Watch our new BuySC ad by Coal Powered Filmworks!

Our gorgeous, professionally shot and edited BuySC ad/PSA is done! Loving the little "BuySC" flags stuck into the rows of sweets at Tiffany's.

Huge thanks to Wade Sellers of Coal Powered Filmworks for the incredible production quality and highly professional, friendly manner while shooting. And thanks to Be Beep a Top Shop in Forest Acres, Cayce Ace Hardware in Parkland Shopping Center, Tiffany's Bakery on Two Notch, and 2G's Clothing in Five Points for letting us use their shops as locations for the shoot!

Video still at Tiffany's Bakery: Wade Sellers, Coal Powered Filmworks

Did you know that you triple the local impact of each dollar when you shop at a locally owned, independent business? With its action campaigns and its free SC small business directory at BuySC.org, BuySC joins "shop local" movements across America, like Lowcountry Local First, the 3/50 Project, Small Business Saturday, Plaid Friday, and AMIBA's America Unchained. (See more, below.)

Who's behind it? We are! We're the SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit advocacy organization in Columbia, South Carolina. Join us!

Thanks again, Wade! We love it!

On the subject of shopping local, we just received the most recent AMIBA newsletter; it's a great resource! Reposted in part here, for your reading pleasure:

'Tis the Season to Go Local

"Despite the annual Black Friday media frenzy, our annual "America/Canada Unchained" campaign and grassroots counterparts like "Plaid Friday" helped generate buzz around the continent. While some of you have expressed concern over various companies promoting their own "buy local" brands, we simply encourage you to present them as evidence for the growing energy behind the Localization Movement and use them to amplify your message."

"AMIBA board member Stacy Mitchell and BALLE co-founder Laury Hammel teamed up for this Boston Globe commentary, while the Boston-area Concord IBA, Somerville Local First and Cambridge Local First all generated local media attention using the America Unchained or Plaid Friday concept.
The Fayetteville IBA (AR) used "Indie Bingo" to draw attention and customers to member businesses, while the Louisville IBA (KY) is using a Holiday Passport program to entice more patronage of its members. Local First Utah is promoting Take 10/Tell 10/Shift 10 during the holidays."

"The Boulder County (CO) and Flagstaff (AZ) IBAs both held early holiday events with business member expos, food and drink, prizes and more. Debbie Leavitt of FIBA reported event bartenders saying Christmas parties are mostly boring, but they loved the energy and fun at FIBAs event. Don't underestimate the power of a great party to build cohesiveness and attract supporters!"

See the whole newsletter here: http://mim.io/67c28 and "Like" AMIBA on Facebook!

Walmart on steroids

If you, like everyone else, are tired of all the negative political ads, take solace in the fact that they’ll be gone next Wednesday.

But unfortunately, what will stay with us is an outright attack on our democracy. Our “government of the people, by the people and for the people,” thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, might now be better called “government of the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation.”

And by “corporation,” I’m not talking small businesses. I'm talking about giant special interest, multinational companies that brought us these beauties:

Image: NyeGateway.com

• The Gulf oil disaster
• The financial crisis that led to the recession
• Skyrocketing health insurance premiums
• Jobs exported overseas
• Bloated military budgets to fight unnecessary wars

These corporations have been given the green light to spend all the money (actually their customers' money) they want to influence our elections, while not letting the voters know who is paying for the ads—most of which are negative—or being accountable for the truthfulness of the messages.

Total spending -- by candidates, political parties and special interests -- has topped $3.2 billion and is likely to hit $4 billion when reports detailing last-minute donations and spending are tallied, according to a study released Wednesday by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. That would obliterate the record $2.85 billion spent in 2006, the last midterm elections. Read more….

For the small business owner who might think that these giant multinational companies have their best interest at heart, you’ve been suckered into voting against your future.

Think Walmart on steroids.

####

Want to do something about it?

1. Vote this Tuesday, November 2
2. Join us for our next BuySC Micro-Conference, Wed., Nov. 10 (details below)
3. Shop local on Nov. 20, 2010, Happy Hardware Day!

The SC Small Business Chamber presents the next installment of our BuySC Micro-Conference series:

Keith Spiro: 5 Steps to Business Freedom
 

When: November 10th, 2010
Where: 701 Whaley, Olympia Room (2nd floor), 701 Whaley Street, Columbia, SC 29201

Time: 6pm - 8pm

Price: Free for paying SCSBCC members / $5 Basic Members /$10 for non-members.  Click here to register and buy your tickets now. 

Want to save $5? Become a BuySC member at the "free" level and your ticket is half price. Why? Because we're a non-profit, and we want to unite SC's small business community.

Copy this digital poster to use on your Facebook, blog, website, wherever!

Our locally-owned, independent hardware stores need us more than ever. Let's support them!

Wake up call for business owners -- big and small

Very interesting piece by financial columnist James Surowiecki, excerpted from The New Yorker:

ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPH NIEMANN 

(reposted with respect from The New Yorker)

"In the nineteen-eighties, a new kind of chain store came to dominate American shopping: the “category killer.” These stores killed off all competition in a category by stocking a near-endless variety of products at prices that small retailers couldn’t match. Across America, independent stores went out of business, and the suburban landscape became freckled with Toys R Us, CompUSA, and Home Depot superstores. 

But the category killers’ reign turned out to be more fragile than expected. In the past decade, CompUSA and Circuit City have disappeared. Toys R Us has struggled to stay afloat, and Barnes & Noble is in the midst of a boardroom battle prompted by financial woes. And, last month, Blockbuster finally admitted the inevitable and declared Chapter 11."

"The obvious reason for all this is the Internet; Blockbuster’s demise, for one, was inextricably linked to the success of Netflix. But this raises a deeper question: why didn’t the category killers colonize the Web the way they colonized suburbia? That was what pundits expected. Companies like Blockbuster, the argument went, had customer expertise, sophisticated inventory management, and strong brands. And, unlike the new Internet companies, they’d be able to offer customers both e-commerce and physical stores—“clicks and mortar. It seemed like the perfect combination..." (Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/10/18/101018ta_talk_surowiecki#ixzz12Alkr2YC)

While the demise of any business is not good news for a community, this turn of events does raise some good questions for small business owners.

What are *you* doing to prepare your small business for the ongoing technological shifts in the way our culture buys and sells?

Part of our mission here at the nonprofit South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce is to help SC's small business community grow and maximize ROI.



Two simple action items for you:

1. Join our free BuySC online business directory at http://www.buysc.org!

2. Come to our next small business seminar!
 


BuySC Micro-Conference: 
5 Steps To Business Freedom with Keith Spiro

Wednesday, November 10
6:00pm - 8:00pm

Olympia Room, Second Floor of the 701 Whaley Building

701 Whaley Street

Columbia, SC, 29201

Price: Free for paying SCSBCC members / $5 Basic Members (free membership) /$10 for non-members. 

Become a member for free, and save $5!

Refreshments and hors d'oeuvres for the reception will be provided courtesy of our event sponsor: 

Mac's On Main!

Please register at www.buysc.eventbrite.com

 

To learn more about SCSBCC membership, please go to http://www.scsbc.org/membership

About the Lecture:

Why do 90% of businesses fail within the first 10 years?

* 78% lack a solid business plan
* 73% are being overly optimistic about sales
* 77% are not pricing their products or services properly
* 70% don't recognize or ignore their weaknesses and don't seek help

Turn those threats to your company into business freedom. Come learn concrete practical ways to steer clear and head toward freedom in your business.

About the SCSBCC:

The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit advocacy organization representing the general interests of small business.

For more information please go to www.scsbc.org, www.buysc.org or contact Stephanie Lombardo, Membership Coordinator at 803-252-5733 / Stephanie@scsbc.org