Owners of a brand new business in Conway say they're watching the elections and hoping change is coming to help small business owners.
Alphi's Reef Seafood Restaurant was opened seven weeks ago by Alex Odom and Phil Floyd.
They say opening a new business hasn't been a walk in the park.
"Challenging to get the customers in. You know we're offering a new product to the area and it's trying to have them buy in on it, to come and join us for dinner," said Odom.
Odom and Floyd both admit that owning your own business isn't a 9 to 5 job.
"There's many times i'm here at six in the morning and here till nine or ten in the evening, but just starting off, I think that's where we need to be," said Odom.
Although Odom and Floyd are putting in the hours to try and make their business successful, they feel like rules put in place by government are hindering that process.
"We couldn't get our liquor license, or even start that process, for beer and wine before we had our inspections with DHEC and we had to wait till the very end of that. So that's about four to five weeks of initial time to get that jump start," said Odom.
With the 2012 elections so close, Odom says he's looking for a candidate that can help his business, not hinder it.
"We're looking for this election to open up to really bring out not just for us but also all the other small business owners that can open up some avenues and ease up the opportunities for us to be successful," said Odom.
According to a study by the Small Business Association, there are currently 27.5 million small businesses in the United States.
Odom and Floyd hope to contribute to that number for a long time.
