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The Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner
Confused why despite endless daily propaganda that the US economy is getting better - after all "just look at the record high S&P 500" - fewer and fewer Americans believe the narrative, as the Democrats and Obama found out the very hard way in last week's midterm elections? Then the following explanation written by the owner of a small business - the segment of the US economy that has historically led every single recovery but this time was left behind - should help answer some questions.
The reason small businesses are disappearing written by a small business owner.
I want to start out by saying that i am a 27 year old male with a small business in Sacramento CA. I started this business a few years ago with savings of 15k. With a lot of hard work and determination i have succeeded, but it sure as hell was not easy. I am a long time lurker and have never seen anyone go in depth about what its like to own a small business and the reason why they are disappearing. Without going into to much detail, i own a furniture store so obviously things are different then other businesses but a lot of the things are the same. I wanted to begin with the things that are killing small businesses. Also only my opinion.
- Small Business Loans - Although they are not killing small business they sure as hell don't help anyone. Unless you are opening a unique small business you are not going to get any funding. By unique i mean something along the lines of creating solar panels. According to a recent investigation by the SBA Inspector General (ill post the article if you would like), over 75% of SBA loans went to large businesses. So basically if you want to open a normal business you need a ton of collateral and a miracle to get a loan.
- Permits and Licensing - In opening my specific business the first year totaled about $2000.00.
- Advertising - Many small business's cant afford to take out pages or flyers in the news paper or TV ads so they only have a few choices such as Yelp or the Penny-saver. (Don't get me started in Yelp).
- Street Advertising - While this used to be a good portion of how you get business it is now off limits. Code enforcement will not allow you to put anything outside. No balloons, signs, anything with your store name, window paint more than 50%, or any mattresses. Also delivery vehicles can not be closer than 50 feet from the curb. In my case that means behind the building.
- Board of Equalization - Cant go into to much detail here but they sure as hell aren't here to help.
- Health Insurance - Now obviously with the people that have a large work force working full time they will be hit hard by obamacare, but i wanted to give you a perspective on a single person. The cheapest rate for myself and me only, and believe me i have looked around, is $250.00/month. Some might say oh that's not bad, but let me explain what that covers, NOTHING lol. Basically if something happens to me i have to shell out 6K before insurance gets involved. Also 100 dollar co pay every time i go.
- The economy - While many know that when the President comes on TV and says the economy is doing great, we all know it is not, some people don't. Every month more people drop out of the Labor Force and the number of families on food stamps is sky rocketing. So for those of you who don't know the economy is terrible because of all the top stories of Kim Kardashian and whoever else, lots of people in america are struggling.
- Merchant Fees - This is for credit card processing machines. The machine itself costs 600.00 plus the percentages on sales and cards. Companies such as BofA charge once a year on top of the regular fees $150.00 to protect you from fraud (which they can't even stop) and yes its mandatory. Paypal or Square seem to be the best options these days.
- Fire Department - Yes even the Fire Department wants a piece. Starting last year you must do your own visual inspection and send them a check for 150! Basically if you don't they will come to your store and give you a million violations for wasting there time.
Something to watch out for is people who check fire extinguishers in business's. This is a huge scam where they come in without permission to inspect your extinguisher, get you a new one and bill you like 200 the following month. They have no right or permission to enter your business and jump all over you. You can simply tell them politely to get out. They dress like they are fire fighters but they are not.
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The thread with the author's Q&A continues on Reddit.
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You could do $20,000 on credit cards. Just sayin'...
And my profit would all go to the bank.
Lenders' attitudes, all around (SBA, banks, Prosper, etc), were just as you described. So I did the CC funding to started. Yes, I know it was foolish, but I never would've gotten into business otherwise. I think I'm still slowly losing money but, and I know this is perverse, it's buying me time to get "established" so eventually I can borrow what I needed in the first place.
But I want to complain about Kabbage! I'd signed up for eBay to keep sales going between events I was attending. Unlike back in the 90s, ebay clamps this horrible limit on new account of 10 items or $500 per month. It took me the better part of a year to get my first raise and that's when Kabbage started e-mailing me constantly.
Their terms are rediculous and impossible. I was capped at $1000 per month at the time. Guess what minimum monthly throughput they required? Even worse, the maximum loan offered was stupidly low, like $1000 or something. Couldn't find their rates anyway but lots of horror stories that painted them like payday lenders so I declined. Seriously, I could borrow more on a Mastercard and why would anybody selling $1000+ per month need an alternative lender?
Hell, I told them this much in my response, but I still get "offers" every couple of months asking why I never finished the application I started...
20K is no problem....as long as you are willing to pay back 30K+....
If the profits justify it, and otherwise have to be foregone, why not?
this is exactly what happens when the Fed/govt tries to 'make' all the markets work. while there is a ton of money to be made for small businesses, its labor intensive, but a lg multinational bank, due to govt 'intervention' only deals in subsidized/guaranteed areas with large numbers.
this is exactly what happens when the Fed/govt tries to 'make' all the markets work. while there is a ton of money to be made for small businesses, its labor intensive, but a lg multinational bank, due to govt 'intervention' only deals in subsidized/guaranteed areas with large numbers.
"No way you're opening a coffee shop in 2014 and lasting for more than 2 years. Starbucks has already put you out of business."
I agree with everything else you've said, but would disagree on the above, although yeah... going head to head with Whorebucks is a losing proposition.
Friend of mine started a coffee shop in an area served by several others, including a Whorebucks. The goal was to pay his way through law school and he did just that. Here's how:
He knew his customers (university types and hipsters like himself) and provided something no one else was doing:
1. Stayed open late. Lots of night owls in the area.
2. provided wall space for artists to sell their work (took a percentage, plus didn't have to pay to decorate the joint)
3. provided a venue for avant guarde musicians and DJ's to play. Cost him nothing but the free drinks and gave them a place to play which didn't exist before, plus drew in their friends as steady customers.
4. had the latest undergound music (indie, electronica, ambient, etc) - stuff you'd never hear anywhere else. Some guy from some copyright outfit tried to shake him down once. He just laughed, pulled up his playlists and said fine. If you can find these guys, I'll pay them royalties. Labels like 4AD, Ralph, Ninja, Xen Cuts.... IOW, co's who'd be only too glad for the exposure.
5. Internet connection (this was before wireless) for those too poor to afford their own.
Everything was done on the cheap - old comfy couches, beat up tables from the second-hand store, etc. Only the food equipment was new. I helped him paint the place, and people who hung out there donated stuff. It very quickly became "our" place because everyone who hung there had a part in making it happen.
I met a lot of interesting people there - a math professor (now a close friend) a retired pro-wrestler, film and TV people, lots of cute women...LOL!!! Met a few musicians, including one I worked with for almost a year. The thing was, you could talk to people. Try that at at Whorebucks.
When he got his degree and moved on I was tempted to buy the place, but I just didn't have the time to make it work the way he did. It was a passion for him, but so was The Law, which he now practices as an advocate for the poor and disadvantaged - in other words, the same people he served as a barrista.
I realize this is probably the exception to the rule, but there are exceptional people among us, and occasionally they do pull it off.
I'm thinking about starting up a weekends only storage unit mattress business after the holidays.
Won't interfere with my main gig and will satisfy my addiction.
Gotta sleep.
In most cities, restaurant owners are leaning on local government to impose more regulations on the food trucks in an effort to level the playing field. "We're being choked by you, Govt, and we want to to choke the other guys too" goes the logic.
Back in the day when I was running my tiny little one man VW shop. This guy walks in a looks around and decides how much tax I should be paying every year for my tools. Turns out 136$ was the number he pulled outta his ass. I was watching thats where he got the number. No calculator or chart. He just pulled it out of his ass. So I ask my friends with shops in the hood what they got charged. Turns out if the owner was not in the shop he turned around and left. A tax on my fucking tools that my competition did not ever have too pay. I paid sales taxes on all those tools when I bought them.
The sitting duck thing is spot on. Nowdays its brake lathe repair out of my trunk. No way would I open a store front.
All of my costomers are shops and we are the only game in town LA. Even the cops must pay me. If ya want to compete with me good luck. I will tell you up front you aint that good son. We would expand if we could find the tallent. The last ten guys we tried could not cut it even with training.
Internet sales help too.
If you have your shit together it can work. If the fleas ever find us poof Im gone. The city will cry because they need us more than we need them. The cops already told me if anyone fucks with me call them first. Its good to have friends that need you.
About the pot growing thing. Its a done deal now. That party is over. Dont ask! Its over as in run. Get out while you can.
A reddit link on ZH. Never thought Id see the day.
Whining about fees when in order to open any commercial business takes a 5 YEAR LEASE seems ridiculous. If you are in business you want some inspections, building, fire and occupancy or have some shoddy building destroy your block and the reputation of other businesses. Timing is everything in small business, my FIRST failure opening a store front selling mechanical/electronic arcade games in 1979, then came inexpensive home game systems! I closed the store and left the business when I should have opened a business creating software for gaming! Today the business I created in 79 would have been very good money until 2009.Timing is everything.
"Timing is everything."
Also, understanding your market. I had a similar experience with a partner back in the early 80's. We were developing gaming software for the 6502 based computers of the day. We had a distinct advantage in that we were using FORTH as our environment when others were struggling with Assembler and even Basic. We had most of the underlying work done (logic, screen control, graphics compression etc. - even 16 bit emmulation) when we ran out of money and had to get jobs, which slowed us to a crawl. Long story short, we should have sold what we had as a development platform for other game writers instead of trying to do it all ourselves. That might have earned us the money we needed to keep going, but instead we burned out. So it goes.
Didn't the next president of the US say if you can't afford it, you shouldn't start a business and she can't be responsible for every undercapitalized business out there?
Doesn't bode well for future of small business.
Give Fauxcohantas Warren a call, see what she can do for ya! LOL
Fauxcohantas
very good!
The only thing that is KILLING small business investment today is the LACK of young people who know ANYTHING about RELIABILITY.
Those other things are just BULLSHIT shmoke and mirrors for people who haven't developed the ability to Get The Job Done Right, Every Time, On Time.
I too had a small furniture business that I had to shut down a couple of years back. I'll second everything this guy said and add a couple of more.
Fire department & inspectors...completely true. Same thing happened to me. In addition, I wanted to have a parking lot sale and set up some tents (nothing big, just some 10x10 to keep people a little cool in the SoCal heat). Fire department charged me a $300 permit fee.
Guy didn't mention Work Comp insurance, but that was the real killer. In one year the premiums trippled. No claims, no change in business, they just raised the premiums with no explanation, or justification. When I asked, they simply said "that's just the way it is."
Min wage. I had to pay my entry level clerks/stock people an effective rate of over $10/hr, even though some couldn't even do basic math and figure out what a 15% discount was (even though they were in their 2 or 3rd year of college).
Had to pay an annual $500 mattress manufacture fee, even though I didn't manufacture anything.
There was other stuff, but what's the point of going into it. The real point is that traditional small businesses don't stand a chance. Unless you're an APP developer, or some such thing, might as well forget about it.
Hey business owners, a partial solution (I and others have used) is to use projected signs. Place whatever size of message you damn well please either from outside projection against a wall (yeah, only good at night), or, place translucent screens in windows and project a reverse image of your sign, uh message from the inside.
I looked into setting up a projection advertising business (like you said projected from the inside directly on your window) in the UK and guess what? Your not allowed to display them without planning permission from local councils for every single one at a cost of around £150 a time. Shame would have been a great business here.
Sorry dude, but get out of Sacramento. Your first mistake was starting up in Cali, especially Sacramento. As a small business owner I look at most of these points as nonsense.
SBA loan? Why would you want one? The best businesses around have always bootstrapped. Through it they have figured out how to make more with less.
Advertising isn't cheap but is a necessary expense. Divert some revenue to it and make sure it is paying for itself attracting customers. Are ad companies suppose to give it away?
Merchant fees are a cost of doing business. Imagine not running cards in this day and age. More people run cards because it is conveniant. That same convenience brings them back to your store. In the scheme of things, merchant fees don't really account for all that much. Less than 10% of monthly card sales. Cheaper than bounced checks. You also write it off on your taxes.
The truth is taxes, taxes, and more taxes are the biggest problem. >30% of revenue goes to the feds, state and city.
Collapsing empire bureaucratic absurdities aside, these items are details of any California small business "cost of doing business".
The absolute number one and still reigning champion cause of small business problems is lack of sales. One reason you wouldn't want to park a big furniture truck in front of the store is you'd want that space open for paying customers' easy convenience.
The only real solution is just make enough money to pay off all these pesky rackets.
Here in the Chicago burbs, an owner was fined for parking in one of the two handicap spots when he left his wallet in the shop and had to run back in to get it. He was the only one in the parking lot, with 50 parking spaces... His lawyer told him to pay the fine and then go sell something.
Governments are starving and will take every nickel not nailed down. As of this week, Chicago had reset the yellow traffic lights to less time so the stop light camera enforcement racket would make more money, public safety and traffic engineering be damned. The scam was exposed via contract / racket investigations and the city now set the lights back to normal but it is not refunding any of the $7.7 million in fines it collected. That's the Chicago Way, Mayor Rahm-style.
A guy from my grammar school was a career truck driver for the city. Now he gets a $70K/year pension for life. Now THAT's sustainable when all the new jobs are paying $10/hour. LOL.
The problem with the "go ahead and confiscate my money, I'll make more" tactic, is that in the long run it quits working for strategic reasons. It is a fact of history that the Roman government taxed the Roman Empire into oblivion.
The politicos have got the guns and they've got the goons, and they want their palms greased NOW. And to hell with the long run.
I acknowledged we are the road to oblivion with the collapsing empire meme. Stayin' alive means managing during the prequel to the new dark ages and then managing during the actual darkness. I think the best course is to be the light and save what's worth saving.
Besides government interference and taxation, I would have to think that disparity between what a small business can get funding for (If they can get it at all) and what a public company gets funding for makes it hard for the small business to exist.
So much for America's growth engine. It hit the brick wall of fascism.
Anyone want to help me open a goodwill store? It'll be non profit 'cause we are training min wage ppl to punch a clock. Oh yeah. We can actually get paid by the hour for giving this training. All the inventory will be free. The donors can get liar chits for tax write off. And as directors we can take a small income...like 1-2 million a year. What to call it...how about "winkles - do good since 2014!" Just don't tell them who's doing good . capeche?
I find it very strange that "rent" was not in this list. I jumped through all of the hoops to open a toy store only to hit the mile-high brick wall of rent and have to run the operation out of my house. How can somebody run a _furniture_ store (that A would be expensive to ship and B impractical to store at home) and not be broadsided by rent? Is there more to the story, like parents bequeathing or financing the relevant property? Or is it just another pro-fascism hit piece intended for armchair businessmen who've never actually tried because the radio told them it was hard?
Some of the points aren't bad but others are questionable.
Deal weed and pay off the cops.
Problem solved.
Don't matter .... 'cause 'they didn't build that!' - The Kenyan
I was looking into a food service business for my wife, who has a real gift in the kitchen. To register the business is cheap, $45. Then there is the State required course in food handling. If you want to prepare food in-house, the Board of Health has the right to come knocking on the door to inspect the kitchen 24 hours a day, so it's better to rent a small place out of the house. There goes the small profit from food service, unless you have 25 employees and a lot of catering.
I might add: Land of the Free, if you can afford it (are there any educators out there who can tell me if that was a double-negative?).
Dont' matter, ''cause business don't create no jobs!' - The Arkansaw Lezbo
Hey man, go easy on her. She was flat broke when they left the White house. She should have lied and told the gov that she was an illegal immigrant so she could qualify for all the FSA stuff.
whatacunt!
Federal income taxes
State income taxes
Federal withholding taxes
State withholding taxes
Some cities, like NYC, also have both
Federal disability taxes
State disability taxes
Workman's compensation insurance (mandatory)
State unemployment insurance taxes
Liscenses (local and/or state)
Most small businesses require tax returns reported every 90 days, miss a form deadline or payment, you get hammered.
Texas. No fees, No overhead, no problems.
In Texas we do have franchise tax.
I guess I'm very fortunate.
My business is trading the always fair markets.
No joke, very hard out there for folks with small businesses.
Here's my rant . . .
I own a service business that is not bricks & mortar (a data base, a web page, and a shop) and sells specialty manufactured products in the USA and Canada. We sell a high profit product to high end customers. I also have an online store that sells another nitch specialty product that is different from my first line of business and unrelated, but also, high profit / low investment. My main line of business is a 4 billion dollar a year industry that is pretty bullet proof.
My Secrets:
* Have a nitch product and a nitch audience in something that can't be duplicated by cheap labor. High shipping costs protect me from competition overseas and a lack of overhead (I have no business rent, no mortgages, no real overhead costs). Our tools are all paid for. Like Nucur steel, we can just shut down and are idle for weeks when work is slow. With one job taking just two days, we can earn a month's pay. If they could make my widget cheaper, the shipping cost would kill them. Our product is quality and we know our customer base inside and out. I can sell all over the US and Canada. My competition is all dying because they are old school; keeping employees and all these associated costs. The internet is the great equalizer, because instead of selling in my region, I can sell all over north America. Also, their products suck. They aren't willing to change and improve; still selling 1960's crap or one-size-fits-all. We've been perfecting our product for 20 years.
* We buy equipment if it will save time and money and increase productivity.
* I have no employees except immediate family
* I use my wife's health care from her company to cover me
* Never go into debt to buy business items unless it pays for itself immediately.
* Be cheap cheap cheap.
* My office is home based.
* My shop equipment could be carted off on a truck trailer and moved to another location in a matter of hours - ultra compact and flexible.
* I use PayPal with my online store. They have improved over the years, but we take checks, money orders, cash locally, Chase QuickPay, and all debit and credit cards. It's a necessary evil.
* We use the cheapest web hosting and web services for the best up time reliability. Costs my less then $100 to host my site (per year).
* Use internet advertising with Google and Bing + free advertising on the web, a good web site, word of mouth, and some social media like pinterest, and specialty web sites that relate to what you do, etc. Facebook is a waste of time.
* Network with other businesses and trade ideas and stories with other business owners.
* I worked for a fortune 500 company for years and years and hated them. Disgusting bastards. Never again. Went into business for myself in a field I love and know quite a bit about. Sales have steadily increased year after year.
* Don't get too big. Just grow the business enough to survive and have time for your self and family.
* Have multiple income streams. We manufacture a good, we provide a service for people who use that good, and we sell and unrelated item online that seems to be immune from the up and downs of the market because it's an emotional / collectable / nostalgia nature. It's a cash cow. $100 investment nets $1,500 a month for about 4 hours work a week.
Heck no I won't share it. Get your own cash cow.
I also do other service work for my customer base, because they kept asking me to do these extra things, so hey, why not.
My brother is a hvac guy and fired all his employees two years ago. Too much trouble. He just keeps it simple and harvests the cash out of the back of his truck. Same attitude.
I takes about 3 years to get your business to the point where it is paying you your old salary at the paycheck job.
How did I make this step with out all the fear and worries?
My corporate job was so bad I was having heart skips and anxiety attacks. The stress of the job, was worse then the stress of not having the job. Having no debts of any kind, made it do-able.
Start up money?
Well, what if you traded out your 401K money, took the tax hit, bought silver at $8 and sold it at $36.
That's what I did. You have to have a cash pool for slow times and working capital to buy need things or material if need be. We have great credit though, and have never had problem getting money on the short term.
It warms my heart to read online how my old company is cratering in a pit of misery and filth. It especially touched me when I learned my old boss was divorced after he was arrested for embezzlement and theft. Playing the horses will do that.
Don't miss it a bit!
So basically you and yours show a contempt for employees with a "screw you, I've got mine" approach.
Then you wonder why you're being targeted.
If this is what you got out of this.............seriously............fuck. there's nothing else to say...................is there.
I'm not being targeted. I have no competition. I am so specialized, that I have no competition. My competition is clueless as I steal all, 100% market share from them.
@ shitstorm,
You little twats have made it impossible to do biz legitimately.
Biz is evil and "selfish" remember?
Looks to me like a lot of little twat liberals like yourself are being a bit too "selfish" by trying to get out of obamacare.
Pay up fucker.
bless you, your business sounds exactly like my cousins, unfortunately he was expanding right at the 2007 credit crunch. its all a matter of timing. and he was 65 at the time and did not have the time or energy to rebound. you think you have a must have product. you dont, you think there is no competition there is. but if you keep most of your profits in your mattress, you will survive. the day of building the corporate giant from scratch is over, those things are done by bankers. zuckerberg is a sock puppet for the bankers.when the bankers fall the rest will go with it.
No, I own my nitch. I have no competition. It is so specialized with both my businesses.
Niche nitchy-
Ignore any of the jealous comments, good on yer mate.
Hi-tech, brain-power and imagination are what will save American industry, but only by small groups of committed people.
But it is also clear, the sysetm does not want to encourage you to grow your business.
50 years ago, you would have had the freedom and confidence to double in size every 6 onths, and end up becoming a Mr DEC, or a Mr Sun, or a Mr Hewlett or Packard, or a Mr Bernoulli, or a Mr Seagate. Nowadays, the only reason you would go for that growth would be so you could pull your money out as soon as the idiot investors could be sucked in.
There is no way us small business can employ any staff these days. I now have 5 separate businesses (all determinedly loss-making of course) to keep below key thresholds.
Just you and your family members run everything. In other words, conditions dictate that, to be successful, you must avoid taking on employees. So much for employment growth.
Small business owner since 2000. Almost shut her down after 2008, but moved to a better location in 2010 and doing well. It helps to specialize and carry a better line of goods. A website helps a ton.
Still, every day brings a new set of problems to be dealt with from government, vendors and customers. Some days it feels like a constant fight, but then it subsides and things are good.
By selling repeat items, putting things on sale and emailing customers allows us to drive demand at will, evening out sale numbers.
We don't have kids or a lot of debt. Getting and keeping good help is a challenge, but when everything works as it should, there is a high amount of satisfaction.
Our contention at the outset was we'd be fine if we weren't drunk, lazy or stupid. But you must advertise and be adequately capitalized.
That's what I’m doing, moving the fuck out of this asshole state. My transportation is a hoopty Dodge CTD with 250K on it. My "commute" is 1/3rd of a mile down a state road to my shop. For the privilege of parking my hoopty in my driveway and walking to work I get to pay about $350 a year in property tax for my motor vehicle. To register it, and re register it, and re re register it, and re re re register it for the last 15 fucking years is $275 every two years. Same fucking vehicle, same fucking peeling paint, and I need to fucking re re re re re re register it add infinitum.
Then, the scam of all scams, Emissions testing. They only check for opacity on a diesel, so unless it's huffing like a military smoke bomb, it passes with flying colors, another $40.
All this to walk to work and park my truck in my driveway.
credit unions should be allowed to write SB loans, but the banks hate them, the banks own the Congress, so you aint getting no laws that would help you. around here the food truck business seems like a going concern, for a while they couldnt figure out how to regulate them. the other business is microbreweries, which as i have posted before, are sometimes fronts for laundering drug money or is everyone that crazy for a $5 glass of beer? drugs are huge part of the real economy, nuff said. i suppose you could beat the healthcare problem by hiring only people on medicare, or even medicaid, i am not sure how that works, i know obamacare is a freebie to HC companies who collect the premium then dump you on the state when the bill comes due. my cousin has a niche business ten years ago, making lubricant for semiconducter wafer saws. his was the best he said, but every time his competitor went out of business they dumped their stock cheap, and the companies saw it as more cost effective to use inferior products. then he couldn't get a loan to buy raw product to fill his orders, or they wanted 22%, so he refid his house and used that money. he did went bankrupt and lost the house. so keep your personal finances separate i guess is the moral of the story. and if you can operate in an unincorporated area so much the better. basically wall street doesnt want you starting up a business and giving their corporate franchises competition, and wall st owns Congress, or the banks own Wall st. bill gates started microsoft in a garage, no way hes going to let you do that.
Forward, Soviet Bit-Chez!
We cannot fulfill the Dreams of His Father until all small bidness is DOA.
Get with the program, Comradz!
Get that EBT and Obola Phone Today!
you need to sell something to the government or you're screwed
Cheat or fail. Simple.
Bankers and politicians have known that for centuries.
.
The real reason small business is getting whacked is the Gubment's brutal mugging of the productive on behalf of the unproductive! The TBTF corps at least have representation in the cesspool D.C........but not the small businessman. We just get the high hard one......with no "Thank You" I might add.
walmart and co. are not stupid. they own. they own big time. walmart and others exist to put owners out of business, and they ARE supported.
It is NOT funny. It IS disgusting. It is ODIOUS. It IS. Fuk. And it is not just in USA.
First world problems.
The Small Business keepers in Detroit or Ferguson pay taxes and get no protection from anything.
I was in a new restaurant in Augusta GA Wed night (Craft & Vine - fabulous, you think you're in a hip tapas joint from NYC). They had their likker licenses posted, and their annual fee???
$5200. Wow. And GA is a low tax state????
Not to defend her, but maybe she unintentionally revealed a bit of her mindset - she is acknowledging that government has strangled business to the point that no business can create jobs without government cooperation. And government cooperation is gained only by paying off the politicians.
This thread is spot-on and dead flat honest. The best way to profit from small business is to invest in Office Depot or go to "work" (LMAO) for the extortionist gov't. We need freedom. Real freedom. To build businesses, families and homes. And we aint got it. Not by a country mile.
Very telling... 9 pages (so far) of comments on zerohedge; the majority from persons that own or had owned small businesses telling their stories of how costly/hair-pulling it is to comply with local/state/federal rules and regulations; competing with "Big Business" or trying to get financial help from banks or the SBA.
I've heard that that it does not even cross the mind's of young adults fresh out of school to start their own business. Fifty years ago it was something that many persued. Sad state of affairs.
Mostly today's brick and mortar businesses simply serve as showrooms for shoppers who want to see and compare the actual items they are considering purchasing, then go online to find the lowest price they can get, then buy from online sellers who do not have the overhead that the small brick and mortar business man has.
This "showroom" shopper mentality is killing even large brick&mortar businesses.
Then there was West Marine who were willing to price match any online price you printed and showed them. They soon stoped that though and raised their prices so I didn't even bother with them any more. Now for some odd reason they seem to have dropped prices and are starting to undercut online sales.
I have been following this thread all day off and on and there have been some great points made. I think the article was incomplete on purpose to get us discussing the issue which obviously we have. I have to add a very important point which may or may not have been made already. I apologize if I missed it the first time but is worth mentioning again.
One of my personal peaves to fuck small business are my old "buddies" over at the Department of Transportation. They are part of the Federal Motor Carrrier Safety Adminstration. Yeah, I am feeling a rant coming on and am trying not to go into " HULK SMASH" mode here. Everyone has to deal with these parasites in one way or another.
If you are just driving a private car down the road you would probably not notice this but as soon as you put your company's logo on the side of your truck or whatever vehicle, you become a commercial vehicle regardless of how big or small that truck is. Your company logo is as good as a flashing beacon target for the cops and specifically, the commercial vehicle inspection unit. Essentially, when you advertise on the side of your truck you are asking the cops to pull you over.
Why should you care? Allow me to explain, because most people assume (and note the word assume used in this instance), this it for the public safety. People assume that it helps them be more safe and therefore it must be a good thing. They assume that it applies to commercial trucking, i.e. your 18 wheeler tractor trailer types of vehicles. Those laws are not meant for that purpose any longer. When is the last time you saw a Wal-Mart 53 foot tractor getting a DOT inspection? I have never seen that happen. Yet with my small company that I work with we get DOT'd all of the time and for no reason.
The biggest trucks we drive are one tons. Just regular trucks like many of you drive. Yes, we might drag a trailer around when we need to for a job. We are not a commercial logistics outfit. It is such a waste of time when an employee gets pulled over and has to go through all of the bullshit that ensues with a DOT anal inspection. It does not even matter if you have paid the bribe to the DOT and have your sticker in the window AND had the truck inspected. It's just like Nazi Germany and they waste at least an hour tearing the truck apart. We have our tools strapped down redundantly with real straps and it won't move or shift. Meanwhile, while you are standing there, Joe homeowner goes rolling by with sparks and shit flying off his trailer because the chains are dragging on the pavement because he never hooked them up... that is not a safety issue?
These DOT assholes WILL find something to fine you for such as the ubiquitious "Unsecured Load". In two cases that I know of, one was a shovel in the back of a pickup truck. Just a regular shovel in a regular pickup truck box. You must understand that you can not do anything so brazen as to have a shovel in the back of your pickup truck in the Upper Midwest because it apparently poses a threat to humanity. The other all time classic was the DOT officer who stopped the truck pulling the skidsteer and proceeded to pick some dirt out of the treads of the skidsteer tires and called that an "Unsecured Load". Fines in both cases. You can can fight it if you want and we did but still you are wasting time and other resources. What else could we have been doing instead of going to court?
But my all time favorite HAS to be safety gas cans used for filling small engines. I have done the fire extinguisher dance before but perhaps there is a connection between the two. Remember the days when you could buy a 2.5 gallon gas can and it came with spout and you could flip it around, put it into the gas can, tighten it down and it would not leak? There was a rubber O-ring there and it had a vent on the other side of the top of the gas can so you would just loosen that a bit but not take it off all the way. I hate to break the bad news to the "safety experts" but gas cans need to breath.
Stupidity all started rolling downhill with those metal safety cans with the heavy spring lid that sealed way to tight. You are creating a pressured container filled with gasoline if the temperature warms up. Open that lid and gasoline would spray everywhere. That was the "safety" feature I guess. Right. Now the .gov experts figured out that this was not such a good idea so of course they had to make it even worse. Now we have the Rubiks cube safety gas can where you can put gasoline and oil but good luck getting it out UNLESS you want gasoline spilled all over your hands and all over the ground and not get much in the gas tank you were trying to fill. I ran out of gas one day because some jerk took my can out of my truck without telling me and I had buy to one of those plastic peices of shit; they are expensive as hell.($15 for a 2 gallon can) Fine, I guess. Another shitty gas can but this one is brand new so I sat and tried to figure out to make it work the correct way. I ended up breaking the cheap plastic lock ring before I even put any gas in the can! The damned can was never going to work because it was not designed to work. I am out in the field and I don't have time to make modificatons. I should not have to worry about this sort of bullshit.
I thought to myself that perhaps my in field modification will make the gas can work the way it is supposed to. No. Gas spilled all over the fucking place anyway. Now, not only are you wasting money on gasoline, but you really ARE creating a fire hazard and opening yourself up to the cops. How am I supposed to explain away to our customer that I did not really mean to start a fire in their parking lot should a spark occur from any source.
People do not realize how all of this so-called "safety" drives up costs for them. The DOT is out of control but won't mess with anyone who is a big donor to the one political party. All we see from a small business perspective are fines, fees and penalties.
I think we have ourselves a new business idea and I will call it Redneck Plastic Container LLC. That is all we can do for now and can you imagine the marketing angle we could take?
I'm right there with you about those fucking gas cans.... Which .gov genius decided that the safest design is a spout that you have to push the spring loaded valve down against the rim of the tank opening to get fuel to flow. It flows all over the fucking place. Half in the tank, half all over a hot engine....
Speak it brother. It is like they want us to self-immolate.
Maybe those cans have been designed to save the environment like the damn EGR filters on diesel engines. Under the guise of saving the environment they have sabotaged fuel milage and the engines themselves. 30,000 fine by the EPA IF you get caught removing them.
I'm 100% with you on those fucking gas cans. The "design" seems to change every week cause every time I'm in walmart I go check out the latest idiot design to see it it's worth buying after I have defeated the stupidity of the design by cutting or removing something. I thought the newest one was passable until the damn thing soaked my hands trying to close the thing back up again. Now it looks like I'll have to cut off and remove all that stupid spring loaded shit. If you already tried that let me know how it worked.
Well, you can break off the non-essentials to a point where you simply have a spout and then drill a small breather hole on the other side of the gas can. You can plug that hole with a golf tee and that works well.(just do not get any plastic tailing in the can so drill it upside down) That would work for around the house sort of application but once you modify it like that is not DOT certified any longer. If you are just doing it for yourself and you are sick of spilling gas add a viton rubber O-ring to where you screw the spout on to the can so that it seals the inside between the the cap and the can. You can add extra hose for a nozzle if you want depending on your application.
No one should really have to go through all of this just to mow their lawn or do whatever. What was wrong with the plastic gas cans we had before?
Your going out of business because you have discovered spell check yet.
There, satisfied dumb-ass?
Oh, and check your grammar shitbag. LOL.
Your should be you're.
Have should be haven't.
it's "you're" , smart ass!
I suspect you mean to say "YOU'RE going out of business because you have NOT discovered spell check yet." I recommend some grammar training. Or some proof reading.
We should send this thread to the walking / talking human anus called Hillary. "Government creates jobs" my ass, you CUNT. I hate that word but it fits.
Can we name the next STD after her? I think in a past life she was a tapeworm, next prolly some kind of fungus.
I'm in Philippines and there is free market capitalism everywhere.
Streets are absolutely alive and vibrant because there is no obsession here to regulate and enforce everyday life. But none of this would be tolerated in the USA because of Byzantine regulation of everyday life and special interests killing competition from small business.
gwar5, I hear ya. The Philippines government does not have the INFRASTRUCTURE to tap into the aorta of every micro business over there.
You Filipino's do not understand the power of "the web" yet.
I've been horsing around with some friends over there for the last 5 years. I’m a pig farmer. No shit. I bought a female piglet for $275. I had friends breed it. For my $275 investment 18 months ago I got full ROI and profited $900 so far. That little fukker and it's daughters are cranking out little piggies which I sell for a tidy profit.
That's just one pig. A cool by-product is now the mini piggery is 100% supporting a family.
You guys and gals there are on the cusp of some good times.
POLL: Upvote if you blame Goverment for stifling small business
OR Downvote if you blame adaptability of the business owners.
Do ya think the government would be upset if I built my own nuclear power plant in a shed at the back of my property next to the stream that runs by?
Yes, they would. It has been done.
David Hahn
http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html
Fk the US. Let's get this show on the fkn road. Unfort we all know that's not going to happen. It's already too late. And by the time we do break out the pitchforks we'll be in no condition to do anything when we're looking like a bunch of ethiopians.
Small business, big shit!
Small business, big business!
Depends on the country you are.
hehe.
In a country where money circulates in people's pockets and not to the credit or debit card, small business or trades are a big deal, you can get rich.
hehe.
Yeah, but did he know in advance that the system was built to fuck him over? Chances are he did not. I was once a dumbass, I started a biz in 2004, it has taxed me more than fed me, and let me know more than anytihng else that I am the enemy of the state.
Does anyone here know exactly where Galt's Gulch is? I'm ready.
A case for corporate sponsorship for local areas through debt forgiveness. A thought exercise.
Costs of doing business include externalities such as instabilities fueled by pressures of growing inequalities of capital, such as civil or other warfare, striking and protests, crime, etc. One way that the vested interests could protect their vested interests could be by the formation of corporate "states" which include their own defense forces. Or the vested interests could come to be brought to see that the causes of such instabilities come in part from income and wealth inequality and the high levels of indebtedness prevalent in the lower wealth percentiles, including large portions of the population with negative real wealth. Increasing levels of indebtedness across a large percentage of the population to fuel growth is obviously unsustainable as a larger and larger share of income is co-opted to pay debt service. By forgiving debt at a local level, debt that in most cases would be owed to the high wealth individual or corporation itself, or else debt obligations that could be purchased on an open market, the high wealth individual or corporation could in effect create an area with a higher average wealth, which would be lower in the instabilities present in low (or negative) net wealth areas. Without anything in the way of my own research, mathematical models or fancy thinking on the matter I can only surmise that a local population suddenly without a large debt service subtracted from their income might actually manage to increase their own productivity and economic growth. Thus the sponsor can create an area of safety not through the employment of mercenary security experts, but by raising the prosperity of a local area.
Lawmakers need to make it so anti-trust law can go after those that get an unfair competitive edge in high regulatory climates and allow the lobby heavy companies and said law to be challenged.
Of course lawmakers benefit from crony crapitalism, so I'm just farting in the wind here, but it is an area that needs revising in monopoly law. I admire wal-mart to a degree and I consider myself business friendly, but seeing the self-protection advantage big companies can buy themselves is disgusting. So much wealth that used to be in the heartland is being funneled to behemoth corporations that continue to buy advantages for themselves. They don't need to do price manipulations anymore, all they need is a wink and prod of lawmakers. They have law created monopolies. Upstarts cannot simply just start up anymore or grow without a legion of lawyers and accountants to doublecheck their every move.
I understand that it's hard to stay afloat running an honest business in The States. In Italy it's even worse:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304898704577478111174204768
link to free article here:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=review%20%26%20outlook:%20employmen...
USA is becoming just like Russia, Japan, South Korea and other countries; only large companies will rule and small companies will be gone the way of the ghost.
Sad but reality and this is the free market that everyone wants. In a free market, big business will rule all.
Zaibatsu!!
Dont forget sales, income, property taxes, self employment, taxes, Obamadontcare med tax, emploment tax insurance and certainly the Enviromental Protectiin Agency and OSHA are going to want their dibs. The gov will so strangle the biz that the crabby wife will want a big chunk during the divorce. And add in the cost of losing a discrimination lawsuit for not hiring the black transexual lady or man.
Maybe this person's business is failing because he can't put a correct fucking sentence together.
Trelo
Maybe this person's business is failing because it has nothing to do with his writing skills. It takes all sorts to make a successful business.He might be the best craftsman in Sacramento.
Dubya made it all the way to the Presidency without be able to put a correct ......
The only small businesses making money today ('legally') are those with Gummint or Gummint-funded banking sector as clients.
I don't see anything here about $34/sqft for retail space, courtesy of the commercial real estate bubble inflated by the Fed.
I work for a large business designing high voltage substations. I'm well paid but the whole priority of what they're doing has changed. Before it was important to get the systems up and working very reliably since this is the electric grid we're talking about here. Now we seem to be governed by a bunch of Wall street financiers who want it all at the bare minimum cost regardless of whether it even works or not. Each one of these systems is unique in one or many ways and when the cost over runs occur, which they always do, then the battle starts to see who will absorb the exceeded costs since the jobs were bid so low to begin with. The result: Things just don't get done because no one is willing to risk their livelihood by cutting corners.
I worked before for a larger Utility and those guys are really screwed. The engineers there don't have time to design anything any more. All their time is spent on .gov compliance: NERC, FERC, State agencies, OSHA. For some small violation like a missing equipment calibration report, those Utilities pay millions in fines. You really can't even fucking believe how ridiculous things are now. .Gov is hiring all the engineers becuase they know where the Utility weak spots are and where to pursue fines.
70 thousand a year from a pension for a fuckin' city truck driver? how is that even possible?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQzVrfFyWk
One of the main reasons why small businesses are disappearing is that there is a specific part of the chaotic masterplan that states- if you can get everyone working for the corporations, their hearts and minds will be yours.
The whole point of this 0.1% exercise is to get the masses into a position where they can't protest.
That means-
No cash, everything on a card which means everything in an account, which means everything taxable, which means fear of your card getting block
No job security, your job is only yours as long as someone allows youto have it
No bright future, you are working for your pension; low interest rates which means your savings cannot accrue
No fair price on land or gold, so no way to escape inflation
It would not be surprising to see many small businesses go tax-free, under the radar, working from home for cash and trade.
When I started my retail small business in the late 1970s there was little or no interference from government, credit was readily available, advertising cost were acceptable, health insurance was through your spouse, credit fees were minimal and the economy was poor. The main difference with today is the cost of adding employees. My first three employees did not have benefits and initial wages were low. I was not able to afford paying high wages and benefits for the first three years of business because of all the start up costs.
In year four my business boomed. Everybody who stuck with me got higher wages and benefits. I had to pay them or lose people who knew how a business ran efficiently. And those employees who share my risk and stuck with me got the rewards from the business prospering. We were able to have 12 more years where we all shared in the businesses growth. We would still be in business if big business had not a forced a show down with my niche small business.
Today’s government in contrast is a union that forces all small businesses to pay up from the beginning. This means today’s retail small businesses must have deep pockets to make it through their start up period. The main effect is retail small businesses now fail 96% of the time as opposed 90% in the late 1970’s. The secondary effect is retail small businesses cannot control costs in minor business slowdowns and are forced out of business.
This 6% increase in retail small business failures has cost America tens of millions of jobs. This includes the people in the small businesses and their long chain of support businesses. Just go to your local strip mall. In the late 1970’s another retail small business entrepreneur was waiting in the wings for their chance at success, Today most local strip malls have some vacant store fronts. And as big government demands more…more small retail businesses will fold and the American dream will die…
American dream? you have to be asleep to believe it...
i deer hunt with a nw suburban chicago cop. He has 7 weeks paid vacation after 21 years on the job. 7 weeks. Full pension after 25 years on the job. Average Chicago suburb patrolman with 5 years on the job makes over 75K a year. Think about that next time you are getting a ten over speeding ticket.
I had a flat tire on a semi deserted suburban road recently. A nice policeman stopped and watched as I changed my tire with his flashers on behind me. There was no shoulder so I was in a traffic lane. When I was done changing my tire he asked me for my ID. I said why. He said it is standard procedure. He had already asked me where I lived which was none of his business. I had a choice to make. Did I want to call my wife from lock up? Did I want to give him my drivers license,, let him run a background check and go home? I decided to give him my license.
We haven't lived in a free country in a number of years. I am guilty of looking the other way. If you own a home or property just stop paying your property taxes and see how free you are. If i had decided to protest with that cop he would have called for back up and that wouldn't have ended well. I think part of my 7 k a year in property taxes pays his salary. I recently had 4 tires replaced and was charge a govt "disposal" fee of 4.00 per tire. My cell phone bill has 2.90 cents a month city tax on it. Really? My cell phone bill?
It isn't going to stop. It will only grow. It is the nature of unchecked power. See the checks and balances of all level of government have become only checks. As in this is how much it will cost you,,, write me a check. I no longer recognize the country I grew up in.
I have owned small businesses in the past. Never again. I am semi off the radar. No details needed. And, is it paranoia if they are really watching us? Just checking,,, sorry for the rant,, good weekend to all,,, I have a buck hanging in the shed that needs skinning and cutting up. One more way to provide and I love venison,,,, sorry for the rant,,,,
You described the growing police state perfectly.
No you've officially burried yourself in piles of debt and misallocations to have any hope of starting a new business. The whole model is fucked up anyway. Most fail but with a loan from one of the money pushers (government included) you will be held responsible if the business fails which on record 95% of them do in the first year. You would think that the lending agencies that are responsible for these loans would get it. I mean what do they think, that the business owner doesn't want to succeed? Of course he does. His families livlihood depends on it. Even with the best planning this happens. So screw the people that think that failure is simply a matter of poor planning. Oh I suppose that you could buy one of the big heart attack franchises but well...you have to have a net worth of at least 500K so I guess that is out for 98% of the population. Just look at the last 25 years in Japan short of the Nikkei index which wasn't goosed as much as the Dow or S&P and you will see a reflection of what is in store for you when debt is not cleared properly.
I wish to hell I was wrong here because I love entrepreneurs. I am one. However your challenges keep getting more daunting every year and no it is not because the baby boomers have stopped spending it is because debt and leverage are still on the books. Cheers!
I went back and in looked in my notes and found another quote (author unknown) about small business I liked. “…small businesses are the beginning of the business food chain used to develop big businesses. Unless government provides the most conducive and open environment to build the business food chain, small growing to large, it will narrow economic growth in future years. The net effect of suppressing small business growth is to limit future GDP growth. This in turn will force government to supplement the economy to the amount of the lost small business growth…”
This quote says it all. The U.S. government today would rather support a welfare state than a business state. They believe the welfare state keeps them in power and they will sacrifice the American dream to keep that power…
You left off a lot of costs. How about rent? In 99% of big city locations you cannot work out of the house. $2,000 a month. Then insurance, you cannot get a lease without insurance. $500.00 a year. Then utilities. County permits. County and City personal property taxes. City permits. State licenses. Annual training. Sales taxes on the rent, phone, equipment, etc. Here is a good one for you. On Key Biscayne, Florida the fire department inspects businesses at 104 Crandon Blvd., but the building is in violation of everything. No sprinklers, no firewalls between suites, no fire resistant doors, etc. But the come and ask why you have six plugs in an outlet that only has to plug ins. Then they warn you about over loading a surge suppressor?
Only $2000 per month for rent? Try $5000+ on the very low end. No utilities or insurance. About the size of a Radio Shack (~800 sqft).
It really makes some of the crying over taxes look stupid. You must climb over that $60K+ rent bill in order to have any profit upon which to levy income taxes.
I may not get any sympathy, but even physicians are getting screwed.
Pasquotank County, NC is so desperate for tax revenue that they are trying to tax me for LEASED electronic medical records (EMR) software as PROPERTY tax. I understand that we are subjected to business property tax if we own a physical building, x-ray equipment, furniture, computer, copier, but TAX on LEASED EMR software?
The irony is that the former fat arrogant pig of a hospital administrator basically broke the hopsital by hiring physicians off the street, these two "competitors" in my specialty with a history of job hopping, for multiples of what I was capable of earning, which forced me to close my practice, but only after I had purchased a 6 year LEASE contract on NexGen electronic medical software for $65,000. (The government said my current system, which didn't have the abillity to enter the actual history, physical, medications and other private personals on a patient wasn't sufficient so I had to buy this new software or else get reimbursement cutbacks from Medicare.) One thing for sure: I did not want to buy/lease any new software!
A company called Key Equipment Corporation, a subsidiary of Key Bank, N.A, bought the EMR lease contract, probably thinking it was for medical equipment and has been paying Pasquotank County, NC property taxes, and is now trying to hit me up for the property taxes in addition to the usual sales taxes I still pay monthly on this software lease- for a product that I can't use because I had to close my practice.
Meanwhile, the hospital went broke paying for employed physicians, could not be sold, and now is being leased by Sentara, a big hospital company out of Virginia. The hospital is back to just one physician in my specialty-which was what I was trying to tell them for 16 years, and this physician may be doing even less than I was, but is getting paid far more than I ever earned in private practice. The town wouldn't support more than one physician in my specialty.
The former CEO was fired 6 months after I left when the hopsital board of trustees and the county commissioners finally figured out she had driven the hospital into a finacial black hole.
My accountant, who is also an attorney, says I should not reimburse KEY Equipment for property taxes they have paid to Pasquotank County for medical software which I merely lease. I pay property tax on the physical computers which are sitting idle. But KEY continues to harrass me weekly.
Is a property tax even legal? Tell the local tax man you don't have any personal property, only private property, and see what he says.
After reading this crap, I can't believe people still try to obey the law.
Hell, from day to day, I'm not sure what the law is.
Every contract I am supposed to sign contains the language, "just because some parts of this contract is/are illegal, doesn't invalidate the rest of the contract".
If you want a business, make friends with your local medication supplier. Offer to "clean" their proceeds.
"Small Biz" and "California" do not mix. AT ALL.
Nothing more needed to be said.
The place is run by idiot voters who won't vote for anyone not promising free shit and moral depravity.
Sorry, but you shudda oughta known better.
The only reason small businesses are becoming extinct is that they do not have the money power to buy off politicians and central bankers and get rules custom made for their own benefits. Any politician who is interested in working for the people does not find enough sponsors to fund him/her to get elected.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40231.html
It seems to me that a democracy where the majority realizes they can vote themselves other people's money via taxes, fees, and fines will naturally progress to socialism and then communism. I believe we hit socialism when the effective tax rate on earners goes over 55% and then communism when it gets to 75%. The beast needs to be fed and eventually the earners have so much taken from them that they need to capitulate to socialism to exist and then to communism.
I enjoyed this small opinion piece, it is very salt of the earth. If stories such as this were covered on the MSM on a regular basis it would have a huge impact on both blue team and red team drones. Nothing should piss anyone off more than a guy trying to be productive and create jobs only to be jackbooted in the face by a bunch of mafia regulatory clowns and government parasites.
I find myself in a state of complete revulsion when considering these fire extiquisher and generator enforcers. Is dignity a lost concept?
You realize what this is all about don't you? Big fat pensions/salaries for fireman, policemen, gov't workers at every level - they MUST be maintained and they will. They're like a CEO of a company and they decide how much they'd like to get paid. Buy stock in vaseline sez I.
No blame for the Muni Bond Salesman?
For shame on you........... LOL!
The parasites who make rape possible.
The truth hurts, doesn't it?
Blame the pusher or the addict.
Jail the pushers and treat the addicts.
2 words-the Tax Code-ok 3 words
...don't forget
Greens sneering at Democracy again in wake of Obama climate deal
If only we were more like China… Eric Worrall writes: The Guardian, a green British newspaper, has published yet another green sneer at democracy, with reference to the recent climate agreement between China and America
Nothing changes until K Street burns.
They would do all this for a pension. Never mind it cannot be paid to them. They missed that window. Yes my friends they are going feral. They got thier special rose colored tunnel vision glasses and aint gonna be asking no questions.
The thing about going feral is its predictable. It would not take much to get them to start eating each other. Thier own lies are the rope they should be hung with. Those very pensions go right to the hart of it all. Just sayin. Prove those pensions cannot be paid to them ever. Then things get interesting. The trick is in proving it to them, thay are rather blind,deaf and dumb.
The first mistake was opening a business in California.
Why would anyone, put all their money, and time, into a business, to have the gov, or corp., wipe them out?
Its better than getting paid to shoot people.
" Some might say oh that's not bad, but let me explain what that covers, NOTHING lol. Basically if something happens to me i have to shell out 6K before insurance gets involved. Also 100 dollar co pay every time i go."
Another complainer. Whiner. Ovary envy. Sore voter.
If you had ovaries, you'd be getting all kinds of free stuff.
Reason Small Businesses are disappearing is because of government.
There are too many codes, too many hoops, too many fees The only way you can meet this is through economy of scale and tax breaks. So big corporations park cash offshore, get tax breaks, transfer income to their dividends so they can pay 20 rather than 40% in taxes, small businesses have the same administrative costs which proportionally are much higher.
The businesses that are opening and thriving have low cost of entry. Unfortunately, as government gets bigger and bigger and everyone working for government, wants to keep their job, they just keep on making policies, rules, regulations and hoops as that's how they keep their job. So they make people wanting to be productive broke on administrative fees, hoops and taxes.
In our state, they are offering 10 year no taxes to new businesses, but no incentive for existing businesses to stay. I was at a meeting where this idiot (head of a State University) says to the small business owners, we can't afford to give this deal to existing businesses.
News flash to the University head, with businesses leaving this state by the train, bus, plane and car load, you cannot afford not to give businesses this break.