I was listening to a podcast recently about the different types of banks you can join. Overall, the episode discussed the pros and cons of joining a national bank vs local bank vs credit union.
In the end, the main point of the episode was to emphasize the importance of keeping your money local. However it’s done, making sure that the money you earn remains in your community is what then helps the community in turn. Also, rates are often lower than those at national banks.
And that’s the takeaway here. Your money can have a more direct impact on your community, which then directly impacts you. It’s a ripple effect!
The Ripple Effect Of Staying Local
To me, that ripple effect is what makes shopping locally exciting. And sure, I’ve heard the buzzwords “shop local” and “small business saturday” as much as the next socially-conscious human in this country, especially in these past few years. But, it’s said over and over again for a reason. Because it works.
Shop Local & The Local Economy
According to the American Independent Business Alliance, up to 48% of money spent at independent businesses stays in the local economy vs just 14% when shopping at a chain retailer. This is money that then fuels other local businesses, organization, and local job creation, and all done immediately and directly.
Shop Local Means Job Creation
According to a press release from the U.S. Small Business Association, small businesses added 1.8 million net new jobs in the United States at that time, employing 43.7% of the private workforce. This is astounding!
Starting a small business, much less maintaining a small business, means needing to hire employees and create jobs, which then directly develops the local community. Not to mention the local community receiving money through local banks through grants and loans, that money going to job creation, and then returning to the local bank. And so the cycle continues!
Small Businesses Giving Back
Okay so hard facts aside, small businesses are some of the first people to tell you the dedication and perseverance it takes to get your business off the ground, and successfully up and running. Which is why small businesses understand the importance of giving back to the community as much as possible, even more so than larger chain businesses.
Look around at the local businesses in your community, and chances are they’re much more involved with community initiatives, non-profits, etc than you think.
Shop Local Means Fueling Dreams
Call me a romantic, but one of my favorite things about shopping locally means I get to help fuel the economies of not just the small business of local boutique shops and coffee shops, but the economies of the artisans who get to have their wares sold at these local shops. Shopping locally puts money directly in the brewers, craft-makers, woodworkers, jewelry-makers, metalsmiths, knitters and needleworkers, florists, and so many other people who work so hard to follow their passions and find a living out of them.
So shop local! This means you are helping someone make a living out of a dream. And to be able to make a living out of a dream, isn’t that a dream come true?
