Saving the economy-3 stores at a time...

As a small business owner who works with brick and mortar small businesses daily which includes everything from galleries, grocery stores, bookstores and everything in between, I hear daily that people have just stopped spending or severely limited their spending. I'm sure there are a variety of reasons which include unemployment, credit, bills etc etc. I also think that another reason is fear. Fear is a very powerful and motivating emotion and the press seems to be thriving on it lately which only compounds the problem.

Anyway, I checked out the post on the

Always Upward:the blog.

~Here is an excerpt from the Always Upward blog,written by Cinda Baxter, founder of the 3/50 Project.
~~

A friend turned me onto a great piece about strengthening the local economy by patronizing local brick and mortars. Written by Rieva Lesonsky (Consulting Editor at BizWomen.com), the post "Support your small local businesses" touched my retail-lovin’ heart in a big way.

(Her article sprang from a customer service-related

experiment last summer.)

In that case, a guy decided to purchase goods and services only from businesses whose owners he’d met. Before long, he was frequenting the same three restaurants repeatedly, which inspired Lesonsky to twist the concept slightly, then consider the implications of her own shopping habits:With more and more small businesses on the edge of survival, I’ve been thinking about which three stores I would most hate to see go out of business, and howI can support them with my dollars.Puts things in pretty clear terms, pretty quickly.And this got my wheels spinning.Why not build a campaign tieing this three-door concept to the

$50 Retail Challenge?
Call it the 3/50 Project, supporting local business in small, easily consumable bites.The goal is simple:

Ask consumers to frequent three local brick and mortar businesses

they don’t want to see disappear,

and to spend a very affordable $50 per month doing it.

Could be those three.

Another three.

Doesn’t matter.

It’s about funneling revenue back into local business.

You know-—the folks that pour money back into the community via commercial property taxes, payroll taxes, sales tax, and salaries (not to mention all that good will by way of volunteer time, silent auctions, sponsored softball teams, workshops, book signings, etc. )

Here is a link to the actual project outline
http://www.the350project.org/home.html
Please spread the message by word of mouth, website or blog. Small businesses and your local economy is the glue that keeps this country moving.

God Bless

So in the name of the economy-get out there and shop!!!