Help Your Neighbour, Help Small Business
The pandemic has made it imperative that you do your part
This is a blog post about empathy and support albeit presented in meandering logic for the purpose of potency.
Let’s play a game of “pretend”. What if, at no risk to you, you were offered a chance to start a business based upon your passion? Let’s pretend you have ample knowledge in the area you select. What business would you open? Come on! Just go there for a minute. Let me prompt you: teas, biking, advice, styling the rich, home furnishing make-overs, computer animation, knitting, children’s toys, coaching Olympic contenders, travel tour guide, tutoring language learners, gardening, beekeeping, riding horses, classic car restoration, antique books, writing curriculum, wine making, designing, painting, jewelry making, welding, home improvement, building space ships, designing board games, historical researcher, professional musician, podcast host… none of these? Keep thinking! There has to be something you love to do that would be an awesome way to make money! To strive for! To live!
What prevents us from turning our passions into vocations? I think it's probably a combination of low risk tolerance, stability-fear and lack of knowledge or connections. Let’s consider each of these.
Risk Tolerance
Starting a business is hard. It might be rewarding in the end, but the leap forward to jump into it is daunting. There are so many unanswered questions one might ponder. What if I fail? What if I succeed? Do I have the capacity to sustain growth? I am passionate about what I am selling, but I know nothing about business, about marketing, about corporate taxes, about being a boss... The more unanswered questions we have, the riskier an endeavour feels.
Stability-fear
I made up this word but I think it’s an accurate descriptor for how entrepreneurs (and their families!) feel starting and sustaining a business. Many give up a stable paycheque to follow this dream and to bet on its lucrative potential. Many seasoned entrepreneurs will recall that they didn’t even take a salary at first, nor did they during tough economic times. Responsibility to others raises the stakes when letting go of stability and taking the risk for something potentially better.
Lack of Knowledge & Connections
Where to start? Who do I need on or by my side? These questions can be overwhelming if new to business. A neophyte Bike Shop entrepreneur might know everything there is to know about cycling but navigating an excel spreadsheet could have a kryptonite-like effect. Experience also teaches timing and rhythm. When is it time to bring on a second employee? An accountant? A marketing consultant? When is it time to upscale? Mistakes in timing have caused some to go bankrupt.
Now, you have imagined what it would be like to acknowledge the risk but still let your passion drive you. There also is nothing more satisfying than setting a mind to something and following it through to completion amidst obstacles that come. Imagine again, living your passion and an outside force says you must stop.
Okay. Enough beating around the bush. Why is a Resilience and Health Blogger writing about small businesses? It is because I am concerned about how small businesses will thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic when and where government restrictions necessitate closure.
I will begin by stating that I am in AWE of how the small businesses in my area have been flag ships of resilience during tough times. At record breaking speed, stores have shifted from relying on in-person customer visits to bolstering opportunities for alternate purchasing such as on-line orders, outdoor pick up and delivery. Websites have been revamped, partitions built, protocols changed, sanitation provided. Some businesses have added to or changed what they sell. I have witnessed the results of creative brainstorming, the likes of which I have never seen before. I love how restaurants like Scaddabush Italian Kitchen & Bar allowed me to purchase grocery supplies by selling their now-surplus ingredients before they expired. It was the only place I could find bread flour at the beginning of the Toronto lockdown!
I fell in love with the most perfect olive oil sold to me by Tutti Matti Restaurant. I am now addicted to my Shampoo that is shipped to me automatically in intervals so I never run out. For a lockdown Mother’s Day, my adult children were able to order and ship me a most gorgeous handcrafted, ethically sourced Toronto-made recycled Gold “Love Lineage Heart Necklace” from Bluboho.
Call me vain, but I love the way lipstick converts me from drab to dazzling. That razzle dazzle is missing behind my mask so I am thrilled that Downtown’s Beautyholic creates the effect with my snazzy seductive eyelash extensions; my sincere eyes now have to replace my smile. I love how there is a large, safe, spacious room that my daughter and I get all to ourselves . The door is locked and I am let into the space by appointment only and after my temperature has been checked.
As a TIFF member, I was really impressed with how the organization managed to pull off the September International Film Festival this year in Covid-19-safe ways including Drive-In screenings at Ontario Place, digital home-viewing options and West Island Open Air Cinema. It was so much fun to watch “The Truffle Hunters” while Tiff arranged to have Oliver & Bonacini deliver a truffle-inspired three course meal to pair with it. I continue to enjoy Tiff at Home programming and find the live interviews with directors, actors and film makers inspiring.
Don’t get me started talking about the romantic, classy patios I have experienced around downtown for outdoor dining! I don’t think I will ever ask to eat inside again! Restaurant patios brought normality back and the efforts local establishments made to tent and ventilate, along with installing heaters and firepits made dining MAGICAL… for the few days they were open. For the few days before the second lockdown was enforced.
Local small businesses need to be congratulated for bucking up and being creative, keeping us safe while remaining open. I suspect there are generous commercial landlords out there that have not been given credit for the concessions they have made to ensure businesses stay afloat. All have become the definition of resilience and free enterprise during the pandemic.
But this second lockdown addresses the question above, “Who do I need by my side?” Sometimes resilience requires support. And that is where WE come in. I believe you and I can make a concerted effort by resolving to purchase from local businesses. This applies wherever you live during these trying times. Even if your region does not have restrictions currently in place, guaranteed, your local small business is struggling through the pandemic. Consider them as you would a neighbour in need. Small businesses employ 70% of all Canadians and are responsible for the majority of employment growth.
Order from them online. Go pick up your supper. Get your butt out there and pick up your pre-ordered Christmas gifts.
That’s resilience and resourcefulness. That’s supporting one another. That’s Christmas.
ADDENDUM
No. I was not hired to endorse any of the following businesses. Nor was I asked. I wrote this all on my own accord because I believe this is important.
I found my stats on small business on the Government of Canada website under Business and Industry.
I would like to give a shout out to some of my favourite local and Canadian establishments including: Toronto Bodyworks, Marben Restaurant, Darren Jansen of We Are We Are Hair Studio, Uncle Tony’s Italian Restaurant, Wheatsheaf, Noce, Hugs & Sarcasm, The Latest Scoop, Mooseknuckles, Greco Fitness, and Kingsway Boxing.
