Look For The Helpers
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news,” Mr. Rogers once said to his television neighbors, “my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
While the quote was intended to help his young audience make sense of a confusing world, ‘Look for the helpers’ has become a commonly used assurance for all during difficult times.
And 2020 has certainly been difficult, especially for the small businesses Off The Grid Greenville began highlighting in 2016. Since our beginning as a non-traditional media company, the businesses we’ve researched, photographed, and featured in our monthly stories on our website and on our social media accounts have never paid for coverage. We’ve chosen them for inclusion based on a high level of quality and value they provide the community.
Often, these businesses are minority-owned, family-run, and not widely known. In other words, they’re off the grid in Greenville. We work to connect businesses and their owners to a wider customer base that may not know they exist while also educating our readers about the extensive variety of different cultures making our community vibrant.
And often -- through our own reach and other local and national media outlets’ sharing our photos and content -- their business increases rapidly after we feature them, allowing them to continue serving our community. That’s our goal.
Making it official…
A little more than a year ago, Off The Grid Greenville formed as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to helping small businesses in the Upstate of South Carolina achieve brand awareness through marketing assistance and educational programs.
Already a segment of Greenville that needs community support, local restaurants, farmers, and makers were suddenly left in a dire state when the global pandemic hit earlier this year. They needed help, and as of July 2019, we literally and legally exist to be their helpers.
That’s likely news to most of you because we’ve deliberately waited to formally announce it until we were also able to illustrate for you what this designation means.
But, instead of simply telling you, we’d like to show you what we’ve been doing over the last year.
David’s Gardens
Over the last few months, we’ve helped one of our favorite Off The Grid features -- Mr. Oliver Earle -- launch a booming farm stand on Augusta Street during a time when he felt uneasy about selling at a more populated farmers market. Operating under the name David’s Garden, Mr. Earle’s produce has sold out in a shorter amount of time each week. Equally as important as crucial sales, doing so safely was a priority.
What did we do?
Taught COVID-19 safety.
Helped with marketing, donated new disposable containers, and set up the street sign in the right position.
Assisted with networking and follow up.
Set up in a new location, initiated collaboration with Modal’s new coffee shop opening, including follow up with the owner.
Implemented smoother set up at Modal (changed aesthetics a bit to match property better) and switched masks to kn95 (easier to speak through).
Plans to set up paperless payment.
The Seafood Spot
Greg Brantly, owner of The Seafood Spot, is one of many business owners who we’ve helped, through our partnership with Fisheye Studios, learn more about the importance of engaging food photography for social media. We eat first with our eyes, and what better way to drive business than to make hungry people want to eat what they see on their screens.
In this particular instance, our highlighting of The Seafood Spot and helping them promote themselves via social media increased their business, which has since led to their need to expand their current footprint as well as open a second location.
Asia Pacific Supermarket
English as a second language can be a major challenge for some of our local small business owners when it comes to following constantly changing regulations.
Alva Mak of Asia Pacific called us very concerned about meeting the requirements for remaining open during a time with increased restrictions due to COVID-19. Immediately, we brought her supplies, printed signs, and assisted in-person to help set up her grocery store including 6-foot line markings, hanging proper signage, and updating their Google listing with adjusted operating hours.
When dining restrictions were lifted to 50% capacity, we returned and assisted with the restaurant set up to follow regulations, removing chairs from alternating tables, and chatting with staff about capacity, curbside options, and researching third party delivery services.
#yeahTHATculture
By supporting the marketing efforts of many minority-owned businesses, we are, in turn, teaching the community about other cultures through food. These small businesses need the support of not only their own demographic but also the entire Greenville community.
Programming
Sometimes our help is a reaction to an immediate need from a singular business. Other times, it’s a proactive, organized event, like the classes we held in partnership with the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). The first “Marketing Yourself on the Internet” class we offered in person in February along with input from Ridge Media, was an SBDC class we adapted to fit the needs of the businesses we seek to serve as they need more knowledge to position themselves online. Participating businesses included locksmiths, salons, seafood markets, restaurants, apparel, a local film festival, and many more.
Virtual
For our second class during COVID-19, we moved online to Zoom and will continue offering digital and in-person support as we are able and as it is safe to do so. Additional classes about navigating social media, the importance of digital marketing, and basics of public relations are in the works.
Individual tutoring
After helping local artist Liz Daly-Korybski of Daly Designs, LLC, located at ArtUp Studios at Hampton Station, she sent us this testimonial. We couldn’t have articulated her need and our ability to help better:
“Due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns, social media is more important than ever. Social media helps generate orders to our website and helps us create a broader reach of clients.
“My knowledge of the limits of IG, are hmmm... I don't know enough about IG to know the limits.
A little more from Liz…
“Jackie, taught me some invaluable lessons regarding IG. I had no clue how to create a good and clear profile. Honestly, I have had the IG account for years -- it was set up by my employees years and years ago. Due to COVID-19 many fellow artists and business owners begged me to start using IG again. A few weeks ago, Jackie and I made a short socially distanced video regarding a mask accessory I had designed. The short video aired on IG. Our website and studio had a nice uptick in sales.
“I am so thankful for Jackie. She is an amazing teacher. Her class is very well thought out. She is a kind and patient teacher. Yes, we were outside, socially distanced, masked up in 95-degree-heat. Jackie is a trooper. I love Jackie's motto, If you can teach a man to fish....”
Photo credit: Heather Grilliot
Chew Crew
We believe in the power of social media as an agent for positive support and change. One way we channel that is through the #ChewCrew -- a group of local food enthusiasts we organized who love to share their favorite foods and restaurants with their followers. Once a month, we meet up at a local restaurant who might need a little more Instagram love and share our experience.
When the pandemic shuttered dining rooms, the Chew Crew rallied behind the take-out movement and encouraged followers to do the same. Our group continues to work behind the scenes with restaurants who need the support to make it through the limited dining room capacity and challenges that COVID-19 has presented this important part of our community.
Help us help Greenville
We love Greenville -- the people, the business owners, the cultural range, the inclusive environment. If you do too and value the small businesses that keep our community vibrant, consider a tax-deductible donation to Off The Grid Greenville that will allow us to continue offering programming and expertise to those who may need assistance, especially during this particularly difficult time. We’re here to help, and we need yours, too.