I own a small business – the one you are reading – and have worked in many others over the course of my career. So I was, you can imagine, a little surprised to hear from President Obama about the major role government plays in making small businesses successful. Especially when I had understood from small business owners – thank you for correcting me, Mr. President – that government was mainly something that got in their way.
But maybe the president is correct! Maybe, just maybe, government does play a substantial role in the success of small businesses.
Since small business owners can now be presumed to be building their companies hand in hand with the government, well, I think there’s even more government can do. Because I think that’s what most small business owners want: A greater role for government in their businesses.
Because government cares.
But maybe it’s slacking a bit.
So I offer up the top ten additional things the government can do to help the owners out.
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1. Add hours to the day, preferably in the evening so small business owner can try out this “sleep” thing.
2. Provide a full time assistant to help small business owner comply with government regulations.
3. Get in touch with deadbeat clients to make them pay up.
4. Pay lenders and suppliers so that owner himself doesn’t become a deadbeat client.
5. Fire an employee so owner doesn’t have to suffer the guilt.
6. Make it right with unhappy customers.
7. Fix the thing that broke.
8. Invent a pill to improve business performance by making owner “smarter than everyone else.”
9. Work on Sunday instead of the small business owner.
10. Tell children that dad – or mom – will be able to play with them soon.
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Might you have any other suggestions?
Award winning journalist Keith Koffler has 16 years of experience covering Washington. As a reporter for CongressDaily, National Journal magazine, and Roll Call, Keith wrote primarily from the White House, covering three presidents and learning as few have the intricacies of the West Wing and the behavior and motivations of its occupants. While mainly stationed at the White House, he also extensively covered Congress and Washington’s lobbyists.
Keith has also written for a variety of other publications, including Politico, The Daily Caller, and The London Observer. He currently writes regular opinion columns for Politico. He blogs at whitehousedossier.com.
