Check out this AP article, it highlights how GA helps small business.
“There are also cases where a plane has helped save a business.
“Richard Shine, who owns Manitoba Corp., a metal recycling business outside of Buffalo, N.Y., credits his plane with just that. Starting in the 1970s, companies in upstate New York that once provided scrap metal to Manitoba started moving their businesses elsewhere. To expand the company’s supply base, Shine began using a small plane, in which he owned a half-interest, to find new suppliers.
“Since then, the company has bought a bigger plane — a Mitsubishi Mu-2 Solitaire — and now makes the aircraft a major part of its marketing materials.
“‘We think of it as the same as having another sales person on staff,” said Shine, a former Air Force pilot. “It costs about the same, but it doesn’t complain and it’s almost always willing to work.'”