This is John Batchelor.

Conversation with my good friend Jean Marks, Small Business columnist for the Guardian and

Philadelphia Inquire and other distinguished publications, about what are the ten best states

to do business in? Small business? Gene goes through a number of possibilities

and then is very candid. The best state to do business is Gene Marks. And the best state to do business is? Gene Marks, on the best state to do business is the one you're in.

He explains more of this tonight. Thank you. Well, is there really a best state to run your business? I mean, every, you and I talk about this all the time, John, right? We see different polls coming out, different studies doing, you know, what the best states are to run your business and you know there's in this

one survey which came out from oh I'm just I'm looking right now it was

published on NASDAQ.com I forget who did the survey but they're saying North Dakota is a

great state and Indiana is a great state and so is Arkansas and they list you know

it is a good taxes and good education and good employer basis and all that.

I find a lot of these lists to be pretty tough. I mean, you know, the best

state to run your small business is the state where you've got family around you've got resources

around you know your community you know frankly how the state is run the people that

I meet around the country who are running their businesses in all

different types of states and they've been doing it for many many years they've

been doing it because they live there they know the people they're they're familiar with the terrain

that's what you're looking for I mean I know tax rates are important and I know

regulations are important and I know people can argue that one state's better than the other.

But even with all of the grief that people gave, California for example, about their regulations

and high taxes, drive around California, ma'am, there are just countless small businesses in that state, many of them doing quite well. Why? Because they navigate around the rules. They know their community, they know their customers. They're happy doing business there and they have a happy life.

So I guess the takeaway is I wouldn't spend a whole lot of time worrying about whether or not

your state is one of the best in the country or worst to run a business.

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