Oh, the fun of owning a small business. You are your own boss. The captain of the ship. You are now enriching yourself instead of making someone else rich with your talents. It is the American dream! Right?
Small Business Owners and Their Sleepless Nights
Well, the concept of that is correct, but the reality of it is that being a small business owner can wreak havoc on the owner. You could rattle off hundreds of reasons why you just cannot calm your mind and relax. There is always pressure. Sometimes, you fondly look back on the days of just working your 40 hours and let others in the C-suite lose sleep. Now, it is all on your shoulders.
In their 2016 report, the National Federation of Independent Business asked the question, ‘What keeps you up at night?’ The answers were shocking, but very enlightening as to how small business owners see their own struggles. Out of 2831 responses, here are how the concerns ranked:
- Cost of healthcare
- Oppressive government regulation
- Federal income tax
- Uncertain economic conditions
- Complexity of the tax code
- Various federal government concerns
- Various state government concerns
- Various county government concerns
- Various city government concerns
- Finding qualified applicants
How Many Sleepless Nights Will I Incur?
So, there is your answer. It’s not cash flow. It’s not competition. Small business owners are concerned directly with issues that are directly controlled by the government. There is only one item out of the ten that is not controlled by the government.
After such a contentious election cycle, the debate remains whether there will be any relief to these issues. The fact is, small business and entrepreneurship drives the American economy, and it always has. Small business is looking to the government to ease some of their concerns. Americans are genuinely resilient and determined to find success. Wouldn’t it be great to have fewer issues to lose sleep over?