This is how business should be done. It's not about supporting them. It's about them earning the right to serve someone (through some form of marketing), re-earning the right to do it again (through excellence), and, if they are excellent enough, having those customers tell the others (word of mouth).

We can land achievement after achievement after achievement, but if we make critical mistakes along the way, it can easily sabotage any progress we've earned. In a battle for excellence, mistakes are the x-factor that often determines success or failure.

I think the entire notion of "supporting small businesses" reeks of pity and guilt. I guess I'm not alone, as indicated by the sheer number of texts, DMs, and phone calls I receive about this subject whenever I discuss it publicly. All that being said, I totally understand if this opinion is disorienting to you (especially to fellow small business owners!). We use these phrases so much in our culture that it almost seems benign and universally accepted as a positive thing.

I'm a broken record on this one. We business owners don't deserve anyone's support. Instead, we must earn the right to serve someone, then through delivered excellence, re-earn the right to serve them again. And if we've been excellent enough, they might tell someone else about us. Then repeat.

Gatekeepers are everywhere! Gatekeepers decide if we get an interview. Gatekeepers decide if we are hired. Gatekeepers decide how much we'll make. Gatekeepers decide if we're worthy. Gatekeepers decide if we're deserving. We've all spent our lives dealing with gatekeepers. Heck, some of us ARE gatekeepers! 

What was your first job? As a 15-year-old, I was a laborer at our local small-town golf course, where I would start my day by raking all the sandtraps before the early bird tee times. I was paid $4.25/hour, which was the Illinois minimum wage at the time.

According to the Danny Meyer Principle (I just coined that phrase!), at that moment, a story was going to be told. The restaurant made a mistake and immediately approached a fork in the road. They've lost control of whether a story will be told; it's too late. However, the restaurant gets to be the author of WHAT story will be told. 

When I was a kid, there were only two ways to get a product: 1) Drive to the store and pick it up, or 2) In rare occasions, call the phone number in the printed catalog and have it delivered to your house two weeks later.