Have you noticed a trend lately disparaging small businesses (especially solo-owned ones)?

It’s a bit ironic that the people who are taking chances, thinking creatively, and testing out new products and services are getting slammed for not creating  jobs at a time when the economy is mired in inactivity.

The haters have it all wrong.

We’re not too big to fail. But we’re small enough to succeed.

One big thread in this conversation seems to revolve around employment. At one level, the naysayers have it absolutely right: I’m not hiring.

But that’s not my business model. My model is to partner. Which, last time I checked, generates income for other people so that they can pay bills, buy groceries, and shop at the mall–all the same stuff that salaried jobs enable, albeit at a much smaller scale. But I’m just one small business among many.

It’s not just about jobs.

There is a jobs crisis. But don’t blame small businesses for it.

I’m not an economist, but jobs don’t spring from nowhere. We need a reboot, and that’s going to require innovation, creativity, research and development, and risk-taking. (These and a bunch of other things too.)

Ashvini Saxena had a terrific post recently on how Entrepreneurship Benefits the Economy More Than Just Generating Jobs. In it, he talks about four other factors:

• Entrepreneurs invent.
• Entrepreneurs optimize.
• Entrepreneurs find hidden demand (and create plans to exploit it).
• Entrepreneurs hire people with skills.

Read Saxena’s post as well as the smart conversation in the comments.

Have you noticed an attack on small business? What’s your take?

Photo by Jan Tik (Flickr).