Small businesses are the backbone of our great nation. They consistently create about 60% of new jobs in America. Our friends and neighbors own them. They may employ us or people we know.
Small local businesses and their owners donate to our school fundraisers, nonprofit fundraisers, churches and scholarship funds. They collect sales tax that supports our local communities. These business owners are often community leaders, serving on school boards, nonprofit organization boards, or other groups.
And they were hit hard by the Coronavirus shutdown.
We must do what we can to support our small local businesses and help them begin to thrive again.
It may cost more to shop small businesses, but their costs are usually higher than the big national chains. They must charge more to operate sustainably. The trickle-down benefits of shopping locally are often worth a few extra dollars to buy from them.
What we can do
Listed below are 10 ways we can support small businesses. You may already do some of these, but others may not have crossed your mind.
- Buy from local businesses rather than national brands.
- Shop at your local farmer’s market.
- Write a positive review (Yelp or Google for businesses; Etsy for those accounts; Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads for books by local authors).
- Think about your regular services (hair, auto maintenance, flowers, pest control, etc.). If you are using a big national company for this, can you switch to a local provider?
- “Check in” on social media when you use a small business.
- When buying gifts, consider buying a local gift card to support the small business, as well as introduce a new customer to them.
- Refer friends to these businesses! Tell your friends and post on social media (and tag the business) when you have had a great experience with a local business.
- Write a thank you note – if you had great service or have seen a business donate to a local fundraiser, it would be so kind of you (or your kids!) to write a note of thanks.
- Follow small business accounts on social media and share, like and comment on their posts. Interaction with followers can tremendously help a business’s posts be seen by others.
- If you have a specialized skill or are interested in volunteering, ask the business owners you know if they have a need for your services for a limited time (at a discounted rate or for free). For example: graphic design, painting, creating a new logo, landscaping, etc.
Any of these intentional acts to help promote your local businesses will likely be greatly appreciated. Be sure to think about not only brick-and-mortar businesses in your community, but farmers’ markets, online businesses, authors, podcasters, Etsy shop owners, artists, craftsmen, musicians, direct sales, etc. as well.
We can support our local entrepreneurs in many ways that will positively impact and support our community as a whole. Working together, we can recover from this economic shutdown and thrive once again.
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