We've heard it all before, support small, support local, get behind small businesses.
But what is it that makes a small businesses and should we really be supporting them?
I won't leave you hanging too long, the short answer is heckk yes! And as a small business owner myself you'll never find a more biased and partial opinion on the matter, so with all that being said.. onto the very fair, very balanced article.
I think most of us knew the answer was yes coming into it, BUT that question of "should I realllyyyy?" can become a whole lot harder to answer when you're looking at a similar item at a major retailer or grocery store for half the price and all of the convenience.
See thats the thing, we all (mostly) know we should support small and local business but when push comes to shove the lines I our minds can definitely blur.
So here's what happens when you do support small, and hopefully a little extra knowledge helps us all to make more concrete decisions around supporting our local businesses into the future.
Small businesses make up the culture of the neighbourhood
Isn't it interesting that our communities aren't defined by the big retailers and large scale businesses in them. It's the small shop in the back streets, the bakery down the alley and the little boutiquey soap shop down the road.
The culture of the neighbourhood is made up of the unique and diverse local businesses that power it, and that is awesome.
Small businesses are a community
When I think about our little coffee shop I think about the amazing community of people that make it up.
We have people meeting every day from other local businesses, our local paramedics stop in daily, mums groups, running groups, families, cyclists, nurses, working-from-home office workers and pretty much anything else you can think of.
The people that come to Wildlfower are a community within a community, we know these people and they know each other with Wildflower as the commonality they share. We know people that are friends because they met at our cafe and that is so so special.
Small businesses are run by real people
Supporting real life people cannot be emphasised enough, small business aren't run by a board or an unseen CEO, it's just a couple of locals that are chasing their dreams and working their butts off doing it.
Not only are they local people, they are also likely employing even more real local people and giving jobs to people living in or near your community.
You're keeping your money in your local area
In a similar vein the the previous point, where you choose to spend your dollars either works its way back up the corporate chain or stays in your community. When you support small it's going into the pocket of someone who lives in, shops in, get their hair done in, that local area.
How amazing is that, by investing in a local businesses you are actually investing into your own local area.
Small businesses support their local community
As well as BEING the local community, so often small businesses have the opportunity to give back to the needs of their community. Supporting people that support others is essentially (once again) supporting your community.
Wildflower has done some pretty great little fundraisers over the years, check out our Community tab on our Ethics page and you'll see the kinds of things you have supported by supporting Wildflower.
Have an Impact on peoples livelihoods
We are constantly blown away by people coming to our businesses, even after 4 years of business it still feels surreal that people are supporting our little dream here, I can tell you from first hand experience we are SO thankful for it!
With Wildflower Space in particular (our little retail store) we have to take huge risks in things like buying stock of our apparel, our bank accounts do not look good after and they may not for months to come, we are just coming into work every day crossing our fingers and hoping that people still care, keep coming, and keep supporting.
Every single order we have in store or online has such a huge impact on our lives like you wouldn't believe, my wife Ri and I have been known to let out a little cheer to ourselves when an online order comes through while we're eating dinner or going for a walk together.
If you have ever made the decision to support a small business, particularly if it wasn't as convenient or you had to spend a little extra, I can say on behalf of all small business owners a whole hearted thank YOU!
It really does mean so much.
If it's never something you have considered or given much thought to, I would say, if you have the opportunity, have a look around your local area, see what's there and have a think about how you might be able to incorporate those businesses into your life, know that in doing that you'll be changing peoples lives!
Thank You.
