Small Business Revolution

The first season of this show was awesome... of course, Robert Herjavec is a star... the first season seemed to really go to a town and businesses that needed help. By the third season, they're in a city of more than 25,000 working with businesses that don't seem to struggle as much, in an area on a beautiful river... I mean, it just gets easier and easier to produce results. By season 4, they pick a growing city and businesses that really aren't struggling... so again, easy wins.

But season 4 was why I gave this show, a show that I really like, a 5 out of 10. This season was knock after knock against people of this city in Arkansas. They kept harping on inclusiveness and diversity over and over again... and never stopped. They fell short of calling the people of Searcy bigots... but you could hear it all throughout. It felt like people from a wonderful big city were coming to share their wisdom with the hicks of Arkansas... but the problem... the hicks of Arkansas were already welcoming people of diverse backgrounds as evidenced by the diversity of the already existing businesses they picked.

I don't think we need the constant lecture and looking down upon that this show seems to be turning into... of course, they're making the show for their business... not really for small towns anymore... perhaps this makes Deluxe and their clients feel better about themselves.

I did not see what Josh saw at all and I was looking for it after reading his review. At the end of season 3 the team was told that they neglected a certain part of town but it was discovered that the area was not business district and that was why it wasn't considered. Nonetheless, the team thought they could have done better at diversity and like other lessons they learned in other towns, they tried to do better in the next town. All of the comments about diversity at the beginning of season 4 were made by residents of Searcy. And every town nowadays has struggles with everybody being able to get along in a diverse population. I thought Searcy people were portrayed as the good people they are (I live in AR), and I think on the whole Amanda and the team have their hearts in the right place. That said, the show does have a lot of sappy music and they play up the savior aspect. Even though I realize I'm only seeing snippets of the conversations, I still think I would have chosen some different businesses to help and it is true that this is a production for TV. However, all the seminars and gifts of accounting, marketing, and legal support is of genuine help to those entire communities. Who knows how much help spending a few months with a small business in any size town would be in the long run but at least they are trying, and I think all in all this show provides a valuable service to entrepreneurs everywhere.