indie business...

This is the final installment in a series about the steps small business owners need to take before hiring their first employee. If you’ve already taken a hard look at your business and determined the right time to hire your first employee as well as figured thevalue your time, you’ve done the heavy lifting. "For a sole proprietor or someone who has a boutique, there's really not a lot invested in bringing in that more...

Ninja School opened May 1st, 2012 and is located at 6019 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Portland, OR 97211, next to Starbucks with parking in the rear. Dedicated to providing kids and adults with a wide range of martial arts training to help them gain self-confidence, increase their fitness level and learn practical self defense skills. Ninja School is a friendly, family owned business, welcoming all levels of martial artists. Kids more...

Twitter or Facebook? LinkedIn, Instagram, Foursquare, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, or even MySpace? The options can be overwhelming (don't click here unless you want your head to spin), especially if you don't even recognize a few of the above names, let alone understand what function they serve. So, which one should you choose? "Fish where the fish are," Ben Lloyd, the president of Amplify Interactive, says. And more...

Job growth in Portland comes from local, small businesses. As demonstrated in the last installment of Thinking Local, a discussion of “Job Creation Not Relocation,” resident companies are growing considerably while nonresidents are losing jobs—that’s negative job creation. In a 10 year period from 1999 to 2009, existing Portland companies grew by 63.6 percent while nonresidents (headquartered outside of more...

The Shoe Store prides itself on providing a large range of high-quality, stylish shoes. No matter your budget or style, we’re confident that you’ll fall in love with our shoes. Our brands include Saucony, Gola, Keds, Onitsuka Tiger, The People's Shoe, Unstitched (Recycled shoe made of Tyvek), and Puma. The brands and styles we carry change frequently, so stop by to see the latest shoes, sandals, and socks. Remember...you more...

April may be the cruelest month for grouchy poets, but it shone an awful lot of sunlight on Portland upstarts last month. These scrappy entrepreneurs opened spots in five of the city's "quadrants," including, but not limited to, several retail outlets specializing in gifts, home design, new and used fashions, and one-of-a-kind rediscovered treasures, as well as a nursery, a pizzeria, three cafes, two bars, a barber shop more...

If you think conducting a survey means canvassing your neighborhood with a clipboard and tallying results, you’ve got it wrong. Surveys are an effective, affordable and underutilized business tool that small business owners and community organizations can use to obtain information and evaluate what’s most important to their customers and neighbors. All well-planned projects require the input of outsiders to make sure more...

You may have noticed that things seem a bit spicier along SE Division St. lately. That’s partly due to two southern-inspired businesses that have recently opened. Pat Marken and Tausha Lell, co-owners of the iconic vintage gift shop Euphoria in Lafayette, LA, closed their doors after 16-plus years in business to parlay themselves into the great Northwest. Breezing into town in November 2011, they’ve planted themselves more...