I returned recently from a 10-day vacation. For me ten days is a good length of time. One day was “get there” day and one day was “go home” day…that left eight days for vacation. That was enough days to have some solitary beach time, some shopping and “do lunch” time and sightseeing. While resting and relaxing I noticed the variety of businesses associated with the tourist industry. I noticed the work that people do.
One of the places I spent some appreciated time was Siesta Key Beach, not far from Sarasota, Florida. Siesta Key is rather famous as it has the purest, whitest, softest, coolest-to-the-feet quartz sand. It is beautiful. The water of the Gulf of Mexico was about 80 degrees the past couple weeks so the hours I spent on this beach were a delight. There is a snack bar, ice cream shack and beach accessories shop at Siesta Key Beach. All were small businesses. I appreciated the work of these people because they helped to make my visit pleasant. Other small businesses that aided the vacationing pleasure of tourists were the fishing boats, para-sailing boats, bicycle rentals and kayak rental businesses.
Today I ran errands before settling down in my studio/office to do some writing and mosaic-ing. While driving around town making my stops I noticed the work that some other people were doing. There is a large lot on one street that is due to be home to an automobile dealership, but for now it is surrounded and the property protected by a fence. I saw a man by a pickup truck with the logo of the fencing company on the side. The man was doing some maintenance on the fence.
At a nearby gas station, a tow truck was loading up a disabled vehicle. I recognized the company name and smiled because this same small business aided my husband and I a few years ago when we had some car trouble. Made me appreciative that there are people who have tow services as their business.
My first errand this morning was to drop my husband off at the shop where he had had some repairs done to his van. This one-man body shop has been in our community for some 30 years and I’m grateful for the skill and care that the owner/mechanic gives to his “patients.”
As I pulled onto my street headed to my driveway with my groceries and sundries, a delivery truck was in the street in front of a neighbor’s house. It was a solo-preneur business, a one man delivery service. All these observations give me the thought that small businesses are the spine, the backbone of commerce.
