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Advocacy in Action | The GrowthPro Edge · The GrowthPro Edge

• 0:00
  Denise Killian: Welcome to the GrowthPro.
• 0:02
  We're here to help scale your business, build stronger teams,
• 0:06
  and sharpen your leadership skills.
• 0:10
  Hello, friends.
• 0:11
  This is Denise Killian with the GrowthPro.
• 0:15
  Very excited to share with you what we're gonna be doing today with the A
• 0:18
  A MA. We're gonna be spending the day.
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  In Congress, so I'll be excited to walk you through what happens today.
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  It's a beautiful day.
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  Let's see how we look by the end of it.
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  For those that may not be familiar, AAMA represents the amusement and
• 0:33
  coin op entertainment industry.
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  That includes arcades, bowling centers, family entertainment centers,
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  manufacturers, distributors, and operators all across the country.
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  Essentially, if you've ever played an archaic game, a redemption game,
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  or visited a family entertainment center, you've experienced the
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  industry AAMA works to support.
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  What many people don't realize is that decisions made in Washington
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  directly impact how our businesses operate every single day.
• 1:04
  Regulations, taxes, tariffs, payment processing, healthcare costs, these
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  are all shaped by legislation and if business owners don't speak up.
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  Lawmakers are often making those decisions without understanding
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  the realities on the ground.
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  That's why advocacy matters.
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  During our meetings with congressional offices, we focused on several key
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  issues that directly affect FECs and small businesses across the country.
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  The first topic we discussed was the need to pass Senate Bill 5 0 4.
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  This legislation addresses lending requirements for certain
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  types of business facilities, including single use properties.
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  Now many lenders require an additional 5% down payment for facilities
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  considered single use for FECs.
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  That classification can create a major financial hurdle.
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  Think about what that means for a business owner trying to
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  expand or open a new location.
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  That additional 5% can easily translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars
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  tied up in a down payment rather than being invested into the business itself.
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  Things like new attractions, updated gains, facility improvements are hiring
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  more employees for most businesses today.
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  Credit cards are simply a cost of doing business, an expensive one.
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  On average credit card transactions make up around 90% of all payments.
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  That means nearly every guest or customer is paying with a card.
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  When those transactions carrying processing fees of around 3%,
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  the impact adds up quickly.
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  For a business doing several million dollars in revenue annually, that can
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  mean tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees each year.
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  Those are dollars that could otherwise be used to invest back
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  into the guest experience, maintain equipment, improve facilities,
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  or increase wages for employees.
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  There's an ongoing discussion in Congress about legislation that
• 3:04
  would introduce more competitive and transparent activities into
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  the credit card processing system.
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  The goal is to reduce excessive fees that disproportionately
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  impact small businesses.
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  We also discussed intellectual property protection, which is critical issue for
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  manufacturers in the amusement industry.
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  One example is Raw thrills, a company that designs and manufactures some of the most
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  innovative archaic games in the world.
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  These games require years of development, engineering, design,
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  and significant financial investment.
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  Unfortunately, there are foreign companies that copy these games, reproduce them
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  without permission, essentially stealing the intellectual property and selling
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  knockoff versions and other markets.
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  When it happens, it undermines the companies that invested in
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  creating the original products and it discourages innovation and
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  makes it harder for legitimate manufacturers to continue developing
• 4:00
  new experiences for our industry.
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  Another major topic we brought up was Hope Course Terrance.
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  Many family entertainment centers rely on equipment and components
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  that are manufactured overseas.
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  Tariffs on these products can significantly increase costs for
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  operators and manufacturers alike.
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  But beyond the tariffs themselves, one of the biggest challenges right now is
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  the unpredictability surrounding them.
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  When tariff policies shift frequently or change from
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  day-to-day, it becomes extremely difficult for businesses to plan.
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  Operators must be budgeting for new equipment planning expansions, or pricing
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  attractions based on set of costs only to have those numbers change unexpectedly.
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  Business owners need stability and predictability in order to
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  make sound financial decisions.
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  When policies are constantly shifting, it creates uncertainty
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  that can slow investment and growth.
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  And finally, we talked about healthcare costs.
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  Providing healthcare benefits to employees is something many
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  business owners want to do.
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  It's important for attracting and retaining great team members
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  in supporting the people who help our businesses succeed.
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  However, the cost of healthcare continues to rise year after year,
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  making it increasingly difficult for small businesses to offer comprehensive
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  coverage for FECs, many of which employ dozens or even hundreds of people.
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  Those rising costs can become a significant financial burden.
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  Finding a way to make healthcare more affordable for both employers and
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  employees is an issue that affects nearly every small business across the country.
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  So the day is incredibly long.
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  You have about 15 minutes between each meeting, uh, to
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  go and speak to your congress.
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  Speak to your senator about the issues that are important to your business.
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  It is something that, uh, remarkably anyone can do, uh, which is great, but
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  you definitely want to be working with an organization to help you coordinate this.
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  Now, as a private citizen, you can write your congressman, call your congressman's
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  office, and they will, uh, allow you to come in and you can meet with a staffer.
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  When you are a part of an organization that has a lobbyist group like the A A
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  MA, you are able to meet with perhaps the chief of staff of that team, uh,
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  or even the congress person themselves.
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  So today we have spent our day talking about things that are
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  important to our industry, but things that are important to all of us.
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  Affordability concerns the amount of the cost of goods.
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  You know, quite frankly, the things that.
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  Impact us as individuals in our lives are the same things that
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  impact us as small business owners.
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  So having a lot of conversations about tariffs, about the cost of healthcare,
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  about the price increases that are implicitly because of tariffs and other
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  activities over the past two years that have been led to a lot of economic.
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  Concerns and insecurities, both for consumers and for small businesses.
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  So having the opportunity to be able to do that is something
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  that is really, really amazing.
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  Uh, but I do have to stress, it's not something that you have to belong
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  to an organization to be able to do.
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  You know, Congress people at the end of the day, they want to
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  know what's happening in their communities, in their districts.
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  They want real stories.
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  And being able to meet with people in person and on people's staff to
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  be able to have those conversations is an essential part of what
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  keeps our democracy functioning.
• 7:48
  Thanks for coming along for our visit to Washington DC with the A A MA.
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  If you enjoyed today's show, please take a moment to rate and review
• 7:56
  us on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
• 7:59
  Your support helps us reach more leaders just like you.
• 8:03
  And if you're ready to grow your team, your business, or yourself, contact
• 8:07
  us@thegrowthpro.com and set up a free growth call with one of our coaches.
• 8:13
  Once again, a special thanks to our sponsors Embed, Party Center Software,
• 8:18
  A&A Global Betson, Semnox, Shaffer, and Roller for all that they do to
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  help us bring you the GrowthPro.
• 8:25
  Until next time, I'm Denise Killian with the GrowthPro.
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  Keep learning, keep growing, and keep striving for the
• 8:56
  extraordinary.