Making a stand with small businesses

By
Friday, 16 May 2014

On Monday, we hosted a big gathering at Twitter HQ to kick off National Small Business Week (#SBW2014), a nationwide campaign by the U.S. Small Business Administration (@sbagov). The event, celebrating small businesses and offering tips and assistance, featured talks by House Minority Leader @NancyPelosi, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.


With the help of Twitter, small businesses can reach a broader audience, provide real-time updates on new offerings and promote their product or service. Just ask Vivienne Harr. This tireless 10-year-old and her lemonade stand, whose proceeds go to eradicating child slavery, became globally recognized after she spread the word on Twitter about her vision.

As she told hundreds of small business owners, “It’s not how small your business is, it’s how big you think it can change our world.”

Her tips for growing a successful small business — which she called “lemonade lessons” — included dreaming big, being resilient and, yes, using Twitter.

With a steady stream of news and resources from @TwitterSmallBiz and our Small Business Blog, we celebrate small businesses. And we have a new interactive resource that offers a variety of best practices and tips for those of you who have this passion. The lessons in the guide go beyond small business; they work for nonprofits and community groups, too. We hope you find it useful.