Do Minimum Wage Laws Threaten the Future of Small Business?

What is the best way to grow and scale your business?

There’s plenty of debate on that, but today we take a quick look at two different viewpoints…

And show how reframing a “problem” can easily turn it into a very profitable solution.

The Story

On November 8th, four U.S. states passed ballot initiatives raising the minimum wage.

Many small business owners fear this will put them out of business.

So, are new minimum wage laws a dagger in the heart for small business? Or could it actually be an opportunity?

Key Details

In 2014, a U.S. Senate bill to raise the federal amount to $10.10 failed to pass.

Business leaders largely applauded that decision, saying that a minimum wage hike would mean the difference between survival and failure for many businesses, small and large.

That hasn’t stopped individual states from enacting their own local laws.

Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington all have mandated new minimum wage increases to at least $12 per hour by 2020 during the past election.

They join 14 other states who had already raised their minimum wage by the beginning of 2016.

The Bigger Picture

Many small business owners are up in arms. Those who struggle to make a profit as-is fear raising the minimum wage will put them out of business.

In fact, according to a study released by Zurich Insurance Group last month, 44% of U.S. small business owners feel that making across-the-board cost-cutting is the only way to survive.

Wealth Factory takes a different approach.

We categorize expenses into 4 different categories. Certain expenses (we call them destructive) should always be cut.

On the other hand, business owners should always be looking for ways to spend more and more on productive expenses.

Most business owners miss this important distinction, and end up cutting back on things that could actually help them grow and scale.

In fact, spending more money on better employees can be one of the quickest ways to scale and grow your business.

Garrett explains our (slightly contrarian) Wealth Factory viewpoint in this article he wrote for Entrepreneur.com: How to Spend Your Way to Wealth.

What To Do Next

As a small business owner, you always want to focus your attention on things you control rather than waste energy worrying about things you can’t control (like minimum wage laws).

Right now is the best time to strengthen your business.

Here’s how:

1. You can use the numerous free resources on our site to eliminate destructive expenses and maximize productive expenses. If you want a little more guidance, BUILD: is our weekly publication for small business owners and entrepreneurs. It’s a an excellent resource for personal finance and business ideas delivered to your inbox once a week.

• If you want a more robust, hands-on solution for strengthening and growing your existing business, we have a new business-growth course called SCALE available for the next few days. It’s designed to help you grow your business, increase your profits, and even retire in your business within 3-7 years if you want.It even has a lesson on Building a Super-Team of “A-Player” Employees Who Grow the Business With or Without Your Help — which will help you eliminate any “minimum wage” fears you may have. The course is just kicking off and we are taking on 200 charter members to get started. Click the link above to find details on how to enroll in the course.
• Finally, Garrett Gunderson (Founder and Chief Wealth Architect at Wealth Factory), is hosting a live business-scaling Q&A webinar on Monday, November 28 at 7 PM Central. You can ask him any question you want about growing or scaling your business. There won’t be a replay, so be sure to register and attend live if you are interested.

That’s it for this week.

Build the life you love,

The Builders at Wealth Factory

What is Living Wealthy Weekly?

Each week we share timely trends, news stories, and current events that affect your life. We help you see the impact, personally and socially, and give you possible solutions to avoid any negative effects. We also give you additional links and resources if you want to investigate further. The purpose is not to be the last word on any topic. Rather it’s to help us all stay informed of what’s going on in the world without letting those events negatively impact your lifestyle. Our goal is to help us all live richer, fuller lives from a position of financial strength. This allows you to weather economic hard times, and seize whatever new opportunities arise in our changing world.