This summer, I made the bold decision to become a full-time entrepreneur. I’m fortunate to have partners who joined this journey with me and am I ever grateful for them. Building any business comes with both challenges and opportunities. It takes exceptional courage to do it alone. So I was rather surprised when I discovered that small business owners with no employees make up 79% of businesses in Minnesota and Minneapolis.
Note – I like to call them, The ONEs (Owner No Employees) for short.
While a majority (42%) are industries you would expect (consultants, drivers, and real estate), there are incredible brave souls working in high stress fields like Construction (23,231), Retail (25,011), Healthcare (18,529), and Education Services (10,861). These are fields that in some way, shape or form directly impact all our lives at some point.
So you can imagine my dismay, when I discovered the steep hurdles the ONEs face to finding sustainable growth.
Rising Operating Costs
For many ONEs, rising operational costs—most notably labor, interest rates, and insurance—have a disproportionate impact. As one local owner shared, “Labor rates and interest rates are causing higher-than-normal business expenses. Insurance costs have had a significant impact on the company’s bottom line as a small employer.” In fact, 44% of small businesses cite significant cost impacts, compared to just 36% of large firms — a stark disparity for the ONEs.[1]
Declining Access to Capital
This is all made worse by another pressing challenge is access to capital. Over half of small businesses report financing challenges due to high borrowing costs and limited access, especially for startups and growth-oriented firms. One startup owner explained: “As a startup, access to capital is very difficult to obtain in the current environment. If we have a good year, it will likely constrain our ability to expand.” And lending – you know the thing that is supposed to help honest, hardworking ONEs unlock that next level of growth – has been declining. In 2022, Community Reinvestment Act banks issued $891.3 million in loans to businesses with revenues under $1 million, down from Minnesota’s statewide $1.1 billion in 2023. New lending through loans of $100,000 or less was just $1 billion locally, dropping from Minnesota’s $1.3 billion.[2][1]
Guess what the average annual revenue for the ONEs is. I don’t know exactly but I know it ain’t over $1M. We got to do something for our ONEs. Their continued success and growth is important for all of us,
Proposed Solutions, Strategies, and Next Steps
While City Hall isn’t all powerful it can make some moves:
- Modernizing lending programs: Expand access to credit for microbusinesses, especially loans under $50,000, via streamlined SBA microloan programs and partnerships with fintech platforms. Proposal: reduce documentation requirements and increase technical assistance for applicants from underrepresented communities.[2]
- Direct grants and subsidies: Provide targeted grants to help cover increased operational expenses (insurance, wages, digital transformation), especially for the ONEs who have shown ability to grow if they got some relief in operational pressure. Develop more local public-private matching funds for technology upgrades and training.[1]
- Technical training and ecosystem investment: Invest in mentorship, peer-support networks, and shared workspaces. Expand state and local business development centers with dedicated resources for one-person businesses.
Implementation – Action Items, Timeline, and Resource Requirements
Immediate (next 6 months):
- Convene city and state roundtables to identify barriers in current loan approval processes; pilot new approval tracks for loans under $50,000.[2]
Short-term (6–18 months):
- Develop shared workspace and digital training initiatives funded through public-private partnerships. I mean seriously running a business is tough; it would be nice to have a place where our ONEs can connect, cry and celebrate together.
Long-term (2–3 years):
- Advocate for state legislative action to support portable benefits and reformed self-employment taxation.
- Track outcomes through annual impact reports and integrate feedback to continuously improve support structures.
The ONEs are the backbone of Minneapolis’ local economy. On Labor Day, recognizing their contributions—and expanding the resources that allow them to thrive—must be a civic and policy priority.[2][1]
- Minneapolis-Profile – https://advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Midwest_2024_09_23.pdf
- Minnesota_2025-State-Profile – https://advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Minnesota_2025-State-Profile.pdf
- MN Chamber – https://www.mnchamber.com/2025-state-business-retention-and-expansion-minnesota
