Local Matters | Why we do what we do
Local Matters | Why we do what we do
KYML started out as a way to make sense of our new realities. The owner and founder of KYML started questioning the narratives around supply, demand and our local economies in early 2020. When she first started hearing about the closure of small businesses and the increasing concerns that economies were facing hard times her curious mind began asking why. The real experiences of business owners proved this was indeed something that had been occurring.
Now before I get too ahead of myself, there are in fact multiple (too many to list here) reasons why businesses began to close their doors. Among these things were changing consumer trends, limiting or removing in person opportunities and down right fear of stepping outside of the house. Yes, all impacting the bottom-line for every and all types of businesses.
What she found both surprised and excited her. For instance, did you know that according to Statistics Canada (2021), cross-border shopping in the second and third quarters saw an increase of 44% directly to foreign owned companies and at least one quarter of small businesses saw a reduction of 40% sales or more (Labine, 2020). At the same time, a Billionaire Report by UBC and PWC, from April 2020 to July 2020 showed billionaire total wealth reached an all time high of $10.2 trillion USD and saw an average increase of 27.5% (UBC, PWC., n.d.).
To us it seemed pretty clear off the get go that we as a society are just not keeping our money local and in fact, we seem to have habits which take our hard-earned money right out of our communities in exchange for something we might want or maybe we need. So, we found out where the money is going. Why on earth would this excite us…
Knowing what the problem is, helps you create a solution. So another amazing fact, which is no secret, is that business is moving online. Check out the “going digital” blog article next!
Thanks again for checking us out, this blogging thing is pretty neat. We are just loving this Keep Your Money Lokal thing.
Shannon
References
Labine, J. (2020, November 23). Small businesses bearing the brunt of the Covd-19 Pandemic: Statistics Canada. The Edmonton Journal. Retrieved from https://edmontonjournal.com/business/local-business/covid-impacts-on-small-biz
Statistics Canada (2021, February 5). Online shopping during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2020088-eng.htm
UBS and PWC (n.d). Riding the storm: Market turbulence accelerates diverging fortunes. UBS billionaires report 2020 spread. Retrieved on July 18, 2021 from https://www.ubs.com/global/en/global-family-office/reports/billionaires-insights-2020.html