Our Why
Built by Small Business Owners, for Small Business Owners
Our story began during the early days of the daily-deal industry.
We were one of the first companies contracted to help build local offers for Groupon, followed by LivingSocial and many of the daily-deal companies that came after them.
Our job was to find local business owners willing to make an aggressive offer—usually 50% off—to attract new customers.
The daily-deal company would then keep roughly half of the money collected from each voucher sold, leaving the merchant with about 25% of the original retail value.
At the time, the model was presented as a powerful customer-acquisition tool.
The merchant might sell 1,000 vouchers, but because the vouchers often had a 90-day promotional expiration period, perhaps only 500 or 600 customers would actually redeem them. The merchant could recover some of the heavy discount through the vouchers that were never used.
The real promise, however, was supposed to be repeat business.
The business owner would take a significant loss on the first visit with the expectation that the customer would return, become loyal and make future purchases at full price.
It sounded good in theory.
But that is not what happened.
The Daily-Deal Model Created Deal Shoppers, Not Loyal Customers
Instead of creating loyal customers, the daily-deal industry helped create professional coupon shoppers.
Many customers would visit a business once, use the deeply discounted voucher and then wait for the next daily deal from another business.
They were not becoming loyal to the merchant.
They were becoming loyal to the discount.
As consumer protections surrounding expired vouchers increased, the daily-deal companies passed even more of the financial responsibility to local business owners.
Then the model became even harder on merchants.
Rather than paying the business based on the vouchers sold, some daily-deal companies began holding the merchant's money and paying only as individual vouchers were redeemed.
The business owner still provided the deeply discounted product or service but now had less cash flow and carried even more of the financial burden.
We reached a point where we could no longer ask local business owners, in good conscience, to accept that kind of arrangement.
We even began giving our merchants part of the commission the daily-deal companies paid us for sourcing the deals, simply to help offset their losses.
Eventually, we spoke directly with a senior executive at one of the largest daily-deal companies.
We explained that the model was placing too much pressure on small businesses. We asked whether the company would consider reducing its demands before participating merchants were driven out of business.
His response told us everything we needed to know:
"We don't care if we put them out of business. Another one will take their place, and we'll fleece them too."
That was the last deal we ever did with that company.
Many of the daily-deal businesses that once seemed unstoppable are now gone or are only shells of what they were before.
But the experience taught us something we have never forgotten:
Small businesses deserve partners who care whether they survive.
Building a Barter Network
More than 15 years ago, we began building a barter network, bringing together like-minded local business owners who believed they could accomplish more by working together.
That network has grown into a large and active community of local business owners.
The idea was simple:
Local businesses should not always view one another as competitors.
A restaurant, an auto repair shop, a florist, a contractor, a boutique and a dentist are not fighting for the same customer purchase. They can refer customers to one another, purchase from one another and help one another grow.
We learned that when independent businesses work together, they become far more powerful than any one business could be alone.
Discovering the Advertising Gap
In April 2025, we acquired a mobile billboard company.
That acquisition later led us to launch GLTV, giving local businesses affordable access to mobile digital billboards, Go Local TV platform, video advertising and local programming.
Through GLTV, we began building an audience of thousands of local consumers interested in local businesses, restaurants, events and community news.
But after operating the advertising company, we recognized an even bigger problem.
It is extremely difficult for a small, independently owned business to compete with a national chain.
It is not necessarily because the national chain has better food, gives a better haircut or provides a better service.
Its greatest advantage is often scale.
Large companies and franchise systems may require their locations to contribute 5% or more of their revenue toward advertising.
Those dollars are pooled together.
The company then uses that combined buying power to purchase radio, television, billboards, digital advertising and other media at a scale that an individual local business could rarely afford.
Meanwhile, most local businesses are left trying to compete separately.
It is like a single ant trying to overcome an obstacle by itself.
One ant may appear powerless.
But an entire colony working together can overcome obstacles many times its size.
That is the idea behind Shop Local Rewards.
Alone, local businesses compete. Together, local businesses can compete with anyone.