alliances in turn promote
community involvement, the best example
being the annual America Unchained Day,
which takes place every November, the
Saturday before Thanksgiving. They show
their communities the power of "putting your
money where your house is".
I urge all independent business owners to
join NFIB and look into starting an IBA. I
am in the process of doing both. We need to
team up for our communities and independent
business owners.
Make a difference as a consumer as well.
You do have choices. A good place to start
is by watching Independent America, a
documentary about a married couple searching
for Independent America and filming the
results. It's a real eye-opener.
About The Author: Jason Gober is the
owner and founder of Independent Business
Online (www.myibol.com).
He can be reached at
jgober@myibol.com |
