Salvador Melendez 5/16/23 Salvador Melendez 5/16/23

I Asked AI (ChatGPT) Why it is Important to Support Local Business and There is a Clear Benefit

It's important to consider the broader value and impact of your purchasing decisions beyond the initial cost.

We have all heard the importance of supporting local. But why? I’ve heard many reasons, and I understand most of them. So I decided to ask AI (Artificial Intelligence) to see if it could me understand, or at least explain in a different way. Here’s what I asked?

What is considered a local business?
Why is it important to support local business?
Why is it important to support local even when it may be more expensive?

We are Omni-Versal and if you’ve ever heard or said, “I didn’t know we had this in El Paso!” You’re in the right place. We want to shine some light on El Paso’s unique businesses, artists, and events. We are a secret dimension for El Paso’s best kept secrets!

In El Paso we value price. Many times we pick our businesses based on how it fits our budget. We have many local businesses, and chain businesses. Many times the local business will have a higher price tag, but we may be buying more than what is on our receipt.

What is considered a local business?

A local business typically refers to a small-scale enterprise that operates within a specific geographic area, such as a neighborhood, town, or city. While there is no universally defined size or scope for a local business, they are generally independently owned and operated, as opposed to being part of a large national or multinational chain.

So we have laid the groundwork and established what a local business is. Here’s a little more:

Key characteristics of a local business include:

Ownership: Local businesses are typically owned by individuals or families residing in the local community. The owners are often directly involved in the day-to-day operations and decision-making processes.
Location: Local businesses have a physical presence within the community they serve. This can include storefronts, offices, workshops, or other brick-and-mortar establishments.
Community focus: Local businesses primarily cater to the needs and preferences of the local community. They often tailor their products, services, and marketing strategies to the specific demographics, culture, and demands of the area.
Size and scale: Local businesses tend to be smaller in scale compared to large corporations or chain stores. They may have a limited number of employees and operate on a smaller budget.
Supply chain: Local businesses may prioritize sourcing their products or services from local suppliers, manufacturers, or producers, supporting other businesses within the community.
Community engagement: Local businesses often actively participate in community events, support local initiatives, and build relationships with residents and organizations. They play a role in fostering a sense of community and contributing to local development.

It's important to note that the definition of a local business can vary depending on the context and specific region. Some communities or organizations may have their own criteria or definitions for what constitutes a local business.

Local business owners, would you agree with the above? There are some really interesting points.

Why is it Important to support local business?

Supporting local businesses is crucial for several reasons:

Economic growth: Local businesses are the backbone of the community's economy. When you support them, you contribute to local job creation and economic growth. This, in turn, helps to build a strong and resilient local economy.
Unique character and diversity: Local businesses often offer unique products, services, and experiences that reflect the local culture and character of the community. They contribute to the diversity and vibrancy of the area, creating a sense of place that distinguishes it from generic chain stores.
Community development: Local businesses are more likely to invest in the community. They tend to source their goods and services locally, which supports other local businesses, suppliers, and farmers. Additionally, local business owners are often involved in community initiatives, sponsorships, and events, fostering a sense of community cohesion and development.
Environmental impact: Supporting local businesses can have positive environmental effects. They generally have shorter supply chains, reducing transportation-related carbon emissions. Local businesses are more likely to use sustainable practices, source locally produced goods, and contribute to the preservation of the local environment.
Personalized service and expertise: Local businesses often prioritize providing exceptional customer service. They take the time to understand the unique needs of their customers and offer personalized recommendations and assistance. Local business owners are typically experts in their field and can offer specialized knowledge and expertise.
Job creation and employment opportunities: Local businesses are significant employers in the community. By supporting them, you help create and sustain jobs, providing employment opportunities for local residents. This improves the overall economic well-being of the community.
Stronger social connections: Local businesses are often gathering places where people can connect and build relationships. They foster a sense of belonging and community pride by providing spaces for social interactions and creating opportunities for people to come together.
Fiscal responsibility: When you support local businesses, a larger portion of your money stays within the community. Local businesses pay taxes that contribute to local infrastructure, public services, and community development. By supporting them, you indirectly support the overall well-being of the community.

This is what is not on your receipt. You are indirectly contributing to better infrastructure, public services, and community development!!

Why is it important to support local even when it may be more expensive?

From a strictly financial perspective, visiting a local business over a chain business, even if the local business is more expensive, can still be beneficial for the following reasons:

Economic Impact: Supporting local businesses helps to stimulate the local economy. When you spend money at a local business, a larger portion of that money stays within the community. The local business owner is more likely to spend their earnings locally, supporting other local businesses, suppliers, and service providers. This circulation of money within the community helps to create jobs, generate tax revenue, and foster economic growth, ultimately benefiting the entire community.
Unique Products and Services: Local businesses often offer unique and specialized products or services that may not be available at chain businesses. While these products or services might come with a slightly higher price tag, they can offer better quality, craftsmanship, or customization. By opting for local businesses, you have the opportunity to access and support these unique offerings, enhancing your overall consumer experience.
Personalized Customer Service: Local businesses often provide more personalized customer service compared to chain businesses. Local business owners and their staff tend to have a deep understanding of their products or services and can offer tailored recommendations and assistance. This personalized attention and expertise can result in a better customer experience and more satisfactory purchases.
Enhanced Community Character: Local businesses contribute to the unique character and identity of a community. They often reflect the local culture, history, and preferences. By supporting local businesses, you help preserve the diversity and distinctiveness of your community, making it a more vibrant and appealing place to live or visit. This, in turn, can have positive effects on property values and overall community desirability.
Environmental Considerations: Local businesses often have shorter supply chains and may be more likely to source products locally, reducing the carbon footprint associated with transportation. Additionally, local businesses are often more inclined to adopt sustainable practices or support environmentally friendly initiatives. By supporting them, you indirectly contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious local economy.

While the immediate financial cost may be higher when choosing a local business, the long-term benefits to the community, local economy, and overall consumer experience can outweigh the price difference.

“It’s important to consider the broader value and impact of your purchasing decisions beyond the initial cost.”

— Chat GPT

Final thoughts

The second and third question resulted in very similar answers. But it stayed consistent and truthful. Here are some takeaways:

Local businesses do cater to locals. For example, in El Paso, green chile, or mazapan flavors. This would not be available in the midwest. Why would it be?
If we support each other from business to business, and consumer to business, we can create an ecosystem where we can be self-sustaining. We keep all the revenue within our community instead of sending it out to corporate headquarters!
There is greater value in what you are INDIRECTLY paying for. $80 to a chain vs $100 to a local business. Chain - $20 stays, $60 leaves the community. Local $80 stays, $20 leaves the community. It is what you are paying for that is not on your receipt!

The flip side of this is how much we accept AI. I don’t think this said anything controversial that may not be accurate or terribly misinterpreted. Either way it was an interesting experience to ask these questions to an AI platform and experience the responses it gave to my questions.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. As a business owner. Consumer. Did this change your perspective in any way? Free yourself from the chains! ⛓️

Here’s a good place to start. We have some local businesses that offering you discounts and are waiting for you to become their regular.

Local Businesses

Tiara Del Sol

Cereal Killers

The Dripping Cauldron

Doc's Unique Collectibles

J&M Creations of El Paso

The Hen House

Weirdoughs Bakery

Salvador Melendez

Creator for Omni-Versal

Salvador Melendez 5/12/22 Salvador Melendez 5/12/22

El Paso Comic Con 2022. Pros and Cons and how we can continue to have other great events!

What was a pleasant surprise was the talent of local artists. I’m not surprised at the talent, but it was cool to see them all in one place back-to-back from one booth to the next.

Experience El Paso Comic Con 2022

It has been a while since we attended El Paso Comic Con. Maybe since 2016. We figured it was about to time we check it out again. It was no disappointment.

Summary

Comic Conventions are for all things geeky and nerdy and fun.
Great guests, including William Shatner.
Extremely talented local & regional artists.
Non-regional artist companies.
El Paso’s communication struggles.
Artists contact info

What is a comic convention?

If you don’t know what a comic convention is… it is pretty much a convention for a bunch of geeky and nerdy fun things. It’s not just about comic books and super heroes. It can range from pretty much anything that gets a really hyped up fanbase. Movies such as Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, Disney (including Marvel and Star Wars), and TV shows such as anime, The Office, Breaking Bad, etc. Across all genres. If there was a show that has very recognizable characters that may inspire you to dress up, you may find it at a comic con.

Pros: Great guests and local/regional artists.

Fun stuff of this magnitude is hard to come by for El Paso. They had great guests. William Shatner (Star Trek) and Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad & The Mandalorian) to name a few. Of course to meet them comes at additional costs. I imagine putting an event like this is hard work.

But what was a pleasant surprise was the talent of local artists. I’m not surprised at the talent, but it was cool to see them all in one place back-to-back from one booth to the next. The art is not just pretty pictures. They are very skilled drawings and paintings, but they have a lot of meaning.

Chuco Chamuco

One in particular that stands out is Chuco Chamuco. He can take a lot of familiar characters and places and turn them into representations of many things to tell a new, yet familiar story.

Bloonmac

Bloonmac is another one that does something similar, taking popular characters and placing them with local landmarks. They also have some original characters, and also offer social painting classes. Check out their contact info for more information.

Louie Diaz - Black Blood Artistry

One of our other favorites is Louie Diaz, Black Blood Artistry. He is an incredibly talented artist that specializes in photo-realism. It is unreal how real it looks… if that makes any sense. He can be frequently found at Kaleidoscope Art Market. Louie was also one of our featured Versal Artists. You can check it out here.

There were also some very talented semi-local/regional artists, from Austin and New Mexico, and even California. We heard a lot of compliments on the turn out, and the people from El Paso which is always good to hear.

There were also some non-local, artist companies. Much better resources, set-up, and mass production. It is good to have a diverse selection, but it does tend to take away a little bit from the “El Paso” Comic Con. I have mixed feelings about this. There was some really great stuff there too, but I dislike that it can take away from the local artists. Most artists, especially getting into it as a business, understand what they’re getting themselves into. Competition and resources, etc. I assume the sign-up is open to everybody and it is the local artists job to sign-up and sell along with the other art companies. In the end, we definitely had a stronger connection to the local artists because they are catering to us. they know what we like and how to put their artistic touch to still make it theirs. (I have attached contact info to most of the artists we encountered below)

Cons: El Paso’s communication struggles…

Like we have mentioned, this was a really fun event and I recommend going to it if you have the faintest interest. However, our city struggles with communication. From freeway lanes being closed and not being notified until it is too late. Finding out an event sounds fun to attend, then finding out it already happened. O dimply displaying signs to get a simple message across.

Allowances into the venue - I have a DSLR camera, aka a “fancy” camera with removable lens. It was not allowed into the venue, but the last time we came it was not an issue. Allowing the camera in or not is not the issue. Policies change, I understand that. But there were no signs.
Meet & greet section - We were vlogging the event. (Video link above). I understand if we are not allowed to film in a certain area, but we were confronted by security to delete a video I caught of Giancarlo Esposito. I am not upset about this. I understand if it is a stipulation the guest had or the event…BUT this is the first I hear about it. It was little surprising to be approached somewhat aggressively about filming. Luckily, the security guard was understanding. I explained that I did not know, I had not seen any signs or warnings. We complied and got rid of it. No harm no foul. On another occasion, a similar thing happened to somebody else. A different security guard was loudly informing that there is no video allowed in this section. The person, to us appeared to be complying, but the security guard continued to reiterate that the was no video in this section. To me… this is what can escalate situations. It feels like when your mom would nag at you about something you are already doing. “Ok mom ig et it!” 😜. So I think a simple sign could solve some problems I understand also here in El Paso we also have another tendency to think, “That sign doesn’t apply to me.” 😑. But I think a sign could do more good than harm.
Getting the word out - We bumped into an old colleague at the event, and said he had just found out it was going to be that weekend. Luckily we knew from a little longer ago that the event was occurring. But it happens countless times, that I see something about an event, and it either already happened, or it is happening as I’m discovering it. I honestly don’t know where the communication breakdown happens, but it happens quite frequently in our city. Our people sometimes complain that there isn’t anything to do. I disagree. I just think that nobody knows what is happening. They don’t know there options. Maybe using a common hashtag. Especially for local events. #supportelpaso #supportelpasobusinesses #elpasoevents or create a new one that we ALL use. Consensus.

The pros clearly outweigh the cons. But the cons still need to be addressed because it is a common issue at other El Paso events. We would like for El Paso to continue having great events like this with as few hiccups as possible, so here are a few things that can help:

Signs

Directing to parking for the event
Parking signs for cash/card/which floors or areas of parking facility.
Allowances into the venue
Areas of the event guests can access

Promotion & Marketing & Timing

2 weeks to a month and more frequently as it nears.
More exposure in more places as it nears.
Social media networking and getting different bubbles to post your stuff. Your bubble already knows. Find a way to break into other bubbles.

We are working on putting together a calendar where these events can be placed for everyone to see with easy access and visibility. They can be sent in to us to be put on the calendar. Our calendar is not ready, but if the event is far enough in advance, you can send it to us and hopefully by that time, our calendar will be live. We look forward to having great events and #supportelpaso 😉