Sending Smiles ~

It's that time of year again ~ the holiday shopping season has begun and judging by the mall parking lots on Black Friday, it's going to be a busy one. Have you considered where you shop ? If you haven't you should. Here's a few stats to show how you can play an important role in your community by shopping small independently owned businesses!  I know you've heard it before but shopping at locally owned small businesses really can make a difference in your community. You might ask how and this photo below shows the story. Consider a small business like mine. When I need to get something printed, I used my local printer Ed at Document Depot. When I need to get one of my 4 delivery vans fixed, I use a local garage ~ Fowlers in Princeton - Gary is the best! When I buy my yummy chapsticks that we give out to our customers, I use Jim at Browndog Marketing. Each of the business has employees who work for them, so my purchases help keep people employed. So you get the

This week I was lucky enough to be a part of a new program through Princeton University called Boss Lady. On Tuesday the Women's Center paired off female University students with Princeton area CEO's, Business Owners and Heads of Non-Profits. We hosted Crissy, class of 2015 who arrived to the shop, ready to shadow me at 10 am. It is not very often that I get to spend time with fascinating, intelligent young women and Crissy was that and more. Crissy will be graduating with in June with a degree in Biology and has really enjoyed her time at the University. She's currently working on her thesis  in  topic that is way over my head but took time out of her schedule to find out more about my business and what it means to be a Business Leader and Entrepreneur.  Alanna shares a moment with Crissy, with flowers of course Crissy not only spent time with me seeing how I fill my day at the shop but she was able to spend a bit of time helping Alex with a small marketing project,