About the research
What makes small businesses thrive — and why some close. In owners' own words.
Who we are
Main Street Heroes is a research series by Geek Heros, a veteran & first responder owned company that works with small businesses on their websites and marketing.
How we do it
We interview owners and operators by phone. The questions are open-ended: how they started the business, how it grew, where customers come from, what has been hardest, and how customers find them online. Every interview is tagged by industry, state and city so reports can be grouped honestly.
Research calls are starting in Florida and Illinois, and the series is national. State editions are added only once an industry has enough interviews in one state to say something meaningful.
Privacy
We never publish an owner's name or business name without written permission. Quotes are anonymous by default, and answers are used in aggregate. Taking part doesn't sign you up for anything.
How numbers are counted
Every number in a report comes from real interviews we've completed — never from goals or estimates. Each published report shows how many owners it's based on, where they are, and when we spoke with them. A pillar report isn't published until there are enough interviews behind it. Outside data, when we use it, is cited.
Right now, no reports have been published. That's why you won't see counts or findings anywhere in the series yet.
What Geek Heros does
Geek Heros builds websites and marketing for small businesses. We run this research because we want to understand what really helps owners — and we're clear about who we are on every page.
Own a small business? Be part of the research.
We're interviewing owners in every industry above. It takes 10 minutes, and we never publish your name or your business's name unless you want us to.