Tuesday, December 29, 2009

West Lane News Ed Op

This is an Editorial I was asked to write for the West Lane News shortly before they went out of business this winter.
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Oh, the joys of running a small business! Working harder for yourself than you ever did for anyone else, you find your satisfaction in even the smallest things. Surviving the economic slow down of last winter . . . priceless! In business just as in life, we learned to trim out the fat in our diets and run lean in order to keep our doors open. We cut expenses right and left, scrutinizing every aspect of our operations but especially our labor budget. Trimming the labor budget often meant taking more of the work load on yourself. There is no handyman. There’s you staying late to fix the gate or step or one of the many other things that breakdown in a business. We were also forced to take a hard look at our customers and who we were serving to better focus our limited marketing dollars.

In a former bedroom community like ours so close to a large city like Eugene, most small businesses will have two customer bases they need to reach in order to succeed – the locals and the visitors. We all love the convenience of shopping and dining locally, but what if the local traffic isn’t enough to keep a business’s doors open?

Locals are our bread and butter, the customers we rely on for day to day business. Visitors are the gravy, the little extra that tips the scales to carry us over until next month. We rely on our bread and butter both to frequent our business and to support our everyday needs. As part of a small community, businesses need to support other businesses. We need the mechanic down the road to keep our vehicles running, the local bookkeeper when we have questions beyond the day to day, and a friendly insurance provider down the road to protect our business investment. No one lives in a vacuum here. Still, small businesses struggle to survive on local customers alone. We need the visitors too. This is where tourism comes in and gives the local economy a boost.

The word ‘tourism’ is bandied about in political circles at the county and state level as the new industry for former logging communities. But what does it mean to you and I?

I have found it beneficial to visualize tourism as a rain (very Oregonian, I know). As the rain of tourism begins to fall near one business first, the affect is felt elsewhere as the rain gathers and accumulates on the ground. First we see puddles and then streams of runoff along the side of the road. Rivers rise. Lakes rise. Until we can all see the results of the rain and the higher water levels everywhere around town. As the Fern Ridge Chamber of Commerce motto says, “a rising tide floats all boats.” What this rather poetic example is trying to say is that when even one business is growing and doing well, it benefits us all. Whether the traffic coming through town is because Our Daily Bread is serving a tour group from McMinnville or Stillpoint Farms is hosting a summer concert, we all benefit to some degree. Visitors need gas, a meal, somewhere to shop, somewhere to play and any number of other necessities along the way. Visitors who stay and play in our community are more likely to come again and may even consider staying for good. When the business community is doing well, it’s good for everyone.

Like all growing things, businesses need to be watered and nourished. Do your part and support your local small business by frequenting it. As far as the rest . . . bring on the rain!

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