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Ok.  I’ve been told I need catchier headlines.  Hope this works.

 

Sorry I’m a little late this week.  I spent some time in Las Vegas for a title industry conference.  While I was there, I was struck by how many new, small businesses are springing up in the mortgage and title industry. Most of them are being built by talented, experienced professionals who have spent their careers with large companies.  Many didn’t choose the entrepreneurial route.  Instead, the route chose them.  With this industry contracting (and virtually every other industry, while we’re at it), there aren’t too many other large companies for these exceptional people to jump to when the HR team comes a callin’ on Friday morning with a box and a security guard.  So, they’re doing what they have to do—building their own firms.

 

And I bet the industry benefits from it greatly.

 

With all apologies to the many capable and intelligent people that can be found in large corporations, I still have a gut feeling that, often, the best and the brightest, the most innovative, and the most revolutionary tend to move on to smaller businesses or even start their own whenever possible.  My theory is that these are the types of professionals who simply don’t wish to be bogged down by the policies, processes and procedures (not to mention politics) inherent in a large company.  They don’t want their ideas to be bound by the mundane. 

 

I’d argue that our economy, and our business culture in particular, could use a good dose of innovation.  I’d argue we could use a few more corporate iconoclasts (big word alert!) and a few less good corporate soldiers (See the American auto industry for further proof.)  In fact, I’d argue that the industry, and even the economy, could use a little less management, and a little more leadership.  If we’re going to fail, let’s fail with errors of commission, rather than rotting from errors of omission.

 

I’m willing to bet that these entrepreneurs and innovative souls prefer the small business route no matter what the state of the economy is.  It’s just happening more today.  After all, it doesn’t seem there’s all that much security in having a good old-fashioned job anymore.    Benefits are shrinking (although they’re still killing the businesses), demands are unreasonable, and security is nil. 

 

It’s my feeling that the economy, as we know it, isn’t just going to turn around with a few new bridges, highways and handouts the latest stimulus package.  Even if we put a congressman in every bank, we’re not all going to be able to put that next McMansion on the Visa Platinum.  I have a feeling that the ones who make it through this period and thrive in the next up-cycle will be the ones who take matters into their own hands.  Kudos to the professionals—whether flying solo voluntarily or involuntarily—who choose to start their own businesses right now, rather than wait for something to come to them.

 

There’s a lot of opportunity out there, and I think the small businesspeople hold the keys.   Let’s hope Washington doesn’t do it’s best to stifle them—they may be our best bet to lead us to better times.