Business Owners to Obama: This Is What You Need to Do Now

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Now that the election is over, small-business owners want change -- and they want it fast.

That message was loud and clear when many told TheStreet on Tuesday that they were voting for Republican Mitt Romney instead of President Barack Obama.

But, for better or worse, Obama has been re-elected by the country for a second term.

That means health-care reform is here to stay, taxes will likely increase, and a stalemate that has plagued Congress will stretch on unless the president can find a way for both sides to work together.

Small businesses are struggling, with many blaming Obama for over-regulation and under-funding.

In an October survey by Guidant Financial, Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA) gave a picture of all that is needed to get small businesses growing: "It is absolutely a priority to simplify the tax code, get rid of government red tape and allow our businesses the freedom, flexibility and economic certainty to do what they do best: create, innovate and build."

Small-business owners and industry members shared with TheStreet what the president needs to do to win their favor.

Small Business Administration

"The economy is doing a little better, which helped Obama. Hopefully, he comes back wiser in the second term and tries to help small businesses," says Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit.com.

"Obama should focus on strengthening the existing small-business lending programs and SBA instead of creating new entities like Secretary of Business, etc., which will increase the bureaucratic red tape," Arora says.

Health Care

"Accelerate creation of the state exchanges for insurance under the Affordable Care Act so we can start reaping the benefits of the pooled state-wide purchasing power and hold our rates down," says Keith Camhi, co-founder and CEO of Great Play, an 11-unit franchise of children's fitness establishments. "Health-insurance costs have been the fastest-growing expense line in our business, and these exchanges promise to be very helpful for that."

Taxes