2022 small business trends

With the over reaction to COVID, such as unnecessary lockdowns, shutting down of businesses, and government excessive spending, we're starting to see the results in severe inflation that is hurting the youngest and poorest in the world.  This will likely continue to get worse for at least a few years to come.  This was all avoidable, but will be much worse than COVID in the long term.  We're seeing it currently with our industry laying off 80% of their employees due to the market influence of the US Fed lowering interest rates to unsustainable levels, and then being forced to raise them well above where they started out in order to push back against the systemic inflation and stagnation that it has created.

I tend to be very optimistic, but this is unfortunately not going to go away any time soon and we are all going to be directly affected and know people that are seriously affected by this in the coming years.  This was a state and federal government created disaster of epic proportions and our government leaders that implemented these mandates need to be held accountable.

Our non-profit is nearly completely back to normal. The primary lingering effect is that some other organizations we interact with continue to have light restrictions.

Fundraising events took a hit, but are now back to normal. This had, thankfully, very little overall effect on donor generosity due to the phenomenon of crisis giving.

We are continuing to setup clients with cloud base solutions for meetings and communications

I think the push to more cloud based systems will continue. Just before COVID we moved our Finance software to the cloud. This was a huge blessing in disguise for us. Prior to the could, you had to be on-site to access the Finance packages. But, as people were working from home or out sick during COVID, our Finance Director could continue working since they now had access to everything online, from any internet connected device. I think we will continue to see remote working for those that can. Unfortunately with our small staff, we will be on-site for the foreseeable future, which i am ok with. I spend enough time at home, and kinda missed coming into the office to see my 'work friends' on a regular basis. 

One of the biggest benefits of the gig economy is the flexibility it offers, both in terms of working hours and the types of jobs that workers can take on. In fact, before the pandemic, around 70 percent of gig workers reported that they participated in the gig economy out of choice and because it provided more flexibility, and sometimes more income, than a full-time job. While this flexibility has always been appealing, since the start of COVID-19, it is likely that many full-time employees have had to reluctantly join the gig economy out of necessity.

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I have found that many places are offering both in-person and virtual options for programs. My organization has done this and it has been effective. With the virtual aspect, we are able to reach out to clients who normally would not have had an experience with our organization which is really rewarding.

As an owner of a small business, one of our biggest roadblocks is red tape.  The saying 'there's an app for that', well, in small business it's more like 'there's a tax for that'.  I think this is a growing (but not good) trend, and something someone with a decent amount of tax experience should capitalize on.  

Less travel, more remote/online work - I miss flying a ton, but with firmer roots at home I'm seeing the trade-off in potential business connections and areas to expand and grow. Not to mention quality time with family!

I feel bad for those that have bosses that are Demanding a Return to Office to Work situation.  Stay safe everyone!