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AACREDITUNION.ORG | 15 American Airlines Federal Credit Union The Credit Union offers small business services to members. See Page 41 or visit AACreditUnion. org for more information. For example, the nominal small business GDP was $5.9 trillion in 2014, the most recent year small business GDP data is available. They create innovation. The typical employee at a small business will learn more skills than someone at a larger firm just because they need to be what Steve Strauss — author of the Small Business Bible and USA Today senior small business columnist — calls "a jack of all trades." "You'll have assigned duties, but you're going to have to do a lot of other things, too," he said, which leads employees to look for new and inventive ways to get the job done. "When you work for a small business, chances are you can be more innovative and have more input into how the business operates," said Bruce Freeman, an entrepreneur who is also an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University's Stillman School of Business in South Orange, New Jersey. In addition, with fewer levels of bureaucracy and more freedom, small business owners and their employees can take more chances and try new things without having to gain approvals or spend a lot of money. They enhance communities. Small business owners typically live where they work. They have skin in the game, and as such are likely to want to be involved in local schools, sports teams, residents and charities by doing things such as sponsoring the neighborhood softball team, hiring high schoolers looking for their first job or getting involved in politics. "For every dollar you spend at a local business — more of it is going back into the community because the owner is also going to shop and live local," McCabe said. They improve work/life balance. There's a misconception that small businesses can't pay as much or give as many benefits as a larger organization. And while it's true that many small businesses can't offer pension plans and stock options, the perks they can give may be worth more. "In a tight labor market, more small companies are thinking, 'How else can I make my workplace more attractive?' That's why we see small businesses offering things like telecommuting options, flexible schedules, unplanned bonuses or extra vacation," McCabe explained. Anyone can be a small business owner. In today's world, the combination of technology; various funding sources such as crowdsourcing, venture capital and microfinancing; and the ability to work from a home office means that anyone can take a great idea and run with it. "Small businesses are the rock stars of the economy," Strauss said. "Technology has made it really easy to start small but look big with websites, digital marketing and cloud-based applications." KAREN J. BANNAN writes about personal finance, technology and lifestyles for variety of publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Woman's Day.