A Letter from Us on Shop Small Saturday November 23, 2016 – Posted in: Photography – Tags: , , , ,

It’s Shop Small Saturday this week, and while most of you will be off enjoying time with family and friends, there will be a large group of Americans who have left their families to assume a position behind the counter at their local shop, restaurant, coffee house, you-name-it. These are the people who wake up at 5 a.m. to beat the first customer to the door, the ones that will stay open late because they know the 6:10 bus is running behind, but Mr. Smith needs his dry cleaning for tomorrow. They are the people who not only understand how important the little things in life are, but that they come with hard work.

So this Saturday, I ask that you take a moment to appreciate the small business owners of this country—especially in the city you call home. Take a walk into town and start your holiday shopping at the local store instead of the mega department store down the road. Take the kids for a hot chocolate at the tiny joint on the corner instead of that Starbucks with the decorated cups. It’s a small gesture, but if we all make an effort, it really pays off.

I grew up the daughter of a small business owner. My father defined work ethic for me. He rose with the sun and worked far beyond 5 p.m. He worked until the work was done. Was it because he wanted to? Sometimes. But mostly it was because he had to. It takes a lot of effort for a small business to succeed. They don’t have a force of thousands, hundreds, or even twenty to get the job done. They are small, but they are mighty.

Another reason I appreciate small business is my ties to Rocky Nook, this small-but-powerful California-based publishing house. Many don’t realize that Rocky Nook consists of only eight full-time employees. Eight hard-working, passionate, hilarious, intelligent employees, I might add!

As the marketing manager at Rocky Nook, I also answer phones at the Rocky Nook office (I like to talk…a lot!). It almost always shocks people when they don’t get an automated system on the other end of the line, and that I or any other member of our little team is willing to drop whatever we’re doing to assist them.

Why do we do this? At Rocky Nook, we value our relationships with customers. We understand that if you’re calling, it’s because there might a problem with one of our books.

Books that we put our hearts and souls into.

Books that we want customers to love as much as we do. So while there are only a few hours in every day, the ones spent making sure the owners of our books are happy are those that count.

We’re passionate here at Rocky Nook. We create books that we would want to read; in fact, most of us do read them all. We support each other, we contribute to the tiny bubble that is the publishing industry, and we support community members like you. So while we don’t have a storefront where you can come visit us, we encourage you to “stop by” in the comments below. Let us know what you think and accept the tremendous thank you we’re sending out for helping to make this company what it is today.

Happy 2016, Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Small Business Saturday.

~ Jessica Tiernan

Here’s a link to find the small businesses in your neighborhood: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/

PS: Enjoy 50% off all paperback books with coupon code: SHOPSMALL at checkout.