Coming Together To Grow Feb 2022
February 28, 2022
About 20 percent of small businesses fail within their first year. By the end of the second year, 30 percent of businesses will have failed, and by the end of the fifth year, about half of businesses will have failed. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics). Although some businesses “close” from statistical records for potentially good reasons like a company being purchased, unfortunately undesired business closings do happen. Research from Entrepreneur magazine and Investopia point out that one of the key reasons that new businesses fail is due to a lack of preparation. Investopia explains why lack of preparation is a key part of the four most common reasons: 1 - financing challenges, 2 - poor management, 3 -inadequate business planning, and 4 - marketing mistakes. Preparation is something we felt we could better help our area businesses with.
In November, YCDC implemented SizeUp | York County NE, a tool to help businesses be better prepared through improved business planning and marketing. The service is available for free to all local entrepreneurs and small businesses on the YCDC website at https://www.yorkdevco.com/business/sizeup-|-york-county.
Entrepreneurs can use SizeUp | York County NE to estimate the viability of their future or current business and test assumptions of their business plan. In addition, they can use the software to discover potential customers, find local suppliers, and optimize their marketing by targeting ideal customers. The software includes the same and similar data that is used by huge corporations, but which has been historically inaccessible to small businesses because of the cost and expertise required to analyze data. SizeUp | York County NE helps to level the business playing field by empowering our local entrepreneurs and small businesses with these data insights at no cost to them so that they can make data-driven decisions just like the biggest companies.
I can’t stress enough that small businesses, our ag community, and entrepreneurs are the economic foundation and engine of our local economy. We are committed to supporting them with the information they need to be more successful. We are helping to level the business playing field by providing our local businesses with market research and business insights that have typically only been available to well-funded and large corporations. Remember, small businesses can turn into large businesses.
A few other things to mention.
The new season of the 17-County Podcasts are out! You can listen to them on www.yorkdevco.com or on your favorite podcast listening platform. Released so far this season are Cheree Folts, Hometown Parks & Rec; Daniel Grotz, Farming, Finance and Public Office; Pat Wagner, Heritage & Community; Kurt Bulgrin, Public Service & Family; Deb Robertson, Library & Community Innovation; and Randy Obermier, Local Legacy & Leadership. Different perspectives on Why York County!
We've made the decision of continuing an out-of-state talent marketing campaign into 2022. We ran a three-month trail with the York News-Times, where anyone outside of Nebraska who was reading an article was seeing our talent ad, which directs to www.WhyYorkCounty.com. The results were incredible, and we are continuing to run this. This initiative is driven by our businesses need for talent.
Activities like these are one of the reasons increasing membership is so critical. Our 2022 membership drive continues, and if you’re not a member, we would love to have you join our efforts. If you want more information, please reach out!
March 15th is our Annual Membership Banquet. We’re excited that Aaron Brossoit, CEO Golden Shovel will be joining us to discus online marketing and the metaverse. You can call the office or email dheskett@yorkdevco.com for RSVP.
Lastly, we will be brining Ginger Johnson in on April 26th for a deep dive training event. This afternoon event will be focused on refresh communication, burnout, and finding common ground. Save the day now, and we’ll be releasing more information in the coming weeks.