Politics Do Matter… Even for Small Business Owners

Taking a political stance can be an effective business strategy for small businesses (photo by fauxels on pexels.com)

I’ve learned that politics is a dangerous topic, especially when it comes to small business owners. Most would rather avoid the topic altogether. Obviously, they don’t want to alienate their customers, but it’s also a self-imposed bubble that allows them to pretend that they, and their business, can exist outside of politics.

When I interview business owners, I ask a very general question about their politics. Over the years that I’ve been doing this, the wording has evolved, and I think I have it down to be as innocuous and broad as possible:

Being green, aware of diversity issues, meeting local requirements, etc. can increase costs but also offer benefits. How do these things figure into your operations? Do you have any initiatives in place? What would you recommend to other business owners?

Of course, they can also skip answering the question altogether, and often people do. One person even wrote a very insulting response to this question. Yes, it happens.

Here’s the thing: I don’t want my blog and the interviews to be cookie-cutter bland. There are tons of other places online where you can read those. At the same time, I don’t want to alienate the people I interview either. It’s a careful balancing act, because ultimately politics do matter, even to small business owners.

An Example

Let’s take a recent news topic (that isn’t about a current war or Trump): the November 2023 Meeting between President Biden and Premier Xi of China in San Francisco. Now China and the US have been at odds over several important issues, the main one being the status of Taiwan. China would prefer a peaceful reunification of Taiwan, similar to the way they repatriated Hong Kong. In contrast, the US points to the fact that this was not a very peaceful transition at all.

I realize I am oversimplifying this issue tremendously and glossing over economic, social, and military factors. However, this issue is also extremely political in that it could impact regional balances of power, the elections in the US, and to some extent the divide between democratically led governments and more authoritarian ones.

There is also a moral and ethical concern. How will this affect the people of Taiwan? How will China incorporate the vastly different systems of governance and social structures? Will there be a massive exodus of Taiwanese people, and where will they go?

The bottom line is that this is actually a very complex issue that has global ramifications. On the other hand, the economic relationship between China and the US is also a critical matter. It is a precarious balancing act. To be honest, I truly wonder how these meetings between world leaders unfold. The pressure on each side must be tremendous.

How Politics Matter

Underlying all these issues is that the US is highly dependent on products, components, and services from China. More specifically, small businesses here in the US are highly dependent on them. Your bottom line is highly dependent on them.

A single sigh at the wrong moment during the Biden-Xi meeting, could mean that your paintbrushes, your sesame oil, or your paper wrapping is suddenly more expensive. You need capable, experienced, and intelligent people to be sitting in that meeting. Hence, your vote this year counts.

So, for you, too, it’s a careful balancing act. On the one hand, you need to do things that are political to support your business’s bottom line. At the same time, you need to remain as a-political as possible so as not to alienate any customers who disagree with your political position.

This becomes even more complex when you need to decide how much of your politics you need to reveal through your business. Will you quietly boycott that cheap wrapping paper from China because it is manufactured in ways that you disagree with? If so, will you pass on the cost of the higher-priced paper to your customers? How will that decision affect your bottom line?

The answers aren’t always so easy. Everyone is talking about using cleaner energy such as solar panels. You sure could cut some costs for your business that way, especially in the hot summer months. On the other hand, do you want to advertise this widely? Your business could be dismissed as too tree-hugging, and you could lose customers... or gain some.

Where to Draw the Line

Which politics you embrace will also depend a great deal on where you are located and what type of business you are in. If you sell motorcycle parts, then you may not want to have a Made-in-China sticker on the packing box, even if it will save on shipping costs, for you and the buyer. On the other hand, if you sell trendy t-shirts to teens, it may not matter… or it could.

So how do you know? Well, you need to know your customers. You need to know your industry. Most importantly, you need to know about politics. What you can’t do is pretend it doesn’t impact your business. It does and the more you can learn about it, the better.

This is why I ask my innocuous and broad question to everyone I interview. It is a risk, and I could alienate my interviewee. On the other hand, it’s a valuable piece of information for my readers. It shows other business owners what their peers are thinking and doing about it.

So yes, it is a careful balancing act. Most things in life are.