It's a Pathetic Budget, But We'll Hit It

In this week’s 21 Hats Podcast, the owners talk about what went wrong in 2024 and what they’re expecting from 2025.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• AI is now to Google search what ecommerce was to Walmart.

• Can small toy shops still compete with big boxes and online sales?

• Victor Hwang notes that there are few things Americans agree on, but entrepreneurship happens to be one of them.

• Inspired in part by the new weight-loss drugs, restaurants are charging more for less.

THE 21 HATS PODCAST

This week, Shawn Busse, Jay Goltz, and Sarah Segal talk about why they’re not going to hit their numbers for 2024 and what they’re expecting from 2025, especially regarding tariffs, immigration, and regulation. Shawn says his business has been producing and closing fewer leads. “Clearly,” he says, “we’ve gotta change something.” Jay doesn’t think furniture sales will recover until mortgage rates come down, and he’s bracing for tariffs and deportations that he hopes won’t actually come: “I have to believe,” he tells us, “that somebody in government is going to figure out this isn't a good thing.” Sarah, meanwhile, says her revenues are down, but she’s taking solace from the fact that she is ending the year with a stronger book of business than she ended with last year.

• Plus: the owners discuss what it means that a judge in Texas has blocked the new overtime law. And they offer guidance to a cafe owner who raised her prices only to get hit with a 25-percent price hike from her main supplier, leaving her to wonder whether she should raise prices again or “eat the loss and pray for a miracle.”

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