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Jim Magay |
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It’s how we should be feeling. Daylight savings time,
Vision Expo over, Spring springing out all over, snow drifts receding, and the birds singing in the morning.
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Time to rake the yard, spread wood chips, prune back the bushes and trees. Time to turn on the pump in the fish pond and keep an eye out for blue herons (who like to turn my fish into sushi).
At the office, major spring cleaning efforts should be underway. Washing windows, cleaning displays, artistically laying all the new stuff from Vision Expo, not to mention working on promotional plans for the rest of the year.
Locally, in your town, what are you doing to promote your community, your city, your neighborhood, not to mention – your business?
You can join your local Chamber of Commerce, (most active chamber’s have great networking opportunities), or BNI (Business Networking International), which is a great way to link up with like minded businesses in your community. A weekly meeting with your group keeps your message fresh in the minds of people who will help you promote your business while you do the same for them.
If you are lucky, your town will have a “Local First” chapter active. This is a great organization whose raison d’etre is to switch 10 to 15% of a community’s shopping from the big box stores to local merchants.
Why shop at a locally owned business first? Because far more of the money spent at local businesses is reinvested in your community. This helps other local businesses, which creates greater diversity and helps the community maintain its unique appeal. Shopping local is environmentally friendly too, it creates less traffic and pollution.
The organizers behind Local First chapters is The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), North America's fastest growing network of socially responsible businesses, comprised of over 80 community networks with over 21,000 independent business members across the U.S. and Canada.
“Over its seven-year history, BALLE has grown to include over 60 local business networks encompassing more than 20,000 entrepreneurs in the US and Canada."
“The deep issue is democracy,” says David Korten, author of The Great Turning and When Corporations Rule the World. “Do we really believe that power should be rooted in people and community – decentralized – or should it be centralized either in government or in large corporations?"
(From Balle’s Mission
statement.)
We have been members of the Worcester chapter of Local First for several years now and fully believe in its principles. We make a point to use the WLF logo in our promotional efforts. We attend many of their networking/social functions, and we try to shop at local merchants more than the recommended 10 to 15% ratio.
So, use that extra springtime energy (and not just for golf), join in with your community, boost it and boost yourself at the same time!
Jim “breathing deeply” Magay
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