Small Business » Small Business Association

Every industry has an association and for the most part it seems that it would be valuable for business person to join that association. The theory here being that there is safety in numbers and when you consider the size of the government at all levels that is a lot of blob of bureaucracy to combat. An industry association can hopefully help you navigate the myriad of rules and regulations in your industry.

However a small or medium-size business person must be aware that often industry associations are formed to help the larger fish and the bigger players or corporations in the industry. They are not necessarily made to help small business is combat over burdensome regulations. This causes another problem for the small entrepreneur.

Do you help the industry association succeed by helping them with your ideas and innovations, which will most likely be borrowed by larger companies and used to compete with you or do you go it alone without industry association help? If you go it alone you might find yourself battling the association and the government regulations on your own, although you will have the advantage over the competition without leaking vital information.

There is a thing called rule breakers and rule makers. The rule breakers are considered new entrants to an industry that move very fast and try to work around the rules and regulations finding areas that are unregulated so they can move quickly in the marketplace. Once a company succeeds and gains a sizable business then they try to make rules along with the industry associations and perhaps sitting on committees for government regulation making sessions to create barriers to entry for the smaller businesses that are coming along.

If you are one of the smaller businesses trying to get a foothold you may find that the industry Association is willing to sell you down the river and feed you to the dogs or rather the regulatory bureaucracy by trying to create new rules and regulations and barriers to stand in your way. You must understand that often industry associations work on a primate politics and Machiavellian type rule. Please consider this, that is all I ask of you in this lesson.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Source: www.articledashboard.com