Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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The Presidential Candidates’ Record on Small Business, Part I

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As a leading voice for the small business sector, part of my advocacy is to track and report on public policy that impacts the Main Street economy. In that role, I vociferously support those issues that benefit small business and pugnaciously oppose those that don’t, regardless of political party paternity.

Since 1997, I’ve stuck my finger in the eye of Presidents and Congresses of both parties for policies that hurt – or didn’t do enough to help – the heroes who create half of the U.S. GDP and sign half of the paychecks that support over 100 million Americans.

Prior to every presidential race since 2000, I’ve compared the policies and performance of the two major party presidential candidates based on the top concerns that keep small business owners up at night. This is the first of a two-part series on my 2020 analysis of seven issues that currently find their way to the top of every small business survey. Part I covers the economy, taxes, and regulations. Part II will cover healthcare, entrepreneurship, energy, and the pandemic.

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The New Regular: The Marketplace Is More Than Fear and Greed

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This is the 20th edition of my New Regular series that focuses on the macro and microelements of small business success in the post-coronavirus economy. “Normal” is a term used by those who haven’t made a pandemic payroll.

Fear and greed. Individually, they represent two of the purest primal emotions of modern humans. The headwaters of both spring from the emotion-dwelling part of the brain called the amygdala. 

When used together, it’s appropriate that fear is first because it represents a primitively instinctive and less reasoned response. When an unexpected blast occurs, we duck first and determine the caliber of the cannon later. A very primitive emotion.

Unlike fear, as an emotion, greed is a wholly-owned human franchise. When people progressed to produce more than was needed for survival, the luxury of greed was born. Greed is a modern human emotion.

But as different as these two emotions are, humans have leveraged them in tandem for 10,000 years to form the paradoxical pendulum that created and continues to power one of the most important human creations: the marketplace. 

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The New Regular: The Future Will Be More Redundant

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This is the 19th edition of my New Regular series, which is dedicated to helping small business owners have the maximum opportunity to be successful in the post-pandemic economy. Normal just checked into a halfway house for the pathologically nostalgic.

Redundant. What comes to mind when you hear that word? Wikipedia reports that it means, “unnecessary, superfluous, needless.” For example, it’s redundant to say, “undercapitalized small business.”

As business managers, we convert Wiki’s words into “expensive, inefficient, and unproductive.” In fact, we’re on a continuous quest to root out waste and the likely offenders are anything redundant.

One of the markers of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic is its disruptiveness, both on society in general and the marketplace in particular. In the third decade of the 21st century, in the New Regular economy, these disruptions have illuminated the need for more redundancy. Consequently, I’m forecasting that we’ll not only regard the word and concept with more respect, but redundancy will increasingly become a business best practice and a customer expectation.

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The New Regular: Prepare for Conflicts of Customer Expectations

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This is the 18th edition of my New Regular series that focuses on how the marketplace is changing in front of our eyes and what small businesses can do about it. Recently placed in the placebo group of a Covid-19 vaccine study, it’s not looking good for Normal.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, only wizards and fairies had magic wands and customer expectations were easy to anticipate. Now, come back to the rude reality of post-pandemic 2020 and things here are different. 

Let me tell you a story that plays out across Main Street markets every day. This one takes place in Peoria.

A couple is driving through town when John says, “I’m hungry for pizza.” Sue agrees, “As long as it’s pepperoni.” What happens in the next 60 seconds is a dramatic example of the difference between doing business today compared to not that long ago – especially this year. 

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The New Regular: Claim this Powerful Pandemic Present

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This is the 17th edition of my New Regular series, devoted to helping your small business successfully navigate the uncharted, post-pandemic economy. When normal tried to pass as “new” on Twitter, the cancel culture came apart and the account was immediately suspended.

Protomarket was born 10,000 years ago when Og and Gog dropped their clubs and said, “Let’s stop fighting and do business.” At that same moment, something else was born that became the second most powerful human force: Trust. Only a mother’s love is more awesome. Everybody knows that.

Fast-forward to 2020 and trust is still the abiding nexus of every human interaction. Arky Ciancutti, M.D., my friend and co-author of “Built On Trust,” says, “We are a society in search of trust.”

In life, the expectation of trust is non-negotiable. Humans may be illogical about love, but we’re not confused about trust – we require it. 

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The New Regular: Small Businesses Need IP “Corpsplaining”

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This is the 16th edition of my New Regular series, which has the singular purpose of delivering small businesses safely to the other side of the pandemic abyss. Normal was just inducted into the Irrelevance Hall of Fame, joining payphones, VHS tapes, and, sadly, fellow 2020 inductees, the hug and the handshake.

There are innumerable ways that the small business sector is better than Corporate America, and all are ingredients of the legendary Main Street special sauce, regularly chronicled here. But in at least three disciplines – human resources, marketing, and intellectual property (IP) – most small business owners should sit still for some corpsplaining from the big guys. Corpsplaining – “You say you know, but let’s review anyway” – is my latest coinage. It’s like what ladies call “mansplaining,” only not as cute. 

Saving the first two Big Business advantages for another day, let’s discuss intellectual property in terms of operating your post-pandemic business in the New Regular marketplace. Stay with me because your small firm eats IP by the gigabit. In fact, you couldn’t function without it.

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