What happens when you support a small business
Growing up I don’t think I was super aware of just how many small businesses there are in the US and how important each small business is to our economy.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve seen just how important it is to frequent the local coffee shop, order a gift from a small business, and shop the local boutiques.
This really became apparent to me during our almost seven years of living in Norfolk, VA. I saw how supporting a small business helped the community grow. I also saw just how many people own and run a small business.
As a one-woman-run-shop my business is without a doubt a small business.
My business does not pay our mortgage/rent, it does not buy our groceries, or fill up our cars with gas.
But here is what the income from my business does do: it supports other small businesses and often local small businesses. It helps keep other businesses in business.
There are so many ways another small business gets to stay in business when you place an order for affirmation cards.
The printer I use to print our cards, is a small business right in the USA.
Designers I have collaborated with in the past are small business owners.
Coaching, video production, photography, financial & strategic planning, branding, and web design, all services I have paid for to help grow my business, and I’ve hired fellow small business owners.
I recently received a very kind email from a company asking if I would be interested in discussing having my product printed overseas. The names of companies they said they have worked with in the past made flattered to even see an email from them in my inbox.
But, the more I thought about it the more I realized one of the core values in my business is to be able to help other small businesses here in the US.
Where does your money go when you support a small business like mine?
Like I said earlier, my income doesn’t go to pay for our shelter and food, but it goes to many other things.
Almost every hair appointment I’ve been to in the last two years has been paid for with money earned from my business. My hairstylist in both Norfolk and here in Monterey are basically their own small business.
When I order gifts for family, friends, Ellie, Scott, etc they are often paid for with the income from my business. Sometimes the money goes to big box stores like Target, or lululemon and anthropologie. But, the money also goes to small businesses like Daisy Faye Designs, cards from Pen and Paint, Homesick Candles, Year and Day, and Emily Ley.
When sales come into my shop it allows me to support my friends and their businesses. I am able to buy a photography session for our family, purchase beautycounter products, buy lipsense products, and suppor a myriad friends who are small business owners and sell almost anything you can think of.
There are so many small businesses run by people I don’t know but I love their mission and or their products, ABLE, she reads truth {granted, I have met the founders of both these amazing businesses!}, Timber Fields Market, Made by Mary, Natalie Borton, HorseFeathers Gifts, Get to Workbook and so many more!
Because I am able to pay for a lot “fun” family expenses with my income it also means we can often go to our local restaurants, wineries, and breweries for dinner, happy hour, and brunch.
The goal of my business is to empower women to know and believe they are worthy and enough.
The financial goals of my business are to make enough money to allow my family to do fun “extra” things, take weekend trips, etc AND to be able to support other small businesses.
When I get to hire another fellow small business owner for their services I get to fulfill my business goal and my financial goal. Paying for their services is me telling them they are gifted in their field and their work is worthy of pay AND I am putting my revenue money back into the economy via a small business.
As we continue to navigate this new normal I know we’ll all need Target and places like that, but we’ll also need the 1000s of small businesses in your city, because those businesses are helping other businesses to stay in business.
Those local cafes, restaurants and stores that are going to take a chance and hire your nine-year-old in about 8 years for their first job. Those businesses that are going to say yes to supporting your kid’s soccer team or donate to your school raffle.
Those small businesses are what keep our communities thriving.
