Category: Small Business

Wars. Inflation. Tariffs. Labor shortages. High interest rates. Political uncertainty. If you only read the headlines, you’d think America’s small businesses are on life support. They’re not.

The sentiment I’ve been hearing and seeing from dozens of industry groups and clients about this year is “so far, so good.” This comes from businesses that do everything from distributing industrial equipment to installing commercial doors. With few exceptions, most have not only been holding their own in 2026, but they’ve been growing.

Anecdotal? Hardly. The data supports these claims.

Manufacturing in the U.S. has expanded for the past five months, reaching its highest level since 2022, according to the closely watched Purchasing Managers Index from the Institute for Supply Management. Service industry companies, according to a similar index, have seen expansion since 2024.

In June, small-business revenue increased in 11 of 12 sectors and in all eight U.S. regions, according to a small-business index published monthly and based on real-life data from hundreds of thousands of customers using Intuit QuickBooks. Payment processing firm Fiserv found that small-business sales showed steady short-term expansion in June, with both nominal sales and transaction volume increasing. Last quarter’s national GDP was just revised from 1.6% to 2.1%.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new business applications continue to come in at all-time highs. Even LinkedIn said that there’s been a 69% year-over-year increase in the number of U.S. members adding founder to their profile.

Want more proof?

Despite lower levels of optimism, over half of Main Street owners rated the health of their business as “excellent or good,” the National Federation of Independent Business reported this month. A recent survey from financing firm OnDeck said 93% of small businesses expect growth in 2026, and marketing firm Vistaprint said this month that 84% of small-business owners report being happy operating their businesses, despite ongoing economic and operational challenges.

Bank of America’s June 2026 Small Business Checkpoint said the small-business sector remains “financially healthy and operationally resilient.” MetLife and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found strong confidence in business health, cash flow, and future growth prospects despite ongoing concerns about inflation, labor costs, and economic uncertainty.

Three out of four U.S. small-business owners expressed “high confidence” in their business’ future, according to new research from Capital One. TD Bank’s recent survey said that small-business owners also remained highly optimistic about future growth.

Economist Mark Zandi recently wrote that among the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country with populations of more than 3 million, Philly enjoyed the strongest job growth last year. Payroll firm ADP reported that the private businesses in the U.S. added 122,000 jobs in May and 98,000 in June. HR giant Paychex said small-business hiring increased over the past four months.

Job openings among small businesses are rising, an indicator of demand for employees.

“Main Street job openings in New Jersey and nationwide are starting to pick up after a decline in May,” National Federation of Independent Business New Jersey state director Eileen Kean told ROI-NJ.

Center City, which represents 42% of all Philadelphia employment, has seen office leasing activity reach its highest level in six years, according to Center City District’s State of Center City 2026 report. The report also highlighted development projects topping $2 billion; projected Convention Center attendance exceeding 1 million in 2026; and retail, restaurants, and cultural institutions that “continue to rebound strongly.”

There are always news reports about how this business is “struggling” and that business is “barely holding on.” There’s no denying that this happens. How could it not? There are more than 34 million small businesses in the United States operating in hundreds of different industries and localities. Some are bound to be doing better than others.

But other things happening right now are underscoring small-business growth and optimism.

Tariffs (that aren’t being refunded) may have increased costs for some, but many manufacturers are reporting increased domestic demand as global firms move more operations here.

Inflation is sticky, but at less than 3% excluding energy, most business owners have found ways to pass these costs down to their customers or find other savings internally.

Labor shortages persist but most company owners are getting their work done regardless.

And consumer spending is strong, according to recent data from the National Retail Federation.

Oil prices are now back down to prewar levels.

Many owners are also benefiting from a lighter federal regulatory environment and friendlier tax policies. Capital is more expensive than in years past, but available for those who can measure return on investment. The stock market is up over 20% over the past year, providing more financial security. And for entrepreneurs and small-business owners, government aid and other resources, education, tools, and support proliferate like never before.

Small businesses employ half of the country’s workers and make up half of our GDP. Their success is critical for the U.S. economy.

They aren’t ignoring the challenges. They’re simply finding ways around them. And that’s why, despite all the doom and gloom, many are having a surprisingly good year.

When it comes to office software, people generally think first of Microsoft. But the reality is that Google Workspace is used by over 11 million paying organizations and boasts more than 3 billion monthly active users globally.

Many of my small-business clients use Google Workspace to send emails, create documents and spreadsheets, host meetings, and store files. And yet most are only scratching the surface. It’s often frustrating to witness so many businesses not taking advantage of all the capabilities of Google Workspace, even though they’re paying for it. That’s a waste of money.

If used the right way, Google Workspace can scale right along with the growth of your business, provide excellent collaboration features, and can be cost-effectively managed and secured without requiring expensive IT firms.

For starters, centralize everything.

If you’re going to use an office platform like Google Workspace, it’s best to lean into it fully. Mollie Plotkin, who runs a successful talent and speaker agency in Philadelphia, says Google Workspace is the “shared backbone” of her company. She uses Google Meet, Calendar, Chat, and Drive to “create an ecosystem” so that everything is in one place.

“Work is much more manageable when everyone had equal access to the same systems regardless of where they were working,” she said. “Instead of relying on multiple versions of files being e-mailed around, our teams work from one live document at a time, which dramatically reduces confusion and duplication.”

Plotkin also says that her internal team saves time on searching and improves efficiencies by consolidating all files and data in one place.

“Important information lives in shared spaces instead of individual inboxes, which makes collaboration faster and prevents bottlenecks,” she said. “We use shared templates, collaborative planning documents, and centralized project tracking so our team can move quickly without reinventing processes each time.”

Cheryl Friedenberg, a founder of High Key Impact, a digital marketing firm in Blue Bell, says that sharing calendars has significantly reduced “all the back and forth” for scheduling client calls and managing deadlines.

“Google Drive and Docs make sharing files simple, without endless email chains,” she said. “There’s no confusion about versions or missing attachments.”

Friedenberg always tells her clients to go the extra yard and make sure to also use Gmail within their own website domain and not as just a Gmail address.

“Using a generic @gmail.com address on proposals, invoices, or your website can make your business look less professional,” she said.

Automate everywhere

Once your team is using Google Workspace as a primary office management tool, it’s important to start automating tasks wherever possible.

Milan Baria, who runs Blueclone Networks, an IT services firm in Princeton, says that with Google Workspace you don’t need a developer to automate repetitive tasks. “We use simple scripts to bridge the gap between Google Sheets and Gmail to automate client follow-ups.”

Andy Williamson, one of the founders of Wilmington-based training firm ONLC, says that Google Workspace Studio, with Apps Script, lets a non-technical user describe a workflow in plain English and have it built.

“The new agents can read the email that came in, decide what kind of request it is, draft the reply, pull the right doc, and only come back to you when something actually needs a person,” he said.

Williamson says that it’s not difficult to create automation so that a company’s data power dashboards or other applications.

“Apps Script used to be just for programmers, but this has been changing recently,” he said. “Everyone in the business is becoming an agent builder, not just the developers.”

Leverage AI

Even if you’re not ready to automate with agents, Google Workspace comes with many AI features right out of the box.

Friedenberg says that by leveraging AI, a user can turn a simple prompt into a fully designed presentation in minutes.

“You’re starting with something polished instead of a blank page,” she said.

In addition, and instead of hiring a videographer, Friedenberg encourages her clients to use Google Workspace to make short professional-looking video.

“You can make a spokesperson-style video without being on camera,” she said. “The voice-overs sound natural enough that most viewers wouldn’t know they were AI-generated. Many small-business owners don’t realize it’s already included in a tool they’re probably already paying for.”

Joe Henderson, a Philadelphia-based expert with Google premier partner Promevo, says that another underused application is Google’s Notebook LM, a premium feature with many paid Google Workspace plans.

“Notebook LM is an AI research assistant that analyzes your documents, then generates summaries, answers questions, creates study guides, timelines, podcasts, and other content based solely on your uploaded sources,” he said. “Our clients use it to input raw documents, industry articles, vendor videos, and automatically turn that chaotic information into easy-to-understand explainer videos, short audio podcasts, quizzes, and custom study guides. It’s like a proactive operational brain sitting within Google Workspace.”

Finally, lean into Workspace’s IT management tools

Baria says that most owners don’t realize that they easily can restrict Workspace access based on the user’s location or device security status like any experienced IT professional.

“High-level security isn’t just for enterprises,” he said. “Small businesses can set up simple rules that prevent employees from accidentally emailing out sensitive information, and use Workspace’s license and user management tools to eliminate unnecessary applications and archive user accounts to save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a year.”

Plotkin agrees.

“You don’t need a massive IT department or expensive infrastructure,” she said. “Workspace allowed us to add team members, improve collaboration, and manage more clients without drastically changing our operational structure.”

Finding and retaining employees remains a top concern among small-business owners, and offering affordable healthcare benefits continues to be a significant challenge. Because of this, health reimbursement arrangements, or HRAs, have become more popular.

Simply put, an HRA allows an employer (or an employee) to make tax-free (and tax-deductible to the employer) contributions to an individual’s HRA account.

The employee can use those funds to reimburse uncovered healthcare expenses or purchase their own health insurance, either from outside brokers or on the Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware healthcare marketplaces.

HRA options

A small business can consider a few different HRA options.

A general HRA is funded entirely by just the employer and often used alongside existing group insurance plans to help reimburse expenses not covered by their existing insurance. These expenses could include co-pays, over-the-counter medication, or even dental and vision care.

Alternatively, health savings accounts (HSAs) allow employees to contribute pretax dollars for the same purpose.

“An employer can buy a high-deductible group plan, then use HRA funds to cover part of that deductible,” said Robert Deninno, a founding principal of Precision Benefits Group in Philadelphia. “The appeal is that unused HRA money remains with the employer, unlike HSA funds, which belong to the employee.”

Deninno said employers can use HRA language to fill in specific gaps in a group plan, such as hospital costs, rather than paying a much higher premium for a richer underlying plan.

An individual coverage HRA (ICHRA) allows employers to reimburse employees for premiums on health insurance the employee independently purchases.

A qualified small-employer HRA (QSEHRA) is designed specifically for businesses with fewer than 50 employees that do not offer a group plan. It is more formalized and is similar to an ICHRA.

HRA popularity

These arrangements give employers wide discretion, said Ed MacConnell, owner of Total Benefits Solutions in Feasterville.

“Employers can determine reimbursement levels, caps, frequency, and categories,” MacConnell said. ”That matters because most employers are trying to balance two competing goals: doing right by employees while staying within budget.”

Many people assume employers just want the cheapest plan possible, MacConnell said, but in his experience the opposite is usually true.

“Most employers genuinely care about how their choices affect employees and their families,” he said. “HRAs can help by letting them target limited dollars more intentionally.”

All of these plans have their nuances and it’s best to speak with a health benefits consultant or your payroll company to determine what’s best for your business.

You won’t be alone. ICHRAs alone grew 52% among small employers from 2024 to 2025 with 83% of employers who previously didn’t offer health insurance options now offering either ICHRAs or QSEHRAs, according to a recent report from the HRA Council, an advocacy organization.

HRA benefits

That surge in popularity is because offering HRAs — in addition to or in lieu of group coverage — provides an employer with three significant benefits.

The first is cost control. The cost of group insurance is expected to rise as much as 10% in 2026, but with an HRA, an employer can contribute whatever amount they can afford, unbeholden to the insurance company’s premiums. With certain HRA plans, an employer no longer has to negotiate with a group insurance provider, and is less exposed to potential privacy violations of an employee’s health history.

“The employer can decide what to reimburse, how much to reimburse, and under what limits,” MacConnell said. “This flexibility makes HRAs attractive to smaller employers that want to start somewhere rather than do nothing.”

Another benefit: because an employee can use these funds to purchase their own insurance, they’re no longer limited to the options their employer offers and they may be able to buy more affordable or more suitable plans.

Finally, there’s the recruiting benefit. Offering an HRA plan allows small businesses to have a response when a prospective employee inevitably asks about health benefits. By contributing even a nominal amount — and allowing an employee to contribute their own pretax dollars — a small business has a healthcare benefit option and becomes more competitive when pursuing talent.

HRA challenges

There are challenges with these types of plans. For example, administration can be messy, especially as the company grows or employee situations become more diverse.

“If 10 employees buy 10 different plans, the employer and broker lose the efficiencies that come with one group carrier and one group policy,” said Deninno. “When employees are scattered across different individual plans, it becomes much harder to resolve claims problems or coverage issues.”

MacConnell emphasizes the need for a third-party administrator, particularly when a company exceeds 10 to 15 employees.

“Outsourcing becomes worthwhile when the alternative is tracking many different employees, many different plans, and constant premium changes,” he said.

For HRAs to work well, it’s also important to educate employees and make sure it fits the company culture. Experts recommend meeting frequently and providing employees with as much support as possible.

“A good broker or administrator will act as a coworker with your employees,” said MacConnell. “They should help both employers and their employees choose the right plans, answer questions, and act as an advocate.”

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to President Donald Trump’s tariff plan last week. But if you’re a small-business owner who’s been affected by tariffs, don’t get too excited.

This fight is far from over. And so is the uncertainty. Even when courts push back, presidents retain enormous tariff authority — and small businesses should assume continued volatility.

The president had imposed tariffs on a number of countries under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which authorizes him to “declare a national emergency and regulate or block commercial and financial transactions with foreign nations deemed an unusual, extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or the economy.”

The Supreme Court upheld previous lower court rulings that said he exceeded his authority to do so. But President Trump has vowed to continue the fight. He’s far from finished.

For starters, he’s able to raise tariffs under the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Act. This law allows the U.S. to impose tariffs (up to 50%) on imports from countries that “discriminate” against U.S. goods through unfair duties, taxes, or regulations. It requires an investigation and a time-limit but it pretty much leaves the entire decision up to the president.

The problem for President Trump is that imposing tariffs under Smoot-Hawley requires Congressional approval which is far from guaranteed, even though his party holds slim majorities in both the House and Senate, given the pushback he’s received from other Republicans on his past tariff actions.

The president can also take advantage of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. This legislation gives “balance-of-payments” authority to the executive office and allows him to impose a 15% tariff on countries as he chooses. He used this authority last week to raise the global tariff the U.S. charges to other countries from 10% to the maximum 15%. Unfortunately for him, there’s a 150-day limit to this tariff, unless Congress approves an extension which is, as mentioned previously, far from assured.

Finally, the president can invoke Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, along with Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Both allow the president to impose tariffs on selected sectors and industries. These laws were behind the tariff increases enacted by the Biden Administration in 2024 on steel, aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, critical minerals, and solar cells. To play this card, investigations are required along with public comment, but once those rules are satisfied the executive office has a lot of flexibility.

All of these are strategies that the president could use. And — as he’s proven — he’ll fight anyone in court who challenges him, a process that could easily extend beyond his current administration.

It’s why Secretary Treasury Scott Bessent told CNBC in December that the Trump administration would be able to replicate tariffs even if it loses at the Supreme Court. As recently as Friday, Bessent said, “The overall tariffs, at the end of the day, will be unchanged.”

So what do to? The smartest small businesses aren’t waiting for Washington. They’re restructuring supply chains now. You can do the same.

Investigate bonded warehouses and free trade zones where you can bring your goods tariff-free and defer their impact until you ship product out of the warehouse, hopefully at a future time when rates are lower or there’s more clarity.

Use organizations like the World Trade Center Association and tools like the Make Onshoring Great Again portal to find alternate suppliers and products, both domestic and foreign.

Selectively pass down price increases based on individual customer profitability analysis, rather than broadly.

Lean into technology in an effort to increase the productivity of your workers in order to better control or even reduce overheads.

Try to do more assembly and manufacturing here in the U.S. All of these moves are what my smartest clients are doing in order to mitigate the uncertainty.

Can you expect a refund? Don’t hold your breath. Refunds need to come from the importer/exporter of record, which is generally the company that handled the transaction at the port. Most of these companies I know are not structured to apply for refunds on such a scale, even if there was a process in place (which there isn’t).

The Supreme Court has “remanded this back down to the lower courts to decide if refunds will be issued and without knowing for certain, many believe that the refunds will not be issued retroactively,” Lori Mullins of Rogers & Brown, a customs brokerage firm in Charleston, told CNBC on Friday. “For importers hoping for refunds the answer is yes, we have a ruling but we do not have a ruling on if any refunds will be granted. That will be handled by a lower court at a future date/time.”

The Trump administration is wiping their hands clean of orchestrating a tariff refund, saying, effectively that it’s not up to them, it’s up to the lower court. In his dissent, Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted the ruling lacked any refund guidance, and he stated that the refund process may be a “mess.”

Lawsuits already filed by larger corporations will take years to sort out. Smaller companies — lacking resources — will have a much bigger hill to climb, if that hill even exists. If you’re expecting a retroactive refund, you’re planning on a hope strategy — not a business strategy.

Whether you agree with the president’s tariff strategy or not is beside the point. What matters is this: Tariff policy has become a tool of both trade and politics.

That means volatility is now structural, not temporary. Which means the impact of tariffs on your small business isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Uncertainty? That much is certain.