The Power of Celebrating Small Business Owners

Celebrating 2023 Cayuga County Small Business of The Year honoree, Patricia Springer, Owner of Winand Products.

​In the spring of 2022, our Regional Small Business Development Center implemented what I had hoped would become an annual tradition.  We began to recognize small businesses who had been SBDC clients as the small businesses of the year in the counties in which they operate.  We timed this recognition to coincide with the US Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week celebration.

Celebrating these small businesses is a meaningful and valuable experience for the businesses we are choosing to recognize.  It has a similar meaning and significance for myself and the team of business advisors who were available to help and support these entrepreneurs during their journey.  We take the work we do with our clients seriously, and the team of advisors at our Center, and at SBDC Centers across the state, feel the successes and obstacles alongside the people who seek our help as if it was happening to us.

I think that is what is so special about this week.  The stories of most of this week’s honorees are deeply personal.  They are stories of perseverance, patience, innovation and commitment.  Each of them has been in business at least a year and utilized SBDC services at some point in the development of their business.  And all of them have overcome obstacles along the way to create something from nothing.  The importance of our help during the journey, in whatever form that takes, has meaning and relevance.

This week is a deeply personal experience for me.  It is a powerful reminder of why I do what I do.  Each of these visits with these business owners reminds me of the value that the relationship our business advisors have to the small business community.  It is certainly possible that the folks we are going to celebrate this week could have been successful without our assistance.  But interestingly enough, it is not possible to prove that.  They were successful in their own way…and we were there by their side at some point during that experience. 

I love the stories.  I love that families and friends and community members join these celebrations.  And I love the fact that the work we do helped these inspiring people change their lives and the lives of those around them.  These are not the stories of people who created multi-billion dollar empires…these are the stories of good, hard-working folks who accepted the risk to create something exceptional for themselves, their families and their communities.

Later this week, I encourage you to take a few moments, read and share the stories as they are published here.  They serve as valuable reminders about the power of the entrepreneurial spirit and the passion of the great team of business advisors who have helped along the way.

​~ Bob Griffin, Regional Director