As the Montana legislature kicks into gear, the air is heavy with rhetoric and of course… talk of new jobs.
While I don’t agree with all that our various governments do, I can’t think of a single time that any of them have prevented me from getting a new customer, hiring someone or for that matter, firing someone who earned it.
Maybe the businesses I’m in just haven’t yet been targeted.
Be careful what you wish for
If I owned a wine store, I’d feel a little differently about that “not being targeted” thing, since we have laws in Montana that prevent the shipment of wine to retail customers.
The idea is that it protects Montana business owners from out of state discounters. What legislators and those who asked for the law apparently forgot is that it also prevents those same Montana businesses from expanding their market beyond reasonable driving distance of their stores. Oh and that internet thing that gives them access to the world.
Look at Gary Vaynerchuk’s business, Wine Library.
When Gary took on his father’s store, it was a small, but successful ($4MM-5MM annually) wine business.
With the help of a gregarious personality, a knack for social media and some sharp video-based marketing – Gary’s created a ton of jobs, increasing his business many times in a few years. His business’ growth feeds the growth of his suppliers as well, both in New Jersey and elsewhere, so it isn’t just a benefit to him.
While I have no doubt that a retailer here in Montana could create a thriving business like Gary’s, at present you can’t because it’s illegal for Montana retailers to ship (or receive) retail wine purchases by mail (etc).
That *doesn’t* mean that you can’t use those same strategies to grow your business in other ways while making efforts to convince the legislature that the law prevents job growth right here in Montana.
Those kids, again
Speaking of being targeted, you probably remember my mentions of the CPSIA, which adds substantial costs to youth product manufacturing due to new (and highly technical) testing and labeling requirements.
Those costs are borne more heavily on a piece-by-piece basis by small manufacturers because of their small batch sizes. For many, a batch is ONE. The result has been that it put people out of business because testing costs shot their economic model to pieces.
Viewing the situation from a legislator’s perspective, CPSIA makes sense – especially after all the Chinese toy issues that arose during Christmas 2007. Absent information from constituents who thought beyond Mattel, we got a law that – once again – prevents job growth in Montana.
In fact, what the CPSIA needed was something similar to Senator Tester’s amendment to the new Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510). While the amendment wasn’t popular with large food producers, the farmer with a quarter acre of onions who sells only to local restaurants and farmer markets simply couldn’t comply and stay in business. Tester understood the issue because he owns a small farm.
Small youth product manufacturers had no such Congressional champion with industry knowledge. In fact, when I questioned my Congressman about it, his response (in a public forum) was 180 degrees different from his vote on the matter.
“Easy for you to say”
Those affected by the CPSIA did a poor job of monitoring what was going on in Washington and as a result, failed to communicate the real impact of the law to the appropriate people.
Of course, this monitoring and communication is far easier to say than it is to do.
These situations simply illustrate the importance of the difficult and time consuming work that’s necessary to keep representatives at all levels informed about the impact of what they are doing.
The difficulty of that work is what prompts new organizations like the Handmade Toy Alliance to form.
Their job, and yours, is to find each other so that you can help one another adapt, overcome and push on – no matter what crazy, annoying thing happens in the state house or in DC.
Worst case, changing what you do might be what it takes. Just don’t quit.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.