🇺🇸 Buy American Made – Holiday Shopping Black Friday

On Monday, I reported my business was finally approved for the increase in EIDL funds, and now today, I can report the money is in the bank. What took so long? Why was this such a battle? Will we see any more support for small businesses? All this and more in today's video.

Hello and welcome to the Steven Carlson Show; I'm Steven Carlson. I am a tech entrepreneur, real estate investor, author, YouTuber, paramedic, helicopter pilot, and Bonnie & Clyde are ….

At the end of Monday's video, I said we had our fingers crossed funding would be soon; well, the very next day, when I checked my bank balance, I saw a deposit of $349,900. This was a pleasant surprise as I figured it would take a few weeks.

Some of you may be wondering, wait a second, I thought it was $500k? Yes, it is, but it isn't. Ok, let me explain.

Remember, this is a loan increase, not a brand-new loan. The SBA increased our initial EIDL loan from the previous $150k cap to the $500k cap. This means we get a deposit of $350k, minus the SBA's $100 processing fee. Technically, that means we paid the processing fee twice, but, honestly, out of all the aggravation we and millions of others have faced with the SBA over the past 18+ months, who cares about $100?

I am happy and thankful to receive these funds, and we will put it towards hiring more staff in our Virginia office. That is, of course, if we can find anyone, as we all know, small businesses in this country are having a horrible time finding employees. Are you facing similar problems? If so, comment below.

There is still no excuse for how long the SBA took to approve this loan increase, and in my opinion, it just shows how the government is utterly incapable of handling even the most basic of tasks.

Take the PPP in comparison, where the program was up and running through private-sector lenders within a few weeks. Of course, there were some hiccups the first week or two, but within a month, all the problems had been ironed out, and businesses had money in their banks.

This program was an overall success, whereas the EIDL was a complete failure.

The only lingering issue with PPP is the SBA’s delays processing PPP forgiveness. Many lenders are still complaining about this issue. So, once again, the SBA is the problem in both cases.

Now, let's go back to the grant side of the EIDL program. Our business was not approved for either of the EIDL grants. While our business is located within a low-income neighborhood, we did not see enough business loss to qualify. This sucks, but at the same time, if we did see that much of a loss to qualify, then $10k would not help us in the slightest.

I know many of you fought hard to get your grants and loans, and from the comments in previous videos, it looks like some of you are finally getting the money. Comment below and tell me how long it took to get approved and if you ever received your funding.

As we all know, the federal government has already allocated trillions of dollars and is proposing spending trillions of more dollars on various programs, but sadly, none of these programs were designed to help small business owners; in fact, most of them will only make things worse for us.

While the media is hailing these spending packages as great for the financially disadvantaged, anyone with even a basic middle-school math and economics education knows the money will eventually all funnel to large, multi-billion-dollar companies, and this will go down in history as one of the most significant transfers of wealth from the working middle class to the ultra-rich.

Together we can stand up and make a difference, and that is to stop buying cheap plastic crap from China and, instead, purchase goods and services from local small businesses located in the United States.

The sad thing is that it is a challenging task. I'll be honest I am waiting on three boxes of products from China right now to build a new portable camera rig we will use on our #OpenForBusiness 2022 helicopter tour. I searched everywhere for USA-made components, and I found some, but almost every part I needed came from China.

I guess this is a long way of saying; I understand, as consumers, we are limited in our Made in USA purchases. All I ask is to try your best, look for products made here and purchase them when possible.

Last Friday, I put out a video on holiday gift ideas from American-owned companies. Check it out.

Don’t forget to check out www.OpenFor.Business and register your business today. As you know, this is my small business awareness campaign, along with Aubrey Janik, Jamel Gibbs, Minority Mindset, Investment Joy, Rod Squad, Kenny Keller, Kristen Ottea, and Mark Moss; we will fly around the country in a helicopter landing at select small businesses nationwide. Do you want me to land the helicopter at your office or feature you on the program? Go to the website and register your business now. These spots are very limited

I am so excited to announce the support from AutoCorner, Namecheap, BestBuy, ZipRecruiter, Dun & Bradstreet, Constant Contact, and Unbanked. Without their support, this nationwide small business helicopter tour would not be possible!