We all know that Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) earlier this year, but everyone seems to be asking the same question:

“What does it mean for me as a business owner?”

Most of the headlines seem to glaze over what this monster tax bill will actually do for entrepreneurs, and since we don’t all have time to read a 500+ page bill to figure out the answer, I figured I would break it down for you this week, along with:

• The best businesses to start as a first-time entrepreneur

• What you missed this week on Nikonomics

BUT FIRST, let me know what your biggest goal is over the next 12 months so I can make sure you’re getting the content you want!

Breaking Down The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB): What Entrepreneurs Need To Know

Your guide to the tax changes that will actually matter for your business

First, let’s start with the basics.

The OBBB is a tax and economic legislative package that focuses heavily on tax policy and will change how businesses invest, how employees are compensated, and how entrepreneurs can legally reduce their tax burden by:

• Providing extensions of business tax provisions

• Creating new deductions for workers

• Adding tax incentives designed to encourage investment in productive assets

Trust me, you want to read what has changed. We cover:

1. Economic Opportunity Zones Extended

2. QSBS (Qualified Small Business Stock) Changed

3. QBI (Qualified Business Income) Deduction Made Permanent

4. No Tax on Tips and Overtime: The Reality vs. The Headline

5. Accelerated Depreciation = The BIGGEST Opportunity For Entrepreneurs

The bottom line: If you play the system right and use these policy changes to your advantage, understanding the policies in this bill could save you six figures this year alone.

Economic Opportunity Zones Extended

Opportunity Zones were created to incentivize investment in economically distressed communities. The OBBB extends these benefits. Here’s how it works:

• Invest capital gains into designated Opportunity Zone funds

• Defer paying taxes on those gains until 2026 (or when you sell the investment)

• If you hold the investment for 10+ years, you pay zero taxes on the appreciation

Who should care: If you're sitting on significant capital gains from selling a business or investment property, Opportunity Zones let you defer and potentially eliminate taxes while investing in real estate or businesses in designated areas.

The catch: You need to actually invest in the designated zones, and these are often in areas with higher risk. Do your due diligence on both the tax benefits and the investment fundamentals.

QSBS (Qualified Small Business Stock) Changed

QSBS allows founders and early investors to exclude up to $10 million, or 10x their basis (whichever is greater), in capital gains when selling qualified small business stock.

What changed: The OBBB tightened some qualification requirements and adjusted holding period rules. The core benefit remains, but there's now more scrutiny on what qualifies as a "qualified small business."

Who should care:

• Founders planning to sell their company

• Early employees with significant equity

• Angel investors in C-corporations

• Anyone raising venture capital (structure matters for QSBS eligibility)

Action Item: If you're incorporating a new business or have existing equity, talk to a tax attorney about QSBS planning. Getting the structure right from day one matters because you can't retrofit QSBS eligibility.

QBI (Qualified Business Income) Deduction Made Permanent

This is one of the most straightforward tax benefits for small business owners. If you own a pass-through entity (LLC, S-Corp, partnership, sole proprietorship), you can deduct 20% of your qualified business income.

Think about it like this: If your S-Corp generates $500K in qualified business income, you get a $100K deduction, and you’ll only pay taxes on $400K

Why it matters: If you're not taking advantage of it, you're leaving money on the table. Make sure your business structure allows you to claim it.

No Tax on Tips and Overtime: The Reality vs. The Headline

The way this legislation shook out isn’t exactly how the headlines made it out to be. The OBBB created a new deduction on the overtime premium and qualified tips.

Here’s how it works for overtime: Let’s say you work 10 hours overtime at $20/hour. With time-and-a-half, you earn $300, but only $100 is the "overtime premium" (the extra half) that you can deduct. So in this case, you would see about $20-$30 of tax savings.

Here’s how it works for tips: You will still pay taxes during the year, but when you file, you can take a maximum deduction of $12,500 per year for singles.

Who qualifies?

• Singles: Under $150,000

• Married filing jointly: Under $300,000

The challenge for business owners: This is going to confuse your … employeesThey'll see headlines about "no tax" and expect bigger paychecks. However, that isn’t exactly the reality. You’ll need to:

• Educate your team on how this actually works

• Provide proper documentation for their tax filings

• Consider offering help with year-end reporting

If you have hourly employees who qualify, I would start planning now.

Accelerated Depreciation = The BIGGEST Opportunity For Entrepreneurs 

If you’re pulling in $200K+ and writing fat checks to the IRS, get out your pen and paper, because this one is for you.

How it works: You can expense real estate and equipment purchases up to $2.5M in your first year, instead of spreading the depreciation over 15-30 years.

Think about it like this: Let’s say you make $500k in net income this year and you decide to use $300k of it as a down payment and buy a car wash for $1 million (with financing). Instead of depreciating that over decades, you write off the full million dollars THIS YEAR.

That means your taxable income drops to zero, and you owe NOTHING in federal income tax. That’s not a loophole, it’s the law.

Who this works best for:

• Making $200K+ in active business income

• Have cash flow or access to financing

• Planning to hold assets long-term

• Willing to actively manage real estate

Not ideal for:

• Anyone looking to flip properties quickly

• People without capital or access to financing

• Those who want truly passive investments

Remember this: Of course, I’m not a CPA, so before you go buying car washes willy nilly. I would recommend contacting a tax professional. But I have covered this tax flywheel in a newsletter before, and did a deep dive into the entire process on a recent episode of Nikonomics. Check it out for more info!

Listen Here → Apple / Spotify / YouTube

Businesses You Should Start As A First-Time Entrepreneur.

Over the last week, I have been diving into businesses that are perfect for first-time entrepreneurs to start. Each business is analyzed using my 8-factor scorecard covering everything from startup costs to AI automation potential.

Here's what we've covered so far:

This Week on Nikonomics:

Every week, I dive deep with entrepreneurs who've cracked the code on building real businesses. Here's what you might have missed:

Why Everyone's Sleeping on Google's AI Tools — And How To Use Them

Guest: Elizabeth Knopf

Elizabeth Knopf shows how non-technical founders are building apps, automating workflows, and replacing $500/month SaaS subscriptions… without writing a single line of code. We also discuss:

• How Nano Banana is a visual memory breakthrough

• Real-time debugging with AI Studio Stream

• How to use AI agents as your ops team

Listen Here → Apple / Spotify / YouTube

From Fired Engineer to $50M Robotics Empire (How He Did It)

Guest: Matthew Chang

From autonomous hospital robots with 18-month ROI to winning federal grants against Big Tech, Matthew Chang’s company is redefining American automation. In this episode, we talk about:

• The $200K hospital robot with 18-month ROI

• How to beat Big Tech at its own game

• Managing driverless factories

Listen Here → Apple / Spotify / YouTube

Title: Political Pressure on Entrepreneurs: Should You Take A Stand?

Guests: Chris Munn and Trenton Hughes

Running a small business in 2025 feels like juggling fire. This episode breaks down:

• What the Fed rate cuts mean for you

• Should you take a political stance?

• Why buying and selling businesses just got harder

Listen Here → Apple / Spotify / YouTube

Ask Me Anything

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Nik Hulewsky