What Would Be Left? 

I’ve been playing a thought experiment in my head this week.

What if you woke up tomorrow and every business in the Rockford Region with fewer than 50ish employees was just… gone?

Not closed. Not struggling. Just gone. Vanished. Like it was never there.

It’s a silly exercise, but stay with me for a minute. I think imagining this place without small businesses leaves us with some roads, a river, and a lot of empty buildings. But when we think small, we often only think about the one-man-band that just started up. Less than 50ish employees is actually a LOT of our local employers.

(The SBA defines a small business as having fewer than 500 employees. And, sure, technically, that’s small… but locally, I think we define small a bit… well… smaller. So when I say small, I mean the businesses where the owner is actively involved. She’s probably answering the phone – at least now and then; training the new hire; and actively making business decisions in our region. Fewer than 50ish. The ones that run on grit and relationships.) 

The morning falls apart first.

Your coffee isn’t there. Not the cup with the pink lid from Wired Cafe that you picked up before that early meeting, or the one from Meg’s Daily Grind that your coworker brought you just because she knows your order. The breakfast spot is gone too — no Swedish pancakes from Stockholm Inn, no Riverside Family Restaurant for the kind of food that feels like home.

The suit you dropped off at Tad More Tailoring for a last-minute alteration? Still sitting there.

Unclaimed. Because Tad More is gone too.

You can still find a big box store. A chain restaurant. A national financial branch. And all of those have a place in our community. But the texture of your morning - the part that feels uniquely here, like home - that’s gone.

Then the workday unravels.

The water system Mr. Goodwater installed and maintains in your office building needs service — but there’s no one to call. Your company car needs work and Carz R Us, the mechanic your whole team trusts because they’re straight with you and never try to upsell you on something you don’t need, isn’t there anymore. You needed to launch a marketing campaign and Chartwell Agency — who actually knows your brand, your voice, your market, is gone. You were counting on Greenfire to cater your spring client event, the one where the food is always the thing people remember. Gone.

Every one of those relationships is a thread. Pull them all out and the whole fabric starts to go.
And then, the people leave.

I think this is where the thought experiment gets really interesting. In my role at the GRCC, I spend a lot of time thinking about talent. About why people choose to build their lives in the Rockford Region, and why they sometimes choose not to.

We talk a lot about jobs — payroll numbers, employer counts, and sector growth. And those things matter. But what makes someone stay somewhere? What makes a young professional look at a city and think, I could build something here?

It’s the ecosystem. It’s knowing that if you have a good idea and enough grit, there’s a place for you. It’s the restaurateur who turned an empty storefront into a neighborhood anchor. The consultant who left a corporate job to hang out a shingle and found out she was exactly the kind of expert this region needed. The retailer who took a chance on a downtown block and made it worth walking down. Not only do these small businesses make our region unique and a place that people want to call home – they serve as an inspiration for those who also want to build something great in a place that is made for them.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are the evidence that this place is worth betting on and believing in.

So here’s what I believe:

Small Business Week can feel like a lot of noise with social posts and listicles and “support local!” messaging. I believe in that, too, and am going to look for a few extra ways to support local this week.

But, this week, I’d encourage people in the Rockford Region to sit with the subtraction exercise for just a moment. To notice how often a small business touches your life – and makes it better. When you do that, you stop thinking of small businesses as a category, and you start seeing them as people. Specific, stubbornly committed, often underpaid, frequently underappreciated people who decided to build something here.

At the GRCC, our job is to make sure they’re not doing that alone. It’s why we launched a regional job board, to bring new talent in to take advantage of their services and to work in their businesses. It’s why we invest in programs that connect businesses to talent, to each other, and to the resources that help them grow. It’s why I genuinely love chamber work. Behind every membership, every ribbon cutting, every referral made at a networking event, there’s someone who made a bet on this region.

I don’t take that lightly.

Happy Small Business Week, Rockford. Go encourage someone’s dream by supporting their small business!

Caitlin Pusateri is the COO of the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce and founder of Bright Light Coaching & Consulting.