What is a Small Business? Providing an answer to the question: "what is a small business?" might not be as straightforward as you think.

This is because the U.S. Small Business Administr ation (SBA) uses different criteria in determining what small businesses are. Su ch criteria include: total number of employed workers by such businesses, nature of its relationships with affiliates and annual receipts. Take note that the legal definition or description of "small" in small business differs from one country to another as well as by industry. For instance in the U.S. the SBA defines the size of small businesses on an industry basis. In other words, what might apply to industry A may not necessarily apply to industry B a nd so on and so forth. Nevertheless, SBA generally specifies small businesses as those having less than 500 staff members in its employ for manufacturing compan ies and for almost all others as businesses with an annual receipt that do not e xceed $7 million. In the EU (European Union), small businesses in general are business concerns wi th less than 50 employees, while in Australia it is one with less than 15 employ ees according to the Fair Work Act 2009. Now other criteria or methods that are used for classifying small businesses include: asset value, net profit (balance sheet), et al. Therefore, to be sure of your true status as a small business it is indeed important for you to acquaint yourself with the SBA requirement for th e industry your business falls under. Alright one of the benefits or advantages that small businesses have include the fact that they can start business this way with very little cost and even on a part-time basis. Also, another benefit with a small business is that it can easi ly adapt to change and so will quickly respond to marketplace changes as such ne ed arises. Other advantages that small businesses have are: independence (small business owners are their own bosses), and they also enjoy help from many organi zations like of course the Small Business Administration among others.

Lastly, in concluding this "what is a small business" write-up, it is necessary to identify some of the problems small businesses face. In addition, poor planni ng most often than not is a common problem small business start-ups face. Anothe r problem, which many face, is what is termed E-Myth' or Entrepreneurial Myth.' The a sumption here is that a technical expert in any particular field will make a goo d business person in that same field, which sadly is not the case. Now to overco me these problems aspiring entrepreneurs should endeavor to make adequate prepar ations and plans for their start-ups as well as obtain the necessary management skills in order to increase their chances of success.