Hours after a campaign spearheaded by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin kicked off to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Kleefisch was leading a group of small business owners through a roundtable discussion about ways Wisconsin can improve the small business climate.

The meeting was held at La Casa de Esperanza and was sponsored by the newly formed City of Waukesha Chamber of Commerce.

“Let me assure you today that Gov. Walker remains focused like a laser beam on job creation,” Kleefisch said. “You have heard the pledge in the campaign – we have not backed off of that for one second.  We want to make sure that Wisconsin is the center of economic prosperity.”

Business owners and development officials went around the room sharing challenges in the economic climate, government regulation and the lack of trained workers.

For some business owners, they may not have the time to attend business development workshops or obtain the resources and training that could help advance their business because they are spending all the time working to keep their enterprise moving forward.

“The whole nature of business has changed,” said Catherine Huelsman of Berg Management. “You can’t just open your doors and expect business to come.  You have to do businesses differently, and I don’t think our small businesses are prepared to do that.”

For Kimberly Gomez, a fashion consultant focused on training people on how to dress for business success, said it was the cost of employment taxes that is keeping her from expanding.

“I can’t afford to hire anyone,” Gomez said.