Well, hello there… How are you? Busy getting all of your holiday shopping done? Have you even started yet?... No worries, I'm not judging you, I haven't started either! This can be a hectic time of the year. Everyone is scrambling to get their hands on the latest & greatest gifts that big name brands are convincing you that you have to have in order for your friends & family to know just how much you love them. The mall is a nightmare, TV ads are berating you with messages to “spend, spend, spend!” & I don't even wanna know what's going on inside of a Wal-Mart right now. But there is a solution. A way to avoid the chaos; the hustle & bustle that could make an adult want to curl in the corner & cry. There is an alternative to the idea of giving your hard earned dollars to giant corporations who are preying on everyone's biggest fear this time of year…looking bad in front of your family. In case you didn't know, today is Small Business Saturday, & I've got just two words for y'all. BUY. LOCAL. That's it. It's that simple. For real. Local. Is. Better. Before you get started, ask yourself a few questions: Where do you live? Do you know of any stores that offer hand made goods & gifts in your area? Are there any local designers near you? Are you familiar with how to use the Internet to search for Holiday Craft Fairs & Markets? If you can answer these questions, you should have zero problems when looking for quality, unique, hand crafted gifts, made with lots of love! There are so many outlets these days to help connect small businesses with folks who want to support them! The most obvious outlet, is of course, Etsy. Etsy makes it ridiculously easy to find what your looking for, & then some. From jewelry, to clothing, to body care products, to home décor, Etsy is like an endless source of handmade everything! You can even search specifically for shop owners in your area. There are a lot of other online sources for indie makers, like bigcartel.com & shopenvy.com, so you should check those out as well! Another option is to just use Google… Type in “local craft fairs 2015”, or “holiday hand made markets”, or literally anything to that extent. You should quickly be directed to an event happening near you. Does your local coffee shop have a bulletin board? What about your town's newspaper? These are other great places to look for advertisements for Local Craft Markets & Fairs. You can even go on Instagram, search the hash-tag #coloradodesigner (or, you know, whatever state you live in) & I guarantee you, about 1,000 different small designers will flood your feed! Insta is the #1 free way to get small designers’ work out there. I know this, because I use IG as a way to market my own work & it is too legit. Seriously, y'all, it's that easy! And why would you want to shop with small businesses & local designers, you ask? Sure it's trendy, hip, & cool to support small, local business, but can we get some facts up in here?! Here are a few good reasons, according to some research I did today: 1. Local business generates about 70% more economic activity per sq. ft than a big name or chain outlet retailer. So when you spend $100 at a locally owned business, about $68 of that money is going back into your local economy. Compare that to spending $100 at a big name retailer, & having only $45 come back around. Another fun fact, non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses. So cool, right? Local business owners are usually more invested in the future of their community, so you can expect more economic stimulation from a local biz, than you would from a chain store. 2. You can help to make a more positive impact on our environment when you choose to shop local. The U.S. transports & ships over 2.2 trillion tons worth of products annually, from over 150 countries all over the world. This unfathomable amount of shipping & transporting typically results in the use of 1.1 billion tons of fuel being used every year; creating 1 billion metric tons of CO2, & making up at least 50% of the pollution we are dealing with here in the U.S. So instead, choose a local & independent maker! We make huge efforts to cut down on their processing, packaging, & transportation waste. 3. Local, independent makers are more likely to reuse materials. In 2013, a study found that about 60% of indie makers in the U.S. “occasionally or usually” use recycled materials when constructing their products, & about 10% said that they “always” use recycled materials. That. Is. SO RAD! How cool is it that so many artisans are finding ways to re-purpose salvaged materials into beautiful, one of a kind, hand made products? 4. Our local businesses are what make our community our home! The one of a kind shops & restaurants are an integral part of the distinctive character of the places we live. And as much as some folks don't care for tourism in their town, they are unfortunately unaware of just how much tourism helps to stimulate their local economy, as well. Richard Moe, President of the National Historic Preservation Trust, once said, “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” I feel as though those words resonate with a lot of us, whether we are the ones visiting, or the ones living in a place that people love to visit. Maybe you like taking a break from where you live, just to go visit somewhere that isn't any different, & everything is familiar… But from my experience, that ain't what vacation is all about! 5. When you shop with local, independent makers & business owners, you are ultimately helping someone turn their dream into their reality. From the large wholesale orders, to the simple words of encouragement, every little bit of it is like a contribution to the greater good of our society! For the past 4 years, I have been working towards building a life that I can truly say I love to live, & I can honestly say that I remember each & every person who has helped me along the way. Whether it was a stranger, paying me a compliment on a piece of my jewelry I was wearing, or a close friend buying all of their Christmas gifts from me, or the girls who come over & model my jewelry in exchange for champagne & good company, or my mom, calming me down over the phone when I'm in a panic & doubting myself; I remember each & every one of you, because you all played a very important role in the success of my brand. You believed in me. Aside from the money, marketing skills, & other business knowledge, having people around you who want you to be successful, & truly believe in their hearts that you will be – that shit is PRICELESS! Even in those moments when I do not believe in myself, I remember y'all. I remember the things that you say & I remember the purchases you made & I remember the fact that I would not be where I am at this very moment if it wasn't for you. For that, I am eternally grateful, & I will pay my gratitude forward every day, for the rest of my life, in your honor. In my opinion, that is one of the most rewarding aspects of shopping local... Like I said, it's not only trendy, hip, & cool to shop with locally owned business, there are some real benefits, as well! If everyone in the U.S. that is about to celebrate a holiday that involves gift giving, decided to buy at least ONE GIFT - just one teeny weeny little gift - from a local, independent maker, business, or restaurant, this season, the result would be about $8 million being directly returned into our local economies. That's wild!!! Think about what a difference it would make if we were always shopping, eating, & supporting local business all the time, year round!... Feel free to share this blog with everyone you know! Let's keep spreading the word about why shopping local is better for us all. I hope each & every one of you has an awesome time during your holiday shopping adventures this year. I'll be making some updates to the shop over the next week, so for any friends who may not live locally to me, keep checking in on the shop for new jewelry! Til next time, y'all take care of each other. Peace. P.S. Here are some sources for the information in this post, just in case you needed them. www.statisticbrain.com www.epa.gov www.greenstudentu.com www.gsi-net.com www.census.gov