Jeff Milchen, of American Independent Business Alliance

Today we will be meeting with Jeff Milchen of the American indpendent Busniess Alliance. Jeff is the Co-Founder of an organization, whose mission it is to help communities and local indepdent businesses thrive.  Jeff is a passionate advocate for small local businesses nationwide and we will be talking about his efforts with AMIBA.

One of the things that we are witnessing nationwide and worldwide is that small businesses are typically caught in the political crossfire, while needing to make their businesses viable.  Most don't have the same safety-net of cash that other businesses do, while at the same time their are at the point of the spear when it comes ot policy debates.

Organizations like Jeff's refocus the attention on these businesses in the areas that truly matter and that is helping them to attain more sales and more lifetime customers.  In my conversations with those affiliated with AMIBA, it was apparent to me that small businesses need two things: 1) they need education and 2) they need manpower.

There is tons of information for small business available due to the internet. However, the proliferation of information is more of a problem than a solution.  Who does a business listen to? What should they follow? Most of what works, cannot be found in a classroom.

The other thing that is needed of course, is manpower.  This probably takes the form of consulting professional today, but quite frankly most small businesses can't afford an army of consulting resources unless they're assured that capital spent will turn into growth.

It is our desire, as it is Jeff's to see this addressed over the next couple of years. Interestingly most businesses have negated the opportunities present to innovate using capital available in the crowdsourcing model.  I am hopeful that there will be more businesses moving forward in creating new products and services.