Lucky for Rotorua, PM Luxon met with their Business Chamber to discuss the state of the economy for small business owners. Unlucky for said business owners, Luxon had some not so nice things to say. After stating that small business owners need to simply “be adult” when facing rising costs and plummeting customer numbers, Luxon continued by claiming there is a “parent-child mentality.”
As the child of a parent with a small business, I asked my dad – owner of Soda Plumbing, here in Hamilton – what he thought. “I think majority of people don’t understand what’s going on,” he said “we need to create enough work for [his employees] and our bills.” In the past him and I have spoken about the paradox between making money and keeping customers. To paraphrase: you must be generous in order to bring in customers (e.g. he gives complimentary quotes which is time consuming for him) but, he has 3 employees, 4 vehicles, supplies, tax, etc. to pay for – therefore needs to earn money. This generosity however is to his business’ detriment, he said “This means we need to make money… more importantly we need the client to pay on time.”
My father then continued by brining to light some statistics about small businesses which show Luxon that it’s not about being ‘adult’ it’s about opportunity to thrive: “97% of NZ businesses employ less than 20 staff, which estimates to be 40% of our economy,” and he continued “if I had a client that was 40% of my business, I’d do everything I could to make them happy… the Government, not so much.” Unfortunately, he doesn’t think it’s a party issue; he said “there is a serious lack of support to assist longevity. I think it’s something like 50% of small business fail in 5 years.”
