Small Business Committee

We all know something about agenting, but few of us got into agenting knowing a lot about running a business. The Small Business Committee was created to answer questions specific to business ownership, particularly as it pertains to the small and mid-sized agencies that make up the majority membership of the AALA.

We see our role in the AALA as one of gathering and conveying information that, in large corporations, might be handled by Human Resources, Finance, and Tech; questions concerning employees, legal issues, business planning, useful technology, accountancy, and real estate. During the past several years we have surveyed the membership and run panels and workshops inspired by their interests, including ones on:

• Succession Planning
• Employee Agreements
• Retirement Planning
• Strategic Planning for Agencies
• Remote Technologies
• Company Management and Remote Company Management
• Negotiation Strategies

We combine thinking about what we, as business owners, want to know and what would be helpful to us, with being responsive to questions and requests for information from membership and the Board of the AALA. We meet monthly, these days via Zoom, and have generally had a membership of 6-8 people.

We are actively looking to add several new members who are either experienced business owners or play an active role in their company’s management. We are open to all applicants, and would particularly love to add members who are based outside of the NY-tristate area, as well as members who can address issues that specifically affect small business owners from marginalized communities. We can be reached at sb@aalitagents.org