WEBVTT - And, I’m Talking To You About Tariffs

0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:05.280
<v Speaker 1>So the International Monetary Fund just announced that California is

0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.040
<v Speaker 1>the fourth largest economy in the world. Only Germany and

0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.840
<v Speaker 1>China in the United States have a larger economic output

0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.279
<v Speaker 1>than the state of California. That's the good news. The

0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.080
<v Speaker 1>bad news is there's no state in America that is

0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:25.119
<v Speaker 1>more impacted by uncertainty and these tariffs imposed unilaterally by

0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.760
<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump and the Trump administration. The impacts of that,

0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:33.440
<v Speaker 1>of course, are felt small businesses, medium sized, large businesses, consumers,

0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.920
<v Speaker 1>as well as supply chains, not just in our state,

0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.959
<v Speaker 1>but all across this country and around the world. So

0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.919
<v Speaker 1>today we'll be exploring the impacts, real life impacts on

0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:48.720
<v Speaker 1>real people, impacts and states large and small, from Montana

0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:52.280
<v Speaker 1>to Minnesota to here in the great state of California.

0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.480
<v Speaker 1>Tune in to this live program on the impacts of

0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:01.960
<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump's tariffs in America. Is Gavin Newsom. Let's talk tariffs.

0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.759
<v Speaker 2>Hey, Bath, I am trying to get my phone turned off.

0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:08.200
<v Speaker 2>I just got this phone. I don't know who to

0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:08.600
<v Speaker 2>do it.

0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.120
<v Speaker 1>What is an Android or an iPhone?

0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.000
<v Speaker 3>It's an iPhone, but it's the new one.

0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:15.160
<v Speaker 1>Good. It's smart to buy it now and not in

0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:16.919
<v Speaker 1>a few months when it's twice the price.

0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:19.440
<v Speaker 3>Won't be twice the price they're exectly from tariffs.

0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.840
<v Speaker 1>That's right, because they made a phone call crony capitalism, Beth,

0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.800
<v Speaker 1>that's a whole nother conversation, Beth, Thanks for joining us.

0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:31.280
<v Speaker 1>And you're in Minnesota. Where are you exactly in Minnesota?

0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.960
<v Speaker 2>I am in southeast Minnesota's and Broda, fifty minutes south

0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:36.760
<v Speaker 2>of the Twin Cities.

0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:38.959
<v Speaker 1>And tell us a little bit about your business and

0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.640
<v Speaker 1>when you started it and the impacts of these tariffs.

0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:42.000
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:43.959
<v Speaker 2>I started my business eight years ago, right after my

0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:45.840
<v Speaker 2>son was born. I had an idea for a baby

0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.840
<v Speaker 2>product that solves a problem all new parents have of

0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.400
<v Speaker 2>babies just dropping and throwing all their stuff. I made

0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.360
<v Speaker 2>what I now know to be a prototype for myself

0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.120
<v Speaker 2>and one of my friends who had a baby, and

0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:59.560
<v Speaker 2>she forgot it and said, you should make this thing

0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:01.800
<v Speaker 2>for real, because I didn't realize how awful it was

0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:04.880
<v Speaker 2>until I didn't have your matte thingy. So I invented

0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.680
<v Speaker 2>the busy Baby matt It's just a silicon place mat

0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:09.800
<v Speaker 2>that suctions to the high chair and has tethers that

0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:11.040
<v Speaker 2>you can use to attach.

0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:12.600
<v Speaker 3>Babies baby's things.

0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.360
<v Speaker 2>Since that time eight years ago, I was able to

0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.040
<v Speaker 2>go on Shark Tank and show the world my invention.

0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.280
<v Speaker 2>And from that I was able to tell my brother

0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:26.120
<v Speaker 2>to quit his job and join me in the business.

0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.359
<v Speaker 3>And two of us have exbanded.

0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.200
<v Speaker 2>The product line now to eight products that all have

0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.760
<v Speaker 2>the same mission, keep baby things within reach, off the ground,

0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:34.480
<v Speaker 2>at home and on the go.

0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.600
<v Speaker 1>I love it. And you source your products from where?

0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:39.639
<v Speaker 1>Where do you get the materials? Where do you get

0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:40.359
<v Speaker 1>most of your supply?

0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.600
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we are one hundred percent in China, one hundred percent.

0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:46.480
<v Speaker 1>And did you look around? I mean, was it China

0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:48.919
<v Speaker 1>first or it just where it's sort of the dominant

0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:50.040
<v Speaker 1>manufacturing occurs.

0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.320
<v Speaker 2>No, we actually tried for a year and a half

0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:54.440
<v Speaker 2>to manufacture in the US, and there's a lot of

0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.240
<v Speaker 2>obstacles to that. One is the raw material is not

0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.320
<v Speaker 2>sourced in the US, so that has to be imported.

0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.520
<v Speaker 2>We learned this morning. We've been continuing to find ways

0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.960
<v Speaker 2>to manufacture in the US and had a great meeting

0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.840
<v Speaker 2>this morning with a silicon manufacturer here in New York,

0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.880
<v Speaker 2>and we're still learning more. It's still not viable for us. However,

0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.480
<v Speaker 2>we're continuing to try. But the main obstacle is when

0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.560
<v Speaker 2>you have a startup, when you are brand new. We're

0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.280
<v Speaker 2>not making twenty thousand units. We're not making two hundred

0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.360
<v Speaker 2>thousand units, or many companies a million units. I was

0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.440
<v Speaker 2>trying to get two thousand units because this was a product.

0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:31.320
<v Speaker 3>That never existed before.

0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:33.000
<v Speaker 2>I didn't even know if people were going to buy

0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.320
<v Speaker 2>this item. I knew it was a good idea, but

0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:39.760
<v Speaker 2>I didn't know if my fellow Americans would think it

0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.880
<v Speaker 2>was a good idea. So there were no American factories

0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.320
<v Speaker 2>that were willing and able to do this project on

0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.520
<v Speaker 2>such a small scale to start, so we did have

0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:48.280
<v Speaker 2>to start in China.

0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.720
<v Speaker 3>They were willing to do that with us.

0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.800
<v Speaker 1>And so the impacts are immediate. The one hundred and

0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.600
<v Speaker 1>forty five percent tariffs, I mean, I mean, what has

0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.000
<v Speaker 1>that meant? I mean, is there sort of a dollar figure?

0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.320
<v Speaker 1>Do you recall that first invoice purchase order? Came back

0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.200
<v Speaker 1>and looked at that delta, and how do you respond?

0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.120
<v Speaker 3>You know, it's more immediate than that. I could literally

0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:09.960
<v Speaker 3>lose my home.

0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.720
<v Speaker 2>In less than three months, So I'll walk you through

0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.719
<v Speaker 2>that real quick. This last six months has been amazing

0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.000
<v Speaker 2>for US. I got a contract with Walmart. I got

0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.120
<v Speaker 2>a contract with Target. We're in both stores now. Minnesota

0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.320
<v Speaker 2>awarded me SBA Small Business Person of the Year. It's

0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.800
<v Speaker 2>been a really sunshiney last six months. I booked my

0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:32.480
<v Speaker 2>flight with my eight year old son to take him

0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:36.040
<v Speaker 2>to DC to get this award on May fifth, and

0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:40.360
<v Speaker 2>then nine days later, as my products were two day

0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:42.760
<v Speaker 2>shy of being picked up to put on a container

0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.880
<v Speaker 2>to come to the US, these tariffs came out. The

0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.760
<v Speaker 2>announcement came out. So what I was expecting to pay

0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.839
<v Speaker 2>twenty maybe thirty thousand dollars worth of tariffs, that's what

0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.520
<v Speaker 2>I budgeted for now is going to cost me two

0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.239
<v Speaker 2>hundred and thirty thousand dollars to bring into our country.

0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.560
<v Speaker 2>I have made maybe two months worth of inventory left

0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.400
<v Speaker 2>in in my warehouse here, and when that has gone,

0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.840
<v Speaker 2>I have no more revenue. I have no money coming

0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.200
<v Speaker 2>in to pay my employees. I have no money coming

0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:13.000
<v Speaker 2>in to pay my bills, the other American businesses that

0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:17.240
<v Speaker 2>I support through my company, my marketing teams, my bookkeeping,

0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.640
<v Speaker 2>my accounting, everyone who helps me run this business, all

0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.600
<v Speaker 2>American companies, my transportation team that was going to bring

0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.839
<v Speaker 2>that container to me. I can't pay any of them anymore.

0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.360
<v Speaker 2>And the worst thing is I can't pay my loan.

0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.640
<v Speaker 2>And when I got the contracts for Target and Walmart,

0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.440
<v Speaker 2>I took a big, big business risk, and a lot

0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.440
<v Speaker 2>of us small businesses do this. I leveraged my home

0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.080
<v Speaker 2>to be able to buy the inventory to support these

0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.039
<v Speaker 2>contracts because that was the next big milestone step in

0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:51.440
<v Speaker 2>our business. And now I am at grave danger of

0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.080
<v Speaker 2>not being able to get my products here, not being

0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.360
<v Speaker 2>able to continue to sell and have the cash flow

0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.880
<v Speaker 2>that I've counted on, and not be able to pay

0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:03.920
<v Speaker 2>on those loans, which means I could lose my house

0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:08.240
<v Speaker 2>where my children live and my ability to keep them

0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:09.200
<v Speaker 2>safe and feed them.

0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:11.960
<v Speaker 3>That's how real this is for me in this moment.

0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:16.839
<v Speaker 1>I mean, boy, I mean, you paint the ultimate picture.

0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.920
<v Speaker 1>I mean, just the deep reality. And you know in

0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:22.920
<v Speaker 1>the fact that it was because of your kids that

0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.200
<v Speaker 1>inspired this business in the first place, and now your

0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:29.560
<v Speaker 1>home is a risk. Everything about that is an extraordinary

0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.679
<v Speaker 1>picture paint of the pain and anxiety that you're going through.

0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.719
<v Speaker 1>I mean, and forgive me. I mean the options for

0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.479
<v Speaker 1>you are what then right now? Do you called Walmart

0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.480
<v Speaker 1>back and Target and you say can you help? Are

0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.240
<v Speaker 1>there is there a strategy there so they float, you know,

0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.960
<v Speaker 1>ninety day invoices or something. I mean, is there a

0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:55.120
<v Speaker 1>strategy that you can see an alternative if this continues.

0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.640
<v Speaker 2>Right now with those retailers, I actually have their inventory here.

0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.080
<v Speaker 2>That's why I had to take that big risk early on,

0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.560
<v Speaker 2>was you have to order the products in bulk so

0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.960
<v Speaker 2>that I have them here. So every week when they

0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:08.160
<v Speaker 2>place their order, I have something to send them. So

0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.080
<v Speaker 2>currently their product is here. That should support us six months.

0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.480
<v Speaker 2>With those retailers, I did have the opportunity to expand.

0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.280
<v Speaker 2>Walmart wanted to take on another product this year in November.

0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:19.800
<v Speaker 2>I had to call my buyer and say, I don't

0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.040
<v Speaker 2>know if I can do that right now. As of

0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.680
<v Speaker 2>right now, I cannot add another item. I cannot expand,

0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.200
<v Speaker 2>and because of the situation we're in, if I can't

0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.360
<v Speaker 2>get my products here, I'm going to have to just

0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.640
<v Speaker 2>sell the products that I have set aside for Target

0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.120
<v Speaker 2>and Walmart just to get some revenue in the door

0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.400
<v Speaker 2>to keep paying my employees. So Walmart's been great. They

0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.800
<v Speaker 2>have offered to you know, let's just see how this goes.

0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:44.200
<v Speaker 3>We'll be patient.

0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.280
<v Speaker 2>You know, they're not going to push the timelines that

0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.160
<v Speaker 2>normally they're very strict to with suppliers. Let's just kind

0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:51.880
<v Speaker 2>of see how this goes for a little bit. And

0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.080
<v Speaker 2>you know, they kind of said, we got you, we'll

0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:54.680
<v Speaker 2>figure it out.

0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.240
<v Speaker 1>So what did you? And I'm curious, just you know,

0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.680
<v Speaker 1>and I don't mean this to be political, it's but

0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.640
<v Speaker 1>when Trump was elected, he talked about these tariffs on China.

0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:11.640
<v Speaker 1>Obviously his first first term he advanced tariffs on China.

0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.040
<v Speaker 1>So you must have anticipated something, But did this come

0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.400
<v Speaker 1>as a complete shock How quickly this happened, the level

0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.840
<v Speaker 1>of the tariff, meaning how large it was, give me

0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.120
<v Speaker 1>a sense of how you prepared a little bit over

0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:24.440
<v Speaker 1>the course last few months.

0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.160
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Prior to this administration, we didn't pay a tariff. Ever,

0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.880
<v Speaker 2>in my eight years in business, we've never paid a tariff.

0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.280
<v Speaker 2>We pay taxes, we pay duty, we have never paid

0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.880
<v Speaker 2>a tariff for baby items. When the administration came in,

0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.120
<v Speaker 2>knowing that they had talked about bringing in tariffs, we

0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.600
<v Speaker 2>expected a reasonable tariff twenty to maybe thirty percent, and

0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:43.920
<v Speaker 2>we looked at our numbers and decided we can we

0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.240
<v Speaker 2>can support that. It's going to be tough, but we

0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:50.000
<v Speaker 2>can stay live and support that we budgeted for. That

0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.080
<v Speaker 2>we did not budget for one hundred and forty five percent.

0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:57.040
<v Speaker 1>No, I mean it, no one can, No one can. Well, Beth,

0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.600
<v Speaker 1>I can't impress upon you how grateful I am that

0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:02.440
<v Speaker 1>you had the courage to come on the show and

0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.199
<v Speaker 1>thank you for showing up, and not just for yourself

0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.439
<v Speaker 1>and your family, for your eight year old and your

0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.720
<v Speaker 1>brother and your employees, but for others in your circumstance

0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.320
<v Speaker 1>and your position. I think you know, all of us

0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.679
<v Speaker 1>out here in California, we're not only rooting for you,

0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.560
<v Speaker 1>we have your back. We initiated a lawsuit to push

0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.360
<v Speaker 1>back against the Trump administration. I mean, even on the

0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.160
<v Speaker 1>in the conservative side, the Koch Brothers are aligned in

0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:32.679
<v Speaker 1>that as it relates to the how thisnilateral action by

0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.600
<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump is simply illegal, and so we're serting ourselves

0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.360
<v Speaker 1>very aggressively in that space. So you can get some clarity.

0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.800
<v Speaker 1>But I'm curious, just you know, as you look out

0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.200
<v Speaker 1>over the course of the next days and weeks, with

0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:49.320
<v Speaker 1>all that anxiety in your house looming over this conversation,

0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.320
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you've got a week or how many weeks,

0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.600
<v Speaker 1>how many months do you think you can hold on

0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.560
<v Speaker 1>with this level of uncertainty before you just have to

0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.840
<v Speaker 1>make a real decision that may be sort of closing

0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:01.960
<v Speaker 1>up shop, so to speak.

0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.160
<v Speaker 2>There's no closing up shop for me. I am a

0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.000
<v Speaker 2>tenure army veteran. I am not a quitter. I am

0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.000
<v Speaker 2>one who adapts and overcomes. We've got about two weeks

0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.520
<v Speaker 2>until we need to make critical decisions where we now

0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.440
<v Speaker 2>out we'd sell to other countries.

0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:17.360
<v Speaker 3>We babies are everywhere.

0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:22.679
<v Speaker 2>We've lined up some distribution in Australia, in Dubai, in

0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.080
<v Speaker 2>South Korea, and Canada. That if if we don't have

0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:27.960
<v Speaker 2>a resolution in two weeks where we can bring our

0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.040
<v Speaker 2>products to the US and sell to our fellow Americans,

0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.240
<v Speaker 2>then we're going to have to, you know, make that

0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.800
<v Speaker 2>decision to sell outside of our country, which is going

0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:39.880
<v Speaker 2>to be much more difficult for us. It's all unknown

0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.200
<v Speaker 2>to me. I've had to learn this business from scratch,

0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.560
<v Speaker 2>and now I need to learn international distribution like this.

0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.080
<v Speaker 3>But I'm up for the challenge if I have to.

0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.880
<v Speaker 3>But what I really need is I need our.

0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.440
<v Speaker 2>Representatives to stand up for us and stand up for

0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:01.280
<v Speaker 2>Americans in my district. I have a Republican congressmen who

0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:06.240
<v Speaker 2>will not even talk to me. And I was at

0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.680
<v Speaker 2>I just watched your podcast with my governor that you

0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:13.120
<v Speaker 2>recently did, and I was actually at the Capitol this

0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.600
<v Speaker 2>week for Governor Walls's State of the State address, and

0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:21.600
<v Speaker 2>what I saw broke my heart and has me just

0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:27.720
<v Speaker 2>feeling so depressed because we need our politicians to stand

0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:32.600
<v Speaker 2>up for Americans. When Walts was talking about the achievements

0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:33.880
<v Speaker 2>of our state in the last year, and one of

0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.559
<v Speaker 2>them in Minnesota is free breakfast and free lunch for

0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.560
<v Speaker 2>our students because science has shown wealth had kids have

0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:40.280
<v Speaker 2>better outcomes.

0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:41.640
<v Speaker 3>This is a great thing.

0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.400
<v Speaker 2>One half of the room was standing and clapping. The

0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:46.240
<v Speaker 2>other half of the room was sitting cross armed with

0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.040
<v Speaker 2>ugly faces. And I saw the opposite thing on the

0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.679
<v Speaker 2>President's State of the Union address, where one side is

0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:53.840
<v Speaker 2>clapping and the other side is pouting.

0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.280
<v Speaker 3>And right now, we don't need that.

0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:02.440
<v Speaker 2>We need our representatives to come together for Americans. We

0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.560
<v Speaker 2>need Americans to come together. I am feeling so much

0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:10.000
<v Speaker 2>hate from my fellow Americans who think that because I

0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.199
<v Speaker 2>make my products in China, that I am evil and

0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.720
<v Speaker 2>that I deserve to fail. And where we learn things

0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:18.920
<v Speaker 2>in our lives, you know, my children. I'm trying to

0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.000
<v Speaker 2>teach them kindness, I'm trying to teach them love. They

0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.720
<v Speaker 2>learn from me as an adult. We learn from our

0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.360
<v Speaker 2>bosses and from our leaders. And right now, what we're leading,

0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.319
<v Speaker 2>what we're learning from our politicians is to be divided,

0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:32.880
<v Speaker 2>to be hardline one way or the other. And if

0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.199
<v Speaker 2>I'm on this side, I can't possibly celebrate something accomplished

0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.840
<v Speaker 2>on the other side. And now the American people who

0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.480
<v Speaker 2>should be coming together and supporting one another and loving

0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.240
<v Speaker 2>one another. I had a woman tell me on TikTok

0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.559
<v Speaker 2>that I am going to fail and I deserve it.

0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.920
<v Speaker 2>No one deserves to fail. No one deserves to lose

0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.360
<v Speaker 2>their house, the roof over their children's home, no one.

0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.640
<v Speaker 2>And so you know, I need our politicians to come

0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:01.760
<v Speaker 2>together and support the Americans and stop fighting each other

0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.200
<v Speaker 2>and work together for the American people.

0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.200
<v Speaker 1>I personally love that in ways you don't even fully

0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.160
<v Speaker 1>perhaps appreciate. My first three guests on this podcast. We're

0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:15.760
<v Speaker 1>all conservatives, that we're all supporters of Trump, and I

0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.320
<v Speaker 1>made exactly the point you just made. At the end

0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.920
<v Speaker 1>of the day, we all want to be protected, connected, respected.

0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.760
<v Speaker 1>We can't continue to continue talk down to each other,

0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.640
<v Speaker 1>past one another. We're all in this together, we're all

0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:29.360
<v Speaker 1>better off. We're all better off. So I readly. I

0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:34.280
<v Speaker 1>appreciate that sentiment. I appreciate you have no I'm an entrepreneur.

0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.480
<v Speaker 1>I love love your entrepreneur passion. The fact you're putting

0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:42.280
<v Speaker 1>everything on the line and putting human face on this

0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:48.040
<v Speaker 1>topic is inspiring. And I ain't worried about you failing that.

0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.440
<v Speaker 1>You got that gene, you got that grit that defines

0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:53.600
<v Speaker 1>the best. So thank you Beth for joining us.

0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:55.720
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, thanks for letting me use my voice to stand

0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:56.839
<v Speaker 3>up personal businesses.

0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:57.760
<v Speaker 4>You're here.

0:13:58.080 --> 0:13:58.800
<v Speaker 1>We appreciate you.

0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:06.920
<v Speaker 5>Hey, Jennifer, good morning, Governor.

0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:10.479
<v Speaker 1>Where are you? What's that background? I love it? Oh fabulous.

0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.080
<v Speaker 5>I'm in my restaurant. I live and own and operate

0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.120
<v Speaker 5>a restaurant in Crescent City, California, which is up in

0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:20.480
<v Speaker 5>Dilnark County. I believe you visited last about a year ago,

0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:21.320
<v Speaker 5>up in this region.

0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.520
<v Speaker 1>I used to go up there as a kid with

0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.320
<v Speaker 1>my father, and one of the great gifts last year

0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:31.080
<v Speaker 1>is bringing my four kids up there and walking in

0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.840
<v Speaker 1>the same footsteps as I walked as a young child.

0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.440
<v Speaker 1>There are a few places anyone listening. There are a

0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:41.560
<v Speaker 1>few places on planet Earth that are more spectacular than

0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:47.560
<v Speaker 1>where you operate your restaurant. The absolute physical beauty is extraordinary.

0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:50.680
<v Speaker 1>And so I love it up there, and I appreciate

0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.440
<v Speaker 1>you're running a restaurant up there which is in and

0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:58.480
<v Speaker 1>of itself amazing and remarkable. And I imagine with all

0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:00.920
<v Speaker 1>of the uncertainty and announced mins and we just saw

0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:06.040
<v Speaker 1>some new tourism numbers already coming in that show a

0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:11.560
<v Speaker 1>decline in tourism across our state, that these tariffs have

0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.800
<v Speaker 1>in an impact on your business.

0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:19.520
<v Speaker 5>Yes, so in the area, just so the listeners know

0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.440
<v Speaker 5>where I live. We're up at the very top coastal

0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:28.960
<v Speaker 5>corner of California, extremely remote, extremely rugged and rural, of course,

0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:33.880
<v Speaker 5>and this area is historically economically depressed. We get injections

0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:39.080
<v Speaker 5>of money into this area primarily through tourism. It is

0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.280
<v Speaker 5>one of the driving forces. And so most of the

0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:46.200
<v Speaker 5>businesses in this entire county get You know, we have

0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:52.200
<v Speaker 5>booming summers where our population with tourism increases exponentially. Our

0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.840
<v Speaker 5>town population is only seven thousand, the entire county population

0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.320
<v Speaker 5>is twenty seven thousand. I mean, very sparsely poppedup related.

0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:02.400
<v Speaker 5>We have a lot of trees and rivers, not a

0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.160
<v Speaker 5>lot of people. And in the summer, in July, our

0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.720
<v Speaker 5>town population can go up to thirty thousand with people

0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.560
<v Speaker 5>coming to explore the beaches and so forth. So those

0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.920
<v Speaker 5>tourism dollars are what keep this local economy going primarily,

0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:22.440
<v Speaker 5>and every business is affected positively by the influx of tourism.

0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.080
<v Speaker 5>My demographic, you know, we we're a small restaurant, we're

0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.160
<v Speaker 5>right on the beach. We have incredible local support, our

0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.560
<v Speaker 5>local community. Really, they're here for us and we're here

0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.120
<v Speaker 5>for them. But there just aren't enough people locally to

0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.720
<v Speaker 5>sustain all of our restaurants and hotels and so forth.

0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:44.560
<v Speaker 5>So that influx in the summer keeps us flowing all year,

0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.400
<v Speaker 5>even though it's only you know, a part of the year.

0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:50.920
<v Speaker 5>And the tourism, you know, we're expecting a twenty nine

0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:55.600
<v Speaker 5>percent decrease in international tourism in the summertime. Governor, my

0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.440
<v Speaker 5>demographic is between seventy five and ninety percent tourists visiting

0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:01.960
<v Speaker 5>my restaurant. And that's not just my restaurant. Those are

0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.439
<v Speaker 5>the numbers I have real you know, tangibility in but

0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.640
<v Speaker 5>it's every restaurant in this area. And when we take

0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.879
<v Speaker 5>up to ninety percent of my cash inflow, decrease it

0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:17.440
<v Speaker 5>by about thirty percent do to specifically and directly because

0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.679
<v Speaker 5>of the tariffs. That's something that you know, we're having

0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:26.320
<v Speaker 5>trouble anticipating how we're going to navigate that. And the

0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.520
<v Speaker 5>other part of that, of course is cost of goods

0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.080
<v Speaker 5>and services. We run a New Orleans you see the

0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:35.000
<v Speaker 5>sign behind me here, New Orleans Cajun and Creole style restaurant.

0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.280
<v Speaker 5>So the bulk of my menu we make everything from scratch,

0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:42.280
<v Speaker 5>so we're using you know, whole onions, tomatoes, spices, and

0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:45.080
<v Speaker 5>then a lot of seafood and shrimp is expected to

0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.720
<v Speaker 5>go up. We get a farm report forecast from our

0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.240
<v Speaker 5>food distributor. Shrimp is expected to increase up to forty

0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:56.160
<v Speaker 5>six percent directly because of tariffs. Most of my menu

0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.439
<v Speaker 5>we can expect to go up about twenty five percent.

0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:03.160
<v Speaker 5>This is tomatoes, onion, garlic, spices, just everyday things. And

0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:07.920
<v Speaker 5>while we can adjust, of course, we'll have to increase

0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:12.360
<v Speaker 5>menu prices, as will every restaurant everywhere. So we can increase,

0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:16.720
<v Speaker 5>and that feels it makes me sad for my local community.

0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.560
<v Speaker 5>But then when we decrease the tourism coming in, it's

0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:22.919
<v Speaker 5>a double blow, and not just a double blow, but

0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.320
<v Speaker 5>has that ripple effect that goes far and wide. If

0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.560
<v Speaker 5>I speak only to my community, this rural community, whose

0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.480
<v Speaker 5>sports teams you know, Little League and the marching band

0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:36.640
<v Speaker 5>and different things rely on the local businesses supporting them,

0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:42.040
<v Speaker 5>and this economic impact is so far reaching. I'm an

0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.720
<v Speaker 5>eternal optimist. I'm always someone that figures things out and

0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:49.560
<v Speaker 5>we look for, you know, solutions. This one is more

0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:54.160
<v Speaker 5>difficult to see our way through it at this time.

0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.719
<v Speaker 1>Well, I appreciate you said two things that are important.

0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:58.480
<v Speaker 1>You talked about community. I mean community at the end

0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:02.720
<v Speaker 1>of the day, you it's not something you can manufacture.

0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.960
<v Speaker 1>It's a sense of pride. It's that connection to as

0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:10.159
<v Speaker 1>you say, these organizations and your neighbors, where magical moments

0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.760
<v Speaker 1>are created in your restaurant and friends and relationships are formed,

0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.359
<v Speaker 1>and you're such a big part of that and a

0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.560
<v Speaker 1>vibrant part of that. But you also highlighting something that's

0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:23.880
<v Speaker 1>often overlooked, and that is tariff's impact tourism, and people

0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.320
<v Speaker 1>don't necessarily connect that dot as easily as they should

0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:31.400
<v Speaker 1>or as consequentially as they must. And when you say

0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.920
<v Speaker 1>twenty nine percent, was that analysis that was done by

0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.280
<v Speaker 1>your regional chamber or is that on the basis of

0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.320
<v Speaker 1>what you're already seeing in terms of decline of visitorship

0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.840
<v Speaker 1>that you would otherwise expect this time of year.

0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.520
<v Speaker 5>This time of year we would start seeing a lot

0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:49.040
<v Speaker 5>of international tourism, a lot of people from Europe in particular.

0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.040
<v Speaker 5>Later in the season we see a lot more Asian

0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.360
<v Speaker 5>tourists coming in. But you know, as you said, Redwood

0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.440
<v Speaker 5>National Park, which is here, draws people from all over

0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.400
<v Speaker 5>the world. We have the mainly one percent of old

0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.280
<v Speaker 5>growth redwood, and that is really something to see. So

0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.760
<v Speaker 5>my twenty nine percent came from the economic forecast, out

0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:13.560
<v Speaker 5>of the larger chamber anticipation for how that's going to impact.

0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.040
<v Speaker 5>And you know, in this rural agent of the region

0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:18.880
<v Speaker 5>of the world that I'm speaking to my county specifically,

0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.840
<v Speaker 5>but this whole North Coast is very rural, and so

0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:26.400
<v Speaker 5>there's about five counties that all see the same economic impact,

0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:31.800
<v Speaker 5>and it's this entire northwest region of California, Humboldt County,

0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.520
<v Speaker 5>mill North County, Mendocino County, Lake County, Trinity. You know,

0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.400
<v Speaker 5>it's a huge portion of the state that is going

0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.440
<v Speaker 5>to feel and real from the effects of a lack

0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:44.760
<v Speaker 5>of people wanting to come here directly because of the tariffs.

0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:48.960
<v Speaker 1>So, you know, you've weathered a lot. You got through COVID,

0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:56.160
<v Speaker 1>which is extraordinary. You've got that entrepreneurial energy and as

0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.600
<v Speaker 1>you said yourself, and it's self evidence to anyone listening

0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.640
<v Speaker 1>you're watching, got such a spirit of positivity. I mean,

0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:04.600
<v Speaker 1>what how do you how do you sort of game

0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.600
<v Speaker 1>this out? I mean, what's what's the strategy for you?

0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:08.040
<v Speaker 2>Is?

0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.720
<v Speaker 1>Are you looking at potentially layoff so you can only

0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.480
<v Speaker 1>pass through so much cost obviously on the customer side,

0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.520
<v Speaker 1>if they're not coming in the fixed costs of devour

0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:23.680
<v Speaker 1>even any any variable menu prices, what what's what's what's

0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:25.800
<v Speaker 1>their strategy? What's your How are you gaming this out

0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:26.800
<v Speaker 1>in the next few months?

0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.560
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, well, you know it's a day by day what

0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:34.320
<v Speaker 5>where can we pivot? Where can we pivot? Restaurants historically

0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:37.920
<v Speaker 5>have a very tiny profit margin, and as a small business,

0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:42.160
<v Speaker 5>as our most businesses in my community, we don't have

0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.800
<v Speaker 5>the luxury that chains have to be able to absorb

0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:47.960
<v Speaker 5>some of that impact because of other stores. So how

0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:53.159
<v Speaker 5>do we navigate that. Of course, you know, increasing as needed.

0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:56.800
<v Speaker 5>We don't like to do that, but things happen. Cutting

0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:00.680
<v Speaker 5>costs wherever we can, cutting labor. You know, we as

0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.719
<v Speaker 5>owner operators, we work fifteen hours a day laboring in

0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:06.520
<v Speaker 5>our restaurant and it's a labor of love. I don't

0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:10.240
<v Speaker 5>say that with anything except gratitude, but there are only

0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.520
<v Speaker 5>so many hours in the day, and so looking you know,

0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:16.120
<v Speaker 5>it adds more work to the people that we employ.

0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:20.359
<v Speaker 5>So the way we're navigating this is looking at other

0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:24.200
<v Speaker 5>ways we can bring money to the restaurant, so creating

0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.919
<v Speaker 5>other events, you know, community events, things like that. Always

0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:30.639
<v Speaker 5>looking at what's working and trying to trim what isn't working,

0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.280
<v Speaker 5>really making our menu hyper efficient. We got our restaurant

0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.320
<v Speaker 5>two days before the COVID shutdowns and so it was

0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:44.880
<v Speaker 5>a incredible lesson in business management in a very short time.

0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:47.679
<v Speaker 5>And so we've learned to pivot. But that's not always

0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:50.880
<v Speaker 5>easy when things are changing so rapidly, and as we're

0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:53.840
<v Speaker 5>gearing up for our summer season, you know, it's really

0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:59.000
<v Speaker 5>just again becoming hyper efficient, hyper educated. We rely on

0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:01.760
<v Speaker 5>what's called the farm report forecast, so we can look

0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.639
<v Speaker 5>at where we can trim costs. You know, at some

0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:08.560
<v Speaker 5>point in the day there's only so much we can do,

0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:12.040
<v Speaker 5>and then we just try to write it out with

0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:14.720
<v Speaker 5>the support of you know, our community.

0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:19.200
<v Speaker 1>Well. I appreciate and I appreciate what you're doing, how

0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:23.560
<v Speaker 1>you are representing not just yourself, but your community and

0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:27.120
<v Speaker 1>others that are struggling with this new reality as well.

0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:30.199
<v Speaker 1>And anyone that gets up to Crescent City and if

0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:32.200
<v Speaker 1>you haven't been, you got to go, needs to go

0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:34.560
<v Speaker 1>to your restaurant. What's the name of the restaurant.

0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:37.399
<v Speaker 5>It's a Schmidt's House of Jambalaya. We're right on the

0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:42.120
<v Speaker 5>beach at South Beach, and it's an extraordinary community. We're

0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:43.320
<v Speaker 5>very thankful to be part of it.

0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:45.840
<v Speaker 1>And go up when you're up there and visit and

0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:47.960
<v Speaker 1>say hello. Really appreciate you taking the time, thank you

0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.359
<v Speaker 1>for sharing your insight, and thank you for staying the

0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:53.400
<v Speaker 1>course and being so positive. And we're going to work

0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:56.720
<v Speaker 1>our tail off to try to curtail the impacts of

0:23:56.760 --> 0:24:00.480
<v Speaker 1>these tariffs and lack of I think understand standing of

0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:03.640
<v Speaker 1>the impacts it's having on people like yourself and communities

0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:06.240
<v Speaker 1>all throughout this country, but certainly here in this north

0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:08.359
<v Speaker 1>part of our state. Thank you so much for joining us.

0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:09.639
<v Speaker 5>Thank you, and I just want to add, you know,

0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:12.600
<v Speaker 5>I really feel advocated for I appreciate your leadership. We

0:24:12.640 --> 0:24:14.920
<v Speaker 5>appreciate your leadership and everything that you're doing as a

0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:16.920
<v Speaker 5>voice for the people. Thank you so much.

0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:21.600
<v Speaker 1>I'm grateful. Thank you for joining us. Thank you.

0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:26.719
<v Speaker 4>How you doing, Governor?

0:24:27.240 --> 0:24:31.760
<v Speaker 1>Oh good man, you're well. You're Chino, California, right, Yeah.

0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:35.280
<v Speaker 6>I live in Orange County, California. My company here is

0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:39.119
<v Speaker 6>in Chino. We also have a warehouse and location in Amsterdam,

0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:39.760
<v Speaker 6>in Holland.

0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:42.040
<v Speaker 1>I love it. And so tell us about your business,

0:24:42.080 --> 0:24:43.480
<v Speaker 1>the wheelchair business. Huh.

0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:47.080
<v Speaker 6>So, we are in the durable medical equipment business, primarily

0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:49.760
<v Speaker 6>related to wheelchairs and scooters.

0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:53.400
<v Speaker 4>We provide, you know, the product.

0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:57.280
<v Speaker 6>For people that are either permanently or temporarily disabled, including

0:24:57.880 --> 0:25:02.240
<v Speaker 6>organizations such as Think on my Emails, the Steve Gleason Foundation.

0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:04.960
<v Speaker 6>He was an x NFL football player for the New

0:25:05.040 --> 0:25:09.480
<v Speaker 6>Orleans Saints. So we sell our product were wholesaler, so

0:25:09.520 --> 0:25:14.240
<v Speaker 6>we wholesale them worldwide, and we've been doing this for

0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:18.159
<v Speaker 6>quite some time, about eight years. We're conservably growing company.

0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:21.399
<v Speaker 6>We typically grow about two to three hundred percent perannum. Wow,

0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:25.000
<v Speaker 6>it's a very expensive business. It's not a business that

0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:28.560
<v Speaker 6>is for the lighthearted. So it requires quite a bit

0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:30.720
<v Speaker 6>of capital to operate this kind of company, and you

0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:33.720
<v Speaker 6>have to have a passion for it, which is something

0:25:33.760 --> 0:25:36.919
<v Speaker 6>that myself and all of our team members we have

0:25:37.000 --> 0:25:38.440
<v Speaker 6>a great passion for what we do.

0:25:38.680 --> 0:25:42.320
<v Speaker 1>And Joseph, how many countries are you exporting to? How

0:25:42.359 --> 0:25:43.480
<v Speaker 1>many countries you're working with?

0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:47.880
<v Speaker 6>So because we have the European operation, we can export

0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:52.720
<v Speaker 6>to Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the UK and of course the

0:25:52.760 --> 0:25:56.720
<v Speaker 6>Netherlands at the moment in America from here we export

0:25:56.760 --> 0:26:00.800
<v Speaker 6>to Canada and parts of Mexico and you know Puerto

0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:02.840
<v Speaker 6>Rico which is still part of part of US.

0:26:03.119 --> 0:26:06.960
<v Speaker 1>So what I mean, so these teriffs are announced, I

0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:10.560
<v Speaker 1>imagine you know, you had to anticipate something might happen

0:26:10.680 --> 0:26:13.159
<v Speaker 1>in this space. Tell me a little bit about that

0:26:13.200 --> 0:26:15.840
<v Speaker 1>thought process. You know, when Trump gets elected, he was

0:26:15.840 --> 0:26:17.840
<v Speaker 1>pretty clear that he was going to move in this direction.

0:26:18.280 --> 0:26:21.000
<v Speaker 1>Did you expect it as quickly? Did you expect it

0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:24.080
<v Speaker 1>as acutely? How has it impacted your business and your

0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:26.000
<v Speaker 1>and your business plan going forward?

0:26:26.560 --> 0:26:28.119
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so wonderful question.

0:26:28.200 --> 0:26:31.440
<v Speaker 6>We we did have a feeling that this could happen,

0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:34.760
<v Speaker 6>we didn't expect it to be as drastic as it has.

0:26:35.359 --> 0:26:37.600
<v Speaker 6>And the reason for that is based on the fundamental

0:26:37.640 --> 0:26:40.760
<v Speaker 6>sort of principle that our industry has been exempt from

0:26:40.800 --> 0:26:44.200
<v Speaker 6>tariffs since we've had the operation. So even though we

0:26:44.320 --> 0:26:47.560
<v Speaker 6>expected tariffs to apply, we did not expect that they

0:26:47.600 --> 0:26:51.120
<v Speaker 6>would be applied to our industry as we've been exempler

0:26:51.160 --> 0:26:53.520
<v Speaker 6>for all of these years. Nor did we expect that

0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:55.040
<v Speaker 6>if they were going to be applied, that it would

0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:59.480
<v Speaker 6>be as high as they are. So probably about eight

0:26:59.520 --> 0:27:03.040
<v Speaker 6>months prior to this, I had set up a separate company.

0:27:03.119 --> 0:27:07.280
<v Speaker 6>Part of the election of Donald Trump. We had separate

0:27:07.320 --> 0:27:11.320
<v Speaker 6>separate company with the idea that we would manufacture our

0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:16.320
<v Speaker 6>own products within the US, and so we started discussing

0:27:16.400 --> 0:27:20.040
<v Speaker 6>things with even Chinese partners. Meet these partners Mexico went

0:27:20.080 --> 0:27:22.520
<v Speaker 6>down to Mexico many times to set up a Mikhilidora

0:27:22.560 --> 0:27:25.159
<v Speaker 6>down there, thinking that my work went to Texas, went

0:27:25.200 --> 0:27:30.560
<v Speaker 6>to various states. What we realized the governor is that one,

0:27:30.640 --> 0:27:33.920
<v Speaker 6>the cost of operating in America is still extremely expensive

0:27:34.080 --> 0:27:37.399
<v Speaker 6>number one. Number Two, securing and obtaining the materials that

0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:41.520
<v Speaker 6>we require are extremely difficult to find we might be

0:27:41.520 --> 0:27:44.240
<v Speaker 6>able to find some metals, some aluminum, but things like

0:27:44.280 --> 0:27:47.120
<v Speaker 6>carbon fiber or things like lithium. I own batteries, things

0:27:47.200 --> 0:27:50.600
<v Speaker 6>like technology that goes into our joysticks. You know, we're

0:27:50.640 --> 0:27:54.960
<v Speaker 6>sort of a highly you know, automated business to a

0:27:55.000 --> 0:27:58.320
<v Speaker 6>certain extent that relies on technology. And what we quickly

0:27:58.359 --> 0:28:01.840
<v Speaker 6>found is that what we require fired just wasn't available.

0:28:03.160 --> 0:28:06.320
<v Speaker 6>It wasn't available as we needed it, and we thought, okay,

0:28:06.440 --> 0:28:10.640
<v Speaker 6>this is probably something that the United States isn't quite

0:28:10.640 --> 0:28:15.560
<v Speaker 6>ready for as yet. So when obviously the terriffsupply were applied,

0:28:17.480 --> 0:28:24.520
<v Speaker 6>you know, it drastically affects our ability to trade. You know,

0:28:24.600 --> 0:28:28.159
<v Speaker 6>I mentioned in my email that we're working with quite

0:28:28.920 --> 0:28:32.399
<v Speaker 6>a large community that is quite vulnerable, whether it's the

0:28:32.440 --> 0:28:35.600
<v Speaker 6>geriatric community, which someday, as you know, governor we live

0:28:35.640 --> 0:28:38.120
<v Speaker 6>long enough, we might all be in a wheelchair or

0:28:38.160 --> 0:28:41.360
<v Speaker 6>a scooter. But in addition to that, you know, we

0:28:41.440 --> 0:28:44.400
<v Speaker 6>deal with like the Gleaston Foundation, which has you know,

0:28:44.440 --> 0:28:47.800
<v Speaker 6>their members are they have als. We work at a

0:28:47.880 --> 0:28:52.960
<v Speaker 6>mass organizations patients that have Parkinson's et cetera. So not

0:28:53.000 --> 0:28:57.560
<v Speaker 6>only are they in a in a situation help wise

0:28:57.600 --> 0:29:00.800
<v Speaker 6>that is not ideal, but any of these folks just

0:29:00.840 --> 0:29:04.640
<v Speaker 6>don't have the resources, financial resources to secure the.

0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:05.440
<v Speaker 4>Product that we sell.

0:29:05.480 --> 0:29:09.240
<v Speaker 6>And although we are we sell our products relatively and

0:29:09.280 --> 0:29:13.160
<v Speaker 6>expensively compared to the market, it is still you know,

0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:17.960
<v Speaker 6>a necessity for them. And unfortunately, you know, with with

0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:23.240
<v Speaker 6>the terriffs as they currently stand, you know, it's it

0:29:23.360 --> 0:29:27.480
<v Speaker 6>becomes almost an impossibility to be quite honest, you know,

0:29:27.680 --> 0:29:30.280
<v Speaker 6>I'll give you a real number or real numbers. We

0:29:30.440 --> 0:29:33.600
<v Speaker 6>had ordered sort of a few containers here recently that

0:29:33.600 --> 0:29:37.560
<v Speaker 6>were we expected to pay about six hundred grand for well,

0:29:37.600 --> 0:29:40.360
<v Speaker 6>with the tariffs applied, it's now an additional eight hundred

0:29:40.400 --> 0:29:42.000
<v Speaker 6>and thirty thousand on top of that.

0:29:42.360 --> 0:29:44.760
<v Speaker 1>And so let's just want to make that clear. It's

0:29:44.760 --> 0:29:47.600
<v Speaker 1>not from six hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand, it's

0:29:47.600 --> 0:29:48.880
<v Speaker 1>an additional eight.

0:29:49.560 --> 0:29:51.600
<v Speaker 4>More than that's correct, that's right.

0:29:52.160 --> 0:29:54.640
<v Speaker 1>And that and that was most of that product coming

0:29:54.640 --> 0:29:56.600
<v Speaker 1>from China specifically.

0:29:56.240 --> 0:29:56.720
<v Speaker 4>That's right.

0:29:57.040 --> 0:30:00.000
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, that's right. So you know, it's in the day

0:30:00.200 --> 0:30:04.120
<v Speaker 6>eight hundred and thirty thousand. So our choices are and

0:30:04.160 --> 0:30:07.280
<v Speaker 6>in our industry, we you know, I'm not a I'm

0:30:07.280 --> 0:30:09.880
<v Speaker 6>not backed by private equity. I don't have any VCS

0:30:09.920 --> 0:30:13.760
<v Speaker 6>behind me. We are we are operating ourselves. We've grown

0:30:13.800 --> 0:30:18.800
<v Speaker 6>this company ourselves out of our own resources. So you

0:30:18.840 --> 0:30:22.200
<v Speaker 6>know the idea of pain and additional eight hundred and

0:30:22.280 --> 0:30:25.440
<v Speaker 6>thirty thousand when we don't know if these tarifts are

0:30:25.440 --> 0:30:27.600
<v Speaker 6>going to change tomorrow. You know the story, it's been

0:30:27.720 --> 0:30:30.120
<v Speaker 6>up and down. Yes we're going to reduce tariffs and

0:30:30.120 --> 0:30:33.960
<v Speaker 6>no we're not. So it's very unpredictable for myself and

0:30:34.040 --> 0:30:39.160
<v Speaker 6>other companies in my situation. If we fund that money,

0:30:39.760 --> 0:30:42.200
<v Speaker 6>you know, obviously we would need to recover it somehow,

0:30:42.600 --> 0:30:46.440
<v Speaker 6>and unlike a common belief that the exporting company pays

0:30:46.480 --> 0:30:50.040
<v Speaker 6>for these things, it's just not true. I mean, the

0:30:50.720 --> 0:30:53.680
<v Speaker 6>import for us, we would pay that additional amount, and

0:30:53.720 --> 0:30:56.680
<v Speaker 6>then we would have the decision to make do we

0:30:56.720 --> 0:30:59.040
<v Speaker 6>pass it down to our consumer, which is in our case,

0:30:59.040 --> 0:31:02.560
<v Speaker 6>our reseller for World Blae, or do we absorb the costs. Well,

0:31:02.640 --> 0:31:04.360
<v Speaker 6>there's no business that I've been in. I mean, you

0:31:04.400 --> 0:31:05.200
<v Speaker 6>were in the wine business.

0:31:05.200 --> 0:31:05.560
<v Speaker 4>You know this.

0:31:05.640 --> 0:31:09.560
<v Speaker 6>There's no way that the company can operate with an

0:31:09.560 --> 0:31:11.440
<v Speaker 6>additional one hundred and forty five percent tariff.

0:31:11.480 --> 0:31:12.360
<v Speaker 4>I mean, your.

0:31:12.640 --> 0:31:17.840
<v Speaker 6>Operating income is just not there. So you know, it's

0:31:17.880 --> 0:31:21.920
<v Speaker 6>sort of devastating to us to to on many different levels,

0:31:21.920 --> 0:31:24.960
<v Speaker 6>but most importantly on the level of the consumer, particularly

0:31:24.960 --> 0:31:27.640
<v Speaker 6>the ones that we serve, because you know, when you

0:31:27.920 --> 0:31:31.480
<v Speaker 6>when we deal with nonprofits, you know they they have

0:31:31.520 --> 0:31:34.400
<v Speaker 6>a limited budget, and so what it now means is

0:31:34.400 --> 0:31:36.120
<v Speaker 6>that do they not get the chair or do they

0:31:36.120 --> 0:31:38.840
<v Speaker 6>get you know, a third or twenty percent of what

0:31:38.880 --> 0:31:39.480
<v Speaker 6>they require.

0:31:39.600 --> 0:31:41.440
<v Speaker 1>So Joseph, I mean, did you end up making the

0:31:41.480 --> 0:31:43.719
<v Speaker 1>purchase or you just you know, you just you're waiting

0:31:44.000 --> 0:31:46.400
<v Speaker 1>around with all that uncertainty. What'd you do?

0:31:46.720 --> 0:31:49.880
<v Speaker 6>We wait right now because we have sufficient inventory to

0:31:49.920 --> 0:31:51.960
<v Speaker 6>cover us fortund maybe four.

0:31:51.760 --> 0:31:52.800
<v Speaker 4>Months, that's it.

0:31:53.440 --> 0:31:56.080
<v Speaker 6>But you know, with lead times, et cetera, we really

0:31:56.840 --> 0:32:00.680
<v Speaker 6>have to have those containers shipped within the next fifteen

0:32:00.720 --> 0:32:04.520
<v Speaker 6>to twenty days otherwise we're going to run out. So,

0:32:05.840 --> 0:32:09.200
<v Speaker 6>you know, it's it's operating a business obviously, as you know,

0:32:09.240 --> 0:32:12.040
<v Speaker 6>this is not always going to be you know, rosy,

0:32:12.160 --> 0:32:14.640
<v Speaker 6>if it was, probably every way would do it. That's

0:32:14.640 --> 0:32:15.800
<v Speaker 6>just not the way it works, and you're in a

0:32:15.840 --> 0:32:19.000
<v Speaker 6>game that's probably even tougher in mind, but the reality

0:32:19.040 --> 0:32:21.680
<v Speaker 6>is that, you know, you have to kind of deal

0:32:21.720 --> 0:32:26.200
<v Speaker 6>with the cars as they are presented, and right now,

0:32:27.240 --> 0:32:29.280
<v Speaker 6>I think what is hurting many of us.

0:32:29.280 --> 0:32:31.360
<v Speaker 4>In addition to the tariff.

0:32:31.080 --> 0:32:33.520
<v Speaker 6>Is the uncertainty and the you know, for lack of

0:32:33.560 --> 0:32:36.240
<v Speaker 6>a better word, the flip flopping of is it going

0:32:36.280 --> 0:32:40.880
<v Speaker 6>away or is it saying right? And and so you know,

0:32:40.960 --> 0:32:46.680
<v Speaker 6>we have a real urgency in our industry because of

0:32:46.720 --> 0:32:49.960
<v Speaker 6>the necessity to satisfy the demand.

0:32:50.560 --> 0:32:53.240
<v Speaker 1>What do you, Joseph, just out of curiosity? And you know, look,

0:32:53.720 --> 0:32:55.760
<v Speaker 1>when you put everything on the line, all the risk

0:32:55.880 --> 0:32:58.560
<v Speaker 1>you leverage. You talk about how capital in tense? Have

0:32:58.640 --> 0:33:01.040
<v Speaker 1>you just proved that point is where like to you know,

0:33:01.280 --> 0:33:04.479
<v Speaker 1>just those kind of those purchasing orders that you're making

0:33:04.680 --> 0:33:07.440
<v Speaker 1>and the bet you're placing. But how do you how

0:33:07.440 --> 0:33:09.720
<v Speaker 1>do you even talk to your employees? I mean, what

0:33:10.040 --> 0:33:11.680
<v Speaker 1>do you tell these guys? What do you tell your

0:33:11.840 --> 0:33:14.560
<v Speaker 1>folks around you? And as you say, I mean you

0:33:14.600 --> 0:33:18.080
<v Speaker 1>talk about the most vulnerable what you're doing for charities

0:33:18.080 --> 0:33:21.200
<v Speaker 1>and nonprofits, and I think that really paints a pretty

0:33:21.200 --> 0:33:25.960
<v Speaker 1>powerful picture. But what what's the anxiety level within the company,

0:33:25.960 --> 0:33:26.840
<v Speaker 1>within the organization.

0:33:27.720 --> 0:33:30.080
<v Speaker 6>So we're very transparent a lot of the guys that

0:33:30.560 --> 0:33:32.920
<v Speaker 6>you know, I've owned several companies in my career. In

0:33:32.920 --> 0:33:34.960
<v Speaker 6>this particular one I brought in a lot of guys

0:33:35.000 --> 0:33:37.880
<v Speaker 6>that I've worked with for eighteen to twenty years, so

0:33:37.920 --> 0:33:39.040
<v Speaker 6>they're friends there.

0:33:39.480 --> 0:33:40.840
<v Speaker 4>Most of them were either.

0:33:40.600 --> 0:33:44.680
<v Speaker 6>Professional athletes or along the lines of playing at university, baseball, football,

0:33:44.720 --> 0:33:47.320
<v Speaker 6>you name it. So we're all highly competitive, and we

0:33:47.440 --> 0:33:52.320
<v Speaker 6>all our manner of operations were very direct in terms

0:33:52.320 --> 0:33:55.040
<v Speaker 6>of how we speak to each other, so they're well aware.

0:33:55.600 --> 0:33:59.600
<v Speaker 6>And there was a point that, you know, a conversations

0:33:59.600 --> 0:34:02.520
<v Speaker 6>had we said, guys, look, if this, if this is

0:34:02.560 --> 0:34:06.440
<v Speaker 6>the way it's going to be, I cannot promise everybody's job.

0:34:06.600 --> 0:34:11.279
<v Speaker 6>It's just not conceivable, let alone my own, let alone

0:34:11.320 --> 0:34:14.120
<v Speaker 6>my own company, right because if if this were to

0:34:14.160 --> 0:34:17.319
<v Speaker 6>carry on, you know, for the next twelve months or so,

0:34:18.160 --> 0:34:21.000
<v Speaker 6>I just can't imagine anybody in our industry that's playing

0:34:21.040 --> 0:34:24.040
<v Speaker 6>on a level plane field would be able to operate.

0:34:24.400 --> 0:34:28.359
<v Speaker 6>It's just it's just not possible. So it's a it's

0:34:28.400 --> 0:34:31.200
<v Speaker 6>a really concerning thing. And I know I'm taking up

0:34:31.200 --> 0:34:33.440
<v Speaker 6>airspace here, but if you don't mind me just saying, also,

0:34:35.160 --> 0:34:38.239
<v Speaker 6>had we you know, if we had the infrastructure in

0:34:38.280 --> 0:34:41.279
<v Speaker 6>America to do this, you know, in terms of what

0:34:41.320 --> 0:34:45.160
<v Speaker 6>I mentioned earlier, the batteries, the joysticks, the aluminum, the

0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:47.719
<v Speaker 6>ability to do this, and we had the resources of

0:34:48.520 --> 0:34:52.319
<v Speaker 6>being able to kind of operate this business, which I mean,

0:34:52.640 --> 0:34:55.840
<v Speaker 6>it's not inexpensive. You know, it would require several several

0:34:55.840 --> 0:34:59.120
<v Speaker 6>million dollars to operate a manufacturing company. You know, I'm

0:34:59.120 --> 0:35:02.200
<v Speaker 6>not opposed to that. I'm not opposed to actually trying

0:35:02.560 --> 0:35:05.200
<v Speaker 6>this out, but I will say this, given them my

0:35:05.239 --> 0:35:07.600
<v Speaker 6>experience is that even if we were to do that,

0:35:08.239 --> 0:35:10.799
<v Speaker 6>you know, a wheelchair that might cost somebody today twelve

0:35:10.880 --> 0:35:13.840
<v Speaker 6>hundred dollars isn't going to cost twelve hundred dollars tomorrow.

0:35:14.160 --> 0:35:16.160
<v Speaker 6>You know, if we're manufacturing this, it's going to be

0:35:16.680 --> 0:35:18.520
<v Speaker 6>you know, twenty four to twenty five hundred dollars.

0:35:18.840 --> 0:35:19.120
<v Speaker 4>Yep.

0:35:19.680 --> 0:35:21.640
<v Speaker 1>So the bottom line I mean, and I appreciate at

0:35:21.640 --> 0:35:23.239
<v Speaker 1>the end of the day, the bottom line is the

0:35:23.239 --> 0:35:27.320
<v Speaker 1>bottom line, and one ask to soberly sort of understand

0:35:27.360 --> 0:35:30.920
<v Speaker 1>the consequences the benefits obviously of bringing those supply chains

0:35:30.960 --> 0:35:33.680
<v Speaker 1>back home, the opportunities and the jobs creating that. But

0:35:33.719 --> 0:35:40.000
<v Speaker 1>from the consumer perspective, that's that's pretty stark increase in

0:35:40.000 --> 0:35:43.560
<v Speaker 1>a reminder of the trade off as it relates to this. Look, Joseph,

0:35:43.560 --> 0:35:46.719
<v Speaker 1>I appreciate you painting that picture. Thank you, for highlighting

0:35:47.280 --> 0:35:50.920
<v Speaker 1>some real world impacts that are acute and immediate, and

0:35:50.960 --> 0:35:53.759
<v Speaker 1>also just the deep uncertainty as we wait day to

0:35:53.800 --> 0:35:56.960
<v Speaker 1>day and as you suggest, it's you know, it changes

0:35:57.239 --> 0:35:59.520
<v Speaker 1>day to day, the flip flop, the lack of certainty.

0:35:59.840 --> 0:36:02.680
<v Speaker 1>And as a business owner myself and I appreciate that

0:36:02.800 --> 0:36:07.000
<v Speaker 1>reference certainty is the coin of the realm. At least

0:36:07.000 --> 0:36:10.200
<v Speaker 1>you can work around that and you can make some decisions,

0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:14.840
<v Speaker 1>but the inability to make decisions is perhaps to me

0:36:14.920 --> 0:36:18.400
<v Speaker 1>the most stifling, and I think for you, you know,

0:36:18.440 --> 0:36:20.399
<v Speaker 1>I can't imagine the most alarming part of.

0:36:20.360 --> 0:36:20.600
<v Speaker 4>All of this.

0:36:21.680 --> 0:36:25.759
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, no doubt, uncertainty plays a huge part. And you know,

0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:30.640
<v Speaker 6>we were trying to represent a company that is American

0:36:30.760 --> 0:36:35.080
<v Speaker 6>based and grown, and you know, again we take great

0:36:35.120 --> 0:36:36.879
<v Speaker 6>pride in what we do. You know, there's a lot

0:36:36.920 --> 0:36:41.000
<v Speaker 6>of stories here of individuals that have family members that

0:36:41.040 --> 0:36:46.319
<v Speaker 6>require what we do. And it's just extremely frustrating, you know,

0:36:46.440 --> 0:36:50.160
<v Speaker 6>to sort of be in a situation where we've grown

0:36:50.320 --> 0:36:54.799
<v Speaker 6>and developed such a reputable organization and find ourselves in

0:36:54.800 --> 0:36:56.360
<v Speaker 6>a situation that is completely out.

0:36:56.200 --> 0:36:56.760
<v Speaker 4>Of our control.

0:36:57.040 --> 0:37:02.840
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, you know, we're really just we have no control

0:37:02.920 --> 0:37:05.400
<v Speaker 6>over this portion of what we can do well.

0:37:05.480 --> 0:37:08.719
<v Speaker 1>Appreciate it. But you know what, it's the fact that

0:37:08.760 --> 0:37:13.000
<v Speaker 1>you're willing to share that story gives you agency, gives people,

0:37:13.040 --> 0:37:16.040
<v Speaker 1>I think, a deeper understanding of what's at stake. You

0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:19.879
<v Speaker 1>and thank you Joseph as well. You only reinforce the why,

0:37:20.080 --> 0:37:23.520
<v Speaker 1>the why. I'm proud on behalf of you and forty

0:37:23.560 --> 0:37:26.000
<v Speaker 1>million of us. California was the first state in the

0:37:26.000 --> 0:37:29.239
<v Speaker 1>country to sue the Trump administration as it relates to

0:37:29.280 --> 0:37:31.840
<v Speaker 1>his authority on these tariffs. And by the way, I

0:37:31.880 --> 0:37:34.160
<v Speaker 1>am damn confident we're going to win that and we're

0:37:34.160 --> 0:37:36.080
<v Speaker 1>going to get clarity on that in the next few weeks.

0:37:36.120 --> 0:37:38.760
<v Speaker 1>So I really appreciate you willing to share your story.

0:37:38.760 --> 0:37:41.319
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for all the good work, remarkable work you're doing,

0:37:41.960 --> 0:37:45.480
<v Speaker 1>how you're changing lives, for your charitable focus, not just

0:37:45.520 --> 0:37:46.720
<v Speaker 1>for your entrepreneurial spirit.

0:37:47.040 --> 0:37:47.840
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, thank you for that.

0:37:48.080 --> 0:37:49.759
<v Speaker 1>Take care, Thanks so much for joining us.

0:37:49.920 --> 0:37:51.120
<v Speaker 4>You're welcome. Thank you so much.

0:37:51.320 --> 0:37:54.399
<v Speaker 1>Appreciate Hey, Jennifer, Hi.

0:37:54.360 --> 0:37:56.040
<v Speaker 7>Hi, Gavin Nissam, how are you doing.

0:37:56.360 --> 0:37:59.839
<v Speaker 1>I am good where you're in the great city of

0:38:00.080 --> 0:38:00.880
<v Speaker 1>Palm Springs.

0:38:00.960 --> 0:38:03.240
<v Speaker 7>Right, this is correct, this is correct.

0:38:03.680 --> 0:38:05.680
<v Speaker 1>I love it. And tell me a little bit about

0:38:05.680 --> 0:38:08.399
<v Speaker 1>your business when you opened it up, and how you're

0:38:08.440 --> 0:38:10.040
<v Speaker 1>feeling about everything right now.

0:38:11.120 --> 0:38:12.000
<v Speaker 7>Well, thank you.

0:38:12.160 --> 0:38:15.319
<v Speaker 8>Thank you again for taking the time and allowing us

0:38:15.400 --> 0:38:19.520
<v Speaker 8>to share what's happening with small business right now. So

0:38:19.719 --> 0:38:22.759
<v Speaker 8>my name is Jennifer Gold and I'm the founder and

0:38:23.120 --> 0:38:27.200
<v Speaker 8>curator of Grounded Bodyworks boutique while Miss Spa based in

0:38:27.400 --> 0:38:28.160
<v Speaker 8>Palm Springs.

0:38:29.600 --> 0:38:32.080
<v Speaker 7>We're celebrating our thirteenth year this summer.

0:38:33.000 --> 0:38:37.080
<v Speaker 8>And when I started, there was just me and one

0:38:37.120 --> 0:38:40.799
<v Speaker 8>of my massage therapists that I actually taught massage. I

0:38:40.840 --> 0:38:43.640
<v Speaker 8>was the director at a local school for a minute

0:38:43.719 --> 0:38:46.800
<v Speaker 8>and hired her and it was just us for a while,

0:38:47.520 --> 0:38:54.360
<v Speaker 8>and now I have a team of twelve, and goodness,

0:38:54.400 --> 0:38:57.399
<v Speaker 8>it's just been it's been kind of a whirlwind. I've

0:38:57.560 --> 0:39:00.720
<v Speaker 8>learned a lot. Leading up to COVID, I think under

0:39:02.800 --> 0:39:07.080
<v Speaker 8>goodness Obama, our business was grown, growing steadily year after year,

0:39:08.120 --> 0:39:11.200
<v Speaker 8>and then the pandemic hit and that momentum.

0:39:10.840 --> 0:39:11.880
<v Speaker 7>Has just gone overnight.

0:39:12.200 --> 0:39:14.560
<v Speaker 8>Yeah, you know, And if I could take a moment

0:39:15.040 --> 0:39:17.800
<v Speaker 8>to just personally thank you for your support during COVID,

0:39:19.280 --> 0:39:22.400
<v Speaker 8>I took the grant I have the eed Alan I'm

0:39:22.680 --> 0:39:26.440
<v Speaker 8>currently repaying. Made the difference between closing our doors and surviving.

0:39:26.520 --> 0:39:29.000
<v Speaker 1>So thank you, oh, thank you for that. So is

0:39:29.040 --> 0:39:30.880
<v Speaker 1>this I mean, Jennifer right now, I mean forgive me

0:39:30.920 --> 0:39:32.839
<v Speaker 1>for cutting off because I think it's an interesting I mean,

0:39:32.880 --> 0:39:36.440
<v Speaker 1>the fact that you went through that experience in the

0:39:36.520 --> 0:39:42.400
<v Speaker 1>trauma personally, professionally as it relates to COVID. How is

0:39:42.480 --> 0:39:47.359
<v Speaker 1>this moment Does it bring back those memories? Is it

0:39:47.520 --> 0:39:51.600
<v Speaker 1>on par with that? The uncertainty, the impacts to your business.

0:39:51.560 --> 0:39:55.680
<v Speaker 8>It's definitely uncertain. The struggles are very real. There's still

0:39:55.800 --> 0:39:58.480
<v Speaker 8>very real. I can't believe it's been five years. You know,

0:39:58.520 --> 0:40:02.080
<v Speaker 8>we're still recovering. For many of us, it's fragile and

0:40:02.120 --> 0:40:04.359
<v Speaker 8>these tariffs could be the thing that pushes us over

0:40:04.400 --> 0:40:04.920
<v Speaker 8>the edge.

0:40:05.120 --> 0:40:09.040
<v Speaker 1>And how are the tariffs directly impacting the work there

0:40:09.160 --> 0:40:11.799
<v Speaker 1>is I imagine? I mean, we've we've been reading a

0:40:11.800 --> 0:40:15.279
<v Speaker 1>lot all over the national news Palm Springs reaching out

0:40:15.280 --> 0:40:18.960
<v Speaker 1>to Canadians. Two million Canadians last year visited the state

0:40:19.000 --> 0:40:22.239
<v Speaker 1>of California. Palm Springs one of the biggest beneficiaries of

0:40:23.520 --> 0:40:27.560
<v Speaker 1>the number of tourist dollars spent. Has that had an impact?

0:40:27.800 --> 0:40:31.399
<v Speaker 1>Is it more direct in terms of supply chain and

0:40:31.680 --> 0:40:34.200
<v Speaker 1>materials that you're using at the spot give us a

0:40:34.320 --> 0:40:35.400
<v Speaker 1>sense pink the picture.

0:40:35.640 --> 0:40:39.680
<v Speaker 8>Sure, sure, so there's I'd say there's like three three

0:40:39.760 --> 0:40:45.239
<v Speaker 8>caveats that are that I'm experiencing right now personally. And

0:40:45.280 --> 0:40:48.400
<v Speaker 8>then with my business, I'm just on a spending freeze.

0:40:49.080 --> 0:40:49.640
<v Speaker 7>We're afraid.

0:40:49.840 --> 0:40:52.680
<v Speaker 8>I'm afraid to invest As a business owner, I've paused

0:40:52.760 --> 0:40:56.640
<v Speaker 8>all major purchases. I want to invest in growth, but

0:40:56.760 --> 0:41:00.759
<v Speaker 8>right now then certainty is just too great. Our customers

0:41:00.760 --> 0:41:04.440
<v Speaker 8>are also hesitant. Even in an affluent area like Palm Springs,

0:41:05.120 --> 0:41:08.440
<v Speaker 8>people are pulling back on non essential spending that slows

0:41:08.480 --> 0:41:09.200
<v Speaker 8>everyone down.

0:41:10.040 --> 0:41:13.200
<v Speaker 7>I'd love to partner with Hydrofacial. It's a long beach.

0:41:14.160 --> 0:41:18.680
<v Speaker 8>So I'm from Compton, my family's from Quebec. So you

0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:22.279
<v Speaker 8>know what I do with Grounded is I promote all

0:41:22.280 --> 0:41:25.600
<v Speaker 8>these local businesses from la where I'm from, all the

0:41:25.600 --> 0:41:28.680
<v Speaker 8>way to Quebec where my family's from. I'd love to

0:41:28.680 --> 0:41:32.080
<v Speaker 8>bring in Hydrofacial, this California brand and manufacture, but the

0:41:32.600 --> 0:41:36.200
<v Speaker 8>machine costs over a thirty thousand dollars. I'm not about

0:41:36.200 --> 0:41:41.759
<v Speaker 8>to invest in that right now, you know. And then

0:41:41.800 --> 0:41:45.600
<v Speaker 8>I'd say the next thing would be our vendors, even

0:41:46.120 --> 0:41:49.960
<v Speaker 8>like our skincare line is Oseia in Malibu. I'm sure

0:41:49.960 --> 0:41:54.040
<v Speaker 8>you've heard of them, women owned brand based in California.

0:41:54.080 --> 0:41:57.320
<v Speaker 8>Their ingredients and operations are all local, but that doesn't

0:41:57.360 --> 0:42:02.000
<v Speaker 8>make them immune. If griffs increase the cost of imported

0:42:02.080 --> 0:42:06.640
<v Speaker 8>packaging materials glass, you know they have glass, but there's pumps,

0:42:06.680 --> 0:42:10.520
<v Speaker 8>there's lids. It affects pricing. That increase comes to me

0:42:10.960 --> 0:42:14.319
<v Speaker 8>and then it's passed on to my customers. Even if

0:42:14.320 --> 0:42:17.720
<v Speaker 8>we're doing everything right and we shop local. We support

0:42:17.760 --> 0:42:22.480
<v Speaker 8>Californian companies staying sustainable as we can afford to do that,

0:42:23.160 --> 0:42:27.040
<v Speaker 8>but local, I'm sorry, global policy is still hitting our

0:42:27.040 --> 0:42:33.840
<v Speaker 8>bottom line. And third, it's been a very emotional two months,

0:42:34.560 --> 0:42:37.200
<v Speaker 8>but a month and a half saying goodbye to our Canadians.

0:42:38.440 --> 0:42:42.040
<v Speaker 8>You are correct, Ron DeHart our manner just send out

0:42:42.080 --> 0:42:46.359
<v Speaker 8>an email addressing this Palm Springs is amazing. They've been

0:42:46.400 --> 0:42:49.480
<v Speaker 8>really trying to help support Canada. They just hung all

0:42:49.480 --> 0:42:52.319
<v Speaker 8>these banners downtown just to show our support. There's all

0:42:52.360 --> 0:42:53.920
<v Speaker 8>these Canadian flags.

0:42:54.200 --> 0:42:56.880
<v Speaker 7>It's beautiful, but it's been very emotional.

0:42:56.960 --> 0:43:00.319
<v Speaker 8>Every spring we say goodbye to our Canadian visitors. Your

0:43:00.320 --> 0:43:03.560
<v Speaker 8>many have said goodbye for good. Some have sold their homes.

0:43:03.760 --> 0:43:07.640
<v Speaker 8>They're not rebooking. These guests have supported us three years,

0:43:08.040 --> 0:43:13.160
<v Speaker 8>including through the pandemic. Their absence this year is emotional

0:43:13.320 --> 0:43:17.920
<v Speaker 8>and financially crushing. They spend They bring in three hundred

0:43:17.960 --> 0:43:21.800
<v Speaker 8>and two million just to Palm Springs or the Coachella

0:43:21.840 --> 0:43:26.720
<v Speaker 8>Valley alone. Palm Springs is deeply tied to Canadian tourism

0:43:26.800 --> 0:43:29.120
<v Speaker 8>and if we lose our small businesses and are left

0:43:29.120 --> 0:43:32.440
<v Speaker 8>with only big box stores, we'll lose the very character

0:43:33.080 --> 0:43:34.120
<v Speaker 8>of our city.

0:43:34.440 --> 0:43:36.600
<v Speaker 7>I mean, we're still recovering. You know.

0:43:36.920 --> 0:43:39.560
<v Speaker 1>Well, thank you for pinning that picture of Jennifer. It's

0:43:40.160 --> 0:43:44.439
<v Speaker 1>you know, in California, we were launching a multimillion dollar

0:43:44.480 --> 0:43:48.360
<v Speaker 1>campaign to encourage Canadians to come back to Canada. Campaign

0:43:48.800 --> 0:43:51.719
<v Speaker 1>we announced a few weeks ago saying, you know, California

0:43:51.719 --> 0:43:55.719
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't be California without Canadians. But it's the response to

0:43:55.880 --> 0:43:59.359
<v Speaker 1>was interesting. People are very raw and emotional about it.

0:43:59.440 --> 0:44:02.200
<v Speaker 1>And even the California is not you know, it's not

0:44:02.880 --> 0:44:06.680
<v Speaker 1>maybe the most untrumped state in America. The state of

0:44:06.760 --> 0:44:10.399
<v Speaker 1>mind is still a tremendous animus from the damage we've

0:44:10.400 --> 0:44:13.279
<v Speaker 1>done to the relationships up north, and I imagine just

0:44:13.320 --> 0:44:16.160
<v Speaker 1>for you. The emotion is extended to just family you

0:44:16.200 --> 0:44:17.439
<v Speaker 1>have up in Quebec, right.

0:44:18.160 --> 0:44:21.680
<v Speaker 8>I have one aunt left up there. The rest of

0:44:21.719 --> 0:44:25.080
<v Speaker 8>the family moved to the States in the seventies and

0:44:25.239 --> 0:44:28.719
<v Speaker 8>she just couldn't leave her horses day, so's she's still

0:44:28.800 --> 0:44:32.200
<v Speaker 8>up there. But it's really you know, my vendor friends

0:44:32.440 --> 0:44:36.600
<v Speaker 8>were communicating, we're trying, We're trying to make it work.

0:44:36.640 --> 0:44:38.919
<v Speaker 7>I only have two Canadian vendors right now.

0:44:39.960 --> 0:44:44.399
<v Speaker 8>But if I may give you an example, are nail

0:44:44.520 --> 0:44:46.839
<v Speaker 8>so I run a spa, a boutique spa in Palm

0:44:46.840 --> 0:44:52.960
<v Speaker 8>Springs and name we offer nail services in our vendor

0:44:53.200 --> 0:44:56.399
<v Speaker 8>for our nail products. Or in La it's called Cot

0:44:58.120 --> 0:45:01.280
<v Speaker 8>and she's redoing her line. A lot of the packaging

0:45:01.480 --> 0:45:04.640
<v Speaker 8>is from China. So because of these tariffs, I've been

0:45:04.640 --> 0:45:08.439
<v Speaker 8>rethinking do I stick with coat, you know? And then

0:45:09.360 --> 0:45:13.879
<v Speaker 8>there's a line up in Canada called Behind and they

0:45:13.880 --> 0:45:16.080
<v Speaker 8>have a nail line and it's made in Canada.

0:45:16.160 --> 0:45:18.440
<v Speaker 7>But again, I just feel.

0:45:18.200 --> 0:45:20.680
<v Speaker 8>Like I'm going to lose, lose, you know, just trying

0:45:20.719 --> 0:45:24.000
<v Speaker 8>to stay local but make it all work well.

0:45:24.080 --> 0:45:27.680
<v Speaker 1>Jennifer, I really appreciate you putting in a human face,

0:45:27.719 --> 0:45:31.640
<v Speaker 1>your own humanity behind this, and I extend that humanity

0:45:31.719 --> 0:45:35.640
<v Speaker 1>quite literally your support for others in the region, other

0:45:35.680 --> 0:45:39.359
<v Speaker 1>small businesses. And I think it's so insightful and helpful that,

0:45:39.760 --> 0:45:44.719
<v Speaker 1>as you say, even locally made products have packaging components

0:45:44.719 --> 0:45:48.319
<v Speaker 1>and other component parts that they have to import, and

0:45:48.360 --> 0:45:51.920
<v Speaker 1>those costs are burdens that ultimately will be passed on

0:45:52.040 --> 0:45:56.360
<v Speaker 1>to you and potentially your customers. And it's such a helpful,

0:45:56.560 --> 0:46:00.080
<v Speaker 1>I think, insight to understand the impacts, the cascading impacts

0:46:00.640 --> 0:46:04.719
<v Speaker 1>of these terrafts, including obviously the tourism component that compounds that.

0:46:05.440 --> 0:46:07.880
<v Speaker 1>But what you said, I think is the most damning.

0:46:07.920 --> 0:46:09.920
<v Speaker 1>It's just the level of anxiety that you have to

0:46:09.960 --> 0:46:14.120
<v Speaker 1>personally go through, professionally go through, and as a consequence

0:46:14.120 --> 0:46:19.560
<v Speaker 1>of that anxiety and unwillingness to make a big, bold decisions,

0:46:19.680 --> 0:46:22.080
<v Speaker 1>which are decisions often you have to make with some

0:46:22.200 --> 0:46:25.680
<v Speaker 1>confidence about the future and what it will hold. And

0:46:25.760 --> 0:46:28.680
<v Speaker 1>so thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for

0:46:30.719 --> 0:46:33.360
<v Speaker 1>weathering a lot of storms. I'm confident you'll continue to

0:46:33.480 --> 0:46:36.040
<v Speaker 1>and I think it's a big help for those watching,

0:46:36.160 --> 0:46:37.319
<v Speaker 1>in those listening.

0:46:37.080 --> 0:46:39.680
<v Speaker 8>I appreciate that. Thank you again for all your support.

0:46:39.920 --> 0:46:41.600
<v Speaker 8>Couldn't have chosen.

0:46:41.320 --> 0:46:44.319
<v Speaker 7>A better state to be in right now, So thank

0:46:44.320 --> 0:46:44.840
<v Speaker 7>you again.

0:46:45.360 --> 0:46:48.000
<v Speaker 1>We're gonna we're gonna take it to the Trump administration

0:46:48.160 --> 0:46:50.400
<v Speaker 1>and we're going to beat back these tariffs. You watch,

0:46:50.560 --> 0:46:53.560
<v Speaker 1>we have our day in court quite literally coming up

0:46:53.960 --> 0:46:56.160
<v Speaker 1>very surely, Jennifer, thanks so much for joining us.

0:46:56.520 --> 0:47:03.920
<v Speaker 7>Thanks so much, Thank you very much. The Song of

0:47:04.840 --> 0:47:05.560
<v Speaker 7>ADM