It’s My Business^©

Many people are involved in telling a small business owner what he can and cannot do. The fact is that it is my business not theirs. They are not taking the risk of losing all the money I invested, borrowed, took out of savings, begged from my relatives, etc. I have the right to do anything that is legal that I need to make the business a success. Why am I supposed to live by rules decided by politicians that do not have to struggle with making a business profitable?

My business is small. I need all employees to be hard and competent workers. I do not hire a person with the idea that they will not be a good worker. My employees and I are a team. We all lose if the business is not profitable. I struggle with decisions that I will not know if it is a wise or poor decision until several months in the future. In some situations, it may be a year before I know if a decision was good.

It is not a good feeling to have to think about having to close up your business. I lose the money I have invested. Employees I have grown to like and trust will lose their jobs. I have customers I have worked with and tried to find ways that we can be successful. I owe organizations and maybe friends money that I have to repay even if my business goes out of business.

I provide my employees with the best salary and benefits that I can and still allow me to make money that I can reinvest into the business. I am the last person to be paid. Sometimes the money is not there when my check is to be written.

I have a good worker that is pregnant. I have got to find a way to find a person to perform her job while she is out having the baby. I do not have the money to hire another person to learn her job. What will I do if the replacement person is a good worker, and I can’t keep both employees after she returns from the maternity leave?

I think the business will benefit if I can upgrade some of the equipment and buy additional equipment. A bank will not lend me more money unless I can prove that the business will make enough money that will enable me to pay off the loan.

The politicians seem to not know anything about operating a business or just do not care. They make laws that have serious influences on small businesses. They often have more control of my business and the money I owe than I have.

I am typically at work a couple of hours before the doors are open to customers and after the doors are closed to the customers. I try to limit my work hours to twelve hours a day. I do have a family and children that need a Dad at home. Part of my day off is spent at work.

From time to time I hear an employee say, “That is not my job.” There are times I would like to make that statement. My job’s duties are to do whatever needs to be done if I want the business to be a success.

Dale “The Saint” Lee

A former resident of Pot Neck, Tennessee

Date last modified, September 8, 2010

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