I don’t know if all my terms are accurate. I am not an accountant or an economist and my definitions of some accounting and economics terms probably do not match the technical definitions.

I am not the best business person. I tend to establish some policies and then let people slide even when it is obviously detrimental to my business. For example, I have people agree to certain rules when renting a lot space in the small mobile home community I live in. The park rules include which items should not be stored outside, I am constantly allowing people to slide. This failure on my part affects my bottom line. I make more money by enforcing some rules.

I confess this not to bare my soul, but to illustrate that not all business people are experts in drawing every last penny of profit from each dollar. According to the federal government there are 21 million firms in the United States. And many of us run marginal businesses. Some are just getting by. I am a little better off than that.

I define a marginal business as one which operates below some or all of the industry statistics concerning average businesses. A good business person would be above many industry averages. We marginal business people often drag the average down.

Marginal business people tend to run less stable businesses. Better business people tend to run more stable businesses and are able to better serve their customers. They tend to be better for their communities than marginal business people are. That’s not to say one is more worthy to be in the community than the other.

Markets change constantly. Sometimes the market changes drastically enough that marginal businesses, like mine, either fail or tighten the belt and become more stable. That which does not kill you makes you stronger.