The Politics of Small Businesses

If you think politics don’t matter to your small business you could be right or… you could be wrong.When could you be right?If you are running a crappy business….. you are right, politics don’t matter because you are not creating any value that can be a target for politicians.What’s a crappy business? It’s easy, the business owner is making less money running his/her biz than they could earn, doing the same work, employed by someone else.  Why is that a crappy business? Because they are not generating profits. Wages aren’t profits. I see people all the time who don’t understand this concept. A perfect example is a highly skilled machinist I met who owns a machine shop. His company is generating over $1,000,000 in revenue and his personal earnings are less than $50,000. He has workers in his shop who are making more than he is! He could probably make $80k working for someone else but he wants to be his own boss. And he wants it bad enough for him to keep working for a bad boss…himself!! In his case he is creating negative value (at a minimum he’s losing $30k per year in labor value!).  Back to Politics for those of you who run a good business (or at least hope to)!!If you are running a good business you better pay attention to politics and spend some money supporting those who are willing to fight for you.Politics effects EVERYTHING the business owner does day-to-day. Taxes get all the press but employment laws, environmental regulations, advertising, and many other things are the way they are because 51% of some elected body somewhere voted for it or won’t vote against it.Ok, how can you effect change? Although I’m a member of some of the usual business groups (Chamber of Commerce, NFIB, etc) I am a bigger believer in supporting actual candidates (even if they aren’t in your voting district).Start small, these folks have a way of moving up the power chain. Find a real live candidate you can support and support them!! If you help them, they can help you. Consider supporting a candidate who supports you in a tough race in another part of your state, if they win, you win.You may hate politics but if you are a business owner creating value…politics is no less important than advertising, marketing or operations.