What is considered a small business?

So- a small business can be defined as a privately owned corporation that has less revenue than a large business. Generally, a small business employs anywhere from 0 – 500 employees. The size standards and revenue requirements, however, aren’t one-size-fits-all. It actually depends on the type of industry. Some small businesses have up to 1,500 employees (which doesn’t seem small at all). 90% of small businesses have under 20 employees, while many small businesses don’t have any employees at all (because there is only an owner going about business all by himself). Some small businesses can have up to $750,000 to $38.8 million in revenue. So, now that we’ve established what comprises a small business, why is it so important to support local small businesses?

Why Is it Important To Support Local Small Businesses?

According to Fundera, “Small businesses are integral to a healthy and thriving economy. Everyone should make an effort to support small businesses in their local communities.”

Here are some of the key reasons to support local small businesses:

Supports your local community. Supporting local small businesses shows you care about the community in which you live. It’s no secret that small businesses unite the community.

Unique Shopping experience. The world is full of many companies that sell similar products and services. It has become increasingly hard to find anything unique any more. By shopping at a local small business, you are more likely to find something special and unique. You are also helping bring character to the commercial world. Many local businesses bring their experiences, skills, and creativity into their products and/or services.

It’s An Act of Respect to the business owners. Small business owners are faced with multiple challenges from the “big guys,” including staffing, marketing, sales, inventory, pricing, etc. Show them your appreciation for what they bring to the community by giving them the business and physically thanking them in person. Another great thing you can do is to give them a positive review on social media. Good online reviews can not only impact other buyers decisions but can also help the business to show up better in search engines. Liking, commenting, or sharing their social media posts are also very helpful. It allows them to reach more potential customers.

Pay cash when possible. In this day and age of credit cards, this may be something you did not think of. Businesses often have a minimum fee that needs to be paid in order to have the ability to accept credit cards. There is also a transaction fee every time a credit card is processed.

Better quality products. It’s no secret that big companies many times are all about the money. And also with a large company, there’s not much leeway, if any, in how products are created or services are rendered. More times than not, a local company will be more interested in the final result, carrying out their passion, or the customer’s satisfaction than just the money. Don’t get me wrong, everyone is in business to make money, but you will probably find a local small business owner to be more passionate about what they do.

Better for the local economy. We all know the job market is tight these days. When you shop or visit local businesses, you may be helping them to stay open. This, in turn, creates more local jobs and allows that particular business to continue satisfying customers and helping the local economy. Supporting a local small business puts money back into the community.

Supporting Dreams. As the saying goes, “When you support a small business you are supporting a dream.” When we shop, we oftentimes neglect to think about who made our products, where they came from, or the story behind them. Most small business owners are passionate about what they do and tend to put a lot of time and effort into their work. Chances are that when you do business with a small company, it will inspire them to create more.

So What Can I Do?

So now that you’ve heard about why it is so important to support local small businesses, you are probably asking yourself what you can do. There are many ways to support local small businesses, ranging from consumer habits to organizing community efforts.  Here’s a great article from Fundera that I came across of 17 ways to support small businesses and why it’s so important. It not only gives you many practical ideas of things that you can do but also reinforces some of the ideas mentioned earlier. The 17 ways are:

• Shop at a small business.
• Participate in “small business Saturday.”
• Skip Black Friday.
• Choose small businesses during the holiday.
• Word of Mouth.
• Create a guide to local small businesses.
• Open an information station for local small businesses.
• Partner with another small business.
• Host an event for small business owners.
• Organize a community event.
• Partner with community organizations.
• Last- minute holiday shopping.
• Encourage family and friends to shop at small businesses.
• Share small business content on social media.
• Leave positive reviews of small businesses online.
• Show your appreciation.
• Launch a kickstarter.

My Plan

So, as the daughter of a former small business owner and a current employee of a small business, I’ve always realized the importance of supporting local small businesses. But after researching and reading so much on the topic, I decided to challenge myself by picking at least 5 ideas from the list that I could do right away. I chose to:

• Shop at and eat at local small businesses (including during the holidays). I usually try to do this anyway, but I will be more cognizant of it.
• Word of Mouth. When someone asks for a referral, I will recommend a local small business. When I have particularly good service somewhere or purchase an exceptional product, I will spread the word. This might be in person or on social media.
• Create a local guide of local small business. I have created an A-Z guide of some of my favorite local small businesses, including links.

View the PDF here:

A-Z Guide of My Favorite Local Small Businesses

• Share small business content on social media. I have decided to feature one small business per day on enCloud9’s Facebook page.
• Leave positive reviews of small businesses online. This is a simple thing to do, as many of us are all online much of the time.
• Show my appreciation. Again, this is a simple thing to do. If you have a good meal, are happy with the product you buy or the service you receive, let the business know as you leave. Most businesses also have a Facebook page or a website where you can send them a private message. 

These are just the ideas I can implement right away. There are a few additional items on the list that I would like to eventually do. Many of these are easy and don’t take much time, but they make a huge difference!

So the next time you’re going to get coffee, groceries, eat out, or get other household items, think about supporting a local small business instead of going to one of the large conglomerates.

How Can We Help?

enCloud9 uses its unique approach to help small and medium-sized businesses to increase efficiency and boost productivity through Microsoft’s powerful range of cloud-based software.

enCloud9 strives to help companies increase their sales, improve their customer service, and achieve better results from their marketing efforts. We help companies make the best of their technology, from networking to ERP solutions and more.  We are one of the most recognized Dynamics 365 partners for longevity and client service.  Contact us today. We’d love to hear from you!

Benefits of Working With enCloud9

Since enCloud9 is a small business themselves, small businesses are near and dear to our heart. We specialize in working with small and medium-sized businesses to increase efficiency and boost productivity. The benefits of working with a small business as opposed to a large one are numerous. Here are some of the benefits you’ll experience in working with enCloud9:

• More Personalized Service. Being a small business our self, we understand many of the challenges you face every day.  We have helped many small businesses, such as yourselves. That gives us an incredible pool of knowledge to draw upon. Although each project is unique, they all have a certain amount of similarities. Click here for some examples of how enCloud9 has implemented Dynamics 365 for small businesses.
• Deep Relationships. Working with a small company, such as us, fosters deep relationships. At enCloud9, we really enjoy the opportunity to form deep relationships with our clients.

• Collaboration. It is much easier to collaborate with team members when you have 5-10 employees than in a company of 8,000 employees. The fact that we are in constant communication with our teammates benefits our customers. They don’t have to spend precious time re-explaining their issue to various service people. We will keep you in the loop for the duration of your project as well as supporting you after the project is complete.

• More individualized service. We understand that the challenges you face and that the issues you have are unique. We really listen to you and we will come up with a solution that works.

Contact the experts at enCloud9 today. We’d love to hear from you!