In today’s corporate world, venturing out on your own is hard. We can say the same for small business owners. Pandemic or not, they have their share of struggles.
Thankfully though, in recent years, there has been a growing movement across the world, across industries and niches, that focuses more on local small businesses.
Over 30.7 million small businesses are in the U.S. These small companies help create about 1.5 million jobs per year, accounting for 64 percent of new jobs in the country.
Apart from that, it plays a significant part in the economy as over 90 percent of the total business population in the country is made up of small and medium-sized enterprises.
There are tons of benefits to supporting local small businesses. Here are some of them:
1. Establish Local Communities
Supporting local business means supporting your family, friends, and neighbors. Especially when you live in a small, close-knit community, the people who sell your business are the same people you buy groceries with, play sports with at the local community center, and the people you meet every day down the streets and wave hello at.
Supporting local businesses means contributing to the livelihood of the community. In return, as these small businesses flourish, they are more able to provide high-quality products and services for your needs.
2. Strengthen Local Economy
When you choose to buy products and services from these local small businesses, business owners would see your locality as a desirable place to keep growing the business.
It encourages these business owners to seek more opportunities to serve you much better, like opening up another shop to provide another desirable product or service.
Furthermore, it encourages other business partners to see your community as a desirable place to start a business. With more money going into the local treasury in the form of local business taxes, the more revitalized the neighborhood becomes. As a result, more people would want to relocate to your area for work opportunities.
3. Adds Character to the Locality
Local small businesses with their boutique shops scattered across the town or city could definitely add some character to the locality. Rather than looking like another regular grey office building, these small businesses have their own gimmick in terms of adding visual appeal to entice customers to visit their stores.
Quirky and unique outside architectures to these stores not only help promote products or services but also fosters an exciting vibe, breaking up the monotony of the whole area.
4. Create More Jobs and Opportunities
Admittedly, the job market these days is tight around the world. As you support local businesses, you help people keep their jobs while at the same time helping pave the way to more job positions that could be easily filled by the local workforce.
Aside from that, as small businesses boom, the city or town becomes more of an exciting prospect for other companies to venture into.
A booming local economy helps businesses like those in the manufacturing industry realize some of their goals like making their processes more sophisticated with innovative industrial electric actuators.
5. Foster Genuine Connection Between Employers and Employees
There is certainly a different dynamic between local business owners and their employees as compared to that of big corporate names and their workers. With the former, there is indeed a real connection.
For one, local business owners have a better grasp of the skill sets and experiences of these employees. These local owners know what are the best future goals for them.
On the other side of the coin, employees from the local community are more appreciative of the help the local business owner gives to the community. Since they see and experience firsthand the help the local business gives to the community, they are more inclined to do their best at work.
6. Personalized Customer Service
It is a different feeling when you are shopping at a local store. The employees and even the owner call their customers by their first name, people are friendly, communication is easy, and it simply gives off that warm cozy feeling that your local store is a safe place.
To put it, local small businesses can give off a more personalized customer service because they know their customers in real life indeed. Owners and employees can give better advice about products and services. More than profit, they actually care that you get exactly what you need.
7. Promote Tourism
As local small businesses flourish in your community, offering varied and unique foods, products, and services, more people will be drawn to visiting the area. Tourism will boom, people from neighboring communities and even far-flung places would want to visit your place.
Considering all these reasons, help out your community by helping out your local small businesses.
