Small business costs are no laughing matter. And when Big Business threatens to push them even higher, humor is definitely the last thing on anyone’s mind.

For instance, gas prices are up…way up! Aside from the blatant, this is creating some less obvious costs for businesses, too. But when disasters strike, what can you do? The infrastructure takes a hit, supply is reduced, and even if demand stays flat, costs increase.

It’s simple economics, but that’s cold comfort when you’re a small business trying to make a go of it.

Still, there’s only so much that can be done to prepare for natural disasters, and topping no one’s priority list is “saving money for gas in case pump prices go up.”

A potential disaster that everyone can anticipate – and hopefully prevent – is the scary reality that “Net Neutrality” might come to pass. Let’s hope not.

Want to talk about business costs going up, up, up?? If the cable/telecom companies get their way on Capitol Hill, it’s going to get a lot more expensive for everyone – including small business owners – to do business online.

Which is directly counter to what makes doing business online so attractive in the first place. The web drives down overhead costs, drives down inefficiencies, drives up marketability, drives up sales.

Oh, and, this just in…it’s still not free.

The upsetting part of the debate, seeming to get lost, is that technology already comes with a price, and it’s not a small one. The businesses that grant us access to all of the online tools we rely upon so much are getting paid for this service.

Want to do good business? Keep your customers happy. Make sure you are getting paid, obviously. But if you have any kind of long range plan in mind at all, make sure that you balance your profits with your customers, not at their expense.

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