I'm posting because I’m gathering responses from a range of constituents - owners, investors, brokers, bankers, etc. - for a project I’m working on (see below) and I would like to ask for your participation.

For some time now, I've been frustrated by the lack of engaging, relevant, and timely information about what's going on with small businesses at any given point in time and rather than continuing to complain, I'm going to try to do something (small) to start addressing that.
I have limited time, as I know is the case for you as well, so I am just asking for some quick responses (email them to --@----.com to the following prompts:
- What's your greatest business challenge right now?

  • What is going really well for you in your business?
  • What new trends or changes have you noticed recently or do you expect to occur in the near-term? - What are the most common issues you are hearing about from other business leaders in your community?
    Once I've collected responses, I am going to create a short write-up of any particularly compelling stories that emerge, common themes, and anything else that I hear that will shed light on what small business community members are experiencing right now.

    Unless you give me explicit permission, I won't be sharing any identifying information and your responses will remain anonymous. If this experiment is successful, I'll plan to do this on a quarterly basis and will share the write-ups for free.
    I'm excited about this project and will do my best to make the content informative and entertaining. I hope that you will consider participating and I'll be appreciative if you do.

    Thanks, Tim