The Most Important Small Business Advice

“There is no other source of income for mom-and-pop places. There’s no financial backing, there’s no partners, there’s no corporate money to be funded in when you are short. The customers are their only source of revenue, so if they don’t come, (they) have no safety net.”

“You have to support ’em.”

Because if you don’t, they’ll be gone.

It's something I've tried to explain to several friends over the years.

I've also been told how unreasonable I am. 

The corollary to this is to not alienate the customers, because they will stop coming.