Like many people, when I first heard the concept behind Twitter, my first thoughts were, “Who cares what anyone is doing every moment of every day?” I certainly didn’t want to know what my friends had for breakfast, or which airport they were in or what outfit their cat was wearing. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my tasks at hand, much less sharing with the world what I am doing every moment. But, I joined Twitter because, you know, it’s the hot thing. And us retailers …

I first heard mutterings about the attempts to enact legislation for toy safety back in the first part of 2007. I was in the know so early because Oregon was sandwiched between California and Washington. California was enacting legislation that would leave children’s merchandiser’s at constant risk of litigation for non-compliance with heavy handed safety regulations. Washington was facing legislation with similar types of materials regulations, but the means of enforcement was proposed to come from government agencies, not the litigious nature of John Q Public. These bills would …

Are you a member of your Chamber of Commerce? I’m not. As we try to build a “Shop Local” movement in our town, I miss the CoC, or at least my fantasy version of the CoC.
When I was in Small Business 101 ( I actually did take that class before I started), I was told the CoC membership was essential. The networking, the connections, the opportunities. None of it helped me during my years of membership. It took me a long time to figure out that the CoC …