{"id":62817,"date":"2025-11-27T17:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T17:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/62817\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T17:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T17:18:11","slug":"small-but-mighty-florida-weekly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/62817\/","title":{"rendered":"Small but mighty – Florida Weekly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Teri Hansen, APR, founder, president and chief creative officer at Priority Marketing. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

Small business is big business in Southwest Florida.\n<\/p>\n

Family-owned companies and mom-and-pop businesses are statistically dominant in our region. The latest U.S. Census data show that businesses with fewer than 20 employees comprise 86% of all registered establishments in Collier County, 85% in Lee County and 84% in Charlotte County.\n<\/p>\n

Small businesses are the foundation of our local economy, but their competition isn\u2019t necessarily another mom-and-pop store down the road \u2013 they are competing against big-box retailers and international e-commerce platforms. Small businesses need our support to survive\u2026 and we need them.\n<\/p>\n

Florida is recognized nationally as being pro-business, and Southwest Florida\u2019s political leaders have rolled out the welcome mat for all businesses, from homegrown startups to international companies like Hertz, Chico\u2019s FAS and Gartner. The Horizon Council and Horizon Foundation foster relationships focused on enhancing the region\u2019s long-term prosperity by investing in business.\n<\/p>\n

In April, WalletHub<\/a> ranked Fort Myers as the second-best small city for starting a business in the U.S. Of course, we\u2019ve all seen studies indicating that half of all businesses fail within their first five years. That\u2019s why Small Business Saturday, set for Nov. 29, is the perfect opportunity to show our appreciation for local entrepreneurs and kickstart our holiday shopping by visiting some locally owned restaurants, retail stores and attractions. Not in the mood to fight holiday traffic? Many of these local stores now offer e-commerce options. Don\u2019t feel like waiting for a table? Local restaurants will gladly accept a to-go order. Consider purchasing gift cards from local shops and diners for your loved ones.\n<\/p>\n

Economists say 68 cents of every dollar spent at a local business stays in the community. Spending your money at a small business increases their likelihood of survival, but it also means you are supporting the individuals who work at that business \u2013 your neighbors, your friends and even your family.\n<\/p>\n

Shopping at mega-retailers and online marketplaces is convenient, but shopping at a small business in your own neighborhood is a difference-maker for our community.\n<\/p>\n

About the Author\n<\/p>\n

Teri Hansen, APR, is founder, president and chief creative officer at Priority Marketing. Visit PriorityMarketing.com<\/a> or call 239-267-2638 for more information.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teri Hansen, APR, founder, president and chief creative officer at Priority Marketing. -COURTESY PHOTO Small business is big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-62817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}