These days, it’s not enough to simply publish posts on your blog; you have to share your posts and actively promote them on social media if you’d like more eyeballs on them than your own. But, this doesn’t mean that you just landed another full-time gig. It simply means that you need to add a new tool or two to make sharing blog posts efficient. more...
April was an unusual month for Portland's business scene. As always, there are plenty of new bars and restaurants, but last month's new business owners are unique because many of them had grand ideas and just went for them, regardless of previous experience. A theater director-actor opened a retail spot dedicated to refurbished and found home decor items. A former software designer with no formal apparel more...
You’ve officially decided to follow your dream. Whether you’re ready to reveal the product you’ve been meticulously developing in your workshop or studio to the world, or you’re ambitiously opening your own restaurant, bar, bakery or boutique, you should step back a moment and consider the name of your product, business or service from a legal perspective—you’ll thank yourself more...
If March was a good month for new business owners—they opened 16 spots, 10 of them restaurants and cafés—it was an even better one for consumers. St. Johns got a bike shop, northwest got a couple of neighborhood pubs, and a new Little Big Burger set up shop in southwest. March also brought with it the opening of several specialty shops, including a wedding boutique where brides-to-be can get fitted more...
Three months after opening their NW Portland kitchen and lounge, Sepal Meacham and Josh Johnson received a certified letter from Austin, Texas. It contained a strongly worded cease and desist letter from a Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill located in the heart of Stumptown’s unofficial sister city, asking the two burgeoning bar owners to “dissolve our business immediately,” Meacham explains. more...
February is for baking—at least February 2013 was—as a handful of spots sprung up where you can get fresh-baked bagels, cookies and beignet-style donuts. February also brought with it a downtown spot to get fresh-squeezed juice on the go, as well as a kitchen dedicated to serving cuisine of the Jewish diaspora. We saw a pair of independent yoga instructors find new spaces to teach classes, and two sisters more...
In all likelihood, financial and accounting services are usually best left to the professionals—those that do it for a living. And since finding reliable help in the accounting and financial services sector is crucial to the success of your small business, Neighborhood Notes has scoured the field for a selection of professional, qualified and local bookkeepers, CPAs and financial planners who are eager to work with you. more...
More than 200 independent and locally operated businesses opened in the last year—at least by our count—peaking with 23 new openings a year ago, last January. Among the entrepreneurs were apparel designers, jewelers, mustache waxers, and ninja trainers. It was also a big year for brewers, urban wineries, bottle shops, coffee shops, and candy shops. And, of course, we swam in an endless stream of more...
In November, Portland welcomed a baker, a brewer, and a trio of jewelers to its business community. New places to get coffee, tea, tap cocktails, cheeseburgers, and Polish beer also sprung up around town. And if you have friends or relatives coming in for the holidays, you can put them up in a luxury rental property, or invite them to tour the city's newest indoor cycling center, where you can start to shed all more...
In the business world, November may best best known for the busiest shopping day of the year, but it’s also National Entrepreneurship Month. The entrepreneurial spirit extends internationally with a Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), from Nov. 12-18 this year, and President Obama declared Nov. 16, 2012, National Entrepreneurs' Day in the U.S., saying, “let us renew the spirit of innovation that has more...
