Any small business owner can tell you, it’s been a rough couple of years. Just as we started to recover from COVID, we caught a horrible case of the worst inflation in 40 years. But believe me, the most resilient people around are small business owners.

Small businesses are more than just the backbone of Colorado’s economy; they are its lifeline. In fact, small businesses make up about 99.5% of all Colorado businesses. Our state has more than 653,000 small businesses, and they employ more than 1.1 million people.

While we’d all like to forget the lockdowns and mandates we endured, for businesses, their bottom lines are a constant reminder that their doors were closed and hours were reduced long after the COVID money stopped flowing.

Small businesses are families. I know this because I have started several of them. I have signed the front of thousands of paychecks. I know the pressure of having a father and a mother rely upon me for a paycheck.

Despite their personal losses, the mom and pop shops are the ones who did everything they could to keep their employees working during the pandemic, and now we need to do everything we can to help them.

Inflation in our state sits at 9.1%, which is above the national average tragically. While we feel it as consumers, small business owners are really taking a hit in a sustained struggle to survive. Take small construction companies, for example, who are among the hardest hit because of the rising cost of materials, fuel, and labor.

In 2009, I faced incredible challenges with my franchise business, Camp Bow Wow, during the great recession. What did I learn? Be honest, open, and direct with staff and customers about what the business is facing, continue to ask for their support and feedback. They’ll appreciate it, and loyalty will follow.

Small businesses need a big break right now, and temporary breaks from fees won’t cut it. Colorado has dropped from the 11th most business-friendly state to the 29th, and that is largely due to concern about where our policies are headed, especially when it comes to rising costs and increasing regulations.

Our current economic policies are making inflation worse. The spending at the state level is out of control. The size of our state government has doubled over the past 10 years.

One time COVID dollars are being used to create programs that will need to be funded once the federal dollars dry up. Energy and transportation costs are rising fast. If we would empower our energy industry and get our energy workers back to work, we would start to see relief quicker.

Small businesses are tough. Believe me, you don’t go into business unless you can take challenges head on.

Open a small business and you will quickly learn what you don’t know. It takes grit and tenacity to stay in business. Colorado, shop small when at all possible, and get the most bang for your buck this November — elect leaders who will run our government like a successful small business.

Heidi Ganahl is a CU regent and currently the only Republican holding a statewide elected position in Colorado. She founded Camp Bow Wow, the largest pet care franchise in the nation, and her family owns a chain of barbecue restaurants called G-Que BBq. She is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in the 2022 election.