The Education of an English Major Turned Business Owner

In college, I majored in English. A year ago, I became a private business owner for the first time in my life. I don’t think I need to tell you much more than that. There are only two reasons my business – a tanning, waxing and nail salon in Winter Park – has a chance to succeed. One: My wife is running it. Two: She pretty much ignores every suggestion I make, which is to say our relationship is the same as ever.

The genius of this working arrangement is that my ignorance of day-to-day business matters frees me up to focus on The Big Picture. I am in a position to make sweeping generalities with the kind of conviction that only comes to those who are unhindered by objective data and firsthand information. In other words, it’s exactly like being a sports fan.

Having said that, here’s what I’ve learned during my long and storied business career.
I had been told that owning a business would change my politics from Democrat to Republican. That is not true. It has changed my politics from Democrat to anarchist. Or maybe libertarian. I don’t care. I’ll vote for anybody who will stand up and say that if we can’t reduce the tax burden on businesses, we can at least simplify it.

That’s been the single biggest shock to my naïve English-major brain: The number of ways that federal, state, city and county agencies have discovered to extract money from business owners. It comes out quarterly. It comes out annually. It comes out, in some cases, before you even earn it. It’s extracted based on your income, on your property, on the nature of your business, on the number of employees you have.
I don’t know how the system got like this, but I am sure of one thing: It’s not getting better. It’s getting worse.

But here is the good part. Given the overall toughness of the economy and the number of hoops that business owners have to jump through, those who survive are tough, resourceful, hardworking individuals. There is a wartime camaraderie among them.

Now and then I commiserate with the man who owns the business next to ours. He came to this country as a dishwasher and now owns a successful chain of restaurants. I listen to every word of advice he has to offer. No highly paid business consultant can hold a candle to someone who started with nothing and used it to manufacture success. Especially these days.

Michael McLeod
Editor in Chief
mmcleod@ohlmag.com