How to support Australian small businesses

It's been a very slow time for a lot of small businesses in the last couple of years. I'm involved in a couple of business masterminds, both internationally and here in Australia and it's been quite alarming the number of businesses that are quietly closing shop 😟

While we have been slowly beating most of our monthly targets (which lead to a staggering increase of 70% in sales last year😮), I know this is not the norm and it has been an incredibly tough time for most businesses. This got me thinking about what we could do and what others have done for us that has helped Lahay.

Here's my not very comprehensive list 😉-

• Social media- most of us are on it anyway, so why not like, comment on or share a small business's post. This way, your friends will notice and it gives this business a little more traction. We run FB ads and we've noticed a higher engagement rate when somebody shares this ad because it's been shown to "friends". And this is zero cost to you 😊
• Unsubscribe- now this one may surprise you, considering you're reading a newsletter you are subscribe to! 😃If you are subscribed to a newsletter that you're not interested in, then unsubscribe! Most people don't realise that sending out emails actually costs businesses money. That is, we pay for the amount of email contacts we have. If you're really not interested, then save that business a few dollars by unsubscribing.
• Buy direct- I've mentioned in previous emails that I am a customer of both Natio and Madura Tea. Yes, I could purchase these goods through Myer or Woolworths respectively, but I'm sure more money goes directly to Natio and Madura Tea if I purchase directly from their websites. And with free shipping with both businesses being around $60, I don't need much of an excuse to fill my cart 🤣. The same principle goes for Etsy stores. If you have an Etsy store that you regularly buy from, go to their about page on Etsy and see if there is a link to their website (you'll find it in amongst the social media links etc). Etsy stores pay about 10% fees to Etsy for every sale and this also includes being charged a percentage fee for shipping 🤨. Purchase the same item from their website and they'll pay much less in fees and you'll give them a little nudge in the Google rankings in the process!
• And of course, Farmer's Markets- Plenty of fruit and vegetables, which were not necessarily cheaper than the supermarkets but they always kept fresher🥕🍅🫛

Anyway, I'm off to "support" my local cafe😉Who else is going to eat the yummy cheesecake? 😋

Jocelyn