Small Business Saturday

This week we will celebrate Small Business Saturday.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term- here is what it is:  From Wikipedia:  “Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday held on the Saturday after U.S. Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed on November 27, 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.”

So after the turkey has been digested and you’ve braved the malls and big box stores on Friday, take time to stroll into your mom and pop businesses and spend some of your holiday cash.  Better yet, skip those big box stores and go spend those dollars at a mom and pop store. I’ll bet you will not only find more unique gifts but you might actually help keep that small business owner in business. 

These small businesses are the fabric of our communities.  They help us feel a part of something each time we visit. They get to know our names, what we like and that makes it personal for us.  These people live in our community and are more vested in making our communities more livable.  The only way our small shops are to survive is for us to shop them and keep our dollars local.  It can add up to keeping our small community just that- a community.  

Happy Use Your Common Sense Day!!!

Today is November 4^th Use Your Common Sense Day. Now at first you may think- “Well I always use common sense.” I would venture to say that most of us do not use our common sense ALL the time.  If we did there would be a lot less accidents and visits to the ER each year.   

Things like “I’ll just send this quick text” while driving 70 on the interstate.  Are you using your common sense there? I don’t think so.  Or “I’ll just drive to work even though there is a half a foot of snow and another foot predicted by the end of the day.”  Common sense? I don’t think so there either.

Most of us use common sense sometimes, but I think we don’t take the time to listen to our guts.  Women can be especially guilty of not listening to their gut.  You know what it is and what it feels like but a lot of time you just ignore the feeling.

So today, take time to listen to your gut and follow your common sense- use it, it might just save you that next trip to the ER!

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

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