small moves

Shop small 11/26

I am not much into politics but I know  a trend  when I see one, here are some facts:

Small box facts

“Small business is the engine that drives the US economy,” organizers say.

Small firms:

• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms

• Employ about half of all private sector employees

• Pay 43 percent of total U.S. private payroll

• Have generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years • Create more than 50 percent of nonfarm private gross domestic product

Source: Small Business Administration (2007)

• Home values in 27 studied neighborhoods with thriving independent businesses outperformed their broader markets by four percent per year and 50 percent cumulatively over the past 14 years. These “indie hotspots” were found to support an average of more than 1,800 jobs at independent retailers, restaurants and bars.

• Independently owned small retailers account for 11 percent less of total retail sales than they did 20 years ago (from 57 percent in 1990 down to 46 percent in 2009).

• Independent bars and restaurants fared slightly better, but still lost seven percent of total sales (from 71 percent in 1990 to 64 percent in 2009).

Source: The American Express OPEN Independent Retail Index (October 2011)

• 93 percent of US consumers believe it’s important to support the local small businesses that they value in their community

• 87 percent believe that small businesses are a critical element of the overall U.S. economic health

• 89 percent agree that locally-owned, independent businesses contribute positively through taxes and jobs

• 73 percent consciously shop at small businesses in their community because they do not want them to go away.

Source: The American Express OPEN Small Business Saturday Consumer Pulse (July 2011)

Drawing the line

Sometimes its comforting to know where you stand in a situation you know where to draw that emotional line. The key is finding the reason why you want to go forward with certain terms of endearment at all. My mother said we have been doing this for years . Learn, grow, and never stop!

It’s funny how it is easy to be nice and how much work it takes to be mean.