I want to make  you aware of a groundswell movement called the 3/50 Project. The idea germinated from a blog post by Rieva Lesonsky, which  discussed supporting local businesses to strengthen the local community. It's a simple idea: encourage people to frequent three local brick-and-mortar businesses that they want to remain in the community, and spent an affordable $50 per month doing so. By doing this they are funneling revenue back into local business and back into the community via taxes and salaries.

The whole idea is to encourage individuals to take a look around their own local community and find the small, individually owned and operated businesses that they value and that contribute to the character -- and tax base -- of the community and support their efforts by doing business with them. The 3/50 Project is an idea spreading among retailers to raise the awareness of their customers and get them on board by asking them to support the effort among all the small businesses -- not just the gift retailer. It is a way of supporting the efforts of small business to survive and prosper against the mass homogenization of retail by big boxes and chains. It is the local businesses of friends and neighbors that give a community its individual character.

Businesses can emphasize "buying local" in all of their store's marketing outreach to keep dollars in the community: One business owner said: "There are about eight stores in our little retail village and a couple of restaurants, but we’ve started campaigning and really stressing in our newspaper ads and flyers or email blogs, about the sales tax that we are collecting going into our local neighborhood…buying local. The money that is going to big box retailers appears to be going outside of that state. We’re concentrating on local stuff. And if you keep the two or three people working in that store, who will go to the grocery store and shop for groceries and will go next Friday to the local restaurant, we all begin to prosper off of that."

If we all want protect our businesses and keep them prospering into the future, the onus is on all of us as consumers and business people to do our part and support our small independent retail businesses – not just gift retailers, but the dry cleaner, the restaurant, the bakery, the green grocer, etc. Although we are an online business, HWO seeks, as a small business to support other small businesses. The 3/50 Project is just trying to support the entrepreneurial way of life and business and we applaud them. For more information, visit The 3/50 Project.

By Kate LaFrance

As the Publisher of Hartford Woman Online Kate is passionate about bridging the gap between the work-from-home and the office dwelling career woman in the Greater Hartford Area. She is open to new ideas and new friends from all of the towns and neighborhoods throughout CT.

Kate has 20 years of newspaper industry experience behind her doing everything but run the press! She's sold ads, designed ads, created ads, written editorial, taken photos, run departments, run managers and more. In the past 10 years, Kate has concentrated on becoming a marketing maven, Virtual Assistant business owner, internet marketing strategist and, now, online publisher.

If you'd like to get Kate and Hartford Woman Online behind your CT cause or business, send her an email and let her know - she will consider all offers that help women.

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