AULD LANG SYNE Here then is our list of resolutions for the Pressure Wash Industry in this New Year. #1. Resolution to get past the politics of the day. Small business confidence fell to an all-time low after the election of former Vice President Joseph Biden, according to a 4th quarter 2020 CNBC | SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey. In the survey, conducted Nov. 10 to Nov. 17 among more than 2,200 small business owners nationally, 53% of small business owners said they expect tax policy to have a negative impact on their business in the next 12 months, while 49% said government regulation will have a negative impact. By party affiliation, the divide was stark. Among Republicans, 75% said tax policy will be a negative and 72% said regulations will be a negative. Those numbers dropped to 15% (taxes) and 11% (regulations) among Democrats. Overall, the survey found 34% of small business owners saying Joe Biden will be good for small business, while 55% say he will be bad for small business. By party, 89% of Republican small business owners say Biden will be bad for business, while 86% of Democrats say he will be good for Main Street. No matter a change in regime in the nation’s capital, like it or not, our first New Year’s resolution is to get past it and focus on being successful no matter the political landscape. America is obviously very narrowly split politically, which means your customers are going to be a mix of 50/50 and your employees are going to be a mix of 50/50 as well. A change in the presidency could no doubt result in a drastic change economically as the dominant parties propose two very different economic systems. With the transition happening in January <strong>2021</strong>, the question becomes: how do you shape your business regardless of your political affiliations to take advantage and be successful regardless of who’s in charge? Consider the age-old tale of the optimist and the pessimist. In it, a university research team is said to have placed two little boys alone by themselves in very different environments to study the power of optimism and pessimism. Researchers put one boy in a room with all the latest toys, all the cool new gadgets, and everything that a little kid could ever want or hope for in a play room. Then, in the other room, they placed another boy, but in the middle of that room was just a six-foot-tall by 10-foot-wide pile of horse manure. After a while, researchers went to the room where the boy had all the toys he could possibly imagine, only to find him sitting in the middle of the room crying and upset. “Little boy,” they said, “why are you so miserable -- you’re in this room with all the toys, why are you so sad?” The boy responded “This is awesome but the more I think about, and the more things I play with that I could possibly break, I realize I could get in trouble with my mom and dad. So I’m afraid to touch anything and I’m just bummed because there’s toys here but there’s too big of a chance of me getting in trouble.” The researchers then went to the other room and found the other little boy screaming with joy and happily climbing over the top of the pile of manure. “Little boy,” they said. “You are in a room full of horse shit, why are you so happy?” And the little boy looked at them with a big smile on his face and said “Well, gosh, with all this horse crap in here, there’s bound to be a pony somewhere!” As a business owner, that’s how you have to look at political situations when they happen. If you’re a good business owner, you’re going to take assessment of any political, economic, or social changes, whatever they may be, and come up with a game plan from which you are going to win no matter what. Joe Biden’s record of business-related legislation in his four-plus decades in political office is minimal. But as food for thought on what could be forthcoming – and must be incorporated in to your game plan moving forward -- Lendio.com author Ben Glaser outlined Biden’s stated plans for small businesses in his administration. According to Glaser: Biden has pledged that he will institute a concerted federal response to the pandemic, as opposed to the patchwork of state policies preferred by the current administration. Sciencebacked policies like a public mask mandate are likely. Biden plans to order the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) “with setting and enforcing a rigorous emergency temporary standard so employers follow a clear set of rules to keep workers safe from COVID-19.” A Biden administration would also “create a ‘Safer for Shoppers’ program No matter a change in regime in the nation’s capital, like it or not, our first New Year’s resolution is to get past it and focus on being successful no matter the political landscape. that gives compliant businesses a sign for their window so shoppers know they have done what they can to minimize the risk of exposure.” Biden’s coronavirus plan also calls for financial relief efforts for small businesses. This includes a “‘restart package’ that provides small business owners support for retaining and rehiring workers and covering other costs of restarting in this challenging environment.” The campaign also supports “a temporary small business loan program designed to address unanticipated shortfalls in revenue by offering interest-free loans to small- and medium-sized businesses around the country through the duration of the crisis,” as well as federal funds for statelevel small business relief efforts. Additionally, the Biden campaign has emphasized stricter oversight of existing small business relief efforts like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to ensure that money is really going to small businesses. Biden has proposed reserving half of all future PPP funds for extra-small businesses (those with 50 employees or fewer). Biden has stated he would work to ban all but essential non-compete clauses in employment contracts, as well as no-poaching policies and mandatory arbitration clauses. Non-competes were originally used to keep high-paid executives from taking industry secrets to competitors. But in recent years, non-competes have become common even for entry-level positions and have been used to prevent large swaths of workers from taking better jobs. Biden also advocates the removal of burdensome licensing in certain industries. Under a Biden presidency, corporate tax rates would increase. President Trump lowered the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. Biden would repeal much, though not all, of this cut, increasing the rate to 28%. 24 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 3, NO. 1 | WINTER <strong>2021</strong>
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