Well it has been such a positive day! Not necessarily in a monetary way, but certainly in an action way, I can feel the wheels a turning and things are happening.
Firstly a huge Thank You to my sharers and likers, once again you are all awesome!
Secondly - My Crowd Funder Application was approved! That's not the end of the hard work, with a video to make and a full pitch that people will buy into I'm sure to be busy! I'm in need of someone good with a camera and editing! I will give full credit if anyone is anyone is willing to help and the video will spread through Crowd Funder and also through YouTube!! :) I'm still loving the 1950's idea, so will be calling on the lovely Limelite business - www.facebook.com/limelite and can't wait to work with them and see what awesome costume will be used! Exciting!
Today I've sent my local MP an e-mail, seeing if I can drum up some more support, (thanks to a very good friend that helped me to write it!) This however leads me on to a topic that is close to my heart for obvious reasons.
"Between 350,000 and 400,000 businesses, or approximately 10 percent of
the total stock, close each year. Most businesses that close are micro or small
firms because these constitute the most numerous and the most vulnerable sector. Thus, many firms that close are not registered for VAT, mainly because
they fall below the turnover threshold (as of April 2001, £54,000 p.a.)"
Source : http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/6405/1/Stokes-D-6405.pdf
The above quote is very relevant to our current economic situation. Businesses are closing all the time, due to a vast range of reasons, but I find it interesting how it states how small and micro firms are at such risk because the turnover isn't high.
With the current global and UK economics as they are it isn't really a surprise that businesses are closing almost quicker than they are opening. The banks and the government aren't exactly switched on into aiding small businesses, and now with steadily rising postage costs its becoming even more difficult for small businesses to make and sell products at competitive prices, whereas the large corporations with massively high turnovers can afford to slash prices causing them to appear more appealing to the consumer.
So what can we do, we know what our products are worth and we want our businesses to survive? We can't always just roll over and put it down to experience.
So first there's the questions all businesses have to ask? Is the Business viable? Is the Product good? Am I pricing the Products accurately and fairly competitively whilst still holding there worth? How well is the Business being marketed? If at that stage your happy with all the answers then it is time to be radical.
We shouldn't be afraid to get media and political attention to help our business survive and in turn this will help other small businesses. We need to encourage everyone to shop local, shop with small businesses where your feeding a family, rather than large corporations where yes they supply lots of jobs but also take a HUGE chunk of profit.
I walk through the high street of the local towns and all I see are shops slowly shutting down, rents need to be lower and customers need to be higher. And ALL small business owners need to be taking this point to local town councils and local MP's - not, may I add in an aggressive angry way, but in a way where as a local community we have to do things to attract locals to buy from the smaller businesses, incentives such as free parking, regular farmers markets, High Street Loyalty schemes. Smaller businesses always thrive from community, so for smaller businesses to start to thrive again, we need to create a community.
As business owners we should all be practised in being creative and thinking out of the box, in doing this we should be able to turn around the fortunes of small businesses.
I don't want to give up and roll over, and I hope that all other small businesses don't either. So together we can all make a difference, and those that don't own a small business can help too, by sharing their favourite small businesses and spreading the word, and by shopping locally and small!
On an entirely different note I'm pleased to say RelaxAhh www.relaxahh.com are completely up to date with orders, so get your orders in!! :) hehe!!
Closing Balance: £466.82
Hi hon.....thrilled that things are starting to move! Have you thought of asking a college student doing media or photography to do the video for you? You'd be helping each other out xx
ReplyDeleteI did yes! But they're all on Easter Holiday! So would be really hard to get hold of?! :/ Going to send out some pleas later and see whether one steps forward!! :) Thanks!! :) xx
ReplyDeleteIs it just the videoing and editing that you're in need of help with?
ReplyDeleteHey Yeah it is!! Problem is time is of the essence so I was hoping I could do it tomorrow! Bit tight time, might be learning how to do a video asap!! haha! :D
Delete