The Impact on Small Business: Navigating Economic Challenges in Arizona

How are small businesses navigating the current economic landscape? On this episode of 'Around the Districts,' Gabrielle and Nicole explore the real-world impacts of economic policies on local enterprises. Learn how these changes affect spending patterns and what it means for our community. Engage with us, share your thoughts, and help us spotlight the voices that matter.

Check us out on Substack: https://aroundthedistricts.substack.com/p/the-impact-on-small-business

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
welcome back to the Around the District
podcast I'm Gabrielle Mazar I'm Nicole
Brown And today we're going to talk
about the impact that everything is
going on on small businesses Uh I myself
am a small business owner So I see
firsthand what's going on Uh and I hear
a lot about what's going on with the
small businesses around us I know I mean

(00:22):
I'm sure you hear a lot with especially
the ones in our district the blue
businesses that we hear about um our
friends and family members and just
people talking about what's going on You
know you have anything that people tell
you in particular yeah Customers stop
coming um coffee houses um general
stores people will not spend money on uh

(00:45):
what's not necessary If you know the
cost of living has gone up if inflation
has gone up there you know lots of
people are living check to check or
working two or three jobs They don't
have the money to spend on anything
extra even if it'll benefit them in some
kind of way Yeah Um and you see that in
our small businesses um in our community
What we're trying to do in LD12 is uh

(01:08):
really focus on small blue businesses
and spotlighting them because you know
we want to support the folks in our
community and we we can see and hear
that business have gone under because of
things like inflation right you know co
COVID people stopped going outside for
what a month or two yeah Recessions

(01:30):
Recessions which we're headed towards um
if things continue the way they are Yeah
there's a lot of things that affect it I
think these these the onag again
offagain tariffs I think
are I don't have products so products
don't necessarily affect me but the onag
again offagain I think it brings so much

(01:52):
uncertainty and I think you know
especially a lot of my clientele is is
retired or in within retirement age or
even in their 40s 50s and that is a big
deal because like you said with
discretionary income the first thing to

(02:12):
go is things that you don't necessarily
need So um I from what I have seen in my
personal business is not necessarily
people stop coming is that people spend
differently So instead of buying larger
packages people will just buy a a
one-time drop in or they will buy larger

(02:35):
packages when they usually buy smaller
packages because it's less per class Uh
or I see people kind of drop off is it's
just the buying patterns of what I
normally see of people because I really
watch that and I know how my clients
purchase all of them I know every single
one of them and I have about 500 clients

(02:57):
like recurring clients as of right now
So I I watch these patterns and I see
them and it I've just been seeing kind
of over the last two months how things
have just been shifting and it's it's
very interesting to me uh to watch this
and I I have uncertainty and kind of
this uneasy feeling uh of where is this

(03:20):
going to go and especially during I I
don't I don't see things happening like
they did during COVID because obviously
we're not going to get shut down but I
have this sort
of
um like you don't know what to do
There's a confusion because it's like
what's going to happen what are we doing

(03:41):
what choices do you make where do you
spend money where do you save money
because normally in business you have an
idea or a path or a goal You set your
goal your quarterly goals your yearly
goals But when things are shifting every
single day you're like "What am I doing
what do I do i have no idea." Because I

(04:02):
could make $20,000 this month I could
make 10 I could make 30 I could make 50
I have no idea because people are
shifting so much every single day So
I've been hearing a lot with other
owners too Where you don't have products
involved you still can see a drop in
your clientele right yes where those who

(04:23):
who have products they're selling right
they have to put that cost onto well
because onto their consumers because the
cost of of the product itself will go up
Shipping will go up and either they're
going to have to buy in bigger bulks or
smaller bulks or less cheap a more
cheaper I'm not saying that right but a
cheaper product Um and and we we're

(04:45):
hearing that too you know like coffee
shops you know uh fast food restaurants
things to that sort where people are um
you know they they have to especially
Yeah They have to put that cost onto the
customer like eggs right remember when
the eggs went up to like $7 or more you
know for 12 a dozen eggs or whatever

(05:06):
is that kind of thing on steroids right
now because of who you know this con man
who considered himself a business man
who went bankrupt six times and people
thought he was going to do us a justice
to be clear that's not a good thing it
means you're not doing well but you know
what do I know but if you have to file
bankruptcy times let's just that means

(05:27):
the taxpayers bailed you out right
that's what that means and let's just
let's just say this so let's say you're
a clothing company that prints screen
prints clothing right and you get all of
your product from China Now if you have
let's just make it an even number at
100% tariff your product now doubles in

(05:47):
price So even if you're buying in bulk
you're still paying twice as much to get
the same product And now you have to
take that price and get that off to your
customer So now your customer is paying
twice as much which mean which means
whatever your customer is charging
because we have we have merchandise

(06:08):
which I don't need you know luckily I
bought all of mine before this happened
but you now have to pass that on and if
you charge 20% 30% 40% 50% upcharge your
price still doubles so there's no
winning here Nobody's winning We're not
Well Trump is and his his cronies are
but not but not really They're winning

(06:30):
financially Ripping the government
ripping everybody else off Maybe but at
the end of the day at the end of the day
not maybe
maybe now maybe in the short term but it
but look at we're not bringing we're not
bringing that back here We're not
bringing manufacturing and clothing here
I mean we have China we have Bangladesh

(06:51):
we have uh all of these poor poor
countries that now have these ex well
paused paused tariffs but have these
exorbitant tariffs on them You you are
not only going to bankrupt these
countries but you're going to completely
shut down all of their manufacturing and

(07:13):
essentially all of those people lose
their jobs who are already poor to begin
with You're going to kill all those
people They will starve to death You're
going to kill an entire country to bring
back sewing clothing manufacturers Well
I mean why first of all who's going to
do the jobs nobody Cuz they the
immigrants that were I hate to say that
but Americans we we we're not going out

(07:35):
and picking fruit and stuff like you
know what I mean like the the immigrants
would There's a reason we do it the way
we There's a reason There's a reason And
I understand like there's a reason that
corporations
have taken those things to other
countries It's to keep the cost of

(07:55):
things down There are other things that
we could 100% bring back here There is a
way to do it that doesn't create trade
wars that doesn't increase costs that
doesn't cause the stock market to crash
crash that doesn't create this angst and
hatred from every single country You

(08:17):
just alienated all of your allies But
why are we surprised oh no Who surprised
Donald Trump i'm not surprised at all
And to think I think what's even worse
the tariffs are a huge issue for us as a
country But what's even worse is taking
away the benefits um that the the social
benefits that really do help the less uh

(08:39):
fortunate folks in our country
Absolutely And not just our country
They're taking those Well we're going to
start right here in the United States
right they're taking those right they're
taking they're taking away like I said
the even the bill here in Arizona which
impacted um you know the America's you
know the disabilities uh children with
disabilities including autism you know

(09:01):
including uh the ones who are not mobile
on their own We've had some We had
people yesterday come to the Capitol and
talk to the Senate and the House about
how having those type of services help
them to get degrees get jobs live on
their own live in homes that support um
Americans with with disabilities And

(09:22):
those are the services that they are
taking
away in order to better somebody else
that's already rich right you know like
getting rid of uh the VA the benefits
for the VA folks who fought for this
country It's it's like a trickling
effect And so again I'm going to go back
and say to the to the people that voted

(09:43):
for Donald Trump this is what you voted
for You just didn't think it was going
to impact you right and now it's
impacting you Rural communities farming
Yeah I mean it's it's it is
impacting small businesses It's
impacting it's impacting the people that
voted for him It's impacting the

(10:05):
communities that voted for him It's
impacting the areas that that thought
that he was going to help them the most
And there is no plan And I say this with
love and kindness but how in the heck
did you think he was going to help you
if you're not making if you're not in
the top 1% how is he going to help you i

(10:25):
think because you are told something
over and over and over again it is the
cult of MAGA They want they want to
believe it It's the single issue voters
that vote specifically for this because
this is what they want So they believe
everything else And yeah but he himself

(10:48):
it doesn't matter has said something out
of his own mouth He doesn't like people
who get uh captured like John McCain But
it doesn't matter He didn't like people
with disabilities He doesn't like women
Doesn't matter And you believe he likes
you And I definitely don't understand
that from a the brown black community

(11:08):
folks who voted for uh you know for
Trump I don't get it There's nothing
about the economy that he could do that
will benefit me positively And we see
that now The idea is the idea is he's
not a politician He's a businessman who
filed bankruptcy six times Correct And
he's a terrible businessman He's a
terrible He's not a good businessman He

(11:30):
has more failed businesses than
successful ones So let's just get that
out of the way But the fact of the
matter is is that I've said this before
the government is not a business It
should be run more as a nonprofit It
shouldn't be run as a business You are
not you should not privatize things in
the government It should be run so that
everything goes back into the government

(11:52):
You're paying back to the people The
people that pay to the government that
money goes back into the people back
into the community not to someone's
pocket And it doesn't necessarily do
that I mean it's it's unfortunate that
has now become this whole you know
money-making scheme where

(12:12):
we're manipulating the market through
these tariffs to just make a bunch of
money They shouldn't be able to do that
And that's why we need to get people out
to vote That's why we need to get people
re-engaged That's why we need to get
people educated um and and you know
touch all all the communities not just
those who we know will most likely vote

(12:34):
Go out to the rural communities go out
to the black communities go out to the
Asian communities Native Americans are
huge We need to get them involved And so
they understand what they're voting for
or by not voting you are voting You are
giving someone else your voice And I
think I I will go back to this all the
time is like it was

(12:57):
1965 That was 60 years
ago right no I can't do math Somebody do
math It doesn't matter 1965 60 years ago
I'm right Yes Seven years ago Okay So
seven 70 years ago That's not so long
That's in our parents' lifetime right

(13:18):
that people of color had the right to
vote They got the right to vote 45 years
after white men and white women and
they're still trying to take that away
from them and and women as a matter of
fact 45 years after white women got the
right to vote white men have always had
the right to vote So it's not so long
ago people So we have to get people

(13:39):
involved One understand the history of
this country Two understand why your
vote matters Three if your vote didn't
matter people wouldn't be trying to
suppress your vote and take it away
Let's just start there Number number
four if people weren't afraid of you and
your political power they wouldn't be
putting in processes or or laws in place

(13:59):
to limit you It's all the same thing So
we have to get back especially here in
Arizona especially here um in LD12 Um if
we flip the ledge and LD12 we have a big
voter block If we flip the ledge you
know we can get back to where we need to
be as a society Yeah So and I think

(14:19):
focusing I think finding a focus in
small businesses as well is really
important because we're the ones that
are going to be affected a lot more than
the top 1% of the or necessarily
corporations So if we can reach small
businesses and then focus on voters
educating voters and reaching local
elections as well So uh we're going to

(14:40):
talk a little bit more on the next show
about uh local elections and what's
happening locally locally in our
districts and kind of uh what's going to
be coming up in the next you know well
Senator Monstery Epstein we'll have her
on this We'll have her on um to talk
about the
legislature and what's happening and the
bills being passed um that that really

(15:02):
the Democrats have no power over because
they're just voting partisan Yep Um so
we'll get that get her on and talk more
about what's impacting us locally Yeah
So we'll talk about what's impacting us
locally and how we can help with that So
uh please let us know if uh you want us
to talk about anything in specific
Everything is constantly changing so
we'll try and keep up as much as we can

(15:23):
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