Take Your Business Elsewhere

By Hanna Aronovich in News on Aug 17, 2006 10:35AM

Playboy CEO Christie Hefner, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield and Sam’s Wine CEO (and DePaul alum) Brian Rosen are all speaking at the Entrepreneurs’ Organization annual meeting in Chicago. The several-day conference kicked off yesterday at the Fairmont and runs until Sunday.

Although the Chicago chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization has more than 80 members with sales averaging more than $6 million, Chicago is a less than idea city to start a small business. We’re not even in the top 10.

Earlier this year, Forbes’ 2006 list of the best cities to start a business stuck Chicago smack in the middle – No. 100 out of 200 metro areas. The ranking was based on factors including business costs, living costs, job growth and income growth (Chicago got poor scores in job growth and the cost of doing business).

This week, Forbes announced the most small-business-friendly states, and Illinois fared even worse coming in 44th out of 50. Virginia came in No. 1, and although it might be a better climate for a budding business, we’re not moving there any time soon.

With so much that Chicago offers, it’s a shame we’re not higher up on the charts. Entrepreneurs, however, take note. Albuquerque’s calling.