Eighty-seven percent of small businesses surveyed by the city of Everett, Washington said the cost of doing business has become more challenging over the past two years, with 62% saying it has become much more challenging, according to a city outreach report covered by HeraldNet. The survey and outreach effort reached 110 businesses through an online survey, roundtables and in-person visits, putting rising costs ahead of other concerns such as permitting and public safety.
More than 2,500 miles away, the Maui Economic Development Board has been testing a different kind of local response: practical AI training for small business owners and nonprofit leaders. MEDB promoted a free half-day workshop on Friday, August 14, 2026, designed to help Maui business leaders use AI to improve efficiency, productivity and profitability, and Maui Now reported that the session was presented by consultant and trainer Marc Rix.
The two developments are not directly connected. Everett’s report documents a local cost squeeze, while Maui’s workshop shows one community organization offering a low-cost way to recover time on routine work. Together, they reflect a broader small-business reality: owners are facing higher operating costs while being encouraged to adopt AI tools that may help with workflow efficiency but cannot, by themselves, lower insurance premiums, wages, taxes or rent.
Everett survey shows costs are still the main pressure point
Everett’s small-business outreach report, published August 19, 2026, reached 110 businesses across nine sectors, from manufacturing to retail. Seventy-four percent of participating businesses had between one and five employees, and 43% had operated for more than 11 years, meaning the sample skews toward small, established operators rather than startups or large employers. A quarter of respondents were located in South Everett.
The top cost categories cited were taxes and fees, labor and wage costs, and insurance and healthcare. That mix is important because it spans both government-controlled charges and market-driven costs outside any single city’s authority. Scott Hulme, a spokesperson for Everett’s Downtown Association, told the Herald that businesses try not to pass these increases on to customers, but that labor, supplies, insurance and rent are all rising at the same time.
Despite the pressure, the city report found that 51% of respondents felt optimistic about the future, compared with 26% who described their outlook as pessimistic. City officials said the findings would help guide work on costs within Everett’s control, permitting, commercial-area safety and other business support. Because the survey covers one city and one summer, it should be treated as a local snapshot rather than a national trend.
Rising costs leave small firms with fewer easy choices
For a business with five employees or fewer, a jump in insurance premiums, wages or local fees cannot be absorbed the same way it might be at a larger company with finance staff, volume purchasing power or broader credit access. When multiple costs rise at once, an owner usually faces three limited options: raise prices, cut hours or absorb the difference against already thin margins.
That tradeoff explains why local business surveys often show caution and optimism at the same time. Owners may still believe in the future of their company while also having less room to make mistakes in the next quarter. Everett’s 62% “much more challenging” figure suggests many respondents view higher costs as structural rather than temporary.
Training programs can be attractive in this environment because they are direct, inexpensive and fast to deliver. Unlike tax relief, insurance reform or fee changes, a workshop does not require legislative action. That makes it a visible community response, even when it does not solve the underlying cost categories business owners identified.
Maui workshop offered hands-on AI training, not a cost fix
MEDB’s August workshop was presented by Marc Rix, described by MEDB as an international adviser, speaker, consultant and trainer. The workshop asked participants to arrive with a specific business problem and was structured to move them toward a working AI solution they could take back to their operations.
Rix said the goal was to help business leaders separate AI myth from fact and apply AI for fast, measurable results. Maui Now also cited Wayne Wong, director of the Hawaii Small Business Development Center on Maui, who said the session struck a balance between understanding, hands-on practice and the realities of running a small business.
That framing is useful, but it should not be overstated. MEDB’s public description and the available reporting describe confidence-building and practical exposure, not a measured reduction in costs, errors or labor hours after the session. The workshop is best understood as a low-cost adoption pathway, not proof that AI training can offset rising insurance, taxes or payroll costs.
The kinds of quick-win AI tasks described in small-business training programs tend to be lower-risk work: drafting customer emails, organizing notes, summarizing information, creating marketing content or building simple workflows. These are areas where a flawed output can usually be reviewed and corrected before it reaches a customer or regulator.
That is different from higher-risk uses such as tax filings, payroll calculations, legal language or financial projections used for lending decisions. A half-day workshop can build familiarity, but it cannot turn an owner into a compliance specialist or guarantee that an AI-generated answer is accurate. Businesses should keep human review in place for any task that affects money, contracts, employment or regulatory obligations.
The human side also matters. AI training can help owners do more with limited time, but it can also shift expectations onto already stretched operators by implying they should absorb more technical work themselves. For very small firms, the benefit comes only if the tool genuinely reduces a burden rather than adding another system to manage.
Small businesses should start with narrow, reversible AI uses
Owners considering a workshop like MEDB’s, or applying lessons from one, can limit downside risk by treating AI adoption as a series of small experiments rather than a wholesale operational change.
- Pick one low-risk workflow first, such as drafting customer emails, summarizing meeting notes or organizing a task list.
- Set a baseline before adoption by measuring how long the task currently takes and how often errors occur.
- Review every AI output before it reaches a customer, employee, vendor or regulator.
- Protect sensitive data by confirming what happens to customer, financial or employee information entered into an AI platform.
- Calculate the ongoing cost of subscriptions once free introductory access ends.
- Measure results after 30 to 60 days instead of relying only on post-workshop confidence.
Indicators to watch
- Future Everett or comparable municipal surveys that show whether cost pressure rises, falls or holds steady.
- Regional price, labor and insurance data that could corroborate whether Everett’s findings reflect a broader Washington trend.
- MEDB follow-up reporting on how many workshop participants continued using AI tools weeks or months later.
- Independent small-business AI adoption benchmarks that track actual use rather than one-time training attendance.
- Evidence of measurable time savings, error reduction or cost changes after practical AI workshops.
Practical training is one response to a real squeeze
Everett’s survey documents a concrete local finding: most participating small businesses said rising costs had become more challenging over the past two years, with taxes and fees, labor, and insurance among the top concerns. That evidence stands apart from any specific technology response.
MEDB’s Maui workshop, meanwhile, offers a grounded example of one low-cost response communities are testing: hands-on AI training meant to help owners reclaim time on routine work. The evidence available does not show that this offsets rising operating costs or produces measurable financial improvement. It does show that local groups are looking for practical interventions small businesses can try immediately while larger cost pressures remain unresolved.
