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Small Businessnes Boom While Others Stumble

In the Hunt

What Economic Slowdown? Small Businesses Grow Stronger

By BRENT BOWERS

EVEN as oil prices surge, the housing market contracts, Wall Street reels and multibillion-dollar deals falter, small businesses are flourishing and, in fact, are helping to buoy the economy, experts say.

Last week, for example, a monthly report released jointly by Automatic Data Processing Inc., the nation’s largest provider of payroll services, and Macroeconomic Advisers, a St. Louis consulting firm, showed an increase in private sector employment in October of 106,000. That included a surge of 63,000 at businesses with fewer than 50 employees, a gain of 50,000 at businesses with 50 to 499 employees — and a loss of 7,000 at companies with more than 500 employees.

“I travel a lot and speak to a lot of small business groups,” said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers. “What I hear is much more upbeat than what you read in the financial press. Small business owners know about the worries hanging over Wall Street. But they are doing well. Interest rates are low, the stock market is high. They can raise money. The global economy is very strong. They can expand their global reach, and they are doing it.”

The latest numbers marked an acceleration in job growth from an average of 43,000 over the previous three months, Mr. Prakken said. During that time, small businesses were also the main engine of job creation, he added.

For the entire article go to NYTimes.com

Corra is not at all surprised that small businesses are doing well, even in a time of financial crisis. Small businesses are after all the backbone of this country.

While megalithic corporations have to rely on PR and advertising to assure consumers of their quality of service, small businesses generally have to provide quality and service for their credibility. Small businesses at their best are flexible and develop more intimate relationships with their clients and customers. Try finding that in a larger corporation. They may promise it, advertise about it, blog about it, but try actually getting it.

Small businesses need to hire the right kind of people, the type who find the small business atmosphere attractive. Preemployment screening can help determine who is best suited for your business. Running background checks will help prevent you from making critical mistakes by putting the wrong type of employees in front of your clients. Background searches will help limit your liabilities and deflect any public embarrassment.

So even if you are a small business, you should be running background checks on all your job candidates. It’s the smart thing to do, and it is most cost effective.

So check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.