A couple of days ago I posted the following. "Do you know what this is called? A pet peeve. It's the kind that makes me crazy, when I see these people who are all about begging others to come and support them....but who NEVER venture out of their comfortable little shop or restaurant to reciprocate. You know why? because they choose to buy online....OR drive an hour to the nearest city to stock up at the big box warehouse!! YES it's true I have seen it happen! Don't be those people. It's skewed and you know it. What goes around comes around and cheating the system just to lure people into your business without any effort on your part to support local....it's just wrong."
And okay, yes, perhaps I sounded a bit as if I was ranting or whining. But I wasn't; I was making the point about feeling ignored or isolated in some ways from the "other people with the message of supporting small businesses". We have been yapping away in support of the little guys and the awesomely amazing mom and pops out there for years! We don't just share slick, polished graphics from the big guys, we often create our own just to send a message to you, or to see if we can spark a conversation or discussion. Since 2012 we have been adamantly encouraging you to see the value in choosing independent businesses, asking for feedback and working to remind folks of upcoming holidays and the zillion and one opportunities to spend locally.
And yes, we've shared graphics from the big guys, and while we were pretty small for a long time we've been super excited to see some more interest in this cause lately. And now do we get noticed? Have other pages followed us, shared our posts or thoughts, engaged in commenting or topics of interest? Ummm....not much.😕 A lot of the sites out there just don't seem to give others the time of day.....unless you live right there and are willing to sign up for their membership. And sometimes we feel like we're the only ones actively posting and being cheerleaders and spokespeople for the small business owner. 😕 Maybe however, the tide is starting to turn; perhaps more people are seeing the value in choosing locally-owned and operated; maybe folks will see what we put out there and decide to share the page and message. It's not a popularity contest and yet, a few months ago I actually noticed that some businesses and organizations we'd tried to tag and share never responded at all - so if you are too big to comment or interact with just a little page like ours - then what about the other little business owners?
What goes around comes around. Communication between all of us; passing on examples and information; working together to share stories of what works, who's stepping up their game, what's new in your segment of retail - all these things seem important to me. If you agree I hope you'll consider giving the page a nudge, or a share, or inviting a friend. Spread the message of "loving your local" shops, community, businesses and people!
Live Local USA | A Voice for the Small Businesses of America
