All Boats Float Together
Whether we rise or fall, we will do it together.
If business is a sea, with the titans of big business commanding powerful cruisers and ships that can confront even rogue waves, small businesses can range from strong vessels all the way down to pieces of drift wood. It can seem almost impossible to continue on when facing the raging storms or jagged rocks, especially when you’re alone. Yet, one of the greatest parts of navigating the sea of business is building or finding your way into a flotilla. Finding other businesses navigating the treacherous sea and joining together to form a mighty fleet. That’s the beauty of small business to me: partnering with others and venturing off together.
If you’ve spent time in our shops you’ve no doubt noticed our array of retail items, from Earnest Eats Oatmeal to Ritual Chocolates. Each of the products is curated by Amanda and chosen because of their ethics, mission and quality. We seek out companies who are choosing to fight the good fight without sacrificing their integrity, without compromising their quality, and without betraying their mission.
The beauty of partnering with companies like this is that as we grow, they too get to benefit from that growth. Increased orders, more people exposed to the product, etc. It’s a symbiotic relationship that affects more people than we can comprehend. From importers to producers to packagers to transportation, every product has been brought to our shelves via an impressively large chain of humans. In the same way we look at the many hands, hearts and minds that bring our coffee from countries like Ethiopia or Colombia all the way into the hopper of our grinder in Texas, we see the immense work, dedication and passion poured into the products we carry.
The Shop Small movement isn’t a new one, and the sentiment existed far before American Express began the official movement in 2010. Small business affects aspects around us that we often overlook. They employ our neighbors, fund our local non-profits, sponsor our children’s sports teams, etc. Even outside of our local small business economy, we can play a part in empowering the national and global small business chain.
Money talks. Overused as that phrase may be, it is a cardinal truth of life. What the mouth speaks, the money either confirms or contradicts. Last week, I briefly touched on finance as a zero-sum game and I hope that principle is something that sits upon your mind always. Every dollar we pour into a small business is powerful. The revenue we produce at a business that was dreamed up, fought for, and sharpened daily has to go somewhere meaningful. It has to be used to uplift other businesses fighting the good fight. We want the harvests we reap to be dispersed into our flotilla. We want all ships to prosper together.
Every large business that exists today was once a small business, a pipe dream that had mountains of opposition against it. When the day comes that we officially graduate from being a small business to a big business, we want to have taken people with us. We want to empower our successors to come and dethrone us decades down the road. We want to create a generational impact with our business that allows people to chase their dreams, to create incredible products and pursue ideas unheard of.
We will continue to dream big, to reach out, to connect where we can, and to work with as many amazing businesses as we possibly can, that we may all conquer these seas together.