Your business is our business

Friday, July 13, 2012

By ERIC HAMILTON

Neighbors Editor

I’ve never owned my own business. That’s unless you count that lemonade stand when I was a kid or the freelance writing and PR I do for folks who need it.

So, truly, I’ve never been in a situation where the success or failure of my business dictates if I can put food on the table or a roof over my head. I truly admire entrepreneurs who make the leap into business ownership, hoping for the best. Now in some cases, they have a lot of money already, so it’s not as big a risk. But for others, they start their operation on a wing and prayer and if they fail, they’re left with nothing.

Local business is important to our communities. Not just for taxes and the local economy, but because openings and closings affect the everyday lives of those who live there. If a local drugstore closes, you’ll have to find a new place to get your prescriptions, for example.

As your community newspaper, Neighbors attempts to report news happening in your town. The major focus has been on schools, community groups, local sports and local government. Those are all important to you and I hope you’ll continue to help us expand coverage in those areas.

Neighbors also wants to ramp up its coverage of business news in your town. There are many businesses and employees in your community who are doing great things. We can’t possibly write feature stories and publish photos on every business out there. And it wouldn’t be fair to put the spotlight on only a few, yet expect others to get coverage by paying for an ad.

To this point, our business features have been mostly on those doing something for a charity or a business offering a niche product. We haven’t written many.

So, in an effort to expand our business coverage, Neighbors is trying something new. We’ve started a feature called “News and Names” that will include business briefs, as well as photos from new business ribbon cuttings in your town. It is our hope that through this avenue, we can highlight the people, the awards, the new products, new employees, certifications, etc., that readers may be interested in.

It’s not so much a commercial for your business or a push to write more business features. It is a service to our readers, so they can make decisions on where to shop, eat, buy insurance or spend their hard-earned money.

So, check out Page 7 in this week’s edition to read more about this feature. You’ll also find out how to send us your business news. We hope this will turn into a weekly feature.