Welcome to Business Buffet. Thank you for sharing your time with us today and these episodes with your friends and family.

On Business Buffet, we bring you a smorgasbord of business knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit you can use to help season your business.

Pull up a seat, grab a plate, and get ready to eat hardy in business.

Welcome to Business Buffet Season 6.

For this sixth season, I felt something radical was required.

So these episodes are from interviews I had with chat GBT, an artificial

intelligence system created by openaI.com. I asked business and entrepreneur type questions

of a computer and then share the answers with you. I have not altered any of the chat

GBT answers in any way. I need to say up front, these interviews are for entertainment only

and should not be the sole basis for a change in business operations. However, I think you'll be surprised on how helpful some of these

interviews can be. Today's interview is about small business in America. Let's dive into the interview.

How many small businesses are there in America? As of 2021, there were approximately 31.7 million small

businesses in the United States, according to the Small Business Administration, SBA.

This includes businesses with fewer than 500 employees, which make up the vast majority of all businesses in the country.

Small businesses are a critical driver of economic growth and job creation in the United States,

and they are found in virtually every industry and sector of the economy.

How many of the 31.7 million small businesses are sole proprietor?

According to the Small Business Administration, SBA,

approximately 80% of all small businesses in the United States are non-employer businesses,

meaning they have no employees other than the business owner.

These businesses are typically sole proprietorships, partnerships, or LLCs with a single owner.

As of 2021, there were approximately 25.4 million non-employer businesses in the U.S.,

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