Deal 1

Madison Deal

Malcolm Campbell

UWRIT 1104

April 1, 2019

“Ka-ching: The Value of Small Businesses to the American Economy” Deleted: Do Small Businesses matter both Economically
and Personally to our society?¶
When you think of small businesses, do you automatically assume that they get to make Deleted: first

all of their rules or do you believe that they have laws and regulations they have to follow? I Deleted: rules
Deleted: I know that
always believed that they got to play by their own rules up until I decided on management being

my major. When I saying playing by their own rules, I am meaning I thought they got to decide

everything themselves, even from an economic stand point. That is not true though because

federal government has given small businesses more laws than I realized. When I sat back and

looked at the small businesses in my hometown, it opened up a lot of discussion questions to Deleted:
Deleted: within myself
analyze. I am someone who is very connected through small businesses because some of my

favorite places in my hometown are small businesses. For example, small businesses I love in

my hometown are my dance studio, small diners/restaurants, as well as ice cream places. It just

makes home feel like home because the people running these businesses chose to do something

they love. Small businesses are where I formed some of my favorite bonds with people. I have

worked for a small business since around 2012. The business was a dance studio and I got to see

for myself the impact that small businesses made on communities. I sit back and think about my

future because ever since I was a little girl. I have wanted to be an entrepreneur and a small Deleted: ,

business owner since I was a child. It seemed like a perfect fit for me. Even if that meant that Deleted: because getting to pursue my own career in a place
so dear to my heart seemed perfect.
having a small business was a side job to my day job, it has always been a goal of mine.

Questions started rising to the surface when I started deciding on this for my Topic Proposal. The
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main question I had is what initiatives or protection should be implemented to protect small

businesses from economic trouble? A lot of times businesses have a struggle with the startup but Deleted: cal

small businesses are important to different towns and cities because they create authentic

memories as well as tourism. It is a major point to think about how people take out loans and Deleted: Then I began
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grants to start businesses. How is our national government helping out people with these loans

and grants? Are they making it easier on them to pay them back or more complicated because of

regulations? I also then thought of things that entrepreneurs need to know before dropping their

livelihood to become an entrepreneur? What are some of the biggest mistakes made by new

business owners that could cost them money to fix or possibly get them in trouble? These are

questions that all started in my research and what I was going to explore throughout my topic. I

realized how much of an impact entrepreneurs and small businesses had on me so therefore

exploring different topics was very helpful. Overall my main inquiry question is “Does federal

government regulation take a negative impact or positive impact on small businesses?”

Research for this topic started off with the question of “what is a business plan for a Deleted: I started off my
Deleted: r
startup and why is it important to have one?” A business plan is what helps identify your goals,

start your firms resume, and precisely defines the overall impact of your business (Frequently

Asked Questions). Business plans look into the operational, marketing, and financial aspects of a Deleted: (SIU

business and give you an organized starting point (SIU). Business plans for startups help see

predictions for sales, profit, loss, cash flow etc. The government also gets records of all of these

things so therefore it is on file. It helps keep check to make sure the law is being followed

properly with what money is coming in and out of the business. The plan for a startup begins

with an abstract and has an appendix at the end of the plan (Frequently Asked Questions). The

government has a lot of laws that govern the operations of small businesses. Therefore, Deleted:
Deleted: rules about what can occur with small businesses
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organization is key. A business plan for a startup is the key way to start on the right foot

especially when it comes to what the national government needs for regulations. When starting a

business, you need a lot of Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Food and Drug Deleted: I had said before/knew before that when starting a
business,
Administration permits as well as many other permits. This is for safety, laws, and making sure Deleted: OSHA,
Deleted: FDA
the proper guidelines are being followed. Throughout starting a small business, many people are Deleted: .

affected…sometimes in a negative way…sometimes in a positive way. This meaning that

sometimes people put everything on the line to become an entrepreneur. Starting up a business

might mean that it was their entire livelihood at the time. Things like a business plan, following

the proper laws and predicting start up all put you on the right track to have what is hopefully a

positive impact. It is a scary thing to do because you never know where you are going to end up,

which is why it is important to have guidance and a structured plan. Guidance can be from

friends, other business owners, bigger cooperation’s, or anyone that knows how to please to

people to where you bring in a considerable amount of profit to be able to pay your government

funds. Not just taxes but to keep all your permits updated.

One example of how people are affected by this topic is the government shutdown Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5"

because this is something recent that has happened. This meaning that businesses that had major

contracts with the government were affected just like cooperation’s possibly were because they

are held to the same standard. That is something that has taken a negative effect on people’s

livelihood. People are affected with the government contracts of their small businesses because

of this. Overall small businesses can impact people’s lives in a positive way. Yes, there are

grants and loans you may have to take out but if your business starts to become successful,

paying these back is not a problem but it depends entirely on how much you borrowed, the

interest rates that were given, and the length of the loan as well as an abundance of other things
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(Frequently Asked Questions). Loans and Grants are important for people who have goals they Deleted: SIU

want to fill but no money to do it. It gives them a chance to borrow money, but in the end it is

still money they have to pay back which is why you need to have a partially successful startup.

You want to turn in some type of profit to start so therefore the loans can be paid back. Loans

and Grants benefits a lot of people because of major job security because it gives them money, Deleted: It

they do not have to find elsewhere to start employing people and creating a name for themselves

(Frequently Asked Questions). You want to be able to keep steady employees because it makes Deleted: (SIU

your business grow when familiar faces are there, so if you know have success when starting,

simple things like this allow you to have continuous success. However, 30% of businesses fail

within the first two years, 50% fail within the first five, and 66% fail within the first 10 years.

Which is why decisions like this are very important to make and know what you are getting into

money wise.

I have talked to many people throughout my time here at Charlotte about small Deleted: The information I have been finding out is all new
information to me because I did not put a lot of the pieces
together. I had a series of questions and when I began to
businesses and being an entrepreneur because it is something I hope to do in the future. My research it, I agreed a lot with the information I found out.

dance teacher has made a major impact on what I have thought about government regulation

with small businesses. I have seen how it has affected her business and the way she runs her Deleted: etc.

business. The way she goes about ordering things for her business, paying people, selling things

etc. are all impacted by regulations and rules. For example, when it comes to ordering things it

could possibly be a tax write off depending on what it is for. Also, when ordering things from

dance costume retailers, she has to have a certain permit for some of them just to order costumes

in large groups. I did not know a lot of the rules and regulations she had to follow because for the Deleted: .

longest time I thought she got to make her own rules. Going through this process there is a series

of questions that other people have brought forward to me. I have had questions like “What is the
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concept of your future business and will it be something that is still needed 20 years from now?”.

This question really got me into a deep thought about my topic because with government

shutdowns, regulations, federal associations, if I started a business would the supply and demand Deleted: etc.

effect always be there?... When thinking about this, it is a very contradicting question because

you do not know what the demand for things will be 10 years from now. You do not know this

because you do not know how different products will evolve and grow over the years. But

starting a business is all about risky choices because all it takes is one unique choice to set you

over the edge and put you in good standing profit wise. Supply and Demand is a risky side of a

business but also just something that comes along with you because you truly never know what

is going to be demanded by the world we live in year to year. I also got asked “Where would you

want to locate once you graduate?”, “What would your responsibilities encounter as a business

owner?”, this meaning would I hire people to do a lot of the responsibilities for me, or would I

take them on myself as the owner. These are all questions my dance teacher and I talked about Deleted: t

because of the experience she has had under her belt (Levan). President George W. Bush said in

a 2004 State of the Union address “Our agenda for jobs and growth must help small business

owners and employees with relief from needless federal regulation…”(Bush, Shane). Certain

federal regulations that are given take a negative toll on businesses. Tax code encounters Income

Tax, Estimated Tax, Employment Tax, and Excise Tax. Imagine if they did not have to pay all

this money back to the government, how different their numbers would be from profit and sales.

The government also gives Environmental Laws which might affect someone’s business plan

even if they are trying to help the environment not cause harm to it. Other regulations include

Mandatory Sick Leave, Government Contractor Pay, Overtime Rules, and Independent

Contractor Rules. These are things that it is easy for cooperation’s to understand but small
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businesses struggle is keep up with these things while still being successful. The government just

wants the money but does not mind if it is putting a business under. This is the statement that

started all of my exploring because if a president felt this way, then I am sure business owners

felt this way as well. Federal relief when it comes to decisions would allow them to possibly feel Deleted: and needed federal relief to be able to somehow
feel as if they are getting their own rules and regulations into
place…
as though they are getting to make their own decisions and truly be 100% confident in their

decisions.

Throughout seeing how things connect to my own personal life, experience and

knowledge, I started to do in depth research on the things I did not know when it comes to how Deleted: .

the government is attached to small businesses through laws and permits. Some people love Deleted: I did not know

government regulations of small businesses, and some do not. Both sides being small business

owners who enjoy the government regulation because it potentially helps keep them more

organized, and the small business owners who wish they could 100% make decisions for

themselves without taxes, overtime rules, permits, and a plethora of other laws. There are many

things that happen when the government has a hold on your business. Tax codes are a big thing

for small businesses (Wood). For example, excise tax, employment tax, contractor tax, and

property tax. There are a lot more details to the tax code of small businesses then just paying

them and getting them out of the way, sadly. You have to know which business taxes you have to

pay, when you are set up to pay them, and how to set up your business account for your taxes

(Wood). There are four different main taxes. There is income tax, estimated tax, employment Deleted: 4
Deleted: , which I did not know about.
tax, and excise tax. Income tax is a tax levied by the government just directed on income.

Estimated tax is the method used to pay tax on the income a business is receiving. Employment

tax is what you have to pay because you have employers under your business name, Last but not

least excise tax is any tax on a manufactured good. But other taxes fall under these four main
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categories. Taxes like property taxes and contractor taxes. Another major thing is Employment

and Labor Laws. There are different acts in place for things like this to allow workers to get fair

time, pay, and benefits. A few examples are OSHA, which is the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration which make sure that workers are in a proper, safe environment when working

for their job. FLSA stands for Fair Labor Standards Act which aims at keeping all labors treated Deleted: .

equally. EEOC stands for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and there are also many

others that businesses have to encounter when they are starting up. These laws protect workers’

wages and hours, workplace safety and health, equal opportunity, non-US citizen employees and

many other things (Wood). Another big thing is state licenses. Government laws allow a business Deleted: regulations

to know the proper guidelines to follow so that they are doing things the proper way to where

legal issues do not happen whether it involves unfair work treatment, wages, or environment

work conditions (Wood). Licenses can come from state and local government levels and Deleted: legal issues do not happen (

sometimes they have different requirements to where you need to get approved by both. But then

I continued to research and realized the headaches government regulations gave small business

owners. One big thing I found out that I never thought would have been a headache for small

business owners were overtime rules. An example of this is when a worker makes up to $55,440

a year they could possibly be eligible for overtime pay if they were proposed under the correct

rule (Hoover). A big thing that our world today is buzzing about is equal gender pay and race Deleted: now a days

pay. This is hard for small business owners because some do not have as many male workers as

female workers and vice versa and if you had the wrong person try to cause a problem with it,

then therefore the government regulation and worker protection laws could have a problem with

it and make it a big deal (Hoover). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wants to

require employers to report how much they pay their workers. They want it to be broken down
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by ethnicity and sex so therefore they can see comparison. Small business owners do not like this

type of government regulation because it can get them in unnecessary trouble just by small Deleted: caused

misunderstandings. But a lot of time these could be due to legitimate factors like training, Deleted: This data is said to often be misleading and cause
many pay disparities so this is a big down side to
government incentives and regulations.
management, and seniority (Hoover). The other big reason that sticks out is the limit on carbon

emissions by power plants. This is by far a case where small businesses feel a negative impact

because of the electric utilities they might need. The Environmental Protection Agency is what is Deleted: E

causing major companies to reduce their carbon emissions which takes a negative effect on the

small businesses who are open as much as corporate plants but do not require as much energy

(Hoover).

Overall all of the new information I found out really helped me explore a different side of

my topic. But talking to different small business owners at meetings etc., throughout my time

here at Charlotte and working at a small business has helped me see the actual impact it has Deleted: physical

people, cities, and small towns. The most persuasive thing I found out that made me believe

government regulation is double sided, is the evidence of the unnecessary drama it creates. But Deleted: bad

even in the unnecessary drama it has protected small businesses from unfair trade agreements of

larger businesses. Even though there can be a negative side to government regulation, with

having it, it allows small businesses to have a protection over them because of all the federal

laws they have to follow. For example, the ethnicity and sex law, because this can go many

different ways with as touchy as that subject is for our world in this day and time. Most people Deleted: now a days

do not like government regulations because there is no positive incentive because it just causes

harmful stress and a negative impact to any thriving business. Overall, I feel that if the small Deleted: dapper

business community continues to grow, then maybe one day they will be able to have their own

rules to where they feel less stressed and that their goal is being achieved. By own rules, I mean
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a choice on certain taxes and permits they want to keep up with. Certain times, they pay many

unnecessary taxes. Small changes will often lead to big changes if they just had a little more

freedom in their decisions. Even with something as small as taxes. I was excited about the

information I found out and I allowed myself to gain more knowledge about broad as well as

detailed topics for small businesses. Throughout starting this topic, opening my mind up with a

lot of questions was a smart way to get detailed information about my inquiry question because it

allowed room for both my personal side and factual side.

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Work Cited

Frequently Asked Questions., Small Business Development Center. SIU.” Small Business

Development Center, sbdc.siu.edu/frequently-asked-questions/.

Hoover, Kent. “10 Regulations That Give Small Business Owners the Worst

Headaches.” Bizjournals.com, The Business Journals, 28 Apr. 2016, 1:38,

www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2016/04/10-regulations-that-give-

small-business-owners-the.html

Shane, Scott. “Small Business's Problem With Government Regulation.” Small Business Trends,

27 July 2013, smallbiztrends.com/2011/01/small-business%E2%80%99s-problem-with-

government-regulation.html.

Wood, Meredith., “Government Regulations on Business: What You Need to

Know.” Fundera Ledger, Fundera, 14 Dec. 2018,

www.fundera.com/blog/government-regulations-on-business.