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You’re tired of the 8-to-5 rat race. Your boss crushes your creativity. You long for being the creator of your own fate, setting your soul free to pursue your passion. “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Ah, if it were that easy. But it’s not. And I see only one candidate for governor who acknowledges this, and has put pen to paper to rectify it: Dr. Nirav Shah.
Maine has some of the most restrictive barriers to small business start-up and ownership in the nation. I was the Maine state coordinator of entrepreneurship education for several years and saw the frustrations of many of my students as they began their journey toward self-employment. Dozens of legal requirements and documents they “needed” in order to
build their American Dream. Barriers that all too often resulted in no Maine business ever opening.
Dr. Shah calls these barriers out for what they are and, as governor, pledges to support entrepreneurs. More importantly, he recognizes that affordable childcare, health care, housing, and being able to pass a business on to a younger generation, are essential economic infrastructure.
While the short list of just some of the barriers to entrepreneurship seem insurmountable — local assessment and property taxes, local zoning, licensing and permitting, registering a DBA/EIN/TIN/LLC (if those mean nothing to you, you’re not alone) — that patchwork of complexity has a light at the end of the tunnel. The only economist in this race: Dr. Nirav Shah.
Thom Amnotte
Orono
