Rising Costs: Real Business Owners Respond
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What are the main challenges businesses face with rising costs today?
There's one thing affecting almost every business out there right now: rising costs. Wages, material, fuel. It's all up. And that doesn't just impact your bottom line, it impacts your team, your customers, your ability to grow your business. So if you're getting squeezed by higher costs, you're not alone. But what do you do about it? Entree Leadership's head coach John Felkins recently sat down with real business owners for an honest conversation about how they're handling higher costs and how to lead your business well through this challenge. Let's get to it.
Tell me about your business, who y'all, what y'all do, how big the business is, and just whatever comes to mind.
Uh, my name's Renee Wrangle. I'm the CEO of BSK Associates. I think our biggest claim to fame is we're a hundred percent employee owned firm.
Okay.
Uh we have um about two hundred and forty employees and over ten locations through Throughout uh California and one little small location in Vancouver, Washington.
Okay, very cool. And what do y'all do?
So we are a um geotechnical and environmental engineering firm. We have construction services, uh special inspection on one division.
Okay.
And our other division of the company is our uh analytical laboratories that do environmental testing on soil, water.
All right. And you sir? So my name is Donnie Fabian. I am the managing partner at Cammy Axle Construction. We are a family owned and operated concrete shell construction company. Since 2020, I've been uh managing the business. My father's since retired and and it's been wonderful uh having worked with them all those years and now uh taking our business to the next level. That's fantastic. And it's Meredith?
Yes, um Meredith Concert. Um Our company is TriTech Fall Protection. We are a specialty design build engineering construction firm.
Okay.
Um, we work all over North America. Anyone who works at height, we are helping them to be able to go home every day safely. Uh our we have a headquarters here in Orlando, Florida, and also in Calgary, Alberta. So USA and Canada operations. Uh sixty-five in our team right now and looking to grow and do a little bit more. My background is in engineering, um, but have worked been with the company for ten years now and have moved into this role about two years ago of CEO.
That's awesome. That's exciting. Yeah. Are you liking that role?
It's tough. It's a tough role, but it is a good role.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very cool. So You probably know this, but what we're we're hearing is that seventy seven percent of business owners are reporting higher costs over the last year or so. Does that ring a bell?
I'm surprised it's not higher, honestly. So Yeah.
Yeah, well, you're not crazy. Um almost every industry.
How are the panelists’ companies structured and what do they do?
Now we're we're kind of all in the construction industry, right? And this in this conversation, one way or the other. And um, but it's hitting every every industry out there. And we see it, we see it all over the place. Uh it could come from the utilities. I'm just gonna read some stats here. Utilities are up around 8.5% for both service and And manufacturing companies. Cost of goods are up 8% for manufacturers and 5.5% for service businesses. And then wages, which of course is like the biggest line item in every business, right? Are up 3.4% for both types of businesses. So it's it's a supply chain, it's inflation, it's wage and labor pressure, government policies and interest rates are what are driving it.
And it's not only, you know, uh everyday businesses, Main Street businesses as I like to call them. Um it's the big businesses too. I was just reading some headlines. BMW is raising its prices on some models up to $1,500. Sony has raised prices on the PlayStation by $50. So that's ringing a bell. I can tell from all of the nodding, uh that's ringing a bell for y'all. Does it really impacted your business also in in those same ways or in different ways?
I would say in this in the same ways. Um, just about anywhere on your PL that there's an expense. We've just have now been pre programmed to make those adjustments when we're budgeting.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the main challenges businesses face with rising costs today?
0:05–3:14
2
How are the panelists’ companies structured and what do they do?
3:14–7:21
3
What statistics show how widespread cost increases are across industries?
7:21–11:09
4
How are the owners adjusting pricing and wages to cope with higher expenses?
11:09–15:10
5
What strategies are being used to boost productivity and reduce waste?
15:10–19:25
6
How does leadership energy and culture help teams survive cost pressures?
19:25–23:51
7
What lessons have the leaders learned from past crises and mistakes?
23:51–27:19
8
What actionable advice can business owners follow to lead through tough times?
27:19–30:08