Ode to the Business Owner. By John Linn, Tucson Business Journal July 1988

Most people I know would not list me in the bleeding heart category, but like most people I have a hidden compassion for a particular group of people. There is no crusade for these poor souls, although almost everyone considers them fair game for criticism, solicitation and exploitation. I, in fact, may be a majority of one. The group I am referring to is the small independent business owner.

Once upon a time (in the days of Horatio Alger) all the independent businessperson needed to know figuratively was, “If they built a better mousetrap, the world would beat a path to their door” and to stay in business they only had to take in more money than they paid out. Doctors delivered babies in homes, operated in their offices and were often paid in vegetables along with the honor of having the child named after them. In rural areas, drummers sold pianos from the back of a wagon and customers often received a free bench whether or not a sale was made. Giants grew out of this simplicity. Henry Ford first determined how much the average man would pay for an automobile and then worked on building one at that price. The trick was simple, find something people needed or really wanted and make it available and affordable. With energy, effort, intelligence and integrity, an idea had a fair chance of success. I admire these people but didn’t fee sorry for them. Times have changed.

Today the same business owners does the same things but only scratches the surface. In addition to the employees, they are forced to have a hidden support group. The laws of the land have become so far reaching one needs legal advice from day one, hence the legal consultant. They also need the help of a financial adviser, hence a C.P.A. to set up and audit the progress of the business. If one neglects either of these they may find themselves facing a hostile bureaucrat armed with mysterious regulations. Yet they have barely started reaching behind the hidden support veil.

Harvard, Wharton and most major universities have been pumping out marketing consultants for forty years. These consultants give the business owner an educated guess of what the chances are before the business starts and what one needs to do to survive. Chances are they have never owned a business, but statistically they probably know more about the market then the business owner does. Additionally there exists advertising, public relations and communication consultants. If the business does get launched they can look forward to information management, time management, sales training, safety, wage and salary, employee relation, training, engineering and maintenance, light and interior design consultants etc, etc, etc.

Hopefully the employees, who have been hired through employment consultants, will be able to absorb all of this expertise. The business owner won’t have time because they are becoming an expert in health, life, liability and disability insurance, as well as sickness and accident benefits, workman’s compensation and unemployment laws. None of the foregoing is cheap.

When the doors open if the owner looks as poor as they probably feel no one will do business with them, so up goes the facade. A prosperous business will attract customers and every solicitor who ever lived.

Yes, I am moved by these poor devils who invest their money and life into making a dream a reality. They remind me of the old farmer, who after listening to his recently graduated son tell him how to run the farm, said, “Son, I wish I could do half of what I already know to do.”

Truer words have never been spoken.