Get Your East Texas Business Ready Before Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is Saturday, November 28, 2026.

The U.S. Small Business Administration asks people to shop at a small business that day, and it says the country has more than 36.2 million independent businesses. A lot of them are right here in East Texas.

That date is a little over three weeks out.

If you own a shop, a food truck, a salon, a lawn crew, or a repair bay anywhere from Longview to Marshall to Jefferson, here is what I would check this week, before the rush starts. None of it needs new software. Most of it is free.

1. Make sure Google shows your real hours

Search your business name the way a customer would. Look at what comes up on the map.

If your holiday hours are different, put them in your Google Business Profile now. Google built that profile for exactly this: current hours, contact information, and posts about offers and events.

A customer who drives twenty minutes to a locked door does not usually come back on Monday.

2. Pick one plain offer and put it in one place

Not five deals. One.

Write it the way you would say it across the counter. Put it at the top of your website and pin it to the top of your Facebook page. If somebody has to read three paragraphs to find out what is on sale, most of them will not.

3. Walk your own ordering path on your phone

Pretend you are a customer who has never heard of you.

Tap from your post to your website to the order button or the phone number. Count the taps. Make sure the phone number dials when you tap it. Make sure the form actually sends.

If you get stuck, so will they.

4. Decide who answers, and how fast

Holiday traffic dies in an unanswered inbox.

Decide right now who checks messages Friday night and Saturday, and how quickly they reply. Write it down where the whole crew can see it. A missed call during the rush is usually a customer calling the next name on the list.

5. Keep every name you can

The customer who buys from you on Small Business Saturday may be the best lead you get all year.

Ask for a phone number or an email at the counter, and give a real reason. "Can we text you when the spring stock comes in?" works better than "Join our list." Put those names in a simple list or CRM you control, not only in a follower count on a platform that can change its rules any morning.

6. Record one short video this week

You do not need a crew. You need a phone, a quiet spot, and about sixty seconds.

Say who you are, what you are offering on the 28th, and how to find you. If you have a small clip-on mic, use it. Ten takes is normal. I have been making videos for years and I still need a few tries.

What I built for that last step

The video is where a lot of owners stall. They record it, it sits on their phone, and the weekend comes and goes.

So at The LeadFlow Pro we built a smaller first step. You send a clip of 90 seconds or less, and you get back a finished short with captions and branding. The site lists one edit at $15, and it says the first edit is free with no card required.

You do not need me to do any of the six steps above. I would rather you do them yourself this week than wait on anybody.

If you are not an owner

You can help too.

Pick one local business to buy from on November 28. Then leave them an honest review and say why you chose them. That review keeps working for them long after the holiday is over.