Depending on how you choose to run your business, this is either a short week, a week off, or one of the busiest weeks of the year, but I want you to know this: It’s a GREAT week.
Yes, I know our Uncle Sam does a lot of objectionable things, but the reality is, we live in a country that is filled with incredible opportunities to become successful.
Yes, there’s no doubt professional politicians fill the ranks, and superfluous laws make it seem harder and harder to carry on a profitable small business, but think about some of your other international options:
- Any of the EU countries? No thanks! If you look at the tax rates for businesses and personal income, you’d simply pass out. Seriously! In certain examples, up to 70% of income is simply gone to government coffers, and the volume of red tape to open a business, much less be profitable, is overwhelming.
- Eastern Europe? Ummm. Nope. The war in Ukraine, a decades-old threat from Russia, and a history of warfare decimating the infrastructure is a sure-fire losing bet for small businesses that have long-term goals.
- China? That’ll be a hard pass.
- How about Australia? On the surface, “Down Under” seems like a great idea, other than all the creepy-crawlies that can kill you in your front yard. In reality, the high minimum wage (over $20/hour), tax rates, and staffing issues have made it far harder than ever to run a profitable business…
- The African subcontinent? The biggest challenges in the many different countries and cultures of Africa can really be boiled down to infrastructure issues, and digging in to the facts of small business in Africa shows, again and again, graft, red tape, and civil unrest make it incredibly hard to build a successful and scalable small business.
As for me? I’ll take the United States every time. It’s not perfect, but it’s a LOT friendlier to small businesses than any other place in the world. So this week?
Celebrate that.
We don’t live in a perfect place, but we do live in a place that can be perfect for our business goals.
Enjoy the holiday and we’ll chat soon,
Sincerely,
