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Are you intrigued by the subject of just how big most businesses are?
American Business Information, an infoUSA company, has a breakdown that is quite revealing. Following is a randomly selected list of different types of businesses and the percentage of the total number in the U.S. that have less than $500,000 in annual sales.
| Type
of business |
%
of the total number with sales less than $500,000 |
| Advertising
Agencies |
58% |
| Apparel
& Garments (retail) |
67% |
| Art
Galleries |
78% |
| Art
Supplies |
53% |
| Auto
Lube |
77% |
| Auto
Exhaust System Repair |
56% |
| Auto
Parts & Supply |
27% |
| Auto
Body Repair |
66% |
| Bagels
|
58% |
| Beauty
Salons |
96% |
| Bicycle
Shops |
54% |
| Book
Dealers (stores) |
48% |
| Check
Cashing Agencies |
58% |
| Coffee
Shops |
79% |
| Coin-Op
Laundries |
96% |
| Convenience
Stores |
19% |
| Delicatessens |
77% |
| Doughnut
Shops |
69% |
| Florists |
82% |
| Hotels
& Motels |
57% |
| Ice
Cream Parlors |
74% |
| Lawn
& Grounds Maintenance |
82% |
| Liquors
–Retail |
42% |
| Paint
– Retail |
16% |
| Pet
Shops |
58% |
| Restaurants |
59% |
| Sporting
Goods – Retail |
46% |
| Tanning
Salons |
94% |
Auto dealers, manufacturers and many other companies that would have certainly lowered the percentages are not included, but the above create a cross-section of main street type businesses. These businesses make up almost 90 percent of the total number of businesses in the U.S. Looking at the above selection and not counting the numbers of each, but just the percentages - over 60 percent, on average, have annual sales of less than $500,000. That's what small business is all about. Being your own boss, running your own show, making your own decisions, answering (most of the time) to no one, living your own life, and making a living - that's small business. It would appear from the data that small business is alive and well!
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