Small Business Saturday is the day after Thanksgiving this year. Started in 2010 by AMEX, it’s a wonderful way for people everywhere to be reminded to support small businesses - whether that business is a local retailer or an online retailer who has an Etsy shop or similar.

This year, especially, I invite all of you who are receiving or reading this post to consider buying one of these charming macrame Christmas ornaments for $18.00 to support Caroline of LinebyLineMacrame, who lives in Asheville and lost her gallery and most of her work in Helene.

I don’t know Caroline, and this post will come as a surprise to her, but it’s one small thing I can do to help an individual who needs support on Small Business Saturday.

Go to her Instagram account here and look for her HIGHLIGHT at the top of her page that says, HELENE, to see what she’s been through and how much she’s helping others in Asheville and surrounding towns.

Here’s Caroline’s Etsy account if you’d like to purchase these Christmas ornaments [ or some of her fabulous macrame earrings! ] for your own home or for a teacher, a service provider or for a friend.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1575938286/macrame-christmas-ornament-macrame?

This is Caroline in her gallery, with her macrame work, before it was destroyed by Helene.

Many WNC artisans/makers are using Threads, which is how I found Caroline. One of her fellow business owners, Katie McDonald, owner of Full Moon Tea Company in Asheville, included her in their own list that she posted on Threads, which you can see below.

If you love tea - or have a friend who does - and who might like some small batch tea as a holiday gift, check out Katie’s site via this blog post she wrote about Thankful Sips Creating A Gratitude Ritual For Thanksgiving.

If you’re an interior designer friend of mine reading this, consider creating a really pretty gift certificate about a service offering you have available that’s not as all encompassing as your full service offering for Small Business Saturday.

Canva has lots of templates for gift certificates. I created the one below as an example for you.

Access all of Canva’s gift certificate templates, here.

If you create a gift certificate, remember to then post it everywhere on your social channels - and consistently between now and Nov. 30th.

You might also want to print it out and do a fun IG video reel, talking about it, and then pin that reel to the top of your Instagram profile.

Don’t forget to include it in your monthly newsletter, too.

People might not buy one, but it’s a great way to gain brand awareness for your service offerings represented on the gift certificate.

Here are some other ways you can support a small business without spending any money - with the most valuable one being to write a positive review or testimonial.

As you all know, my business, Savour Partnership, is also a small business.

If you’d like to support my small business, I’d love for you to reach out to have me help you grow your business through a combination of a smart business strategy for online marketing for lead generation and developing your opportunities for national brand awareness in 2025. I offer those services on a monthly retainer basis.

I also help many designers with various specific questions they have about their websites, Instagram and other social channels, getting published, lead generation, etc. through hourly consulting.

If you have a specific question relating to your digital marketing efforts for lead generation, getting published, your website, etc. and you book your appointment with me between today, Monday, Nov. 11th, 2024 and Dec. 31, 2024 for an hourly consulting session [ usually $500.00 ], before 12.31.2024, you will receive 20% off for Small Business Saturday.

Lastly, if I’ve helped you this year, or in past years, and you’ve been pleased, but have never written a testimonial for me, that would also be a very much appreciated way way for you to help support my small business.

Below are two testimonials I’ve received from interior designer clients I worked with last month, in October 2024. I am so grateful for my clients who wrote these. You know who you are. Thank you!

I hope you will utilize your holiday gift dollars to help Western North Carolina artisan businesses recover, and that your own efforts for your own businesses are very successful in helping you get 2025 off to a great start!

Lastly, please consider sharing this post [ or pinning from it ] with your own friends and networks. To share it, copy and paste the URL from your desktop and share that URL wherever you might want to: in an IG story, in a blog post of your own, on Linked In - anywhere.

Please know how much you are appreciated [especially those of you who are subscribers or my clients, current and past ] and I invite you to connect with me on my social channels below, if we’re not already connected there.

With Gratitude ~

Leslie Carothers
Named One Of The Top 40 Most Inspiring Women In Home
Named To Fixr’s List Of Top Interior Design Experts For 2025
https://www.instagram.com/lesliemcarothers
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliecarothers
https://www.threads.net/lesliemcarothers