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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 19 J U N E 1 1 , 2 0 1 8 F O C U S S M A L L B U S I N E S S Every smile tells a story. And each one can say something powerful. As the nation's leading dental benefits provider, Delta Dental makes it easy to protect your smile and keep it healthy with the largest network of dentists nationwide, quick answers and personalized service. Learn more at NortheastDeltaDental.com. I GUESS THEY LIKE ME YOU LOOK AWFULLY FAMILIAR I CAN'T REPEAT IT BUT IT'S GOOD IT'S TOO GOOD TO PUT DOWN THIS IS FUN, I THINK In Hallowell, construction posed issue for businesses M a i n e b i z S t a f f In 2015, when the state was getting ready to reconstruct a half-mile of Hallowell's Water Street, it surveyed residents and business owners. Of 247 respondents, 165 were city residents, 30 owned a busi - ness in the city, 38 were employed in the city and 148 frequented area businesses. Of those who answered the specific question, 156 were eligible to vote in the city of 2,600; 67 weren't. The answers that drew the strongest responses were: "I prefer a one-way traffic pattern dur- ing construction," which would make the project go more quickly, 51% strongly agreed and 35.5% agreed. Only 5% dis- agreed or strongly disagreed. "Get the job done quickly" and "Do it. Get it over with," were typical com- ments, according to hallowell.govoffice. com "Water Street Survey Results." Questions related to whether respon- dents would vote for approving city money for matching street lights on the west side of the street, added stormwater drains and added parking were all favored. On storm water drains, 54% strongly agreed and 37% agreed; on parking, 38% strongly agreed and 33% agreed; on matching street lights, 32.24% strongly agreed and 33.55% agreed. All of the issues that those answer- ing favored strongly were incorporated into the project. As reported elsewhere in this issue, the reconstruction of Water Street is under- way — and at least some businesses said it hasn't been as bad as they feared. W hen we talk about business Maine, we are most likely referring to small business, especially as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which considers anything under 500 employees to be small business. While com- panies like Hannaford, Walmart, L.L.Bean, IDEXX and WEX have an undeniable impact on the state's economy, more than 99% of the business entities in the state are considered "small" by the SBA. S TA R T I N G O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » W SMALL BUSINESS JOB GROWTH IN MAINE Net new jobs (2015): 4,323 Jobs at companies with 20 or fewer employees: 2,977 Jobs at companies with 100 to 499 employees: 338 69% 8% S O U R C E : U.S. Small Business Administration, Statistics of U.S. Businesses S O U R C E : SBA TOP 6 SMALL BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY 1. Health care and social assistance 2. Accommodation and food services 3. Retail trade 4. Manufacturing 5. Construction 6. Professional, scientific and technical services 50,944 40,863 36,443 24,886 21,936 17,644

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