Takin' Care of Business(es)

Megan Comfort, Small Business Manager at Nevada State Bank, sits down with Steven Snow, Pacific Regional Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). A former startup employee and founder of an automotive consulting firm, Snow brings a firsthand perspective on the challenges small business owners face. He shares how those early experiences shaped his mission to expand access, reduce regulatory barriers, and support entrepreneurs through evolving SBA programs. From new tools to emerging trends, Snow offers insights into how the SBA is helping businesses grow, adapt, and lead with resilience.

All price references and market forecasts correspond to the date of this recording. This podcast should not be copied, distributed, published or reproduced in whole or in part. The information contained in this podcast does not constitute research, recommendations, representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements of any information contained in this podcast and any liability from Zions Bancorporation, N.A or its divisions (including direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage) is expressly disclaimed. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. or any of its divisions. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. is not providing any financial, economic, legal, accounting or tax advice or recommendations in this podcast. In addition, the receipt of this podcast by any listener is not to be taken as constituting the giving of advice, investment or otherwise, by Zions Bancorporation, N.A. to that listener, nor to constitute such person a client of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Copyright reserved by Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Nevada State Bank is a division of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Member FDIC

Chapters

• 0:06 Welcome Steven Snow
• 1:27 From Business Owner to SBA Regional Administrator
• 5:39 Debunking the SBA Stigma
• 7:02 SBA Misconceptions
• 8:04 Government Contracting Opportunities
• 9:24 Free Small Business Resources
• 10:26 You Don't Know What You Don't Know
• 12:46 Get an Outside Perspective
• 14:06 Current Challenges the SBA is Solving For
• 16:01 Made in America Manufacturing
• 19:08 Onshoring Tool to Source Suppliers
• 20:05 Manufacturing Costs, Logistics & Regulations
• 22:16 Expanding Lending Limits to Cater to Domestic Manufacturing
• 24:12 Training a New Generation of Skilled Workers
• 25:52 Red Tape Hotline
• 28:58 The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease
• 30:27 Local Government Regulatory Environments
• 33:37 California to Nevada Business Migration
• 34:36 A Diverse Business Landscape
• 36:03 Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Create Efficiencies
• 40:31 How Can the SBA Help with Business Exit Strategies?
• 42:14 Acquiring a Business vs. Starting From Scratch
• 45:04 The Importance of Experience
• 46:11 Keeping the Legacy Alive
• 48:27 Be Prepared
• 51:07 Closing

Transcript

Welcome, I’m Megan Comfort, Small Business Manager at Nevada State Bank. This is a podcast where we get to learn from business owners, business leaders, and serial entrepreneurs in the state of Nevada and get to learn from their experiences running companies in our great state. Now we have a little bit of a special episode today that I want to point out. I'm actually going to back up a little bit because I forgot to say, please subscribe.

(...)

Also you can watch this podcast via YouTube and you could download it on any app where podcasts are available. So please check it out. But back to what I was saying originally, we have a very special episode for you today because we actually have Steven Snow. He's the Pacific Regional Administrator for the Small Business Administration here with us today. He actually oversees Nevada, California, Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, and the surrounding islands.(...) He's instrumental in helping improve the Small Business Administration programs and also making sure that these programs are accessible and available to small businesses in his territories. So I want to say thank you so much, Steven, for being here today. Alright. Thanks for having me.

(...)

We typically start off these episodes learning a little bit about your origin story. One thing I didn't bring up in your bio that's actually pretty unique is that you are a business owner yourself as well. So you have kind of a front row real life seat to what businesses go through. Absolutely. Yes. So based in Los Angeles, you covered the territory. So it's a really big territory.(...) The region is diverse. There's a lot of different industries that we can get into. So more about me. So I'm based in Los Angeles.

(...)

I've been there about 20 years. I've worked in mostly, I've literally only worked in small businesses, whether I was the owner or the employee of the small business. So I have a very deep small business background.

(...)

So I've worked in startups a lot in kind of the Santa Monica, Los Angeles, West Side area and started kind of technology programs. I've been in data analysis sort of at the beginning, moving into operations and doing product management as well as various parts of kind of when you're at a startup, you know, in a small business, you're kind of a jack of all trades. So I've been involved in running customer service teams. I have done product operations and product deliveries and product management as well as project management, which is there's a little subtleties there that you learn when you're when you're running a team like that. And so I've been always passionate about automotive industry. So I've mostly only worked in the automotive industry. And that's kind of where my small business background went as far as my ownership. So I started an automotive consulting company. So we,(...) I kind of have a really deep expertise. It's always been my passion about just kind of everything automotive, like what cars are out there, what cars are good for other people and what cars are, you know, within a budget, what are you looking for? So I would, the first company was a consulting company. So I would spend time working with folks on, you know, what's the right car for you, giving my services out to different larger companies that would need sort of data services along with automotive data, and as well as starting up a wholesale dealership that sells cars based on kind of my knowledge of all the automotive detail that I know, like the pricing, what the trends are for, you know, whether this car is at a good value, if it's low. There's a lot of good tools out there that you can use. And there's, it was, it was very eye opening to me, kind of starting that business. Because when you're doing a consulting business, it's a lot more service based. Service based. That's right. So this is like getting inventory and doing planning and looking out to kind of project like what are the, what are the, you know, that's right. And so it's very difficult. And I learned a lot, and this is, you know, I'm based in California, you know, about kind of the interactions that as a small business owner, you have with the, with the government and where they can be helpful, and where they can be unhelpful, which is, which is most, most of what I experienced, which is unfortunate, I think we have a, we have a level of difficulty in that state, which I appreciate that Nevada seems to recognize the kind of the value of small businesses in a way that, you know, making it easier and putting up less regulatory barriers and less areas for blocking businesses is valuable. And that's how you, you know, you grow the community and increase your hiring and all the different operations and expectations that you would think you would have from a SBA, you know, perspective. And that's kind of what, what grew me into this role was really like that, that business background of my operations background, and being able to kind of use my experience as a small business owner, as well as just working for small businesses for, for such a long time.

(...)

It kind of seems crazy. It's been so long, but the, the time flies. And you know, I love the small business situation is I tell people this a lot, I'd probably be doing wholesale car dealing. If I, if I had known the different options and services and programs and all the different value ads that the SBA and all of our partners do, it's, it's, it's kind of an incredible organization and our resource partners that we can get into and all the, all the programs and work that we do is just, I noticed that a lot with business owners when I'm working with them, they either have a story of a friend of a friend of a friend or something that happened to them 25 plus years ago, where it's just rub them the wrong way, or a close person has shared that experience and they just have this stigma in their mind as to why they don't want to use an SBA loan or why they don't even understand some of those programs. I've even had business owners ask me to leave their office when I've accompanied other bankers specific about SBA. Cause they're like, I absolutely don't want an SBA loan, which is funny because I always look at that as a challenge to be like, no, these programs are really great and they truly can help you. Let me just explain it to you. Let me tell you how it works. Let's, let's focus on what it is that you really need because the terms and the structures and the capabilities that it's going to afford you and your business, it's just so important. And it makes me sad sometimes that a lot of businesses don't truly understand that when they get the loan and it achieves what they wanted, they get it. Right. True. But sometimes it doesn't always work that way for whatever reason. And so I always kind of get a little sad when there are people that are like, Hey, like that's absolutely off the table for me. And I'm like, but can I just explain it a little bit to you? That's right. Yeah. And if you, if you want, I can kind of walk through, I think what the misconceptions are with the SBA. So, you know, and one of the areas we get a lot of, and I've been in the position for six months, so, you know, I'm not the expert on everything, but we have local district offices for that. Saul Ramos is here with us. Saul is the best. He's the best district office. Yes. And so, you know, we have expertise in a lot of different areas and I think that's one of the misconceptions is that the SBA is really here to provide capital and nothing else. And so, and obviously our capital program is very important. We became much more famous during the PPP time. And that's when everybody loved SBA. That's when everyone loved SBA. Right there. That's right.(...) And, but it also set high expectations and, you know, and we don't really do grants, you know, and that's one of the things that people are always looking for. And it's really loan-based programs. But we do other things that I think are just as valuable and that kind of is where I go when I say, you know, I might not have this position if I had known about these other programs. So, for instance,(...) contracting, right? So government contracting is a huge, huge portion of economy in general. And small businesses get a set aside for governments across the country. So we're talking about the federal government, the biggest buyer of goods in the world, by the way, the federal government. You've got state government. You've got local government. You've got lots of different. You've got even, you know, contracting with private entities that you can learn about through our, through our resource partners as well. So, you know, the government contracting piece is huge and a lot of people don't really think that they can get into it because it's, it's, there's a lot of forms. You've got to fill out all this kind of background information and am I, you know, capable? And it's amazing the level of small, small businesses that can still be contributing to government workers. You know, it's, it's, it's anything that you think of at a building, anything that you, you know, you've got exterior, you've got maintenance, you've got, you know, plumbing, there's all sorts of different areas. And with those set asides, I think it's important that small business owners kind of open their minds to government contract and using the SBA as kind of the, the home base for that, because that's where we will explain the intricacies. And there are a lot of differences and that's where the district offices can come in and help is kind of what are the requirements between the different, you know, types of governments. And so the contracting is, is really a big one. We also have a strong, I would say muscle for counseling, right? So if you are a business owner and you're not sure about how you, you've got a great idea, but you don't want to, you don't know how to get the financing right. You want to make sure your business plan is good. You want to learn about how to make a P&L statement, whatever specifics.

(...)

So we have resource partners, they're the small business development centers, the SBDCs, the WBC Women's Business Center score, which is the advisors, as well as our veteran business outreach centers. So that's V-Box. So all of these are our resource partners that can provide expertise at even different industry levels. You know, they have all been there, they've done it. They know how to get you through if it's, if you need marketing help, if you need, you know, inventory, where it's, it's, it's, there's different levels of how you have to operate a business. It's not just, you know, startup and idea. We will help you with that as well. But there's kind of the logistics of running a business. And so I think these resource partners are super valuable, insult free. So I get a test to that. We refer a lot of clients,(...) established businesses and startups to those resources because they are so instrumental in helping people. That is something that I think is very overwhelming for any individual seeking information and trying to understand what information am I looking for? Because you don't know what you don't know. That's what I love about entrepreneurs is they also don't know what they don't know, but they're not afraid to figure it out and find it. And Juanie said this last episode, which I think is just so amazing. She was a guest on the podcast. She owns Mothership Coffee, but she said, I'm a pro at failing forward.(...) And so I love that concept. I like that idea of they are not, they're afraid and they're nervous. They have that nervous energy, but they're going to try to channel that to seek out the right resources and information.

(...)

And when they find score or when they talk to Saul and they get acquainted and they figure out that there's all these other resources and there's people that can help guide them towards the right resources based on their particular situation, it not only cuts down the amount of time of them wasting time and energy trying to figure it out themselves, but it gives them like a support system, a foundation, which I just think is so valuable for any business starting out or even established. Like you're on an island sometimes you can absolutely exclude yourself from the world and feel isolated from everyone else. When you have the pressure of a business and growing it, keeping people employed, training people, dealing with fires, understanding all the aspects of running a business. You can't just be good at making a product or providing a service.(...) You have to understand the financials. You have to understand the compliance regulations, like anything tied into your company. And it can sound like a lot,(...) but score and SBDC and all the VBox that you mentioned, all these other resources really do help give that foundation and that support system.(...) I mean, I can think of a million different businesses right now that I've interacted with that were so appreciative and thankful for the help. Yes. And I think a lot of business owners kind of don't necessarily think they need it or they don't. It's like, I know what I'm doing. I've done, you know, I've been studying. I've been prepared for all the eventualities. But it doesn't hurt to get another opinion, I think, in a lot of different areas. And it's all free and it's available. And these are experts. So it's like, even if you think you know what you're doing, you will learn more things. And I'm sure you do know what you're doing, but it's just you have to be able to take second opinions. I think it's important to get that different perspective from a trained counseling that really knows your business that you're interested in. So, you know, don't be too overconfident, I would say, in certain incidents. Well, and, you know, always, you know, get an assessment or just like have a conversation and see where it goes. That's right. That's what I always like to say. Like, let's have a conversation and let's just see where this goes and how we can help each other because I'm blown away with the things that I learned sometimes about different businesses. I get fired up after a prospect meeting. I'll like just gab it up with like everyone in my office and be like, oh my God, they do this and this is how they get their clients and this is how they started. And it's just such a fun, you know, story and history to learn about how people get into things and you can't do it alone. That's right.

(...)

That's just one of the main points. So, as far as challenges that you see for businesses, how does the SBA help with some of those challenges relative to like either the programs or the services? Like we talked about the resources, but what other things are you guys seeing right now that maybe aren't available today or are that you guys are kind of rolling out because you see those things impacting business owners? Yes, that's right. And I've been amazed because, you know, as coming from not a private sector background or a non-government background, you know, I have expected kind of slow process of changing and running programs in a different way. That is not what has been happening. I mean, Administrator Loeffler has been introducing almost new programs, it seems like, on a weekly basis. It's unbelievable. So, and a lot of these are very needed and strong kind of business-oriented solutions for problems. So, we have got a lot of online tools, which I can get into specifics for. We've done a lot of changes to how the banking can work and how to make it fair and make kind of our banks, partners, loan more and, you know, being here at the bank.(...) I think that's important for us to get as much of our kind of banking partners on board and getting through those processes and procedures that I know are sometimes onerous for banks as well as they would be for the small business owners. And so, some of them, like, so we have the Lender Match tool is a great one, speaking of banking. We use that. That's great. I mean, it's, I've heard a lot of small businesses. And so, if you're looking for financing, you know, it's very easy to complete form. Put in your information. It's kind of what your industry is, what are you looking for?

(...)

And then it will match you with local banks that are on, you know, your side as far as whatever your industry is. They're familiar with the kinds of work that you might be doing in most cases. And so, that tool is really interesting. I think we've, you know, at this point, there's the manufacturing, the made in America manufacturing has really been a big focus of ours.

(...)

And I think everyone knows there's been a, you know, we spoke about COVID and the supply chain has been sort of a struggle. I think it's been like five years. And so, there's a feeling, I think, in the small business community that's like, there's got to be a way that we can do this in a way that makes us more sort of service of ourselves and not be able to rely on others and have these kind of supply chain concerns. And I guess one of the areas that I hear from small businesses a lot that I think is a little bit of a misconception is that it's way too expensive to produce things in America.

(...)

So one of the examples I use is if you look at, let's use China, for example. So they have a pretty low labor rate compared to America, right? But it's not the way it used to be. So if you look back 30 years,(...) Chinese labor wage averages were around 2% of American labor wage. So this is where conception comes from. Like this is, then this was true. So in 1995, like it was significantly cheaper to produce anything in China. There's no doubt about it. Yeah, everything was outsourced. That's right. Everything is outsourced because it is so, so different between kind of our living standards and the economic output of the two countries. China has grown significantly in 30 years. They are now more like a third of the average labor wage of American workers. And so that's a big difference. They have grown tremendously in wage and everywhere else. So the cost production for producing in China compared to America has narrowed significantly.(...) And then you look at other kind of side issues, and these wouldn't be side issues in certain ways, so it depends on what your industry is. But like freight can cost, say, 45 days worth of planning. You don't know when it's going to get there. There's a lot of shipping issues versus having it, let's say, you've got a producer right here in Nevada. You can get your prototype in. You can have everything ready to go. It could be like 10 days shipping. So you've also got an intellectual property issue. So I've heard a lot of small businesses who are like, I've sent them the molds and now they've got the molds. And now they're doing things in China. I don't know what they're doing with it. So this is security, I think, is another area that people don't really think about as much. There's also kind of just logistics, like language barrier, time zones are tricky. There's different holidays. So when you kind of add up all of these--(...) and I think also just Made in America, that's a brand that big companies, big suppliers and big retailers are big on looking for products that are made in America. So you kind of add all that up together and you get a value proposition that's not as

(...)

skewed towards overseas production. So I think onshoring is a much more viable option that small business owners don't necessarily think about because you kind of have this preconceived notion about, oh, it's just going to be too expensive. And one of the-- before I'm going off, I think. But the onshoring tool, we're talking about tools, is a new one on sba.gov slash onshoring. So what that tool does is it matches-- so you need a raw material. You need a supply of a certain type of product. You put in what you're in need of and the onshoring tool will provide you with a supplier in America. And you can set a range. You can put in all the details you want, if it's Nevada, if it's West Coast, if it's anywhere in America.(...) You get to-- they'll present you with options for suppliers that do that product or that raw material. Whatever that input you need is, you will be able to find, hopefully, one that you can source from America if you need it. That's really cool. Yeah, I need to check that out. One of my husband's companies is a supply company. And we do import product for that. I'm very close to the issues relative to the impact on tariffs and all the lead time logistical problems that we've kind of endured really since COVID, primarily. And just the shipping costs. That's right. There's a lot of additional costs that have kind of raised the bar, which has been very challenging as a small business when you're trying to be very mindful of the price point for your client or your customer.

(...)

And I do think long term, at least the sentiment that I get from businesses, is that they do want to have more onshoring and manufacturing here in the United States. But it is one of those things of you don't know what you don't know. How do you navigate the regulatory environment of setting up manufacturing that's different between state to state? Because there's state requirements, there's inspections and permitting, and then there's also federal requirements, depending on what it is that you're going to manufacture, if you need the FDA involved, if you need other government entities involved and them signing off. The time frame and the costs associated with it, I think, is just worrisome or something that is unknown and concerning for businesses, or at least that's kind of the sentiment that I heard. I think the hope is that these much larger companies,(...) these Fortune 500 companies that have pledged that they're going to be making big investments into onshoring things in the United States, that they'll actually start to help pave the way for other smaller companies to be able to put something together that isn't going to be as costly. Whenever you're the first person to do something, it's always going to be expensive in mistakes, right? Yes. And small businesses are not necessarily the ones that have the financial wherewithal to be able to afford the lessons of those types of mistakes when you're trying to build infrastructure for manufacturing.

(...)

So what are some of the other things that SBA is thinking about? I know that there was a topic around manufacturing and raising the limit for companies that are looking to do this because it is expensive to kind of set those things up. Can you share anything about how that conversation is going? Yes. And some of these are congressional legislation that has to pass, which we are in the process of getting through right now. So we are looking to expand a $5 million cap to $10 million. And I think the capital is really one of the main areas that, like you said, you need the capital to be able to expand as well as potentially make even a new factory that would maybe produce things that you can't get here. And we've actually had multiple companies that I've spoken to personally here just in Arizona, California, Nevada, who are like, I can't even source this correctly from China. I'm just going to start my own factory of this particular fastener, let's say.

(...)

And I'd just rather do it myself. And then I'm going to be able to make my own new product line. So it's almost like it's amazing to me how innovative some of these small businesses are because they see the--(...) and this is a thing that the bigger corporate companies can't do is really sort of turn on a dime and pivot to where they're seeing, like, this is a need that we have. And we can make these ourselves. And then I've got a whole customer base already that's going to need this. And then I'm going to expand to a new customer base because I'm making a new product that everyone else needs because they're all having to deal with the same problem that I'm having.(...) So I've been happy to see how kind of our small businesses here are-- they think with that mindset of kind of that entrepreneurial spirit.

(...)

And so capital expansion is a big one. We're really looking at helping find workforce, right? So the issues of kind of mismatching-- unemployment is pretty good as far as not having a high rate. But there's a mismatch in work where you have skills, workers that are needed at a lot of these different small businesses. And we have trouble finding those workers. So I think training is really a big part of what we're going to be doing, as well as getting that kind of matchmaking going. And the SBA offers a lot of programs where we can partner with our resource partners to up sell the-- that's not the right term. But get their uplifted to where they're-- you're not just-- a lot of these factory roles, you have the-- that's another preconceived notion, I think, that's like these are-- you're not toiling away like just putting one thing together. These are people operating like heavy machinery and lathes and ovens and different kind of skills necessary. But it doesn't mean-- it's not necessarily like a full four-year college degree. This is like training and workforce development opportunities for people that don't necessarily have a college degree at all. And this is high paying and high skill work that is in demand. So you can kind of command different prices. And for the small business owners, they need that workforce. Because right now, we do have a shortage of that skilled worker. So the workforce is very important. And I think also it's-- it goes back to kind of contracting. The more you can manufacture for the public good, you're also going to be able to provide that to government services like you spoke about.(...) And then I think the one topic that we haven't touched on-- I kind of brought it up at the beginning, but it's red tape. So one of the SBA's big focuses-- Oh, yes. We don't want to forget that one. That's a big topic. That's right.

(...)

And so we have a new-- there's a red tape hotline. There's a phone number you can go to. It's sba.gov slash red tape.

(...)

There's also an email you can use to kind of describe what your barrier is. What is your issue? It doesn't have to be federal government. We have an Office of Advocacy, which also is a new fully staffed office that hasn't been as-- it hasn't been a strength of SBA for-- it's been over like 10 years, I think, since we had a full Office of Advocacy. And so combining kind of this red tape bureaucracy blocking mission with the Office of Advocacy, we also have an ombudsman representing small businesses. So we're really trying to come at the barriers for businesses from federal, state, local. We want to hear about everything. It could be from your utilities as well,(...) or just some old--(...) Hawaii has an interesting one where they have legislation that stops them from having ships go directly to Hawaii called the Jones Act. I got to hear about this a lot when I was in Hawaii. And so ships cannot go directly from China to Hawaii unless that's the only place they're going to go. So you can only make port in one American city if you're a foreign vessel. And so it makes it very expensive for them.(...) So there's things like that that-- so instead of most of their goods end up coming from, let's say, Asia to Long Beach or LA port, and then going back to Honolulu, and then going to China. So that makes everything very expensive. And so there's just lots out there that at a government or at a big entity level, it doesn't seem like it's that much. But to the small business owners that get affected by it, it's everything. And so we've gotten a lot of good feedback from the red tape hotline. By the way, they pick up a phone immediately.

(...)

So you call them up, and you will get to talking to somebody. It's like 30 seconds, I think, is every time I've called. That is fascinating. I actually love that you brought that up. I'm learning things myself that I know would be instrumental for so many different businesses. And I like that the SBA is really trying to focus on having a cohesive front that is really

(...)

understanding every aspect and how to change and evolve appropriately so that it truly does make a big impact for small businesses. That red tape hotline sounds fascinating. I'm actually going to use it myself. You should. I'm glad that you brought it up because that is, I think, something that is a very big point of contention right now with businesses that are being heavily impacted by things like tariffs and just the uncertainty and the volatility around it. It's making people feel very uneasy, not having any finality of understanding what that's going to look like for themselves. And so they're having a very hard time making future plans.

(...)

So if there is a path forward where they can contribute and help provide information on their struggles and their challenges, they might lead to other resources and things to help guide them on how they can secure more of their future and be kind of more self-sufficient, right? That's right.(...) And also, on other things, because there's always going to be challenges whenever you don't have control over your supply chain.

(...)

There's always fun things in business that you learn almost on a daily basis.

(...)

That's why earlier when we were talking, I'm like, "Can we just have a boring year? I would just love one boring year would be nice." No crisis, no problems.

(...)

But in business, it is nice to know that you guys are thinking about it from a holistic approach. You're saying, "We understand this is hard and challenging. There's a method to the madness though, and I do think we need to get that information out more so that people understand that there are avenues where you can share your thoughts and maybe even get some inroads into understanding how you can improve your situation." That's right. That's right. And we are already getting in there, I think it's like 400 different laws and different states and federal areas that are being worked on to change now.

(...)

It's literally over a billion dollars worth of red tape has already been eliminated.

(...)

It's important.

(...)

I was bothered. This is a story. I was in a food processor. I won't name any names of departments of your government.(...) They were like, "Oh, well, they're doing really well. They're in a very tricky part of downtown Los Angeles, which is an area that has a lot of issues and problems."

(...)

I speak from experience in the city that our level of interest in supporting the small businesses of the community is just, I think, lacking in certain areas.

(...)

But in this one, it's not even the city.

(...)

This guy's never had a failing grade or even, I think, a B. I think he's just gotten As every single time as a food processor. He has an inspector come to visit him every single day to the point where they have four little offices in the back room. They gave him an office? They gave him an office. I was like, "Wow." Smart move. I would do the same. I'd be like, "You're here every day. You might as well ... You want to have lunch?" He's just asking for very reasonable things, I think, which are like, "Hey, maybe is once a week reasonable to come over?"

(...)

Really maybe like a monthly thing or even ... There's certain things like that where you sort of ... It defies logic to be like, "This is a company that's been in operation for almost 100 years." We're talking about someone that knows what they're doing and they've been around and they're not new.

(...)

There's got to be some reasonable levels of ...(...) Government intrusion is a little strong maybe but ... Oversight. That's right. It's like, "This is too much." You hear these stories and I think that's one of the reasons I really like the role is just getting to ... You hear these stories and you get to hear the small businesses and(...) they're just so passionate. It's like, "We're going."

(...)

There's a lot of folks like that and highly regulated and you're lucky. Nevada businesses are in a great position compared to a lot of highly regulated states where it's like ... They don't want to have to move and they don't want their workers to have to move but it's very understandable when the kind of scenarios that they're working through to be like, "Well, I guess we're going to listen to the letters and calls from Denton, Texas and just move there now. We've been here for 50 years but it's just too much. We can't handle it anymore." One of the things I think the Office of Advocacy is going to be really great for is sort of getting the local governments and the state governments that aren't focused enough on local businesses and what their kind of effect is on them and all these blocks that you're speaking to is look at the impact that has and look at the impact that has on the local community. We don't want to have to have businesses have to travel across the country. It shouldn't be a race to the bottom as far as the rules go. We should just be able to have the people who live where they want to live operate the business where they want to support their local communities and not have to move because the government is too intrusive.

(...)

I think it's kind of a through line to what the SBA is trying to promote here, particularly the Red Tape Hotline as well as the Made in America. I know we have experienced a lot of influx of California-based businesses which I'm very excited to have. I think that it's fun to see because we are a little bit more, I think, business-friendly. Yes. I can speak from experience. We've had other guests on the podcast that have said that very thing. This is such a unique state because your accessibility of state and local government is just so easy. It's not a challenge. It's not difficult. You can really create an impact change. Yes, it takes time and effort, which is another thing on your plate, but it's so worth it. You pave the way not just for yourself, but for other small businesses as well. It is something that helps. It's a rising tide. It raises all boats type of situation. I really like that we have that here and that we get to reap the benefits of some of the other mistakes that are happening along our borders.

(...)

Tell me what you guys are seeing more of as far as opportunity or growth in small business. We talked about how manufacturing is going to be supported. I do think that will ultimately grow long-term as people see pathways forward to bring more things onshoring here.

(...)

What other areas are you seeing more SBA volume on relative to small businesses?

(...)

We have an interesting...

(...)

Region 9 is extremely diverse. I think it's like a microcosm of the country. We've got desert. We've got tropics. If you're thinking about Ireland, we have borders. We have just regular temperate rainforests. We have huge...

(...)

RIC temperate forests. We have huge, huge cities, massive cities, and a ton of rural as well.

(...)

I think there's a lot of areas that we can involve ourselves in with the SBA as far as being able to assist because we have such a wide range of technology versus legacy businesses.(...) I think one of the areas that we're seeing a lot of movement on right now and the western side of the country is always traditionally led in a lot of technology sectors. It's really on the AI front.(...) I think that it's interesting to me...

(...)

I've spoken with a few different small businesses that have leveraged it in a way that is very clever and this is going back to how they're innovative in their entrepreneurial ways.

(...)

There's just a lot of efficiencies that you can gain. The small businesses, the ones that want to get a little bit ahead of the curve are able to have it run like their back office or their marketing efforts and outreach efforts.

(...)

We see that happen a lot. I think the broader conversation about AI is trickier because it's like, "Okay, well, is it going to take people's jobs? Is it going to be all knowing and take over?" I had to deal with American Express recently and the person that I was chatting with had to tell me that they were human. I just thought that was so funny because I said, "Wow, we live in a day and age now where you have to verify whether or not you're talking to a human." That's crazy. I know. It's wild. It's also wild what it can do.

(...)

What I've been encouraging small businesses to do is take advantage of the stuff that you can do now because it's like a first move or benefit on a lot of these. It's like, "Hey, if your competitors are not running efficiently using the tools that are out there right now for AI purposes, you don't need to worry about the longer term. It's just like, let it make a website for you or let it run your numbers.

(...)

You always are going to have to check it.(...) It's not always right. You cannot trust that thing to be 100%. Make sure you give it some look over it for a while because it will give you bad examples. It's also very good at doing a lot of these things that a small business owner hasn't in the past had the resources to actually commit to. It's like, "Oh, I can actually have a website."(...) It's amazing even in 2025 how many small businesses don't have websites. They don't think they need them, but if you can make it that easy to have a website and put yourself on the map, that makes your – if you want to get a loan, if you want to have the legitimacy that different customers would look for, websites are very valuable. I encourage people to go through those kind of thought processes as far as being able to use that kind of new technology, even if you are in a legacy industry.(...) We have a history of factories and 100-year-old businesses and the one I was speaking to before that, they've done things the same way and they've done them the old ways, but this doesn't mean you have to change that. It's really just an add-on. It's complimentary.

(...)

We see a lot of that. I think it's great that everyone has that kind of business spirit. I think there's still a little bit of the Wild West mentality remains out here where you're just like, "You got to do it. You got to get it done. Do what you need to do to make it happen."(...) I appreciate that. Yeah. I love AI. I think it's a great tool to use and it does help improve efficiencies. It also helps get the creative juices going. It's not so easy to come up with a new process or the next best product that you want or how to grow your sales and where to grow your sales and understanding maybe some tools or some things that you can implement in your business to understand. You being a data expert and understanding data analysis,(...) that's something that I've actually learned through the use of AI is how much the data of my business and my clientele, if I'm capturing it in the right way, using websites, using analytics through other sites on how people find us, it will actually help guide me to move in the right direction as a business towards growing my sales, growing revenue, acquiring more customers. A lot of businesses, I don't think, understand the power of that data because big business is using it. But now I feel like AI is allowing us as small business owners to have more access to the data and how to leverage that to our advantage too so that it's not just being housed with the apples of the world. That's right. That's right. No, it's totally true.

(...)

It's just a playing field in a lot of different ways, it's a great point.

(...)

Tell me one thing about business trends too that I wanted to bring up, and I don't know if you've seen this, is there is this generation that's sun-setting out of business.(...) All these matured businesses and maybe they don't have family or their family, it doesn't necessarily want to take it over and they're now looking to exit because that is something with small businesses. Their exit strategy is selling that company generally. They didn't necessarily establish a 401(k) for themselves or some type of retirement plan.(...) Something that we are really excited about that we do a lot of is the acquisitions and the partner buyouts. Awesome. At least in the state of Nevada and within our footprint of Zion's B&Core,(...) I'm seeing that a lot of businesses are gravitating towards their understanding that that is an option and it's very accessible and it's benefiting the business. The seller, the business owner that wants to sunset and then it's also benefiting the young folks either working in the company or even outside of the company that are looking to buy a business, be able to afford that and move that business forward so that it doesn't just die at the end of the stage of that business. Do you work for the SBA? I love that you brought this up. I mean, this is the silver tsunami. This is a thing that we are thinking very deeply about at the SBA right now. It is truly like the small business, these are the ones that have been in business, they have incredible contact lists, they do really good work. They're kind of the local guy.(...) It makes me as a homeowner, you're always like, "Ah, man, my plumber retired. I'm an electrician. You know how to do everything. This is a disaster. Now I've got to go find a new person." The value of those established businesses, their name recognition, their know-how, their books are all set up, everything's ready to go. I think being able to encourage that acquisition like you're talking about and working with the banks is a thing that we're going to be looking into as SBA goes in a very strong way because restarting everything when you have these existent is just a much more difficult part. I think the tricky part for banking and I think our resources partners are going to be great for that. You're going to say, "Okay, let's go to the SBDC.(...) Am I qualified?" You might be like, "Oh, I've got a lot of money."(...) It might not be the right ... You're going to have to know that there's going to be a lot of commitment there. It's going to be like, "Do you want to really take over this electrician? Are you going to be the electrician? Are you going to train electrician? Are you going to be the one that is there day in and day out?" You really have a lot of skin in the game.

(...)

Even if you are like, "I want to buy this to just make more money," you have to look at it from a like, "This is a legacy business that has been valuable to the community for a lot of different ways." I'm not saying that you have to have that. It's nice when you have that, but you do have to determine how much involvement it's going to take. We want to be able to encourage people to do that.(...) If you are ... I think the SBDC would be a perfect place to do this where you're like, "Hey, I am looking to acquire a business. What kind of business should I look at?" They can look at your background, your passions, your interests and say, "Okay, well, you might be the perfect person for this electrician's business." He's got all the ... There's the training on the different level. We're talking about red tape. Obviously, if you're a builder, you go through a lot of permit process. You have that. It's like you're going to have to become in the mindset of the person who is doing the work even if you're not going to do the work. I think a lot of these people do want to do the work too.

(...)

It kind of goes back to the skilled trades.

(...)

We in all of the region need a lot of these small business practical contractors. We haven't even gotten into the disasters that we've had. There's a shortage of those workers.

(...)

We want these legacy businesses to continue as much as possible because they're ready to go. They're the ones that the community trusts and listens to and has, I would say, reasonable prices compared to other ... They know what they're doing.(...) They know what they're doing with the permitting and all the different regulatory issues as well. This is an area that ... It's just funny you brought that because we were thinking very deeply about how we can be of benefit for these types of businesses. It's a really important area. Yeah. I love that you coined the term silver tsunami. I'm going to use that now because I do agree. I feel like that is something that is very important. One thing that I always look at and I try to educate any prospective buyer of a business is that your experience is very important.

(...)

You understanding how that business works, how your directly related experience, even if it's not within the industry, is going to actually tie in and make this business successful is very important because it really is about moving that business forward into the next generations. It's not to let it go down because of just a lack of understanding or knowledge within that space and just making sure that you are very prepared. Sometimes I feel like people do feel like, "Oh, that's so much information that you're asking. Why is that important?" It's important because you'll see when you take over the business how important your experience and your understanding of the industry and the trade itself, if it's a trade or the product or service, is going to come into play more often than not.

(...)

I also love with partner buyouts just seeing employees that have been around for a really long time buy a business that they've worked for. I've done ones where they started as dishwashers at 18 and became the general managers and then they finally got the opportunity to buy the business. The owners could have sold it for more money, but they don't want to. They want to give it to people that care. They know it'll keep going. About the business and the people that go there. I love those stories. I love helping clients with those types of requests. It's probably an easier, I mean in a lot of ways, to kind of approve that. You don't need to worry as much about, "Oh, can they do the work and they do the job? Are they into it?" I know that they're not looking at it from the perspective of mailbox money.

(...)

Mailbox money is a term where you don't really want to be involved. You just want something because you believe it's turnkey and you're just hoping that you get a kick off of profits or income every month and that you continue to build your wealth.(...) A lot of times I try to understand what's the intention of this client or this borrower(...) is, "Yes, mailbox money is nice and you should use all of your available cash and everything that you have to try and create that for you." I think that that's amazing. When it comes to some of these businesses, like the hands-on approach and just really the investment inside of it, matters, should matter more than just maximizing profits and trying to take it all and build your own personal wealth. That's right. I think I appreciate those owners that they want their business to live on. You never know if someone takes it over and it's just for the mailbox money. How long will it last? Are they going to just flip it to somebody else and then does it go somewhere else? I think it's inherent with the person that's been working there. It's nice when they have a succession plan and it's great for the banks to be able to support that because I know there's probably a lot of times where it's like they don't have that capital to be able to take it over even if they want to. Being able to go through your banking, through the SBA, through the SBDCs, you can actually make that kind of dream happen where it might not seem like it could. It's great.

(...)

Thank you so much for being here. I do have one last question for you.(...) It's a question that I ask every guest, but what is a guiding principle that you might have in business or in life that you'd want to share with our listeners? This might come to me just because, like you were talking about having a normal year, I think be prepared is like my motto. I was an Eagle Scout. That's one of our main ...(...) We've had a lot of disasters this year. Last year I was in Maui. Recently they are still recovering in a very slow way. I think it's important as a business owner, and like you said, uncertainty and different kind of physical and economic things can happen. I think as a business owner and as a homeowner life family,(...) you just prepare yourself. I hear a lot of stories about ideas of people coming to the SBDCs and saying, "Hey, I've got a business idea."

(...)

Do your homework and get ready for that meeting you're going to have. Have a business plan. Bring up the different ways that you're going to make this business work well. I think it's important to just have that kind of mentality that's like when you're going into something, do as much background.

(...)

Have as much insurance, whatever you need to make sure that your business is going to be successful ahead of time.

(...)

I've just sort of research focused and want to make sure that I've done due diligence beforehand and maybe that's important I think in certain different areas. If you're in a drought area or flood prone area, we've just had a lot of that. I think having your kind of plan for when something's going to happen is important. That can relate to all sorts of different parts of life and business I would say. No, I love that. Be prepared. It's very simple. It's a very simple concept, but I think a lot of people kind of forget about what preparation really means. Yes. If the last five years hasn't taught you anything, you got to be prepared for absolutely anything that might happen because truly anything and everything has already happened. I'm just going to be fascinated when there's another moment where I'm like, "Wow, never saw that coming." Because it happens every time.(...) Yes, preparation is absolutely key.

(...)

The resources that you guys have at the Small Business Administration is truly amazing. I just loved hearing about some of the ongoing evolution of what those resources look like and how you guys are trying to align the various different levels of government and red tape to help be more pro small business. That's super fascinating. Thank you so much for being here, Steven. I really appreciate it. Thank you to all the listeners to listening to this great episode. Hopefully you have taken away one or two amazing things that is really going to help propel your business forward.(...) This is Through the Door, the insider's perspective on running a business. Thank you so much.

(...)