Government

Small Business Owners

Words matter. When “small business” and “small business owner” are overused, it becomes belittling. Breakthroughs await those with expanded vocabulary.

First, let’s get an elephant in the room. There is a need for categorization between different types of businesses, and size is an obvious differentiator. This determines how government policies, regulated programs, and other environmental resources are distributed.

Unfortunately, broad categorization leads to business owners not thinking of themselves as entrepreneurs.

Whether it’s the size of a company, revenue, or other quantifiable metrics, using “small business” may be required for economic structuring, but it limits how many leaders think about their own potential.

The opportunity to shift this narrative exists within events where the assemblage is comprised of small business owners. In these settings, use small business terms to target the promotional messaging, then find ways to release those technical terms at the event. Emcees, speakers, panelists, and staff can embolden the audience by using “small business owners” when necessary but then intentionally using more alternative titles that add depth to the attendee’s mindset. Instead of everything being focused on small, use synonyms that describe greatness, importance, appreciation, and yes, small business owners:

  • Entrepreneur
  • Founder
  • Leader
  • Student
  • Innovator
  • Heretic
  • Dreamer
  • Creator

    By using these synonyms, we can quietly inspire more inclusivity through fresh assimilation at events. Even if public policies remain rigid, more people will learn to celebrate and identify with more codifications.

    Over time, more people who may have kept themselves in a box will start to feel enlisted in all that is an entrepreneurial lifestyle. As more small business owners hear, use, and relate to enlivened vocabulary, the expanding taxonomy exposes new ideas, untapped resources, and unexpected realms to confidently explore within the local communities we love.

    Brewed From Within
    #36 📖 Leadership

    By Ben McDougal, ago

    Diplomacy Disrupted

    The world stands at a crossroads where traditional diplomacy has ceded ground to a more dynamic force.

    Entrepreneurs have emerged as the new diplomats of our era, boldly leading where established institutions falter and distrust prevails. For centuries, diplomacy belonged exclusively to statesmen and ambassadors, their negotiations cloaked in formality and protocol. Today, that order is being profoundly reshaped by visionaries who reach across divides, not through treaties but through the universal language of solving, building, creating, and sharing.

    In a fractious world marked by de-globalization and nationalism, entrepreneurship has become the great common denominator—a calling that transcends borders and unites disparate communities around shared purpose.​

    EXTRA SHOT

    This contribution was written by Jonathan Ortmans. Jonathan has visited 150+ countries around the world and leads the Global Entrepreneurship Network.

    National boundaries, once formidable barriers to commerce and culture, have become remarkably porous to innovation and startup culture. The seamless flow of talent, capital, and ideas continues to define entrepreneurial ecosystems that connect and outperform those that isolate. This porosity represents more than economic opportunity; it embodies a fundamental shift in how value is created and distributed across the globe. Entrepreneurs operate comfortably in this fluid environment, recognizing that the greatest innovations emerge when diverse perspectives collide and collaborate. From rural villages to capital cities, startup culture spreads with viral intensity, carried by digital platforms and sustained by communities that refuse to accept geographic limitations on their ambitions.​

    Yet disruption—the defining characteristic of our age—carries a paradox that demands understanding. Disruption is not destruction; rather, it is alchemy that turns uncertainty into opportunity. This transformation requires both courage and vision, qualities entrepreneurs possess in abundance. They are bold, thriving precisely where others see only chaos, spotting cracks where new possibilities emerge as governments and societies shift the rules.

    Just as storms clear the air, refresh the water, and renew the land, moments of disruption force examination of old assumptions. These breakthroughs release complacency to push the boundaries of what is possible. The danger lies not in disruption itself, but in our response to it—whether we view upheaval as an ending or a beginning.​

    Entrepreneurs understand that constructive rebellion is not just healthy; it is essential to keeping ecosystems vibrant and societies progressing. Without creative rebellion, without founders willing to risk failure for solutions that choose forward over left or right, stagnation becomes inevitable.

    This willingness to occasionally stir up turbulence reflects an entrepreneurial mindset that questions the status quo, challenges outdated models, and refuses to accept that the way things have always been is the way they must remain.

    Bold global leadership—rooted in vision, grit, and collaboration—transforms chaos into progress. Rebels who lead this progress for good deserve celebration, for in entrepreneurship as in diplomacy, the bold change our world.

    Brewed From Within
    #33 📖 Entrepreneurship

    By Ben McDougal, ago

    Voices

    the streets are restless
    voices low,
    rumbling of those
    who feel forgotten
    who feel the die was cast
    before they were even born.

    they hunger for the chance
    to make something their own
    to etch their mark in the wall of the world.

    and in the shadows,
    small fires are being lit
    not by kings or queens
    but by ordinary hands
    with ordinary dreams.

    it begins like a forest rising
    out of swamp and tangle
    messy, alive, unpredictable—
    where strangers meet
    where trust grows in broken soil
    where one seed
    can seed a thousand.

    it says:
    no one will save us
    except us.

    it says:
    the right to begin
    is the right to belong.

    and if enough of us answer,
    if enough of us care,
    then out of the discontent
    out of the silence of the left behind
    will rise
    a chorus of builders
    a rainforest of possibility
    a people remaking the world
    with extraordinary love.

    Extra Shot

    This poem is from Victor W. Hwang.

    Brewed From Within
    📖 Entrepreneurship

    By Ben McDougal, ago

    Non-Dilutive

    Adrienne Greenwald sits front row to innovation. Venture Net Iowa is a helpful wayfinder and guides entreprenuers toward non-dulituve funding. We chat about how resources are abundant (see below!), but still take time to activate. We also discuss ways to give and receive feedback as founders.

    Ben narrates a writing brewed for parents during the break, then we ski down the mountain and chat about the illusion of needing financial capital in order to build. We close by breathing through more building blocks that help us all continue to push progress.

    LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS
    LISTEN on SPOTIFY

    BONUS MATERIALS

    https://VentureNetIowa.com/resources

    http://Non-Dilutive.YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

    Roasted Reflections Break: Training Wheels

    https://BenMcDougal.com/tag/research

    https://BenMcDougal.com/resources

    http://RoastedReflections.com

    http://BENBOT.ai

    By Ben McDougal, ago