New Address: Two Embarcadero Center, 8th floor, San Francisco, CA 94111     

It’s Official, Micro is a Labor Trend

In this week’s Must Know:

  • It’s Official, Micro is a Labor Trend
  • CAMEO Welcomes Marissa
  • The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is the AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business is on April 30-May 2 in Washington, D.C. Register now. Learn about the CAMEO discount!

It’s Official, Micro is a Labor Trend

(Source: Eleanor J. Choi and James R. Spletzer, Department of Labor Monthly Labor Review.)

We’ve known Micro is macro for a long time, but now it’s official – businesses are starting smaller and staying smaller. According to a recent Bureau of Labor statistics report, “the average size of establishment births (new start-ups, excluding seasonal businesses) in the 1990s was around 7.6 employees, whereas the average size of births fell from 6.8 employees in 2001 to 4.7 employees in 2011.”

We jumped up and down when we saw that. Why you ask? Because it reinforces what we’ve been saying all along… if you want to create jobs, then support business start-ups with business assistance and microloans. Catherine Rampell astutely reasoned in The New York Times blog Economix:

Whatever the cause, if this trend of small start-ups persists, it will mean that many more businesses will need to be created to absorb both new workers and those left behind by the bigger, older companies that are going out of business.

CAMEO Welcomes Marissa,
Program Coordinator

Everyone, meet Marissa Seko (bio). She joined CAMEO on Tuesday to provide technical, clerical, record-keeping, and outreach support for our member programs. We’re thrilled to have her on board. Welcome her with open arms. Send her an email and/or meet her in person at CAMEO’s Annual Meeting.

CAMEO’s Annual Meeting is in Sacramento, June 6-7, 2012. Book your hotel room at the discount rate until May 15, 2012. And don’t forget to nominate your businesses for the Face of Entrepreneurship Awards by April 15, 2012.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. I have posted a running tab of current Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!

Member in the News: NBC Nightly News featured Women’s Initiative and their client Bakesale Betty!

Blog Post: I blogged on the California Forward website – California’s Micro Businesses Are Job Making Machines. Check it out. Use my words.

Job Opportunities: Check out our jobs page as I’ve added a few in the last couple weeks, e.g. Opening Doors, Renaissance Center and Working Solutions have new openings.

Resources for Women: The Department of Labor and Small Business Administration recently held a “Women Small Business Owners” conference call.

Free Webinar: AEO hosts Community Reinvestment Act (CRA): What’s in it for you? on April 19, 2012, 10:00-11:00 a.m. PDT // 1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT. Banks are encouraged to help meet the credit needs of the communities where they do business. Understanding how banks are evaluated and learning about the types of activities that qualify for consideration under the CRA can help your organization develop more effective partnerships with financial institutions. Register now to reserve your spot. I just did!

Micro National Conference: The AEO 2012 National Conference: The Power of Micro-Business is on April 30-May 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Register now. Learn about the CAMEO discount!

For Your Clients (in SoCal – LA, Orange, Ventura and Riverside Counties): Count Me In (a Friend of CAMEO) hosts Urban Rebound Los Angeles Conference and Competition on May 10 and 11, 2012 at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles. You can register (only $49) for the conference and/or send to your clients – it’s a great opportunity. Find out about the pre-conference pitch parties so your clients can practice pitching their business (say that five times fast.)