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The start of a new year can be a stressful time for small business suppliers. During this time of the year, there are a plethora of things that can affect these businesses such as managing taxes and the cooling of acquisitions by the federal government. In this article, we will take a look at some of the unknown difficulties small business suppliers face during this time.
As we know, the beginning of the year is also tax season. While most larger businesses have a division set aside to handle their finances, many small businesses, unfortunately, do not. With that being said, the individuals that are appointed to handle their companies’ taxes are taken away from their daily responsibilities. Another issue that may arise during tax season is record keeping. With the heightened documentation requirements of being a business in the federal space, paperwork and organization are paramount. Small businesses juggle their day-to-day responsibilities as well as the responsibilities that come with the end of year and tax season.
During the winter, federally focused small businesses may also encounter hardships. November-January is the slowest for the federal government buying. As a result, small businesses that work with the federal government will also experience a decrease in cash flow. As the bills that small businesses pay like employee pay, and power don’t stop coming in the winter, having a budget and sticking to it make the lean months easier to manage.
Many small business owners are also concerned about the upcoming Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) changes. As of right, we do not know what changes will occur however they can potentially impact small businesses greatly. As the FAR is always changing and modernizing this is nothing new. However, when major changes like CMMC come around, the required learning curve and time allocation to adjust to the new normal of doing business in our space can be challenging.
Lastly, rebranding for any business is very difficult, to say the least. We decided to change our name from Carroll Communications to Carroll International As our small business expands, the word “communications'' no longer fully describes our capabilities. In addition to focusing on only communications and IT, we are now working across the world and providing new products such as chemical cleaners and COVID PPE supplies. Overall, rebranding is often necessary in business, and many must go through it. We provide it here as an example of a normal business event that when compounded with other business stressors adds up. However, it is what's best for our small business, so we do it with a smile.
In conclusion, while we hope our friends at large businesses have a great start to the new year, many small businesses will have additional stress due to taxes, lower revenue as the fed acquisition activity is lower in the winter. Where big business employees are very specialized in their field, small business people wear many hats each day and are much more generalized in all their business skills sets. A higher level of mutual understanding of what each can do and the stress that affects both parties will help in increasing efficiency and ease of doing business. As for this small businessperson, I gladly get up and know that I am lucky to have the challenges we get to face and wouldn't have it any other way.
Written By: Jordan Samon, Byron Carroll, and Christine Carroll
