Keep Calm and Build Savings

So, there has been much more talk around the office yesterday about what may or may not happen, all in response to the effects of those US Tariffs.

Our business model is to design products, have them built in China, and then sell them throughout Canada and the US. 

According to the current US Administration, that is a no-no, and so anything we bring in from China is slapped with not only a duty (as it always had been) but punitive tariffs.

On the outset, this wouldn’t be so bad, but while we, a Canadian company are hit with tariffs based on the retail price (what we charge our customer). 

Our US competitors are only hit with the punitive tariffs on the cost of the goods they bring in to the US . . . as in what they buy it for. 

This further skews an already uneven playing field further away from us. Then again, this current US Administration is all about helping the US and only the US.

All of that aside (regardless of how you feel about what the current US Administration is doing) what this means to us and our company is that it looks like we will pull out of the US Market as it is becoming too expensive for us to compete in. 

This means that what was once 80% of our business, yet now shrunk to 60%, is going to go bye-bye, through no fault of our own.

So, there are some jittered nerves around work these days as we all wonder what is going to happen. 

Most likely is that the company will retool and move in another direction. Yet I don’t see pay raises coming, only pay cuts with an absence of direct website sales.

As for me, I will keep doing what I always do: keep clomping on forward. 

I will keep building up my savings for as long as I can. I will focus on savings as much as possible and eliminate all unnecessary spending, as anything could happen.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!