Like the Cleveland area, the Ohio capital saw a significant decline, with a loss of 596 establishments.
''It woke a number of us up,'' said Mary McCarthy, the co-chair of SCORE Columbus, a business mentoring organization. ''In a good economy, it's easier to run a business and make money. In a bad economy, we have to improve how we manage our businesses.''
With the area's sizable high-tech industry -- the massive Battelle Memorial Institute research center is headquartered here -- small businesses related to technology have had an easier time accessing capital than the local pizza joint. "If you are a Main Street business, it's a lot harder to get that assistance," McCarthy said.
But, the state and local government are working to try and understand the needs of entrepreneurs and eliminate the red tape that impedes them. Earlier this year, Governor John Kasich established the Common Sense Initiative to examine how legislation impacts small businesses. "It's a work in progress," said McCarthy, but "they are really trying."
A low loan failure rate is a vote of confidence both for the franchise business model -- or concept -- and for the people involved. The following franchises all had relatively low loan failure rates.
