Small Business Saturday Is Here
Small businesses are all around us and if we choose to look hard enough and shop wisely this holiday season, small businesses and their enthusiastic owners are easily found. They’re our friends, family and neighbors, and because of their hard work, dedication and expertise, they help to define what makes our local community special.
While small business owners are busy being the single source of energy that makes our daily operations run, throughout the year we don’t receive the opportunity to share with family, friends and our community what it is truly like to do the work that we do. This is why Small Business Saturday is significant within the holiday season, as an opportunity to share our experiences and invite our community to become closer than they were before.
If you ask any small business owner, operating a small business can be one of the most difficult and rewarding paths life could ever offer. Being a small business owner takes courage, financial responsibility and missing out on time with family and friends to follow your dreams.
Behind every small business owner is a team of supportive family, friends and a network of other small businesses who help us carry on in the hard times and celebrate every small step we take to move forward. When you shop small and lend your support, you allow a family owned and operated business, like Events By Artful Decor, Inc., to share their passion, provide for their family, and keep their doors open and the lights on for yet another year.
Not all small businesses look the same, and support can come in many shapes and sizes. Each small purchase, ‘Like’ on social media, online review and question about our business truly matters because when you engage with a small business, you strengthen your community. As any small business owner will tell you, building a small business does not happen overnight, and every small step helps us get to where we want to be.
Small business owners are unfortunately quickly becoming a minority within the wedding and special event industry. While small business owners within our industry will not become extinct anytime soon, we make a difficult and unusual choice within our current time to do things the right way: becoming licensed, bonded and insured and paying our fair share of taxes, insurance, legal, accounting and registration fees, because although it means our services will inevitably be undercut by the hobbyist, we take an enormous amount of pride in offering higher quality product and customer service experience to our clients.
The truth is, not every client will understand the higher cost of what we do and that’s okay, because the ones that recognize the importance of purchasing from a family owned and operated small business already see the value in what we do. We often tell our clients that choosing to purchase our services from a small business is similar to buying an insurance policy because you have our word that we’ll be there for you as a member of our own family.
When you work for yourself, this guarantee means that work truly never ends because there’s always two sides to the coin of running a small business: the side you see as a customer and the side you don’t. In small business there’s no one to fall back on, no one higher up to confide in or help you to solve last minute problems. It’s long nights with 30 minutes of sleep before a 22 hour work day, paying your taxes and employees before paying yourself, balancing the needs of work and family and trying to everywhere at once, being prepared with Plans B and C when your inventory is manufactured in the wrong color, size, lost by the freight liner or stuck in customs, and keeping your promise despite a quadruple price increases for your inventory within a single year because nothing is more important than keeping your word.
The truth is owning a small business is a daily challenge, although ask any small business owner and they wouldn’t have it any other way. It takes a special kind of person to love what we do and the joy in our hard work can be seen in the unique products and services which make our community more diverse, connected and ultimately a better place to live.
With the rise of online shopping, big box stores, and the local hobbyist, they will never be able to provide what makes small businesses in our community special: an experience to bring people together by connecting with our community in a powerful and meaningful way. With your help, we can support our community at the time of the year when it means the most.
The greatest gift of all this holiday season doesn’t have to be a purchase, but rather an opportunity for small business owners to share what they love. While it may not seem obvious, your support can make a real difference in the life of a small business owner and it takes less time than you think.
In the spirit of giving this holiday season, here is our Creative Team's list of 8 things you can do right now to support Events By Artful Decor, Inc. and other small businesses in your community. The best part of all, we promise that each item on our list is completely free and won't take more than five minutes of your time. What do you have to lose?
Like and Follow our business accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Share our Business Facebook Page with your family and friends.
React and Comment on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts.
Share, Regram and Retweet our social media posts.
Write us a Character Reference or Service Review on Google, The Knot and WeddingWire, even if you give us a star rating because you experienced our work years ago.
Read and Like our Blog posts for a behind the scenes look at design process we call "The Design Experience".
Make a plan to stop by when we donate our time and services for charity or are a business vendor at a local professional event.
Tell your friends and family about what we do when they're having an event, no matter how small the guest list or their budget.
We encourage you to shop small with us this Small Business Saturday and throughout the holiday season, in support of the local businesses that make your community thrive. Visit a small business you’ve never been to and don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and ask questions. Get to know the small business owners in your community; you might just learn something along the way that you never knew before.
