According to American Express’ latest Business Resilience Survey of 1,000 business owners by American Express, 98% plan to vote on Election Day. Economic recovery (48%) and pandemic management (45%) are among the issues of most importance to them, as well as small business stimulus (36%) and tax policy (33%).
Forbes checked in with six business owners from around the country to find out how they’ve been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and what they want from the outcome of the election. Here’s what they had to say.
Business: HalfSmoke
Owner: Andre McCain, founder and CEO
About: HalfSmoke is a fast-casual gastro pub serving up comfort food in Washington, D.C.
How The Pandemic Has Affected His Business: “HalfSmoke was forced to suspend indoor and outdoor dining operations and focus solely on delivery and takeout operations. This was an opportunity for us to focus on what customers are looking for, which led to creating Butter Me Up, a delivery-only pop-up inside HalfSmoke. In June, when in-person dining resumed, we did so with modifications to keep employees and customers safe. We were approved for a PPP loan, but know that many small businesses were not as lucky."
Why He’s Voting On Election Day: "My hope is that the next administration will bring more financial stimulus and capital for small businesses impacted by the pandemic in the next four years. While we are settling into this new normal, small businesses, and in particular the restaurant industry, still need a safety net to survive the next year, and it’s not going to happen without the help of the federal government."
Business: Care+Wear
Owner: Chaitenya Razdan, cofounder and CEO
About: New York City-based Care+Wear designs innovative, yet affordable, healthwear, including personal protective equipment.
How The Pandemic Has Affected His Business: “We have grown dramatically over the past few months and have been able to help over 50 hospital systems and governments procure PPE and keep their front line protected.”
Why He’s Voting On Election Day: “We have been successful in providing millions of units of PPE to several state and city governments. However, with the federal government, it has been hard to secure contracts without prior relationships, even in cases where it is being determined by cost and we seem to be the lowest bidder. There is a tremendous need for PPE and more traditional products. We would like to see more SMB liaisons involved in the procurement process able to help small businesses navigate the confusing procurement process. As we look to potentially develop our own factories and manufacturing, we would like to see support from the government to build out these factories and drive local jobs to help create products domestically long term.”
Business: Boll & Branch
Owner: Scott Tannen, founder and CEO
About: Boll & Branch is a sustainable, luxury bedding brand headquartered in Summit, New Jersey.
How The Pandemic Has Affected His Business: “We shifted production in our Florida and Ohio factories to make and donate nearly 8,000 hospital grade mattresses and pillows to emergency medical operations and homeless shelters. On the product side, we have seen incredible demand and growth of our business as the comfort economy took hold with people staying home. We’ve managed to continue to scale during the pandemic, with two new retail stores, an ultra-luxury new sheets line launch and new supply chains.”
Why He’s Voting On Election Day: “All small businesses can benefit from the government helping to facilitate growth. They should ensure that it is consistently advantageous for individuals and funds to invest in growth companies. All of this will enable entrepreneurs to build big businesses that can make a positive impact on their employees, communities and the world. At its core, entrepreneurship is the modern manifestation of the American Dream. Unfortunately, due to extremely tight regulations, venture capital has become one of the only real sources of funds for small business owners. SBA loans should be more readily available to entrepreneurs. Debt can be one of the best and most reasonably-priced sources of capital, but excessive regulations have made it very difficult for many to access.”
Business: Envious Lashes
Owner: Clementina Richardson, Founder
About: Envious Lashes operates eyelash and brow studios in New York City and Commack, New York.
How The Pandemic Has Affected Her Business: “We were closed for three months with no income. Now, the business is only operating at about 45% of pre-pandemic activity, due to a lot of business professionals working from home, fear of coronavirus and possible loss of income. We applied for and received a PPP loan. It wound up being more of a burden for us, as we had to spend 75% of the loan in eight weeks on our employees in order to be given forgiveness. We had paid out almost $80,000 in payroll, which was seen as an expense and caused our bottom line to look like we were operating at a loss, which cut us off from restructuring options through traditional banks. We had to utilize local SBA offices to get in touch with actual lending arms of the SBA, which required a lot more paperwork and time to finally get existing debt refinanced into lower interest debt. We also found that if you restructured into a SBA 7A loan by Sept 25th 2020, the SBA would pay your first 6 months Principal and interest on the loan. This information is not broadcasted to businesses and only those savvy enough would find this route.”
Why She’s Voting On Election Day: “Small businesses in hard hit areas with traditionally high rents such as NYC will need some form of rent relief on their leases. Whether it is some form of relief to landlords that can be passed on to the businesses or direct assistance to the business owners themselves. Also, low interest capital has to be available to businesses, as well.”
Business: Jump Ahead L3C
Owner: Deandre Jones, founder and CEO
About: Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jump Ahead L3C is a nonprofit organization that creates programs designed to keep youth and young adults off the streets.
How The Pandemic Has Affected His Business: “Covid-19 has made it tougher for us to receive merchandise and to raise capital to purchase a building to operate our organization structure. We did apply for a PPP loan, but we were not approved.”
Why He’s Voting On Election Day: “It’s tough for Black small business owners to get business banking loans and Covid-19 relief. It is also tougher for Black business owners to get support from people in Black communities. I would like to see Washington make sure more dollars get allocated to Black small business owners (at least 30%). Also, I’d also like to see more equitable, sustainable banking loans for Black people and people of color. When we do get banking loans it’s a higher interest rate, which runs us the risk of going into more debt from borrowing money from banks.”
Business: Adossi Consulting
Owner: Nancy Adossi, founder and principal officer
About: Adossi Consulting is a Houston-headquartered firm that provides research and management consulting services to businesses, nonprofits and governments.
How The Pandemic Has Affected Her Business: “Many of our previous partners have had to cut their budgets for the services we provide. Additionally, my consultants have not been able to travel to deliver services, which meant readjusting our budget to absorb video conferencing software. As an immigrant-founded, Black-owned, bootstrapped company, the pandemic has certainly hit our business twice as much.”
Why She’s Voting This Election Day: “We hope that the incoming administration would offer more protection, grant or loan programs for immigrant business owners. Many of the small businesses and restaurants that were open during the pandemic were owned and operated by first- and second-generation immigrants. Thus, we would like to see the incoming administration acknowledge the importance and benefit of immigrant-owned businesses in communities throughout the nation by offering more programs to help them absorb the costs caused by the pandemic.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maneetahuja/2020/11/03/what-small-business-owners-need-most-from-the-2020-election/?sh=394e9edf4e2f