Lots of Business Owners Remain Confident

The road might be a little rocky for a while, says one, but we’ll come out of it stronger.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• In our latest Dashboard podcast, David Barnett talks about finding opportunity in the uncertainty.

• Businesses that hire immigrants say it’s possible to stop illegal migration and still bring more people here legally.

• President Trump is again considering paying farmers billions not to grow anything.

• The deadline to get a REAL ID might be real this time, and it’s fast approaching.

MANAGEMENT

It’s not hard to find business owners still betting on Trump: “During the four years Joe Biden was in the White House, business was brisk for Bill Johnson’s auto repair and towing companies in [Boston], but his bottom line told a different story. ‘There’s one thing I learned,’ Johnson said. ‘Being busy does not mean business is good.’ Soaring energy costs, higher inflation, and increased regulation squeezed profits at Johnson’s enterprise so much so that he put off buying any major equipment for years — until Donald Trump won November’s election. Betting that business would improve under Trump, as it had during his first term, Johnson ordered two new tow trucks, for $170,000 apiece.”

• “And now, even with the stock market rattled by Trump’s tariff policies and recession fears rising, Johnson remains bullish. ‘There might be a rocky road a little bit as the economy resets,’ said Johnson. ‘It’s kind of like when a company files for a reorganization after bankruptcy. ... It’s tough times going through that reorganization, but they come out of it a lot stronger.’”

• “‘Universities, institutions, environmental groups were getting large amounts of funding, and that’s really not how an economy grows,’ said Bruce J. Mittman, CEO of Needham advertising agency Mittcom who also owns 34 radio stations across the country. ‘Government is there to support us and help us grow and keep the marketplaces safe and fair, and borrowing accessible to all, but it’s not there to determine winners and losers, and I think the last administration did that, to their detriment.’”

• “While business owners laud Trump’s goal to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S., it’s difficult to plan when his strategy keeps evolving. ‘If there are tariffs, we will learn to live with them — again, short-term pain through that restructuring, while businesses adapt and people adapt,’ said Rod Egger, who lives in Wellesley and serves as CEO of Bariatrix Nutrition, a high-protein food manufacturer with factories in Vermont, Canada, and France. ‘The worst thing would be to start down a path and then reverse course in six months or 12 months.’”

• “For now, Egger is making minor adjustments but holding off on big moves. He’s bringing about 30 jobs back to the United States, shifting from his Montreal factory to Vermont. That’s because much of Bariatrix’s source material is made in the U.S., and manufacturing in Canada has become more expensive amid the tariff fight. ‘If his tariff strategy is well communicated, and well thought out, it could be very effective for reshoring manufacturing to the U.S.,” added Egger.” READ MORE