How to show support to your friends’ small business ventures

Presently, we all have at least one friend who owns a small business venture. They might be doing it full-time or part-time, but it’s not unknown that running a small business is a stressful task and compels a huge amount of time and effort. As a friend, all of us want to help our friends as much as we can, but still, we cannot afford to spend our hard-earned money on someone else’s business, even if they’re close friends. The good news is, you can support a friend without even spending a rupee.

Here are tips to support a friend with a small business, even if you may not be a partner in their business:

• Use your social media handles and offer them great exposure.
• Engage with their online presence – Like, comment, share their posts, and use their hashtags on your profile.
• Share their stories on your page and give detailed descriptions of why people should buy from them.
• If you want to support your friend’s business offline, spread the word of mouth. Talk about it with your relatives, other friends, and office colleagues.
• If they’re your friends, don’t expect or ask them for concessions and discounts.
• Offer your help, give them your honest viewpoints, reviews, and feedback.
• If you feel like they should enhance their product or service, don’t hesitate to tell them that.
• Communication is the key! Engage with them through effective communication. Listen to what they have to say. They might have a lot of underlying issues that they want to discuss with you. Offer them advice.
• Be there for them when they reach a milestone. Encourage and congratulate them on every big achievement.

Stick with your friends’ small business through thick and thin and support them in every way possible!