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State of Independence 2015 Grows and National Women’s Small Business Month

  • State of Independence 2015
  • Women’s Small Business Month
  • Tell Governor Brown to Sign SB 197. Visit this Must Know to find a template letter, instruction, and more information. He has until Sunday to sign it!
  • Register for WOVEN – Women Veteran Entrepreneurs Network on November 4 in Santa Ana.
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight includes participation in AEO’s Youth Entrepreneurship research. If you’re interested please email Ingrid Gorman, Research & Insights Director, by no later than Friday, October 9. (Scroll down for more information.)

State of Independence 2015


The self-employment trend keeps getting stronger and stronger. In the next five years, the number of independent workers will be almost 38 million. Our friends Carolyn Oeckels and Steve King at Emergent Research just published the 5th Annual MBO Partners State of Independence study.

In the last five years, the number of independent workers in the U.S. has risen a solid 12%. In 2015, the number of independent workers aged 21 and over held firm at 30.2 million. And they are becoming a vital economic force. Over the past year, independent workers generated more than $1.15 trillion of revenue. That sum, equal to nearly 7 percent of U.S. GDP, was up 5.8% from 2014 and is 26% higher than the 2011 total.

The report has lots of good information about who the independents are, i.e. all ages, skill, and income levels with a variety of work situations (freelancing, contract work, consulting, temporary assignments or on-call work). They do a deeper dive into millennials and those engaged in part-time independent work.

CAMEO firmly believes that this growing constituency of the micro sector needs to be reached and served with business assistance and small loans in order to ensure their success. This research forms the basis of our DIY Economies advocacy. Please use this information to inform your own programming and fundraising and advocacy with local officials.

Women’s Small Business Month

It’s October – and time to celebrate National Women’s Small Business Month. We’ve got lots to celebrate.

First and foremost…We want to invite everyone to a fantastic professional development opportunity. If you do one thing for women entrepreneurs this month, register for WOVEN, Women Veteran Entrepreneurs Network. It’s on November 4 in Santa Ana. It’s geared toward women veterans, but everyone will benefit from our amazing trainers on negotiation skills and on using your uniqueness to inform your career path or business development.

This week, the Women’s Small Business Ownership Act of 2015 was marked up and passed its first hurdle by the Senate Small Business Committee. It would reauthorize and increase authorized funding for the WBC Program to improve business training and counseling opportunities for women entrepreneurs. For more details, re-read last week’s Must Know and a post by Jake Claubaugh of Madison Services Group.

Next week, effective October 14th, agencies with statutory authority will be able to award sole-source contracts to women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) through the WOSB Federal Contract Program. The WOSB program was the only major small business contracting program without this authority – putting women entrepreneurs at a distinct disadvantage.

Two opportunities to recognize your clients with awards (including $) are a great way to celebrate.

  • Nominations for the 2016 Enterprising Women of the Year Award: Visit Enterprising Women magazine’s home page and click on the link to submit your nomination. The deadline for submitting a nomination is November 1, 2015 at midnight.
  • A chance to win $70,000 in cash awards: In partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center is hosting a local InnovateHER 2016 competition. Ten applicants will be selected for a live pitch on November 19, 2015 at Square in San Francisco. Deadline for submitting your application is Monday, November 9, 2015 at midnight.

The Goodies

New opportunities for training, 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 Industry 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!

Faces of Entrepreneurship Kudos: The winner of our first Faces of Entrepreneurship Award – Bay Area Medical Academy – was granted $100,00 by Chase’s Small Business Grant.

Great DIY Video: Economic Development & Financing Corporation (EDFC) offers investors an opportunity to shift their money from Wall Street to “Main Street” with the first Direct Public Offering of its kind in the state of California. Invest in the Mendocino Wool Mill project. For more information on this form of financing, contact another CAMEO member, Cutting Edge Capital.

Youth Entrepreneurship Opportunity: AEO is currently conducting a research initiative, funded by the Mott Foundation, related to youth unemployment and possible entrepreneurship pathways. Let AEO know if you are offering special services/programs related to youth regarding microlending, business training, and/or employment. Also, they are recruiting a few more participants who are interested in supporting young entrepreneurs and/or already doing so — whether you are a microlender or business service provider — for their Roundtable Advisory Panel. They have an in-person ideation workshop session scheduled for November 3 in Washington, D.C. If you are interested in participating, please email Ingrid Gorman, Research & Insights Director, by no later than Friday, October 9.

Small Business Saturday: This year, on November 28th, stand up to be counted among the hundreds of organizations supporting small businesses across the country. Join the Small Business Saturday Coalition, the national grassroots effort supporting the campaign. As a member of the Coalition you will have access to special communications tools and be listed on www.ShopSmall.com.

For Your Clients: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development’s (GO-Biz) invitation to the Grow California Business Summit in Clovis on Tuesday, October 13 at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District.

Professional Development: Philanthropy University is a first-of-its kind educational initiative helps people working for social good deepen their impact and change the world. Attendees have the chance to earn a certificate in social sector leadership from Berkeley-Haas. Two classes begin in October: Global Social Entrepreneurship on September 29 and Financial Modeling for the Social Sector on October 13.

For Your Clients, Webinar: Join SBA and Square for a free webinar presentation: EMV 101: What Small Businesses Need to Know About the Switch to Chip Card Technology on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 11:00am-12:00noon PT. Participants will learn: what the transition to EMV chip card technology means for small businesses; what EMV chip card technology is and why its more secure; and what the new fraud liability rules that take effect October 1st mean for merchants.

For Your Clients, Webinar: Our friends at the SBA and Small Business Majority are helping businesses navigate the changes and opportunities in health care through the Affordable Care Act 101 webinar series this fall – What the Healthcare Law Means for your Small Business. The remaining October dates are 15, 29 in English and October 20th in Spanish.

Free Webinar: FIELD and the Responsible Business Lending Coalition is hosting a webinar to introduce small and microbusiness organizations, lenders, funders and investors to the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights. Participate in a conversation about BBOR and learn about the ways it can help you educate borrowers and promote responsible lending practices on October 15, 2015 at 11:00am PT // 2:00pm ET.

Professional Development: CFED, with the support of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, is launching the Platforms for Prosperity Fellowship. This 10-month working Fellowship will engage six senior workforce development leaders in effecting change in their communities by integrating financial capability services into their organizations’ programs. Applications are due October 26, 2015.

Opportunity: Betsy Densmore of Academies for Social Entrepreneurship announces the Social Entrepreneurship Venture Challenge. The program will bridge the gap between venture philanthropists seeking financial and social impact AND well-vetted social enterprises that can deliver double bottom line returns. Contestants may be for-profit, not-for-profit or hybrid early stage social enterprises. Applications are due by October 30, 2015.

2015 OFN Conference: Register for the conference, November 9-12, 2015 in Detroit. This year’s curriculum offers sessions across 14 tracks reflecting the breadth of the CDFI industry’s financing sectors and issues, including small business. Contact CAMEO to apply for a scholarship to help cover expenses.

Veteran Event: Disabled Veteran Business Alliance (DVBA) 2015 Veterans Day Breakfast is on November 13, 2015 from 8:00-11:00am (PST) in Beverly Hills, CA. This celebratory event honors the service of all veterans past, present and future as well as others who have made significant contributions towards helping our veterans.

For Your Clients: The U.S. Census Bureau recently released The Census Business Builder: Small Business Edition. It’s a tool that allows small business owners a way to easily navigate to and use key demographic and economic data to help guide their research into opening a new or expanding their existing business. These key data includes the most recent and/or relevant data that Census provides that are useful to small business owners.

Take Action: The Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights outlines six key rights that all borrowers should have. If you’re a small business lender, credit marketplace, or broker, you can sign the bill of rights. If you are another interested party, you can become an endorser. CAMEO has signed on as an endorser.

Take Action: The Senate is considering legislation passed by the Senate Small Business Committee that would change the SBA Microloan program. While some of the changes are beneficial to intermediaries, counselors, and entrepreneurs, the bill fails to include critical reforms that program participants have requested. For example, the current legislation would allow a waiver from the 25/75 Technical Assistance (TA) requirement to be issued by SBA. This is unnecessary paperwork and the requirement should be removed all together. Providing business assistance that supports entrepreneurs should be at the lenders discretion. AEO and CAMEO believe that microloan reform legislation without important changes will not best benefit the program and its users. We urge you to add your organization in support of this letter to tell the Senate to include these reforms in their legislation. If you are willing to sign on, please email our Government Relations team member John Stanford.