Small businesses are independent or privately owned companies. While they might have fewer employees and lesser revenues compared to giant brands and businesses, they do play an equally important role in the economy. In fact, losing them will surely make the world stop. This might sound like a bold claim and, somehow, hypothetical, but this could be true. Small businesses are equally important and we should never let them die. The recent impact of the global pandemic is just proof of how crucial their roles are. During the peak of the coronavirus outbreak, most of these small businesses decided to close their shops and stop their operations due to the worsening case of global inflation or the loss of purchasing power over time.
Because of the low revenue, shop owners do not have enough money to keep the business going. This, unfortunately, also forced them to cut down expenses and also to cut down their workforce. It will either prompt them to fire employees or close the business completely.
Small Businesses Provide Job Opportunities
With that said, small businesses indeed provide job opportunities to people. While these companies only have fewer employees, they still provide opportunities to the neighborhood, allowing these people to have regular income to support their families. Imagine without these small local businesses, the competition in the job market will be tough, limiting the chances of those local folks being hired. Without jobs, people will have no source of income. Without a source of income, people will have no means to obtain all their basic necessities and expenses. These include but are not limited to food, house rents, electricity and water bills, and more.
To make it worst, losing all the small businesses will also have a long-lasting effect on our local economies. Small businesses play an integral part in creating a thriving local business community. It creates a cycle that helps the community to prosper. For instance, if you purchase goods from a local store, that money will be used to pay their workers, who, in return, will also spend that money on another local business. This kind of support system will also help any struggling local businesses to keep them going.
Small Businesses Build Stable Community
Aside from employment opportunities, small businesses also create a direct connection to consumers and the general population. These local businesses are generally more attuned to what products and services most people in their community need. Therefore, they know what products or services they need to offer in order for their business to prosper. In addition to that, small businesses are also more flexible to adapt to any economic changes. When the demand for certain products suddenly shifts, small businesses are the first in line to make necessary adjustments and innovations to make their customers happy, a drastic change that cannot be done easily by larger companies.
Small businesses also create a stable local business community. For instance, a local restaurant can purchase local produce from small farmers and local suppliers. The success of small businesses is also the success of its partner businesses. In addition to that, consumers who support local businesses also support the local government. The higher the revenue that the business receives, the higher the taxes it can generate. Taxes, on the other hand, help create a sustainable and successful local community
because these taxes will be used to improve the infrastructure. These improvements allow the town to thrive and attract more customers to support all the small businesses within the community.
Small Businesses are the backbone of the Economy
Small but terrible! I guess that is how you can perfectly describe small businesses. They might be small but their impact is truly overwhelming. In fact, in the US alone, more than 90% of the population are employers of small businesses. Large companies and corporation also greatly depend on small businesses as most of these local shops also serve as their vendors. Without small businesses, large companies and corporations would not be able to thrive the way they do. It should also be noted that most of the large corporation today comes with humble origin. Most of them started as thriving small businesses.
Overall, if all these small businesses disappear, the economy will definitely fall. If the economy collapses, the banks might also stop operating. The demand will eventually outstrip the supply of food and other necessities. This will also affect the local government and the water and electricity plants might also stop operating. This will definitely create a global panic and some might refer it to as a global “catastrophe.” So yes, small businesses are extremely important and we should not let them die. As consumers, we should show our support to all the local businesses in our neighborhood to keep our local economy in good shape.
Feature Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Secondary Photo by Maranda Vandergriff on Unsplash