As it turns out, the Golden State has seen better days since the era of the Gold Rush. Back then, anyone could move out West and make a quick buck. Way back when, in 1889, when gold was discovered. But in recent years, various events on the national, global and eventual scale have been blown wide open enough to make every negotiating tactic irrelevant in the eyes of Big Biz. The truth of the matter is, you have to really want to be a big baller to play with money from the high rollers on a city-wide scale, you have to know what you’re up against. And it’s no small task for small businesses overcome the type of obstacles going on in San Jose today.

So Here Are The Challenges

When assessing various worries—such as labor costs, utility costs, business filing fees, lending rates and more—the most impending factor is the heightened business costs. In addition, the means of acquiring proper permits and permissions are also astoundingly difficult for anyone running one of the many small businesses to overcome.

California has been found in the midst of the list overall, in comparison to Nevada and other states. The study itself would have adjusted numbers for population, but overall, being that San Jose is OG California and the most populous at that, the obstacles check out: California is definitely the most overwhelming to say the least.  It’s a competitive atmosphere here, in the Wild, Wild West!

San Jose is continuously hailed as a one-stop shop for Silicon Valley savvy aficionados and health-centric titans of tomorrow, but in keeping that high-standard, it has also been difficult for business-owners to keep up with the expensive upkeep. This comes in the form of expensive means of paying employees, along with high-housing and worrisome wages. Not to mention the rent on brick-and-mortar establishments alone! How astoundingly difficult!

As of 2020, $37.7 million were lent to small businesses from the State of California while utility costs had the average mom and pop shop paying electricity expenses of $992.86 a month.

Around 60,000 small businesses have been facing some other, meaner threats. Such as being displaced because of brand new developments in San Jose to make it grow into an even more accessible hub! Tragic! To make matters worse, a lack of personnel in the planning department of the city has permit processing near-halted at a standstill until more spots can be fulfilled.

San Jose and California has too many technicalities to go through without ripping your hair out

For starters, a business license is $70 for the state. For the city? You’re looking at $210, at the very least. With a growing number of employees, it can only rise.

Luckily, there’s hope. Word on the street is the cavalry comes in the form of business community meet-ups to provide tactics to go against the grain of North-Californian migraines when it comes to handling small businesses. What’s more—there’s a conversation about levelling the playing field so that BIPOC will be able to have a fighting chance to make their idea shine above all else.

So yes, it is tough to strike gold in San Jose. But it’s sure as Hell worth the risk to aim for the rewards.