J Darrin Gross
I'd like to ask you, Paul Neal, what is the biggest risk?
Paul Neal
Well, I think the biggest risk that business owners and entrepreneurs face today and into the foreseeable future, is what I call big, big government, big technology, big media, even big banks. We've seen it over COVID, it's been in our face, that there's a there's a, there's a movement to sort of aggregate the power up into the hands of the few again, whether it's a government media, big business is, you know, is a threat to small business and entrepreneurs. Because, you know, we're, we're free agents, we're out there on the street, we're the ones that are building the community, we're hiring employees, we're caring about our customers caring about her families, giving back to the community, we're the ones that want to be able to exercise, you know, free and independent thought. And we have these forces that are aligned against us. And again, you COVID You know, who did they shut down? Well, they didn't shut down Amazon, they didn't shut down Walmart, but they shut down the, you know, the mom and pop that at a coffee shop, they shut down the church, they shut down, you know, anything they that didn't sort of fall into this, this large monolithic group that that could be controlled. And and I'm not saying there's any sort of force behind it, other than the fact that it's just natural, right, that, that, that, that we're sort of in a battle here that we all want control. And it's easier to control, the smaller the smaller number of levers that control, you know, sort of larger, larger economies, and without getting really deep and off of that, and I just think that we're in a fight, and I think as entrepreneurs, that for us to be to survive into the future that we need to stick together and realize that, you know, I don't I don't think our issues are, you know, most business owners that I know, regardless of the color, their background, their creed, whatever, they just, they just want to work with customers and serve people. And they want to do the best they can. They want to work in excellence, and we just have to stick together. And so we can all win together. Because I think when we win as entrepreneurs and business owners, our families when our communities win, and ultimately, society wins.