The Local Mogul Blog.

Zoning rules, minimum wage, lending programs, and contracting set-asides are usually decided in the local elections small business owners are most likely to skip. That has a bigger cost for businesses of color than it does for most. What's Actually on the Ballot for a Small Business Owner National elections get the attention, but most of what directly shapes a small business's bottom line gets decided locally: city council votes on zoning and permitting, county budgets that f

Minority-owned business owners in the Tacoma and Seattle area are not stalling for lack of effort. Across the applications King's Dream collected for three local business programs, the biggest funding barrier owners named was credit, followed by not knowing where to apply and not having a business plan. None of those is a failure of the business. They are gaps in access, and most of them can be closed. Who applied, and where they were starting from 142 owners applied to work