Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. Small business challenges have persisted for years due to wage mandates, health insurance premium increases, paid family leave requirements, climate change policies that raise energy costs, and higher taxes or trouble hiring due to the stateâs aging demographics. But when Governor Scott declared a state of emergency on March 13, 2020, a whole new world of âsmall business challengesâ landed on the backs of those small business owners from which they may not recover. The pandemic caused small business owners to rethink how they do business. Some had to make infrastructure changes like adding Plexiglass barriers and establishing traffic flows. They coped with customer capacity limits and ramped up their online presence to compete with larger, more established businesses. And they implemented curbside and delivery services.