For Whom?
I am going to use another book referral here. Last fall, I finally took the time to read “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E Gerber. During the introduction, he talks about how many businesses are started each year in the U.S.: over 1 million businesses, each year! Of those, 40% fail in the first year and 80% (approx 800,000) fail in the first five years. Of those who survived the first 5 years, 80% failed in the next 5 years! Are you surprised by these numbers? I was when I read them.
I did some research about the numbers in Canada
- Canada counts 1,291,424 employer businesses (as of June 2021)*
- Population in Canada in 2021 is 37 million
- That means 3.5% of the population is a business owner **
*https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210819/dq210819c-eng.htm
** I know some people own more than one business
What is my point I hear you saying?
That you are awesome!
Our business community is something special! From being in Golden for over 10 years now, I know many of you have been around way past the first and the second 5 years, so well done! If someone ever tells you that running a business is simple or easy, read them those stats or quietly enjoy that you are part of that small group that survived past the difficult startup years.
And for the newbies amongst us, we have your back! Please come join us during our networking events, ask as many questions as you’d like, because we have been there, and we know it’s not easy. With over 600 businesses in town, Golden really is an entrepreneurial town.
The Kicking Horse Chamber of Commerce is doing our own research to determine what the percentage is of the mortality rate of businesses in Golden over the past 10 years. We are excited to welcome Riley to our team who will be compiling a report with this information that we hope to share with you by the end of summer.
If you want to know more about myself or my position / journey with the Chamber feel free to reach out via email! I am happy to share more about why I am passionate about this organization.
Marloes van Lent,
Interim Executive Director