Many have asked what our Small Business Success School 2025 outlook is, and it’s rather different from what the media is putting out.

First, there’s a positive perceptual effect just by having Trump in the White House. You can feel it, just because of his public pronouncements. He’ll shake up the establishment faster than before, because he should have most of his cabinet secretaries and department heads confirmed by the time he takes office on January 20.

Second, we think the economy is going to be better than people think, just because of Trump. It was good before, and it will be again. His tax and spending cuts will be beneficial, as will his border and energy policies. There will be timing arguments about the tax cuts, but they will happen, so you can plan for them from January 1.

Third, regulatory impediments you faced over the last four years will be reduced or eliminated.

Therefore, all you small business owners who have been going around in a crouch for the last four years can straighten up and be proud. You’re again celebrated.

So, you should retool your marketing, sales, financial and organizational plans to go on the optimistic side. We think you should:

· Train all your sales and marketing personnel, because they all need to be working at the highest levels. Hire proven performers if the opportunity presents itself. You should look at entering markets you’d discarded for the last four years.

· Keep all the good performers and work on the subpar ones, because you’re going to need them. However, if an opportunity arises to hire a good performer (as evaluated in our Hiring Right the First Time), go for it. The people are out there, and there are a lot of them that are unhappy with their current jobs.

· We’ve noticed an uptick in people taking our Hire the Right Supervisor the First Time course, so if you’re going to promote, take that course, or have your designated supervisors take it. Bad supervision is still the major reason people quit.

· Make sure you’ve got enough financial capacity at your bank to handle increased receivables and production payables, if you produce something.

· The dollar might come down (as a result of government overspending, until Trump, Elon and Vivek get government spending under control), and export sales might increase. If you don’t export, look into it. Mexico and Canada are markets to relook. Tariffs might increase your raw material costs, if they come from China, so reexamine US production.

· Go join a peer support group, either locally or nationally through Zoom. It always helps to get feedback from your peer business owners. We just happen to have an affiliated company, The Solutions Forum, www.thesolutionsforum.com, that operates such groups.

John Heinrich Business Success School
John Heinrich

Expert in Business Plans and Customer Service