In this video Michael Girdley addresses small business owners, especially those who run multiple ventures and rely on importing goods from China, about how to navigate the ongoing U.S. tariffs. He frames the situation as serious but manageable and delivers five concrete pieces of advice. First, he urges owners not to panic, emphasizing that rash decisions cost money. Second, he recommends bolstering liquidity—securing credit lines, making savings accessible, and pausing any expansion or capital‑intensive projects to survive in “survival mode.” Third, he advises treating the tariffs as the new normal, planning for a prolonged period, and being willing to pass increased costs on to customers, noting that price hikes are often accepted when justified. Fourth, he suggests engaging suppliers legally to seek cost‑saving measures such as redesigns, size reductions, or other concessions, while warning against illegal customs fraud. Finally, he stresses long‑term de‑risking by diversifying the supply chain away from sole reliance on China—sourcing from Vietnam, the EU, other Asian nations, or reshoring to the United States. Throughout, Girdley invites viewers to comment, subscribe, and share their own strategies, positioning the video as both a personal reminder and a community‑building effort.
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So pretty serious video today because these tariffs are hitting a lot of small businesses like a bag of bricks. Potentially, you know, some folks are worried that I talk to, they're going to go out of business because of the way these tariffs are going to impact stuff and especially the stuff that is assigned to China. So this video is 5 pieces of advice, some for myself, right? I'm making this video because I need to hear it too. But if you own a small business and you're tied to import-export and all that kind of stuff, here's 5 pieces of advice on how to navigate all of that. If you're a small business and hopefully come out the other side of this at least the same as you are now and maybe even stronger. Hey, if you're new here, my name is Michael. I make content primarily for folks that are doing what I'm doing, which is getting involved in multiple businesses as an owner and more than just one business.
So a lot of what I talk about will be applicable if you just own and operate one business, but especially focused on people that have the dream of being involved in multiple businesses.
So if you want to see that kind of stuff, give me a follow, hit the notification bell, all that kind of stuff, comment below. So here's piece of advice number one. For people whose business is threatened by the tariffs. Number 1, don't panic. I'm seeing stories and hearing stuff in the rumor mill about people who are trying to pull the ripcord, thinking that they're not gonna be able to survive all of this, and they're panic selling, potentially going to their suppliers, or they're going even to the Chinese and saying, hey, like, we're not gonna make it through all this, buy our business, and they're running a fire sale. And like, in reality, in business, every time you panic, you make bad decisions, and bad decisions cost you money. So number one, take a deep breath. These things are not going to kill you overnight. And if they do kill you overnight, well, you probably were going to die anyways, business. But number one, don't panic. Number two advice, you know, this is where under a threatening environment like this and a tumultuous environment, you need to get your business and your life as resilient as possible. So that means on one end, getting access to capital sources. If you can get them, home equity line of credit, all that kind of stuff. If you're going to do it, making sure savings are liquid and you can get to them. Any investments that you have that maybe you could turn into cash. Now's the time to do it. Similarly, it's a great time to go look at any expansion plans that you had for the business. Were you going to be investing money and growing it and all that kind of stuff? Like, this is the time to make your business resilient. Put all that stuff on hold because ultimately, like, it's about survival mode right now.
Advice number 3 is just assume that this is the new normal. And Trump is going out and telling folks that he doesn't have any plans to back down on all this stuff. Look, Trump says a lot of stuff and sometimes he goes back on what he says he's going to do. But in this case, so far, they've said there's not going to be any exceptions. They've made very few. If no exceptions and heck, even the stuff that they did in terms of the exceptions for the electronics tariffs that were quote unquote rolled back. Well, those were just paused in favor of taking another look at them. And they say they're going to bring those back as well. So for now, we all just need to plan that this is the new normal and it's not going to get fixed and try to survive it as best we can. It could go on for years. And so we start planning for that being the new normal and plan our businesses around that as best we can. And heck, if it gets rolled back, if it gets fixed, well, then we get a little bit of gravy on that and maybe an extra bonus. And that'll be a welcome thing. Number 3 advice. I see and hear a lot of people scared to pass the cost increases from tariffs onto their customers. And what you're starting to see is you should not be afraid to raise your prices for customers. If you and your supply chain is China dependent and it's going to be costing you more to deliver those goods, the good news is that's happening across the board to everybody. And customers are going to start to see it. They're seeing it in the news. And they're not going to be surprised when you come along and say, hey, we've raised prices 10%, 20%, 30% to deal with these tariff situations. I've heard people say like they're scared to raise prices because they think the customers will go away. My experience is exactly the opposite. A lot of times people, especially if they can make sense in their mind because of what's going on with the tariffs that it's justified, they'll step up and pay it. So advice number 4, go to the supplier side as well. Now's the time to go back to your suppliers. They're fully aware what's going on with these tariffs. They want to keep selling stuff into the US. See if there's things that they can do in order to help you continue to be a customer. I mean, I've heard all kinds solutions, some legal and some that to me sounds like customs fraud. Don't do those things. Only do the legal stuff. Check with your lawyers. But I've also heard of people just going back to their suppliers and saying, hey, we need you to help figure out how to get 20% or 30% of cost out of this product. And there's different ways they can do that. Reducing sizes, changing designs, all that kind of stuff. But since we've been comfortable in the previous piece of advice, going to our customers and raising prices, this is where we also need to look and see, hey, how do we reduce the cost of the inputs as well? And that's where you can go to your China suppliers or other folks and ask for concessions as well. Bring part of the solution. Here's advice number 5, and I saved this one for the last because it's the longest-term advice, which is I think what Trump has done here has fundamentally changed things forever. And I think wise business people are looking at how do I start to de-risk my business off of single company, single countries as import sources. So if your business is one that's totally dependent upon China, it's start to figure out how you can, well, source those products from other places, ideally from someplace in the United States. That's what Trump and the government wants. And when the government tends to want something, they get it here in the United States. But if it has to be imported, how do you make it where it's not from China exclusively? You're going to Vietnam or you're going to the EU or you're going to other places in Asia to be able to source this stuff. Being dependent upon one country, especially if that's China, like, it's time to figure out how to de-risk off of that trade relationship. Because the reality is, I don't know if it's ever going to come back. And I certainly know it's not going to come back in the next 3 and a half years of the Trump presidency. That's it for this video. If you own a small business and you're dependent upon overseas folks, what advice do you have for other folks? Tell me, note it in the comments below. Maybe I missed something. Heck, that's part of why I do this. I want to hear what other folks say so maybe I can get smarter and learn some smarter stuff for my businesses as well. So let me know what you think. Drop a comment below.
