Dashboard: A Tsunami of Regulation

[Music] welcome to another 21 hats dashboard brought to you by our sponsor the great game of business I'm Lauren Feldman I'm here with Gene marks to talk about the things we think business owners should be following this week welcome Jean you know what business is not a game Lauren I want to be clear about this I'm sick of these great game of business people like like I I you making like it's some kind of a game I mean there there are lives involved here you've been so nice to them Jean what happened I don't know yeah I've been thinking about these guys I'm like what this is not funny this is we're not play acting here this is not fake money there's no games here you great game of business people keep that in mind okay there I think they would agree with you on that they're kind of referring to gaming and how you can make business a little bit of a fun Enterprise by encouraging by rewarding your employees for completing tasks and winning games and I think you know what I mean think they need to get serious about business all right no there's no funny games in this okay talking about money here anyway carry on all right we'll talk to them separately all right got to sort them out fair enough genan you're always writing and talking about stuff that matters to business owners uh you recently wrote a piece about what's happening with commercial real estate and I think the piece you wrote was about Philadelphia where you live and what is happening to commercial real estate in this Brave New World of hybrid uh workplaces What uh what did you find I didn't write about this yet but I'm going to write about this so I guess the topic that we won't talk about the future because I um and I'm pitching this to my editor at the guardian um you I we need to come up with ideas here I mean the the the the the reality is is that these buildings are not going to be filled up again I mean in Philadelphia right now it's they're like the buildings are like less than 50% occupied uh and Philadelphia I use that as an example but it this is going on every state in the country every city in the country and I I was in New York just last week driving by these like you know Philly is a shadow of New York New York is got these gorgeous gleaming giant skyscrapers these Office Buildings nobody's there you know I mean it's like half full and yeah the local small businesses are suffering because all that foot traffic is no longer there but I don't feel so bad only because there's a lot of su you businesses that are doing great in the neighborhoods where all those employees are staying home you know I mean they just they just shifted their spending so I don't want to say I don't feel bad but I you know the businesses themselves need to they need to adjust to a new reality and so do all of us and I I do want to write about that's why I wanted to talk to you about this because I'm thinking of some ideas and any listeners have ideas I'm I'm curious to hear what listeners have to say like what this is a big issue but it's also a potential opportunity what what do we use this space for realistically because when whatever we decide to do it's it's going to cost you know I mean right the knee-jerk reaction Lauren right is is you know we turn it into residential space which is easier said than done but certainly is is is an opportunity and and that that's good and I think a lot of smaller companies can take advantage of that is that happening in Philadelphia not yet not yet but there are some big buildings this was featured in the Philly Business Journal that you know are facing default I mean there's no way these these landlords these property managers and owners can can maintain their mortgages on these on these things with rents being so low as they are right now you know so they're gonna have to do something um but no I I've not not seen any big conversions I know there's a few buildings in New York that are converting to residences but again that's you know it's easier said than done to do that there's zoning issues and just the architecture is difficult yeah yeah I mean there's people are gonna have to think out of the box and governments are going to have to get involved to make this work uh you know one of the you know you know I was always thinking that you know for startups and incubators it's it's maybe it's a potential opportunity you know the the startup who wants a Park Avenue address can now afford one because a Park Avenue office building suddenly just starts renting out single offices instead of entire floors you know that might that might be an opportunity you know that that we can think about um in Philly uh our schools are a disaster and there are school you know there buildings with asbest and schools shutting down because of building problems can can all these empty buildings be used to to help the school system and and the kids um also in Philly Lauren I mean you live in Princeton so you're in like the you're in like a beautiful part of the world you don't really know anything about real life living like me in in downtown Philthy Delphia I spent many years living in Philadelphia so I I know what you're talking about back then it was like horse and carriages and people walking around with umbrellas and to each other but you know right now in Philadelphia I mean there's every every other block there's a homeless person which of course you know is in many cities that's a big problem for a lot of businesses and it's a sad problem for society and yet you have these people sleeping outside of Office Buildings that we have empty Office Buildings yeah so you think to yourself like can you know I mean government's going to have to get involved along with with local businesses to come up with Solutions I mean we're not knocking these buildings down so I'm just you know I you know people listening to this like I said I'm curious to hear other ideas what can be done there's a whole bunch of space here what what can be done with it because it ain't G to change anytime soon you know anybody who has ideas for Gan you can send them through me uh just by replying to your Morning Report or uh my email address is Lauren L RN at21 hats.com we'd love to hear from you and I'd be happy to quote you as well because I will be writing about this excellent uh next topic I recently highlighted a story in the morning report by an excellent reporter named Nina Roberts uh about how small brands are kind of going crazy experimenting on the new Twitter clone threads um Jean you've been very active on on Twitter I'm curious have you tried threads any thoughts I am nowhere near threads I mean I I'm exhausted by all this social media I mean I had a conversation with three people in my company about threads and we all like rolling our eyes like for [ __ ] sake another social media platform like I can't take it um you know what Lauren like is what the introduction to threads really forces business owners to really have to pick and choose period so I'm I'm a Twitter guy I'm actually a fan of Twitter I actually think Twitter has improved since you know musk has taken over I I know there's a lot of critics I'm I've been good with it I have good conversations on Twitter you know anybody who who shares that opinion besides musk I'm sure there are I'm sure there are people that that agree with me but but you haven't found any I haven't looked I haven't looked but I mean I just my experience on Twitter has been okay but I'm on Twitter and I'm on LinkedIn because I sell software to businesses and Linkedin is a great you know B2B Market you know great B2B platform yep um so that's where I spend my time I don't have time for this threads nonsense me too yeah you're the same way right but but but I don't want to uh disparage people from using threads only because uh you know if you're an Instagram business you should you know I mean you you should absolutely be considering threads it's a perfect partnership to it because it's so easy to uh to move your following right over into threads you you don't have to start from scratch you can bring your followers with you right and then you get more engagement and more Communications with your following and there's a lot of entrepreneurs on there's a guy I'm on Instagram and I uh I I I don't post anything on Instagram but I follow a bunch of very highly inappropriate accounts which my kids have recommended to me and I laugh out loud on Instagram it's absolutely no no no porn or anything like that I mean like just funny you know Russians jumping off of roofs and you know people getting I follow one guy who is it's not even inappropriate we don't necessarily need examples Jean be careful well no but this this guy I got to tell you he's my favorite guy on Instagram his um his account is called adventures in nardia and what he does is uh it's called roll for sandwich and every I am not kidding he's been doing this for like a year and a half two years he he rolls with his Dice and chooses among a list of stuff to make his sandwich for lunch every day and depending on what the dice chooses for him that's what he makes his sandwich so it'll be like with like spam and jelly and provolone cheese and pickles you know like whatever he just lets the dice gods aside and sometimes the sandwiches are great and sometimes they are horrific and he eats the entire thing and it's hilarious how often do you watch this Jean every day every day he posts every single day and I watch it and I laugh and by the way my wife watches it with me because it's so funny and the guy's great and he um he's a got a full-time job but he makes a bunch of money from this like he's got sponsors people uh send him stuff like he's got it's a little business for him so that's a like that's a guy that should get be threads because he's got tons of followers on on Instagram let alone Tik Tok that he could bring over to threads and then people are always like engaging with them there he could have more engagement on threads about you know making sandwiches it's funny you know and that's a business so for it's the story that I mentioned pointed out there are also you know more traditional small businesses on threads who are experimenting trying different things some of them are going crazy doing slightly ridiculous stuff but you know it's an opportunity at the start of this to try to you know establish something and get in early for some make sense yep I agree so the takeaway is you if you're in business you you do need to be on one of the social media platforms at least but you got to pick and choose because you don't have all all the time in the world that's number one go to where your your customers and communities are and if you're building a business on Instagram then yeah thread seems like that would be a natural thing I'm I have no presence on Instagram so I have no desire to be on threads got it um I guess we should tell people what do you know the name of the the account that the sandwich guy it's first of all the it's called roll for sandwich you got to watch this Lauren it is awesome uh and it's I think his account name is adventures in Narnia or nardia um you'll find him right and he um he's like a real he's like a he's like a computer nerd and like a and Dragons geek he's hilarious and you should see him make these sandwiches every oh my God you the other day all right just go ahead I know you have other topics to talk about thank you last topic for today uh on Friday you published a piece in the hill uh about regulation which began it's hard to run a small business in 2023 and it's even harder to run one in a blue State despite higher costs tight labor and a slowing economy many businesses in states that are either Democrat controlled or have a Democratic governor across the country are dealing with a tsunami of new regulations that are putting pressure on profits um there's a lot there just to start the economy is actually doing fairly well and you've said that here don't you feel that way oh sure yeah I absolutely do okay well because you start with that despite higher costs tight labor and a slowing economy well there are higher costs and Tighter labor and it depends on where you are you know I mean the economy is not going well for everybody I think it's overall going okay but never is you it's a 2% GDP anyway so it's not exactly you know off the charts all right so tell us give us some examples what's uh what are some of these give us give us a sense of the tsunami you're referring to well first of all let me also just say I've been I've been collecting these over for the you know since the beginning of the year just like you know whenever I come across stories of regulations I bookmark it and it's July so I'm like I I think it's time to like put this thing together and I gota get t because it's you know you hear about the federal government and oh Biden Biden Biden you know and the Department of Labor and you know nlrb their their regulations and to some extent that is you know happening but man it's the states and the cities that are just you know just quietly imposing all of these you know lots of regulations so uh you know where to start I mean of course in California uh and Washington State they they're you know right now looking at new regulations for if heat if if the indoor temperature gets too high and um you know in California has a proposed bill to make sure that all businesses their websites are in compliance for people with with you know you disabilities and uh you know Pennsylvania New Jersey governors are have have now launched like you know you an initiative to make sure that you know Employers in both states are properly classifying their employees you and I have talked before about Illinois Illinois join two other blue States Nevada and Maine uh now are mandating employers to provide paid time off regardless of the reason and then you've got other states like Maryland and Minnesota and other cities like in Minnesota like Bloomington and you know Minneapolis that are either expanding sick days or mandating employers to provide you know sick days for their employees as well uh there in Illinois there there's a new rule where where employers can be held liable if an employee insults another worker's gender race or sexual orientation the employer is liable if you're in you know Illinois uh you the these are I'm just I'm giving you these examples these are just a few of the examples that I have in this column of just these regulations now I want to be clear because I know you're going to jump down my throat Lauren so you know my my column ends with are these regulations good or bad for workers or for society and I'll let we can all debate that we can all debate that but the bottom line is is that if you're moving in particular if you're operating a business in a blue State you you are facing more regulations these are all blue States doing this this is not happening in States like Texas and Florida and business owners there just have to sort of suck it up and do that for the you know for the privilege of operating in a in a blue State and I do wonder if um you know there's been a big backlash to all the wokeness of large corporations of late and I wonder if there there's a line you know where there there starts to be a backlash among small business owners even Democrats that are like you know this is it's getting to be too much with these regulations so that's the uh that that was the point of the column uh well there's a lot there too um I guess you mentioned the term wokeness which I feel means something different to a lot of different people it does how are you defining wokeness since you chose to this is not this has nothing to do with wokeness I just I want to be clear okay I mean you know the the wokeness is is um you know as far as defining it as just you know being awake to um issues that might be that that other people find important to themselves and being respectful of them like gender and race and uh sexual orientation but this is not a woke conversation uh the the point I'm making is that um you know the Democrats particularly you people far on the left I'm certainly not saying all Democrats um have pushed a lot of these you know a lot of you woke initiatives um and we've seen it in Corporate America with Disney and anheiser you just used the term again well hold on hold on these businesses are are pushing these woke initiatives okay and there's been there's been a lot of push back now um I mean you you see a lot of people complaining about it you see a lot of com commentators going crazy about it you see and you're also seeing the stock prices of those companies take a big hit for some of the campaigns that they have been running and so if this is not a woke thing but when it comes to regulations there is there's a limit there seem to be a limit to the to the woke policies that a lot of corporations are doing and a lot of you know you know even you know political points of view but now when it comes to uh regulations you people can say like yeah this is good for our workers good for society but it does hit a it does hit a point just like these woke policies hit like a line for the Democrats I I get concerned for the Democrats that these excessive regulations in states around the country will also hit a line among the very business owners that support them where they say listen you know we we we do treat our workers well we don't need to be mandated how much we should be paying our workers for vacation or sick time or we we you know we we can't comply with rules that we suddenly responsible if two employees start getting into a fight just because it happened at our workplace there's a line and I think that these more regulations that happen particularly in these blue States I think could turn a lot of you know potential voters towards Republicans because they get fed up that's my point well I don't want to get into a conversation about woke I just I I Rebel a little bit when I hear the term used disparagingly to me woke means you have a certain amount of empathy for people who may have a harder lot in life and I think you know being aware of that is a good thing but let's stick with the regulation you mentioned the thing about uh California and Washington State proposing new rules for businesses uh for for temperatures exceeding certain levels um the exact opposite has happened in Texas which I assum you would approve of they've passed a law that prohibits municipalities from issuing these kinds of rules I think it was primarily outdoors and you referring to indoors but it been its heat either way right uh I I assume you're okay with with Texas doing that but do do you really think that every business in Texas can be trusted to make sure their employees are uh staying safe and healthy that's the attitude that you have that is the attitude you have you just asked I'm asking you well but you're you're but by by asking that question you're implying that every business can't be trusted so you know you so because of the on Tenth of 1% of businesses that might treat their employees so poorly that they they put them into you know untenable you know working conditions we now have to have a regulation or a law that impacts the other 99% of the businesses that you know not only have respect for their employees and treat them fine and well but also you know you know you don't want to be insulted by a government assuming that they don't know how to run their businesses and how to treat their people and if if a business has and you know you know poor working conditions or is underpaying their people or is not paying them enough you know paid time off um or uh is allowing too many fights where people are cursing and cussing at each other and their work but that's the way somebody runs their business in a time right now where unemployment is at a historical low and everybody is craving for employees um you know that that's up to the business owner to make those decisions because they're just going to wind up losing good people and ultimately suffering because of that but for the government to then issue the regulations saying no we're mandating we don't care who you are what you are you have to maintain you know you can't can't have your temperatures in your office go over a certain amount like it's just it's insulting it's just insulting it's insulting to me when I hear these these business owners in Illinois are being told by the government you have to pay your employees you know vacation we mandating this or uh like businesses in other states that I mentioned in this article that um are required to enroll their employees now in retirement plans and pay for them I mean this is all compensation that you're talking about so now what you're doing is you're having the government tell businesses what to pay their employees which for many businesses is their biggest cost so now you're taking away their control over their biggest cost to run their business and it makes things much more difficult for them to run their business which again brings me back to my earlier point that some business owners I I think are going to say like I I can't take this this is not it's not profitable for me I can't be in a blue State and I certainly can't vote for people that are going to continue to you know issue you issue these rules when you emphasize the aspect of business owners and you feeling insulted by this kind of uh regulation it it it sounds kind of like you're saying that the feeling your feelings the feelings of business owners are more important than the health of those employees who would be damaged at businesses that do not treat their people well is is that what you're saying no I'm not I'm just saying that it's insulting to business owners that they're they're you know they have to assume that the government is going to make the decisions for them um and tell them how to run their businesses so I you know I I just think that it's it's an unfair thing to do I mean you know Lauren I have 600 clients I I talk to my clients throughout the year all of them um in various they're they're all good people they run good businesses for the most part they know how to treat their employees and you know when regulations like this come down I'm in Pennsylvania so we're going to deal with some of the things we've been talking about um but when regulations come down on them that they have to comply with they they you know most of them scr scch their heads at me said why am I being asked to do this I mean leave me alone I'm running a business fine if my employees aren't happy here you know they can go somewhere else and I don't want that to happen I'll take care of them well I'm sure I'm absolutely certain that is the case for most if not all of your clients and most if not all businesses but but there are many exceptions I mean there are examples of employees being treated terribly even in very heavily regulated Industries it it it it does happen um I I wonder you know example you you say the thing about um in the in the story you say getting uh that in the blue States there's this movement to make sure people get paid not to work and you cite the example of workers in Minnesota uh who can get up to 48 hours in paid sick time I it just it doesn't seem like that much um to make sure that people can stay home when they're sick so Lauren let me ask you a question you run your own business okay have you had six days off this year because you were sick where you couldn't work not this year but uh and I've been very fortunate I've mostly been healthy so there probably haven't been that many years where I have but there have been and I certainly know very good employees who've had a Miss lots more time than that fair enough and in every case I've seen my clients that have employee that have had a medical emergency or something that caused them to be sick for a week or a week and a half um you know most businesses not only accommodate that they they want to take care of their employees um but now we're we're being told at least businesses in Minnesota are being told now we don't trust you to do that we're going to mandate that you give them and you talk about you know the the you know employers that some of the employers may be bad actors or uh not treating their employees well how many employees that have 48 hours of sick time accured to them are going to take those sick time regardless of whether they're sick so you there's Bad actors on both sides Lauren we can agree on that um and we can certainly agree that there are a lot of silly regulations I guess you know you bring to this such credibility and expertise there just are we've talked about this before there's so few people writing about what it takes to run a business who have your experience as a business owner and your insight into other businesses because of the way you work with your clients I would love to see you write a piece in which you just focus on the ridiculous regulations of which no doubt there are many let's focus on the ones we need to get rid of let's acknowledge there are some that are necessary uh but let's sort them out and I don't know of anybody who's in a better position to do that than you well first of all thank you for saying that and I I will do that I think it's a that's well Tak um you know because I very very much respect what you say and do and that would be a good thing to write about just keep in mind though that you know you know unless it's a regulation that comes from the 19th century and there are plenty of them out there there are um you know anybody for for for 10 people that think that there's this new regulation is ridiculous there's a 100 people that think you know otherwise you know what I mean so there's everybody's got their agenda and they have their reasons for why these regul happen so they'll never you know it'll never be a unanimous we can agree on that it it will certainly never be unanimous there are plenty I mean you know the first thing that comes to mind of course is you know how many states have you know to be a hairdresser you have to go through hundreds of hours of certification time and past exams you know to cut somebody's hair things like that is is although in that case you just because you brought it up some of those exist because it's the business owners who insist on them they don't want the competition which is a problem too so you know you and I I could talk and say like oh my God that what a ridiculous rle and then you know then we'll have you 50 business owners say no no no there's a reason why we want to have that you know but you're the guy to sort through it and figure it out and make sense of it Jean anything you're working on for this week that we should be watching out for yeah so I I went out um to uh I forget the name of the park in Philadelphia but I met with a young man he's an eight-year-old guy named Chase Anderson and his mother they live in North Philadelphia and he's running this like amazing uh water ice business called D cooler boys and um he was on like local TV and um I interviewed them and I also interviewed somebody from the city of Philadelphia because I I okay you can write about the kid running the the water iice business I was more interested in his mom like what has she learned and what advice does she have for any parents who are dealing with their kids wanting to be entrepreneurs you know what do they teach them and how do they support them and also how do they make sure they're in compliance so I'm writing about that um so you'll see that coming up soon that sounds great Gan marks is a CPA who writes weekly on small business for the guardian the hill the Philadelphia inquire the Washington Times the Chicago Daily Herald Forbes and entrepreneur you can also hear him on ABC radio's eye on the world with John Bachelor Jean host two small business podcast with paychecks Corporation and the hardford this episode was brought to you by the great game of business yes Jean the great game of business which helps businesses use an open book management system to help build healthier companies you can learn more at Great G .c thank you Jean thank you Lauren we'll see you next week have a great week everyone [Music]