We Have a Winner!
Today we picked a winner for our first giveaway: a gift certificate to Talk Of The Town. I have emailed the winner and you can watch the “selection” below. My apologies for the live stream cutting out, my internet must not have been strong enough to handle the stream. I have been working on fixing that this evening.
The first giveaway garnered 152 contestants and 1,088 entries. There was a good turn-out and I appreciate everyone for taking part! My goal with this program is to bring some attention to local businesses and, hopefully, impact their business in a positive light.
In my opinion, we are not doing enough, collectively, right now to “fight” for our local businesses. I think this is because people are simply uneducated on just how thin the margins can be for a local business. Unless something changes, many of our local businesses will not make it through the summer.
Does that seem like a melodramatic overstatement? It is not. Currently, local businesses are not protected from eviction by the CARES act. You may see on TV that the government is funding billions and billions of dollars in stimulus to small businesses. This is a near impossible task to actually execute on, and as a result, many local businesses have not received funding yet. This funding requires on lenders and banks to execute. Many of our banks in the area are local banks as well and, again, resources are limited.
We are about a month into the “stricter” guidelines set-forth by Governor Cooper. In the past month, I have worked with many of these local businesses first hand and personally feel like we are all a bit “paralyzed” right now. Our community is a mix of retired individuals, second home owners, local business owners and service workers or employees of local businesses. In fact, small businesses account for 99.9% of all business.
People are throwing around all kinds of hostile remarks online right now. Many are making bold predictions, expressing opinions and processing this crisis in a multitude of ways. In my opinion, the majority of people are missing the bigger picture. They are missing the “human” element.
We are all one. We are made up of cells and bacteria and a brain and a heart. We are living in the same movie. We just have different story lines, backstories and character roles. I am amazed at how this fact alludes people. If we do not support our local businesses right now, they will not make it. They are us.
How can you support?
People often ask that. In my opinion, it goes beyond money. It starts with attitude and effort. Most hide behind the fact they cannot financially support others and are on a limited budget. Attitude and effort are 100% free but require you to put in the work. You can post positive statements online. You can write positive reviews of places you have enjoyed in the past but never taken the time to let them know. You can share stories of articles, projects and initiatives dedicated to helping us get through this.
I’m not going to save anyone’s business with Brunswick Bulletin. In fact, in all reality, I will barely move the needle. The one thing I will do is show up every day and get a little bit better.
This week I’ve grown tired of the ridiculousness people continue to post and share online. I can’t change that, either. I will continue to work hard to control what I can control (attitude and effort) and have some faith that in the end, it will be okay.
🙂
