10 Years of the Small Business Advocate Show
As you know, the words you typically read in this space are very rarely self-referential. But if you will permit me, today I would like to talk about a couple of milestones, and a few accomplishments, of which we're kind of proud.
On November 17, 1997, I began broadcasting the Small Business Advocate Show for two hours Monday through Friday, and since that first day the program has been nationally syndicated. This week we will begin the celebration of our tenth anniversary and the beginning of our 11th year on the air.
In January 1998, we began simulcasting our show on the Internet, which makes us one of the pioneers of Internet steaming. Since 1999, we've offered multiple on-demand streaming options and in 2007 added the ability to podcast all current and archived interviews.
This Friday will be my 2,600th broadcast since we began -- including all the holidays -- even when I was on the road. I've conducted just over 10,000 live interviews with small business experts and entrepreneurs and next week I'll broadcast my 11th consecutive live Thanksgiving Day show. When you hear me talking about making sure that you're passionate about the business you start, if you didn't already, now you know that I practice what I preach.
From the beginning, my primary programming goal was to focus on the fundamentals that are important to successfully starting, operating and growing a small business, and to make all of the things we do available to you for free. On that last note -- the free one -- I must say thanks to our outstanding corporate partners, without whom the free part would not be possible. We're going into our 9th year with Palo Alto Software, our 8th year with IBM, our 4th year with Administaff, and our 3rd year with Aflac.
When it comes to defining small business, our brush is broad. We regularly cover issues ranging from the elemental challenges that face the home-based business to the more sophisticated issues of businesses that are emerging from small, to not so small. We also wanted to periodically blend in coverage of public policy issues that affect small business in particular, as well as the marketplace in general. "Periodic" has typically manifested as at least one interview per week (out of 20) on small business public policy issues.
For our efforts I was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the 2002 Small Business Journalist of the Year, and was later asked to become a member of the SBA's National Advisory Council. FORTUNE Small Business magazine included me on a list of the 30 most influential people in America representing small business. TALKERS Magazine named me one of the most important talk show hosts in America, and when you type "small business expert" into Google, you'll get millions of links, but the first link, below the sponsored links, has my name on it.
More than anything else, I want you to know how proud I am of you as a small business owner and what you have accomplished. If you live in the U.S., you are part of a group of people who produce over half of this nation's $12 TRILLION gross national product, you sign the FRONT of over 70 million U.S. paychecks and create over 55% of all of the innovations in America. And more and more, because of your professionalism, creativity, and awe inspiring determination, our big business cousins look to us more as valuable partners than as just a local vendors.
Also, we're celebrating the 8th anniversary of The Small Business Advocate NEWSLETTER. This week's edition, Volume VII, Issue 52, will represent 417 consecutive weekly issues. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber.
In 2007, we added a number of new small business resources, including the podcasts previously mentioned. Plus we're very proud of and excited about our newest website, AskJim.biz, which is the world's only small business knowledgebase where entrepreneurs can get answers to questions immediately. And like all of our other resources, it's free, too. Thanks again, sponsors.
Finally, thank you for your support, comments, critiques, many words of encouragement and especially the honor and privilege of being your advocate. I'm already looking forward to our next decade together.
Write this on a rock... Nothing I do as The Small Business Advocate is about me -- it's all about you, my heroes, small business owners, regardless of where you live on planet Earth.
Jim Blasingame
Small Business Expert and host of The Small Business Advocate Show
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