The Minnesota Small Business Development Centers operate out of nine regional offices and several satellite locations. We asked the West Central SBDC director a question about small businesses — see his answer below!
Do people with low-incomes, low wealth, or other disadvantages face additional barriers, and if so, what helps overcome these barriers? Have you seen small business ownership help people overcome these challenges?
By Ian Carlstrom, Regional Director of the West Central Small Business Development Center
Yes, absolutely, these are additional barriers to entrepreneurship. Sometimes entrepreneurship can be part of the solution; of course it can also make things worse if done wrong. Often entrepreneurship empowers people, giving a sense of ownership, purpose, community, personal and professional growth, 
and more – things you often don’t get from a “job”. Programs like this really help to arm people with resources, fill knowledge gaps, educate and build skills, create mentorships and peer networks, help gain access to capital, and even help to reduce the impacts of discrimination (they’re developing new relationships which become advocates, referral sources, friendships).
Entrepreneurship isn’t right for everyone. But it can be a great way to generate income, accumulate wealth, self-employ yourself / family, breaking the cycle of poverty even. People need to be tenacious and not give up, continue learning and developing themselves and their business. SBDCs have been helping make this a reality this for over 45 years.
True story I see all the time: Someone loses their job and struggles really hard to find another job for whatever reasons. So they start their own business. All of the sudden the demand for that person rises and employers will hire them and / or pay them more for no other reason…There’s something about “employment” and the mentality of relying on the job market that creates psychological subconscious biases (think resume, value & worth, transfer-ability of skills, hire-ability, career trajectories, hierarchical placement and promote-ability) but when you brand yourself as an entrepreneur you’re telling the world that you’re a go-getter, a problem-solver, a figure-it-outer – all the same things employers are actually looking for in an individual, and now they’re having FOMO that they didn’t hire you in the first place.
On average, the running statistic in the United States is that about 50% of businesses survive the first 5 years in business, the other 50% don’t – and there’s not just one reason for this. These are often very small businesses with 10 employees or less, less profitable if profitable at all, trying to prove the feasibility and viability of their idea as an actual business. Most have an “unfair advantage” such as a spouse income, because frankly it’s tough in the first 5 years, and socioeconomic factors can make this worse if not impossible. Alternatively we know that on average 80% of our SBDC clients are still in business after 5 years. It’s not perfect, but it’s not rocket science. It starts with coaching and mentoring, it’s doing the work of planning and learning new problem solving skills, it’s learning from those who are subject matter experts and/or have their own real life experience. It’s teaching them how to ask good questions, teaching them how to develop and use their strengths, it’s building a network of peers, learning how to identify opportunities and work around threats.
Businesses and business owners on the White Earth Reservation are served by two MN SBDC offices, depending upon county business location or residence. Other counties are served by other locations in the MNSBDC network. Learn more below:
- Click here to learn more about the West Central MN SBDC (includes Becker County)
- Click here to learn more about the Northwest MN SBDC (includes Mahnomen and Clearwater counties)
- Find a MN SBDC office in a different location
Click here to learn more about WEII’s business lending programs.