After ordering the supply of a camera film from China, Jack Shouveri was targeted for the first time. He owns Blue Moon Camera and MachineA shop of classic photography equipment in Portland, Oregon, so it started with a beautiful standard order. “The film has arrived, and we started selling it,” says Shura. “And then, two weeks later, we were targeted by a tariff bill that kept us under water.”
Since the trade policy changes, he surprises himself: Can I buy and load this product now? Or, with a tariff uncertainty, should I wait? Until the bills, the fluctuations connect its cash and inventory. In the upper part of it, he says his latest order of the German camera company Manx has come with a surprising tariff of 16 %-and he has been caught in a 10-year contract with him.
Relevant
Many people these days are like Shura. In a survey of June Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council73 % of the owners said they were worried about the revenue, and 53 % said that the taxes had already had a negative impact on their works. Inflation was also one of the top concerns.
Hollywood, executive director of research at the National Federation of Independent Business, has seen such anxiety across the country turning into mother and pop shops. In the monthly survey of the small business organization, the “uncertainty” is passing through the roof over the past year – which hit the highest score after the start of the index in 1974.
“The owners do not feel confident in the environment in which the owners are working and they are not sure they can adjust their business or move forward,” says Wade. “Some trade negotiations are uncertain, because of immigration reform policies or changes in consumer spending. Some get stuck in long -term contracts. And they can all hesitate to invest in their business.”
Business owners often have to raise prices. “Unlike big companies, they feel warmly from their customers,” says Wade. “As far as expectations are being sought, it’s really uncertain.”
Related: Is inflation hurting your mother and pop shop? What to do here
Non -dustafini is well aware. She owns the Blues Angel Music with her husband in Pansakola, Florida, and many guitar and brass equipment they sell are made abroad. She says, “When prices rise, unfortunately these costs often have to be delivered to consumers – or we have to absorb them, which already shrink our hard margins.” “We have also realized the wider effects of growing costs.”
To keep costs low, Distafani has begun to use low suppliers, and is already trying to give big orders and tilt them in repair offers (nothing needed to be imported). “In uncertainty, many people will retain things already existing rather than replaced.” “So we are making a strategic long -term investment in our department service, not only as a series of revenue, but as a way of keeping consumers loyal.”
If you are struggling with similar issues, the video advice is crowded source. She says, “Talk to your accountant and tax professional, someone else and other business owners in someone’s bank.” “Hopefully, some of them will be off the table by the end of the year.”
As far as the Shura is concerned, so far it has been able to make the prices, “but we are in turmoil,” he says. The community he has built his store is focused on focusing on it. When they presented their annual photos to their customers, they say, “I walk there and just take a deep breath and see what we did.”
Related: 5 steps to spend less and sell more – leader for the development of smart entrepreneur