Think of how people infect (or so it seems) each other with ideas, fashion, eating habits, and customs. Doing something, even something hard, is easier to do when it feels like a lot of other people are doing it.

And isn’t entrepreneurship a combination of ideas, fashion, customs, and like that? So if I start a business and make it, aren’t my friends more likely to do the same? They have a changed risk perception.

Is there strength in numbers? This is a good argument for Small Business Development Centers, SBA advocacy, Women’s Business Centers,S, and special programs offered by different federal and local agencies. And the local groups, like our own Smartups in Eugene OR, and hundreds like it, that promote startups with pub talks, pitch contests, and mentorship.

These are tough times. Unemployment continues, and general business confidence is way down. Every small startup that makes it helps.

The post Is Entrepreneurship Contagious? appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.