VIRGINIA: NFIB Member Submits Testimony to U.S. Congressional Ways and Means Committee

April 4, 2023 Last Edit: June 5, 2025

Tina Miller of Walkabout Outfitter Shares Struggles of Government Mandates, COVID-19

VIRGINIA: NFIB Member Submits Testimony to U.S. Congressional Ways and Means Committee

Recently, Tina Miller of Walkabout Outfitter, with six locations in Virginia and 35 employees, submitted written testimony to the U.S. Congressional Ways and Means Committee about the struggles she has faced with government mandates in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can listen to Tina’s testimony on NFIB’s latest podcast here. “As a small business owner, thank you or holding today’s hearing on the state of America’s economy. We carry high quality trusted brands and cater to every level of experience from well-traveled hikers to more casual hikers and everyone in between,” said Tina Miller. If you are paying attention to what’s happening in the General Assembly, lawmakers return to Richmond next week, April 12th.

Tina Miller of Walkabout Outfitters, with six locations in Virginia barely survived the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have many concerns that I would like to share with you. For the past several years I have spent sleepless nights worrying, is my small business going to go bankrupt? I opened my first store 23 years ago. I was excited about having my own business – the American Dream! I worked seven days a week and often slept in the store because I loved an hour away and would be right back in the morning. I had a second and third job for nearly a decade as I invested nearly everything back in the business and eventually hired employees. I always paid myself last and that was if I had anything to pay me which often was not. As part of the blood, sweat and tears that go into owning your own business, you would think owning and running your own business would became easier but unfortunately it’s become more and more challenging because of government regulations and bad policies. In the past three years we’ve had to deal with fewer customers, higher costs, difficulty finding employees and more paperwork. We though we would not survive the crippling weight on the COVID-19 mandates, government shutdowns and taxes. We worked non-stop during 202 to not go bankrupt. Thing got so bad my husband and I didn’t pay ourselves for 10 months. We took care of our managers because it was the right thing to do.

Tina Miller says she would rather go through being diagnosed with breast cancer again with two small children than go through another pandemic and all the headaches caused by the government mandated shutdowns.

I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer with a six month prognosis and I would hands down go through that again instead of 2020 and the COVID-19 shut downs knowing what I know now. The horrible struggles mostly caused by the government was absolutely awful. I put my entire family in very dark places mentally. I’ve spent so much time and work on bureaucrats’ orders rather than working on my small business. When did the small business owner become the bad guy? Small businesses shouldn’t be the enemy but the backbone of the economy. Shouldn’t the government get out of their way so they can build their business?”

Topics:

Taxes

State:

Virginia

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