Keeping up with External Change - A Business Essential.

Change happens, and when it does, many businesses arrive too late to the game to understand, or even influence, change.

We see it all the time. The marketing algorithm changes, the administration changes, our top performers leave, consumer tastes evolve, inflation unexpectedly skyrockets. Whatever "it" is, change is an ever present threat.

But every threat is also an opportunity.

Of all the changes we face when running our businesses, nothing is more constant (and more influence-able) than legislative and regulatory change.

Humans are elected to office on a cycle, and at least in the United States, we know when that happens. Those humans are no more knowledgeable the day they are sworn in than the day they decided to run for office. But what they do have more influence on after taking office is the outcome of YOUR business.

Yet most business owners and operators have no idea what is going on in the halls of their state and federal legislatures. The news only reports on the salacious, the ratings grabbing. Most business and regulatory focused legislation does rise to that level.

But those changes can have huge impacts on your ability to produce the revenue you need to succeed.

If your legislative focus isn't more than "I read the news" or "I am a member of the chamber" then you are exposing yourself to tremendous risk. Don't get me wrong, you should be a member of your Chamber of Commerce, and you should be a member of a trade association.

AND you should have someone on your team whose job it is to comb through proposals and ensure there is nothing that will harm your livelihood.

Everything that has ever happened in legislation is because someone like me convinved someone sitting in an elected office to do it. Everything. If it benefits you, it is because someone like me had a client who wanted it. If it hurts you, it is because someone like me had a client who it helped.

Lobbyists have a stained reputation - because 10% of us are unethical and caused some bad stuff to happen (on behalf of a client, mind you.) The same can be said of lawyers, doctors, priests, etc. But on the whole, we are a group of passionate advocates who stand between the rock and the hard place ensuring that your interests are protected BEFORE that legislation is signed into law.

Legislators don't know everything, they absorb countless pieces of information every single day, and as with every human, they know who they can trust to be honest. They also know if the lobbyist sitting in their office is genuine or they are a client mill - those who collect clients for the retainer and roster rather than to represent with integrity.

If you are running a business, you don't have time to focus on these essential external relationships, but I do. That is my job. Keeping up with these proposed changes, knowing where they are going, and influencing the outcome is a business imperative. Don't wait until it is too late to jump in.