It’s late November. Thanksgiving just happened. Christmas is right around the corner. People are cranking up the Christmas tunes in their homes, businesses, and cars, driving to their destinations to work, play, visit loved ones, buy groceries or even Christmas gifts! This year is has been like no other, and for many people this year will be spent much differently than previous Christmases. Money may also be spent differently, too. Many people just don’t have money to spend on what they used, what they want, or what they need to spend it on.
At age 20, 8ish years ago, with the help of family I purchased a building in a nearby community where I live. Soon after, we started to re-modeled it. During that time, I turned 21, graduated from Massage schooling, and then started my business, Helping Hands Therapeutic Massage & Body Work, in June of 2013 doing Massage Therapy. To this day, I still remember parking my vehicle that first day of work, grabbing my stuff, and then shutting the car door. I took a moment and looked at the building. And then, as I stepped onto the front porch, I whispered, “Well, Papa God, this business is yours. I’m in your hands. Lead the way. I trust you. Here we go!” And with that, I didn’t look back.
Today, 7.5 years later, I feel so very blessed to be apart of a community that has many individuals supporting my business. I’ve gotten to meet SO many people in my community, also in communities near and far. I’ve met people from all over the USA, and even over seas! Helping Hands has been blessed having many individuals come through our door to be helped on their health journey. And before we go any further, if you are one of those people, THANK YOU for supporting our business!
This holiday season IS different than others, though, as you know. For many small businesses, this holiday season is hard. Some businesses right now are barely able to keep their doors open. Some have, unfortunately, already closed their doors. Today, and in the days to come, I want to ask you personally to support your local businesses this holiday season. If we want our local businesses to remain open, they need your help to do so. They stay open because of cashflow going through their businesses. Without people coming through their doors, operation OPEN is not possible. To me, that saddens me because I know how hard many of my fellow business owners work to have the business they do. It’s their livelihood, their sweat, tears, pain, and overall hard work. All of that is theirs, but they need their community to help make their business stay OPEN. And that is the reason I’m writing this blog post today. I want to create awareness for ALL people to see just how important our locally owned small businesses are.
Here in Big Stone County, MN, we have 8 small towns with roughly 300 businesses in our county. In the state of Minnesota, over 500,000 businesses are small, locally owned businesses. These small businesses are responsible for over 70% of jobs! This percentage truly depicts just how vitally important having our small businesses is. We THRIVE because of them.
I’m asking you personally this holiday season to shop locally. Sure, I would love to see you at my business, Helping Hands Therapeutic Massage & Body Work, buying a Gift Certificate, Essential Oils, and other health products… but more than anything, I just truly desire that you shop locally in your community. The latter is WHY I wrote this blog post. YOUR community is dependent on YOU to keep YOUR community’s businesses going, and I want to raise awareness to this this year because like I said earlier, many small businesses have been hit really hard this year. It hasn’t been easy for them. So please, take some, or better yet the majority of all your Christmas money and buy locally this year! It will be greatly appreciated!
In the next months time, I ask you to step back and consider what businesses in your community you want to support. Think about the gifts you want to buy and consider where you can buy these gifts. Be intentional in your gift giving this year. Spend your money at your friend’s business. Don’t jump online and utilize Amazon Prime to buy something that your local business carries. Please, in honor of my fellow small business owners and myself included, BUY LOCAL!!!
Christmas only comes once a year. Make this year count. Make your friend, co-worker, or family member smile when they see a Gift Card or Certificate to one of the local businesses they regularly patronize at! See their face light up with a holly, jolly, smile as their gift reveals a delightful surprise! Welcome the joy, relishing that moment, because you know you’ve done a great job of buying them the perfect gift!
Wrapping it up. Well, that could be taken quite literally since it’s the season 😉 LOL! Dry humor there. Anyways, back on subject…
Christmas 2020 is a year like no other. Today, on behalf of all business owners in Big Stone County, in Minnesota, and all over the USA and beyond, we ask you personally, “Will you please buy locally this holiday season? Will you help keep our small businesses running, keeping our doors open?” We need your help. You light up our day as you walk through our open doors, and we are honored to serve you and your loved ones today and always.
Thank you on behalf of all small, locally owned business owners for keeping your business local this holiday season! Have a blessed holiday season! May your holiday season be filled with love, laughter, warmth, and joy.
P.S. Click on the following link to see what LOCAL shopping you can do at Helping Hands! https://youtu.be/7WN_6zrLwl8
Your Life, Your Choice 