Ohio Small Business Owner Campaigns for Small Business Awareness

Oct. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- Mike Kappel, a small business owner from Canton, Ohio, is concerned about the fate of small business in America. He has taken the bold step of compiling a researched chart comparing the major parties’ stance on the issues, and then distributing it nationwide.  

The employer of 60 full-time employees decided to devote his energy to educating his staff about the upcoming election. Then he took it one step further -- by emailing 20 million small business owners about the trouble he sees ahead.

“All small businesses are getting squeezed by taxes, government regulations, and health care mandates,” says Kappel. “But I realized that my own employees weren’t aware of the impact that these issues will ultimately have on their jobs. As small business owners, we all need to educate our employees to be informed voters on November 6th.”

A business owner for more than 25 years and a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Kappel fears how the outcome of the election will affect the 27.9 million small businesses that employ about half of America’s workers.

“It’s as simple as this: we all want to grow our businesses and employ more people....that’s what we do,” he says.  “But rather than help us, Washington politicians pile on more taxes, more costs, and more regulations. My small business, for example, could see additional taxes of $86,000 next year, plus $4,922 a year for each employee who newly elects coverage under the Affordable Care Act. That’s money that I had planned to use to grow my company and pay my employees. A small business owner’s only option might be to cut wages or jobs. We don’t like that option.”

Frustrated by what he sees as a lack of balance in the news, and unable to find simple data comparing the two major parties, Kappel and his staff devoted hundreds of hours researching 25 major issues such as the economy, taxes, and health care, as well as national defense, trade, and foreign relations.

The result: a comprehensive chart comparing the positions of the two parties, which are 180 degrees apart on many issues, he said. In his newsletter, the Small Business Expert, he also shares a graphic demonstrating the dramatic increase of employment regulations for a small business, as well as statistics on the coming tax cliff.

Getting the word out to 20 million small business owners was one thing. Now Kappel hopes that small business owners will take the baton and pass the information to their employees.

”I do not tell people how to vote, but I do want them to have the facts,” he said. “We need to look beyond the campaign rhetoric of politicians and look at their actions.”

“Small businesses are the backbone of America,” he said. “It’s critical that we get the word out.”

Mike Kappel is the president of PatriotSoftware.com, a developer of small business software in Canton, Ohio. In his newsletter, Small Business Expert, he’s sharing what he’s learned in more than 25 years of being a small business owner in the United States. For more information, visit www.PatriotSoftware.com/small-business-expert.