by Ian Amarento
I didn’t knowingly choose to become a business owner – I fell into it because I was caring for my parents, and over time I realized that many families faced the same dilemma, and I wanted to share what I had learned.
It hit me hard when a family decision was made to move my parents to hospice. It upset me to think that my parents, who immigrated here in the 1990s so that our whole family could have a better future, would have to move from the place that was their home for so many years. It made me think about the many manongs who have to go through the same situation, and I became motivated and passionate about entering the home healthcare field.
I went to nursing school to learn how to best care for our elders. Then I formed Aarti Home Care. Afterwards, I created A+ Training Center to guide the Personal Care Assistants (PCAs) who work with Aarti and other agencies. Being a small business owner has allowed me to be a job creator and given me many insights. When you work for someone else you are forced to do things that you don’t necessarily agree with or you don’t want to do. When you own your business, you can make the decisions that you think are right and have the satisfaction of doing the right thing for yourself and your clients. Being an entrepreneur has been incredibly satisfying, and is a fulfillment of the American Dream that my parents only thought was possible here.
After becoming a small business owner, I came to realize how much politics impacts my daily business. Although I want to pay my PCAs more, my margins are so narrow that unless we increase Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, it’s difficult to do so. Similarly, I became very engrossed in this election because as a businessman, I am a part of my community, and it’s my duty to be an active and informed citizen. In one corner, we have Donald Trump, a businessman who has made his fortune by cutting corners and not paying his taxes or his contractors. In the other corner, we have Hillary Clinton, who understands that small businesses are the cornerstone of the American economy, and that when entrepreneurs like me are able to grow and make new hires, the entire economy performs better. Because her dad was a small business owner, she understands the unique challenges and joys that small business owners encounter.
The majority of Asian American business owners are small business owners like myself, and there are ways for government to help us get started and grow. Hillary Clinton has a thorough plan to help entrepreneurs, including reducing paperwork and bureaucracy at the state and local level and allowing student entrepreneurs to defer college loan repayment while they’re launching companies. She also will make it easier for small business owners to access capital by expanding SBA and credit union loans, creating a new standard deduction for small business owners so they don’t have to spend an average of 150 hours filing taxes. She would also make it easier and more affordable to offer health insurance to employees, which is also something that I would like to do as an ethical businessperson. The Democratic Party offers better options for how to grow small businesses like mine, and the whole economy.
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Ian Amarento is the owner of Aarti Home Care and A+ Training Center. He lives in Las Vegas and trained as a nurse in the Philippines.
