The numbers behind what business owners like you actually build and why it matters more than most people realize.

You open before the sun comes up. You stay long after everyone else has gone home. You carry payroll on your shoulders and customer expectations in your chest. Most days, you probably do not stop to think about what you are actually building, not just for yourself, but for everyone around you.

So let’s stop and think about it for a moment.

Because what you are doing is extraordinary and the data proves it.

Small businesses are not the backbone of the American economy. They are the American economy.

The Numbers That Tell Your Story

There are 36.2 million small businesses operating in the United States right now. They make up 99.9% of every business in the country. Together, they employ 62.3 million Americans and generate 43.5% of U.S. GDP.

From March 2023 through March 2024 alone, small businesses created 88.9% of all net new jobs in the nation.

Those are not background statistics. That is the story of what people like you produce every single day.

Small Business Impact by the Numbers

• 62.3 million Americans employed by small businesses
• 43.5% of total U.S. GDP generated by small business
• 88.9% of all net new jobs created by small businesses from 2023 to 2024
• 61.1% of all net new jobs since 1995 came from small business

Pause on that last number for a second.

Since 1995, more than six out of every ten net new jobs created in this country came from a small business owner who decided to build something and hire someone.

That is not a policy outcome. That is a personal decision made by millions of individuals to invest in their communities one employee at a time.

The Multiplier Effect

There is something powerful that happens when money flows through a locally owned business instead of a national chain or online retailer.

Economists call it the local multiplier effect.

When someone spends money at a locally owned business, an average of 52.9 cents of every dollar gets recirculated back into the local economy through wages, vendors, service providers, and local causes.

At national chains, that number drops to just 13.6 cents.

Your business recirculates money through your community at nearly four times the rate of a national competitor.

Every employee you hire locally, every vendor you support, and every community sponsorship you fund creates a ripple effect that keeps neighborhoods stronger.

When a local business thrives, the whole community thrives.

What Your Community Sees

Business owners are usually wired to spot what is broken. It is part of what makes you effective.

But sometimes it makes it difficult to see what everyone else sees.

Your community sees:

• A neighbor who stayed and invested locally
• A first employer who gave someone an opportunity
• A charitable partner supporting local causes
• A problem solver filling gaps bigger companies ignore
• A legacy built through years of hard decisions

That matters more than most owners realize.

Where V.R.T. Going Vertical™ Fits In

The V.R.T. Going Vertical™ methodology was built around one simple idea:

The most valuable businesses are not just profitable. They are intentionally built to create value beyond the owner.

That means value for:

• Employees
• Customers
• Communities
• Future leadership

The framework focuses on three dimensions:

Value Drivers

The things that increase both financial value and community value.

Risk Factors

The vulnerabilities that threaten the business if the owner exits without a plan.

Transferability

The ability to pass the business forward without losing what makes it valuable.

When those three dimensions align, you do not just build a sellable business.

You build one that lasts.

Build It Like It Matters

According to Comerica’s Small Business Pulse Index, 79% of small business owners are projecting revenue growth in 2026.

That optimism matters.

But optimism without structure is a gamble.

The businesses that will still be creating jobs and supporting communities years from now are the ones being built intentionally today with systems, leadership development, and succession planning already in motion.

That is what exit planning is really about.

Not planning to leave.

Planning to leave something behind worth keeping.

You Are Building More Than a Business

In January 2025, the United States recorded 21 million new business applications, the highest number ever measured.

People still choose to build.

If you are reading this, you already made that choice.

You already accepted the responsibility and the risk that comes with creating something meaningful.

The V.R.T. Going Vertical™ framework exists because that decision deserves a strategy.

You have built something that matters to more people than you probably know.

The question is whether it is built to last.