NxLeveL Helps Nevada Small Businesses Reach the Next Level!
This post by Fred Steinmann
The NSBDC recently published its Summer 2007 study “An Econometric Study of the Economic Impacts of NxLeveL: Examining the Economic Impact of the NxLeveL Entrepreneurial Training Program in Nevada”. The study effectively demonstrates how important Nevada small businesses are to the state’s larger economy and how small business entrepreneurial programs, such as NxLeveL, are important in helping small businesses succeed.
Between 2000 and the first quarter 2006, the study estimates that the NxLeveL training program helped 716 total small businesses generate a total of $13.1 million in economic impact! Of which, $7.5 million is estimated to be direct economic impact and the remaining $5.7 million is estimated to be indirect and induced economic impact. On average, each of the 716 total small businesses that have participated in the NxLeveL entrepreneurial training program has generated a total of $18,326 in total economic impact.
Not yet sold on the importance of small businesses in Nevada? Well, the study also estimated that the 716 total small businesses that had participated in the NxLeveL program between 2000 and the first quarter of 2006 created a total of 78 new direct jobs and 49 total new indirect jobs. That’s a total of 127 new jobs created by just the 716 small businesses that participated in the NxLeveL entrepreneurial training program! A total of $4.95 million in labor income has been generated by these 127 new jobs including $2.8 million in direct income generation and an additional $2.1 million in indirect income generation. For those small businesses that successfully completed the NxLeveL program, each individual small businesses generated, on average, 3.17 new jobs!
Still not convinced? Well, the NxLeveL study showed that almost 40% of NxLeveL assisted small businesses pay their employees an hourly wage which is greater than the state-wide average hourly wage of $16.49. Additionally, many NxLeveL assisted small businesses also provide their employees with a range of benefits including medical coverage, dental coverage and, in some cases, even a retirement package!
For those that don’t yet know, NxLeveL is a nation-wide small business entrepreneurial training program that provides participants with a 13-week curriculum covering topics such as management and basic business legal structure, developing a business plan and marketing plan, managing the businesses financials including proper bookkeeping and recordkeeping, and how to manage and grow the businesses future. The Nevada Small Business Development Center began using the NxLeveL curriculum in 2000 and NxLeveL in Nevada has grown to become the premier small business development and entrepreneurial training program in the State of Nevada. For more information regarding NxLeveL, including how to sign up, go to: http://www.nsbdc.org/education/nxlevel/.
Small businesses – internationally, nationally and even locally – have historically driven economic growth and prosperity. Microsoft. Hewlett-Packard. Google. Do these names sound familiar? They should. They are a few of the largest information-technology firms in the world and they all started as a small business! Bill Gates started Microsoft in 1978. HP started in 1934 in a garage in Palo Alto, CA. Google started in 1996 as a research project by students at Stanford University. Today, each of these three companies employ thousands of people, generate millions and millions of dollars in world-wide economic impact and have helped shape the 21st Century in their own unique way. And each of these three giants owes their success to their humble small business roots!
In 2002, the US Census Bureau reported that the number of small businesses nationwide in the United States increased from approximately 17.0 million in 2001 to approximately 17.6 million 2002! In Nevada alone, smallbusiness.com reported that there were an estimated 177,282 total small businesses statewide in 2004 alone. Smallbusiness.com also estimated that in 2004, of the 51,424 total firms statewide, an estimated 95.7% (or 49,209 total firms) were small businesses.
Small businesses are critical to the health of any local, state or even national economy. By supporting small business start-ups through programs like NxLeveL, Nevada is successfully growing its own “internal” strengths and opportunities without having to “smokestack chase” businesses and firms in other states. Support of local small businesses help local jurisdictions create jobs, generate local demand for local goods and services and even help to keep locally generated wealth and income in the local economy. There is no guarantee that every small business will be a success. In fact, many small businesses do fail within the first one to three years of their operation. But, if successful, small businesses can grow to become international power-houses just like Microsoft, HP and Google. But in order to get there, programs like NxLeveL will have to help them reach that next level!
The entire NxLeveL study is available online at:
http://www.nsbdc.org/what/data_statistics/bber/reports/nxlevel%20impact%20study%202007/.
A lot of small business owners seem to have forgotten that they CAN become just as large as Microsoft or any other large business. The more small business owners receive the opportunity, the tools, and confidence they need provided to them…I believe we will see more small businesses skyrocket. Hopefully this happens soon…we need more compettition at the TOP!
- Travis Gutierrez