Finally an American! Small business makes a big impact.

I met my friend and colleague, Toni Popova, over ten years ago from a client who asked me to interview a working student. She was his favorite server at the Italian restaurant in his hotel. John traveled weekly for his client assignment and ate his nightly dinner at the same restaurant every night while getting to know Toni. He told me she was a bright young lady who moved to the United States from Bulgaria to pursue her education. While she was a great server, he thought a job in her field of Healthcare IT would be more suitable. The trouble was, she only had a student visa. 

At the time, I was working for an IT consulting firm in recruiting and business development. My real goal with John was to sell him our staffing services, but he wouldn’t meet with me until I interviewed Toni. Knowing that I was responsible for recruiting at my firm and that Toni was a great candidate, he knew it would be a match made in heaven. I finally agreed to sit down with her, and when a 30-minute interview turned into a two-hour meeting, I knew he was right. 

Not knowing anything about a student visa, or the fact that we didn’t have an open position, I began my research and strategy plan for hiring Toni as a paid intern. I really wanted to help her and thought anything in the Healthcare IT space would get her foot in the door. One of our clients at the time was Norwegian American Hospital and they gladly accepted the offer of an intern in their IT department while they searched for more experienced talent. Well, Toni quickly learned their Meditech system and fit right into their culture. The hospital found more than they bargained for in Toni and she ended up landing a permanent role. 

Over the years, I watched Toni advance from an intern to a Technical Business Analyst. She was hardworking, determined, and reliable. But moreover, she was a problem solver and she was always bringing new ideas and perspectives to the table.

So, when I started MXO in 2005, I asked her to come work for me doing business application development analysis. However, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to join a startup and I didn’t blame her. Her livelihood here in the U.S. depended on her employment. And she had just had a baby.

After three years of running MXO, and continuous badgering on my part, Toni finally saw the stability that I promised her, and she agreed to come work for me. We had stayed in touch over the years and she had witnessed the quick growth and roster of clients for which we were providing outsourced IT services. I sponsored her H1B Visa that year and later helped her apply for her Green card. I’m so happy I did because Toni has been an amazing employee. She supports our healthcare application development division, working with some of our biggest clients doing system evaluations and implementations of commercially available or custom developed software. And she has spearheaded many of our SharePoint solutions for our customers.

Last week, 14 years after meeting with Toni as a favor to my prospect, I’m proud to say I stood by while she received her U.S. citizenship.

As a small business owner (and an immigrant myself), I’m glad that I have had the ability to provide job opportunities to people like Toni. I have also partnered with organizations like Upwardly Global and Year Up to provide youth training and employment to immigrants and refugees that are trying to rebuild their careers in the U.S.

According to the United States’ 2018 Small Business Profile, there are 30.2 million small businesses in the United States, which employ 47.5 percent of the state’s private workforce. In fact, small businesses account for the largest number of employers — 99.9 percent.

“Small businesses are the United States’ economic engine,” said Acting Chief Counsel Major L. Clark, III, “they are the key to the state’s ability to grow economic output, entrepreneurship, and private sector employment.”

It’s small businesses that make a much bigger social impact. When you support a local business, you’re not just supporting the business, but also your city, town, neighborhood, and the people in it.

As the saying goes “When you buy from a small business, you are not helping a CEO buy a third vacation home. You are helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get his team jersey, a mom put food on the table, a dad pay a mortgage or a student pay for college.” -Author unknown

Support your local shops and small businesses during National Small Business Week, May 5th through May 11th.

And by the way, I never landed that account with John, but I made a life long friend and a business colleague who continues to help me with my business growth. 

#smallbusinessweek