WHITE MARSH, Md. — Small business owners are feeling the economic pressure and searching for ways to survive in an increasingly challenging marketplace.
WATCH: Local small business owners navigate economic uncertainty
Hiring has slowed across the region. Businesses are cutting back on expenses, and families are making difficult choices about their spending priorities. This economic reality is forcing small business owners like physician Charis James to make tough decisions about their operations.
James has lost nearly 30% of the patients in her direct pay medical practice since the beginning of summer.
"A lot of people have had to make decisions to kind of slow down on that journey to get themselves healthy because they had to reprioritize their expenses," James said. "You know, they have to make a decision between paying rent, paying their mortgage, their car notes and getting food on the table."
It's a pattern Chief Economist and Towson University Professor Daraius Irani is seeing across the region. Irani gave a preview of his annual economic outlook Monday at a business roundtable hosted by State Senator Carl Jackson of Legislative District 8, which includes White Marsh.
"Right now, we're in the middle of a storm and so it's really hard to get reckoning as to where you need to go," Irani said. "Many households are not spending as much money as they once did because they feel that they're uncertain about what's going to happen in the future."
That storm he describes is caused by federal policies around tariffs and immigration, plus the ongoing government shutdown. Many of James' patients are federal workers, yet she's concerned about the well-being of all of her patients who have scaled back treatment.
"I really wanted to make an impact on improving health especially in this community," James said. "And unfortunately, you know, when people can't access the services, that hurts not just my business but it definitely hurts our health. So I really just wanted to help people and it's harder now."
Irani says business owners shouldn't make rash decisions but also shouldn't "bleed themselves dry."
"If you're looking at the numbers and you realize even if business were to return, would I, would I be able to stay? Would I be able to dig out of the hole I made in?" Irani said. "And so the decision you need to make is, if it were to return to what it was prior, would I be able to actually then recover the lost revenue?"
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