The Freedom Of Small Business

Where are we headed with small business?  Small business is the lifeline of this country.  It’s the tipping point for the middle class in America.  As small business goes, so does our “middle class”, you know, the class “THEY” claim to be FOR.

Things are getting hard, it almost seems like it’s on purpose.  It doesn’t have to be this way, it wasn’t, not too long ago.  

In our online world, we are seeing other brands go belly up, both in the patriotic world and in other segments.  Ones that aren’t belly up, are certainly feeling some of the concern for American small business that we're sharing in this message. 

For brands like us, it’s big tech.  Suppression on social media, impossible costs of advertising, constant platform updates, undelivered emails, the list just keeps growing.  Social media could shut off our shop because they find a shirt offensive, and there isn’t a soul we can contact to discuss it.  Not for us little guys. 

The problem is, nobody cares anymore.  There is no camaraderie.  These businesses who claim to support American small business do so with a support team in India and a home office in Europe.  There is no passion to see others succeed, they just want to get paid and impress their stakeholders.  And it’s hurting people.  

Without small business in America, everything suffers.  We are left with massive corporations who blindly follow along with political agendas, completely killing the beauty of an American free market.  Free people are left without a choice on who to support as a business.   The people will no longer control the market, the corporations will.  

My fear is “small business” falls into that “Proud American” category, it’s patriotic.  Small business liberates us.  It provides freedom from the system.  It was once considered the American dream.  Small businesses allow THE PEOPLE to decide who and what to support through their purchasing power.  It almost feels as though we are intentionally making it hard for them.

Everything seems backwards and it worries the hell out of us.  Look at where we were in 2019 and where we are today.  I have seen so many small mom and pop shops close up these past 3 years.  Life work, gone, where a lot of it was no fault of their own.  

For us small businesses, the odds are stacked, but we continue to fight.  It’s very hard to compete on the level of the big guys, but we give it our all.  Small businesses aren’t fighting for extreme wealth and pleasing investors, we fight for something very real.  We fight to make sure all our employees get paid, and paid first.  We fight so we can make mortgages, send kids to school, pay for sports.  We work just as hard as your Fortune 500 CEO, and never see the same rewards, but we are good with it.  That’s not why we chose this path.  We chose this path for the freedom, departure from the system, building something maybe we can pass on to our kids, and maybe one day break generational trends with a lifetime of hard work.

In 2024, it's so important to support small business.  Go out of your way to do it.  Everything we make for our brand uses a small business somewhere in America.  Our hats are hand sewn in America by a small business.  Our shirts are printed locally by two shops in Cleveland.  The shirts themselves are sewn by a small business as well.  It's challenging, but worth it.

Where will we be in 2030?  What will the world look like for our kids?