SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS AND WORDS OF WISDOM

 The pandemic has tested many facets of life and local/small businesses have been impacted immensely. The big box store such as Costco and Walmart will survive through the pandemic because of the vast majority of essential items that they sell. Local/small businesses need our support and undivided attention and helping them out is crucial during the winter months. 

Being a small business that is not deemed essential when lockdowns happen is no easy feat and nor do I think it is very fair to them. Most of them have items that you can buy in a regular store but so many people follow the herd and go to the essential stores for those items because they are more comfortable in going that route. Unless you develop a strong online presence, most smaller businesses will not be as successful during the this unprecedented time. 

What a lot of the general population does not know is that under that small business name, is a person/family that has put a lot of their own personal finances into the company to make it work, working with banks to secure business loans and funding just to make their company run on a daily. Local businesses all have a story within them, they are the backbones of communities and the life line for local residents. 

Transitioning a physical store location to the online technological world is very tough and may seem like a daunting task, but it is easier than you think, you want to make sure your online presence is a reflection of you and your products or services that you are offering. One of the most popular brands is Shopify, whose storefront API lets you build a custom shop. Shopify also performs payment processing and supports major apps such as apple pay and PayPal. On top of all of the great features shopify offers, it has a 90 day free trial option which will even make shipping labels for e-commerce orders simple and credit card payments are also supported as well. 

Shopify has recently added a new way for small businesses to sell their products on Facebook "Shops". Shops is a tool  to help merchants build an online storefront for both Facebook and Instagram. 

Another pair that packs an online punch for small businesses is Square and Weebly. Square, which owns Weebly, makes it pretty simple to integrate payments and build your website on a platform in which each service supports the other, this making it a more streamlined process and it eliminates many of the obstacles that can often occur when considering how to get your business online. 

Supporting a local small business  does not only help them as a whole, but it is also very fulfilling from within yourself. Taking the easy way in life may never lead to great experiences than the path that is less travelled by many, When you follow the herd in life, you never really experience something new while educating yourself in the process. 

I urge you to do one thing and that is to support small business, not to boycott the big box stores but to experience something new and you will be surprised with what you learn about yourself in the process. 


After all, Life Is An Adventure, "Now Go Out And Experience All It Has To Offer"

Continue To Keep Safe Folks!!

Gordon Williamson

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