Too often, people forget the little guy when it comes to economic growth. Fortunately, small business is big business in America, and this book shows how important it is. I loved this one.

The book argues that America can achieve consistent, long-term economic growth only by fully empowering small businesses. Drawing on decades of experience and more than two thousand conversations with industry leaders, Dan shows that small businesses create two-thirds of private-sector jobs, employ nearly half the workforce, and generate almost half of U.S. GDP. Yet policy debates continue to center disproportionately on large corporations.

Dan identifies three systemic challenges crippling small businesses nationwide: (1) the inability to attract and retain skilled workers due to the decline of vocational education and wage competition from large firms; (2) an ever-expanding regulatory environment that disproportionately burdens small businesses lacking compliance departments; and (3) tax structures that disincentivize reinvestment and stifle growth. He explores these themes across a wide range of industries—including pallets, rigging, specialty chemicals, transportation, energy marketing, fragrance manufacturing, and secured finance—using rich, firsthand interviews to show how economic pressures manifest at ground level.

Yet the book is ultimately optimistic. Dan highlights the ingenuity and resilience of small business owners who innovate, partner with community organizations, leverage automation, and cultivate internal talent. He introduces the “magnifier effect,” describing how small businesses amplify local growth through interconnected networks of partners and suppliers.

Dan concludes with a bipartisan roadmap: streamline regulations, modernize tax incentives, invest in vocational training, strengthen trade associations, and reform the SBA. His message is clear: small businesses are the key to stable, consistent national growth—and America ignores them at its peril.