New York SBDC Research Network

If you want to do something to help your community, the environment, and yourself, there’s one easy step to take: Patronize your local small businesses. As a small business owner, you can also hire local contractors and use local service providers. Once, Americans put their trust in local companies. We preferred to buy from the shop down the street or hire the contractor who lived in our community. But after decades of incessant marketing by huge corporations, many Americans now trust national brands more than their neighbors. As small businesspeople and entrepreneurs, let’s help reverse that trend. After all, it’s in your own best interest to shop from local stores and patronize local service providers and contractors. It’s a wise choice to buy from local, small businesses. Why? Read more HERE

A blog I read recently led me to an article on the SpecialtyFood.com website. It's called "Striving for Third Place," and, no, it's not an essay that is promoting mediocrity. While the article targets businesses in the food industry, the ideas it puts forth can be implemented in a variety of retail & service stores. The article posits that the "first place" in a person's life is home, while the "second place" is work. The "third place" is that public spot where people gather and interact with such regularity that they become part of the business' very fabric. There are several suggestions here on how entrepreneurs can help establish their businesses as a third place. These are ideas on how to generate repeat customers, but, in a larger sense, these are ways to better integrate the business as part of a larger social structure in a neighborhood. Right after college, when I was adrift in Albany, I found myself routinely visitin