Stand Together for Family Business
From your neighborhood barbershop to a homegrown advertising agency, family businesses are found on every street corner – though you may not recognize them.
The US Small Business Administration suggests that nearly 90% of the American businesses are majority owned and/or operated by families and employ 62% of the workforce. While we don’t know how many of those are publicly traded companies, we do know that family businesses come in all shapes and sizes. Micro-businesses like the mom-n-pop restaurant near your house to large global companies such as Ford and Coca-Cola qualify as family-owned businesses under the SBA’s definition.
Personally, I like to think about the small to mid-sized family businesses that I believe are the fabric of our communities and the foundation of our nation’s economy. Small business owners, like me, put in a lot of hours to keep our businesses growing and thriving.
As Small Business Saturday® approaches on November 24, I’m thinking about ways we can support family-owned businesses as part of this initiative. Because small businesses are often family businesses, I think it’s a natural fit.
The first thing we can do is be mindful about where we make our purchases. Our dollar is powerful, and where we choose to spend that dollar makes an absolute impact on our local communities and our economy at large. I’m going to be sure that local, family-owned businesses are on the list of stops for my holiday shopping this year.
The second thing we can do is stand together with family businesses and join the national Small Business Saturday movement. American Express and FedEx Office have stepped up to help us join together with signage for our retail locations and offices. Click here to find out how to get two 11”x17” posters free and proudly display them now through November 24.
If you know of other ways to support local family businesses, please comment so we can share. I hope you will join us in our effort to stand together for family business this holiday season.
– Jane, President of JP Marketing
