The resilience of our business owners – especially smaller operators – never ceases to amaze me.h
Think of what they’ve been through in the last two years. Lockdowns that closed many businesses, at least temporarily. On again, off again bans on indoor dining. Inflation that boosted materials costs. Chip shortages that stalled production of many items. Much lower sales but landlords who still expect full payment. Smash and grab robberies.
In recent months, supply chain disruptions have caused severe heartburn. According to a survey released last month from the National Federation of Independent Business, the small-business advocacy group, 47 percent of small-business owners – nearly half – said it is hurting them significantly. And 44 percent said it was getting worse, not better.
The labor shortage is the other big challenge lately for many smaller employers. Forty-seven percent reported job openings they could not fill, according to that NFIB survey. Staff shortages are not just an annoyance. Of those having problems, 37 percent say they are losing sales as a result.
Business operators used to say that surviving the Great Recession was the biggest management challenge of their lives. But that’s been blown away by the COVID era. The last two years will probably go down as the biggest challenge to managers in this century. (At least, let’s hope there’s nothing worse.)
To be sure, a lot of companies have folded up, and the crushed dreams of their proprietors must be acknowledged. But imagine if two years ago, someone would have spelled out what was ahead of us, we probably would have speculated that – what? – a third or maybe half of all small businesses would close. And while it is difficult to get a precise number of business failures over the last two years, it’s clearly not near those levels. Somehow, some way, most business operators have survived and moved forward.
I am amazed at how many businesses remain open. A few have never been better. And if you want to read about inspirational resilience, check out the profiles in the Black Entrepreneurs Month section in this issue.
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Hey, did you watch the Winter Olympics?
OK, neither did I. I read where the ratings were about half of what they were last time, but that seems way too high. I don’t know anyone who watched.
Some say the TV ratings are low because more people today watch snippets on TikTok and fewer sit in front of a television set. Maybe so. All I can say is that I am turned off by China – by its threats to invade Taiwan, its persecution of Uyghurs, its prevaricating over its role in possibly creating the coronavirus. And I am disgusted by American corporate sponsors, the International Olympic Committee and many athletes who snidely instruct us to look past all that stuff because the Chinese market is so big, so important, that we can’t dare upset the Chinese. So long as the sponsors, athletes and others are getting their pockets stuffed, they sure don’t want anyone mentioning anything about atrocities.
It was hard for me to watch because it was so hard to stomach.
Charles Crumpley is editor and publisher of the Business Journal. He can be reached at
