Indepenance Day

We will be celebrating the 240th year of our independence.  240 years ago, a small group decided to cut ties with a much larger and well established country.  They wanted more autonomy and control.  They also believed they could not only govern themselves, they would innovate and create a new system that the world had never seen before.  Many would claim that the experiment of democracy and self rule in the new world would not work.

There are many parallels between the individuals who declared independence and those who start small businesses. The reasons are usually the same.  The ideas, innovation and models are usually new, exotic and unique.  Each brand is something that has never been seen.

In the last few years we have been seeing a revolution that is being led by technology and technology firms.  Once each business would need to invest substantial dollars in hardware when starting their business.  But a concept came where a large collection of servers could house or host not just one businesses data but could house many businesses data.  Soon concepts such as 'online', 'virtual', 'cloud', and 'social' started to take off.  The technological barriers to starting a small business continue to fall.  Platforms such as Weebly and Wix allow anyone to create their own websites merely by dragging and dropping already built components to create their own websites. Dropbox, Google Drive and now Microsoft OneDrive eliminate the need to have servers for your files and maintenance and backup are not something you need to worry about.  Software is moving from CD's to online applications like Microsoft Office 365. Even accounting applications like Sage and QuickBooks are not just moving to online, but their abilities and functionality are continuing to improve and reach the ability of their desktop versions.

What this means for small businesses is that they can now access technology and processing power that they could not afford before.  They no longer have to invest and capitalize large sums of money, just pay the low monthly subscriptions.  Even Amazon can allow someone to have an online store for starting at $40 a month.

Our declaration and our revolution laid the ground work for other countries to move towards their own version of self rule and has shaped the world we live in.  Technologies revolution will will no doubt shape our world and allow small businesses to compete on the same level as larger businesses. There is not doubt that technology will lead the business world but into what kind of future is not fully known.

We wish everyone and their families a safe, and Happy Fourth of July and continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in uniform no matter where they are serving.