Coming Soon

The power of small businesses

Small businesses are powerhouses! According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), the United States has over 33 million small businesses. They comprise over 99.9% of the country’s businesses. In 2023, these small businesses employed over 60 million people and paid about two-fifths of the private sector payroll.

Empowering communities

Small businesses play important roles in their communities by:

• Creating jobs: The SBA reports that small businesses created 17.3 million new jobs between 1995 and 2021. That’s well over half (62.7%) of the jobs created in that time period.
• Contributing to the economy: By hiring community members, small businesses help their neighbors thrive. By keeping tax revenue local, they also help to support local community infrastructure. (If you need help expanding your local talent pool, visit Tool 6: Hiring, in the Welcoming Employees toolkit).
• Selling crucial goods and services: In rural communities, small businesses might be the only game in town for residents to buy what they need.
• Providing charitable support: Small businesses are much more likely to donate part of their profits to community causes. These numbers from SCORE highlight the important role small businesses play:
  • 66% give to local charities
  • 48% support youth organizations
  • 42% donate to local first responders
  • 39% support local religious organizations
  • 37% aid local service groups like Rotary clubs or scouting troops
  • 32% donate food to, or volunteer in, local soup kitchens

Serving the community

Communities are made up of many different people, and small businesses serve them all. One group, however, sometimes has difficulty accessing goods and services from small businesses; this group includes people in the disability community and older people. Typical issues include stairs at an entrance and a lack of awareness of how to support someone who communicates differently. In fact, people with disabilities are dissatisfied with 75–80% of their customer experiences, according to the 2020 Return on Disability annual report on the economics of disability.

Why serve customers with disabilities?

People with disabilities represent the third largest market segment in the United States—over 50 million people. Together with their family and friends, they have billions of dollars in purchasing power (PDF). What small business owner wouldn’t want to take advantage of this very large market?

The disability community

The disability community is diverse and includes people of all ages, abilities, genders, and races. When people think of disability, they often think only of people who have some visible difference in how they face the world, but the reality is that many people—including your customers—have disabilities that you can’t see. Disabilities that aren’t visible include multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, diabetes, seizure disorder, depression, recovery from addiction, and many others. Some of these may impact how your customers access your goods and services or engage with your business.

Customer loyalty

When the world is difficult to navigate, you tend to stick to what works. Households with a member who has a disability tend to be more loyal to the brands they like than other households. To learn more, check out this infographic about Buying Habits of People with Disabilities (PDF).

An obligation to provide access for all

Small businesses are often public accommodations and have obligations for accessibility under the ADA. Generally speaking, a public accommodation is a business or nonprofit organization open to the public where commerce takes place. Commerce happens when things are bought or sold, or when services are bought or sold. For more information, see Tool 3.

The bottom line

Disability is more common than you might think! About 20% of the population has a disability. As a provider of goods and services to your community, it shouldn’t matter whether a customer has a disability—what matters is that you are thinking about how to best serve all your customers.