Small business owners in Texas are struggling to keep their doors open.
The biggest problem now is inflation. Many business owners are raising prices to offset higher costs. Other obstacles include a worker shortage and customers who are a bit more frugal. Annie Spilman, State Director at National Federation of Independent Business in Texas, says morale remains low in the Lone Star State.
“It’s scary, and once they thought they saw the light at the end of the tunnel, here we go again,” Spilman said. “These business owners are not these insensitive people sitting behind a corporate desk. These are people that are trying to take care of their communities in the form of keeping people employed.”
Many owners and managers are having to shift schedules, change business hours, and in many cases step in themselves as a worker.
“They’ve survived many things: economic disasters and natural disasters,” Spilman explained. “They’re trying to be as flexible as possible, and in Texas employers are mostly allowed to be flexible with their workers and with their hours.”