Neighboring Tip of the Week - Support a business in your neighborhood. 

Hello friend! We hope this neighboring tip finds you well.

This week, we’re thinking about how part of neighboring is simply supporting the various assets throughout our neighborhoods. We know that a lot of businesses have experienced hardship in the midst of this pandemic, so this week, we encourage you to support one of your neighborhood businesses.

Before experimenting with this tip, we encourage you to think through four questions:

1. What are medical professionals and government officials recommending and ordering in order to flatten the curve in the area in which I live? These people are looking out for the well-being of our communities, so we are listening to them.

2. What activities do these orders and recommendations make available to me that I am also comfortable with doing? We realize that, due to various reasons, you may want to be a bit more strict with your precautionary coronavirus practices than what medical professionals and government officials are recommending and ordering.

3. What is a neighborhood business I want to support? There are so many awesome businesses in our neighborhoods, and while restaurants and retail often come to mind first, there are others, too. Like, your neighbors might have in-home businesses!

4. How do I want to support said neighborhood business? There are so many ways we can support our neighborhood businesses, and they’re not all financial! Here are a few ways we can do so….

   • Buy goods from them, in person or online.

   • Buy gift cards or gift certificates for them, in person or online.

   • Tell others about them.

   • Promote them on social media.

   • Give them a good review online.

   • Connect them with other businesses or assets in our neighborhoods.

Once you’ve thought about what options are available to you, what options you’re comfortable with, a neighborhood business you want to support, and how you want to support them...go do it! As one final note, if this is possible in the midst of how you are choosing to support one of your neighborhood businesses, we would also suggest asking about the business. Is it family owned? Did the owner have the dream of starting a business like this? Are there other ways they are connected with the community? Questions like this help us learn the stories of our neighborhood businesses, which has so many benefits...Speaking of benefits, if you need more convincing, there are countless benefits to experimenting with this tip!

• It’s just fun!

• It’s good for your neighborhood economy; aside from being in the midst of a global pandemic, neighborhood businesses tend to keep more money in your neighborhood!

• You become more connected with the people at the business and they with you.

• The people at the business will probably feel more rooted in the neighborhood.

• As you learn people's stories, it’s easier to connect them with other things happening in the neighborhood, it’s easier to promote their business (because we, as humans, are compelled by stories), and it helps you continue to foster your own love for your neighborhood!

Happy neighboring!

P.S. This neighboring tip is featured on the most recent episode of our podcast, The Neighbor Next Door! Please tune in on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or any other podcast medium! You can also find the podcast on our website: www.neighboringmovement.org.