Vermont Top State
According to Inc. Magazine’s Small Business Blog, the US State where small business profits were growing the fastest in 2010, was the State of Vermont. This is very interesting, given that Vermont is only rated 37th out of 50 in the CNBC Top States for Business rankings for 2010.
Source: Inc. Magazine
Forbes magazine placed Vermont 45th in their Best States for Business rankings in 2010. In the Tax Foundation’s 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index, Vermont comes in the 38th slot. In the Chief Executive magazine’s Best and Worst State Ranks – 2010, Vermont is at #36. The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council’s latest Small Business Survival Index was less generous, placing Vermont at #47.
So how is it that a State that does badly on most business rankings has small businesses that can can come top with a 71% increase in profits in 2010?
Entrepreneurs Buck Trends
My experience tells me that entrepreneurs can do well in bad economic times as well as good. The size of the ventures means that they don’t fit large scale patterns.
I started my main business in 1982 in a UK economy that was at its lowest ebb since the Great Depression. We were so small that we could buck the trend. If we added one or two accounts in the first few months, that meant doubling our revenues.
In 2010, only Wyoming had fewer inhabitants than Vermont among all the US States. With 625 thousand people, it is dwarfed by California with 37 million people and Texas with 25 million. The petty size of the population also means that Vermont’s a State where the businesses are also small. Being small they can be much niftier than bigger brethren.
Norway is a small country with a population less than 15% the size of California’s, but Norway’s average per capita income is currently about $52,000 (the 4th highest in the world) vs. California’s at $42,000. Interesting, though, that Norway figures at #10 in the World Banks rankings of the best places for startups, behind the USA’s #3 spot.
The Best Conditions for Starting a Business
It’s my contention that the best conditions for starting as business are those that the venture’s founders set for themselves. When I hear a potential entrepreneur saying, “It’s not a good time to start a business,” my reaction is that for the person in question, it never will be.
I hear people in my home State of Vermont saying that it’s a bad place to start a business, I cringe. It sounds like an excuse to me. True, it probably is not a good place to build a steel mill, but the great attribute that successful entrepreneurs have is that they find obstacles to be challenges.