By Vaishnavi Kumar
Small Businesses are here to stay. Due to the ongoing pandemic, small businesses have emerged into the spotlight. People have started operating businesses on a small scale. Survival has become difficult as situations are uncertain. One moment everything seems to be falling in place and seconds later, a new variant of the coronavirus has entered the market. Nobody has a secured and fixed salary in today’s times – from people earning daily to even those with a high-level job. You never know whose job can be lost. Even well-settled businesses are at a risk.
In such a situation, small businesses find it hard to survive. Since it’s a new venture, people are suspicious about the quality and service and we don’t blame the consumers for that. It is a natural human tendency to continue doing things one is familiar with instead of trying out new things. The same applies when we shop or seek services. We tend to rely on our go-to brands instead of small businesses.
Most of the time, small businesses do have a better or equivalent quality when compared to branded products. We won’t know until we give it a try. Explore new options, try them out, and decide for yourself.
Here are 4 ways you can support a small business:
Shop local as much as possible – The first step to support small businesses is to start shopping locally. Many street vendors and people run businesses from their homes. Instead of ordering things online or travelling long distances to buy products, buy them from local vendors. This way you can save up and encourage small enterprises.
Recommend – When you are satisfied and happy with the services of a small business, make it a point to recommend them to your friends and family. If they are on social media, give them a shoutout with a positive and attractive review. It might take you only a few minutes to do this but for them, you provide engagement.
Don’t ask for discounts – When you shop with local vendors, do not ask for discounts. We don’t ask for discounts at malls. Bargaining comes to us naturally, but try not to do it when you shop from a small business. They do keep a low margin as compared to other big brands. Therefore, pay the amount they quote and support their business.
Be a helping hand – Help small businesses in various ways. You may have tips to improve their business, do share with them. If they are inexperienced and require assistance such as making use of technology, then lend your support. Explore if they need resources or it may be something as simple as not having an appropriate place to showcase their products/services and you have it, provide them with the space.
A famous quote says, “When you support a small business, you support a dream”. Supporting someone to see them fulfil their dreams is one of the kindest things one can do. You get countless blessings from the people who achieved their dreams because of your little contributions.
We hope this encourages you to support small businesses and if you are doing it, we’re proud of you!
Let us know in the comments below how you support small businesses.
Here is a post on more ways to support a small business by Vogue Magazine.
Want to start your side hustle? Or already have one and want to build on it? See this post here.