Drea Knufken
This is a guest post by Franchise King Joel Libava.
There is a simple and easy way to help your local economy. This easy-to-implement technique can be used right away. You don’t have to have new zoning laws passed, or get approval from your Mayor. It won’t require too much risk. It is not the least bit complicated. Here it is….
Do business locally!
I mean it. The next time you want to order 500 glossy brochures for your small business, go to your local printer, and get it done there. If you have used out of town printers in the past, tell the local print shop owner that you really want to support his or her local business, and ask for competitive pricing. You’ll get it.
Do you need a PC? Do you have to order it online? Do you think there is a local computer store that would benefit from your local business? Even if it is a corporate big box store, the salesperson who resides in your city gets paid, and the store adds revenue to your city via the taxes that they have to pay.
Do you have a fleet of vehicles that you want to add GPS to? There must be someone local who can help.
Do you have a marketing or PR firm? Are they local? Do you think they should be? Find one. {Maybe it is time for a fresh perspective, anyway}
When you are shopping for a car, go to the nearest dealer to your home, last. Give that dealer an opportunity to earn your local business.
Are you starting to get the picture? Maybe my suggestions will require a little more time and maybe even a little more work, but doing business locally helps out everybody around you, in the long run
The internet has made it almost a little too easy to shop around. We get to do all that cool research, and then do some really neat price shopping, half the time on websites that are probably a little risky, anyway. It is fun, and we get a deep sense of satisfaction that we were able to spend all those hours online, and we can tell everybody that cares that we most certainly got the best deal around…Our egos are inflated to capacity. But something is always missing. The thing that is missing is the fact that we didn’t do business with our locally owned and operated businesses. We didn’t even really try. Could that be one of the reasons that our economy is less than stellar?
Please try to buy local. It’s worth the effort.
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Joel Libava is President of Franchise Selection Specialists Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio. Joel is a franchise consultant, franchise industry blogger, and marketer. Check out his award winning blog, The Franchise King Blog for more of his musings
