I’ve been pretty vocal on The 3/50 Project’s Facebook page today about the overwhelming risks passage of SOPA or PIPA would have on independent brick and mortars. Here’s a cheat sheet to get you through the muck.
SOPA: Stop Online Piracy Act (the House bill)
PIPA: Protect Intellectual Property Act (the Senate bill)
• Main difference: SOPA extends to also include streaming content
• Main risk: While the initial focus was international pirating of video and music, the bills have been overwritten to include all domestic U.S. sites, including social media, making site/page/blog owners responsible for fan posts and content
A simple example of SOPA overkill making a small business owner responsible for someone else’s unethical behavior: http://bit.ly/AzREYA. (For the stationery store owners and printers in the group, think: Bride brings in her own graphic or monogram design…) [click here to continue…]
While in Atlanta for the gift show, I was showing a retailer how to use Dropbox to stay connected with her store. Prepared to hear “Thank you for showing me this, Cinda,” instead I got “Why in the world haven’t you blogged about this???”
Yeah. Good point. My bad for not doing so earlier—especially since it’s even more useful at home the rest of the time. Here goes. [click here to continue…]
Twenty years ago, I began an important exercise. When life gets tough enough to keep me awake at night, I pull out a journal, then jot three things from the day that were positive, just before turning out the light. Simplistic, yes, but with time, it actually does make a difference. I refer to it as my Three Things.
In the past, there were lists that required serious effort (the Cheerios stayed crunchy until the last bite). Eventually, Three Things became a running stream of positives—I trained myself to see upbeat moments during the day instead of letting them race by unnoticed.
As a result, it’s been a long, long time since Cheerios were a high point (she says, with gratitude).
How does this translate for merchants this holiday season? [click here to continue…]
An enthusiastic thumbs up to Oren Teicher (CEO, American Booksellers Association) for posting the following open letter to Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon):
Dear Jeff Bezos,
We’re not shocked, just disappointed.
Despite your company’s recent pledge to be a better corporate citizen and to obey the law and collect sales tax, you created a price-check app that allows shoppers to browse Main Street stores that do collect sales tax, scan a product, ask for expertise, and walk out empty-handed in order to buy on Amazon. We suppose we should be flattered that an online sales behemoth needs a Main Street retail showroom.
Forgive us if we’re not. [click here to continue…]
Among the myriad of things that can make a small business owner wig out fast as lightning is an alert from the local Better Business Bureau, announcing that a consumer has filed a formal complaint against them. If you see a message in your inbox from the BBB with the subject line “Complaint from your customers,” don’t click on the link to respond. Turns out yet another scam is making the rounds, this time targeting merchants understandably distracted by the holiday season.
If you’ve already clicked the link, run a full virus scan on your computer…now (even if you’re a Mac user since it’s only a matter of time before one of these pests breaks through).
If you’re concerned that it might be a legitimate complaint, go old school—pick up the phone and call the BBB. If it’s real, and it’s new, the filing shouldn’t appear online yet, so the phone’s your best route.
For info about the scam on the BBB website, click here.
A huge thanks to Julie Horowitz Jackson (owner, Virtu, Chicago IL) for the heads up.
I go to great lengths to keep politics out of the blog—would rather focus on the things small business owners have first hand control over than invite the “aromatic waft” accompanying most political debate these days. This morning, however, Bob Schieffer (host, Face the Nation, CBS) delivered an editorial that really resonates in my brick-and-mortar lovin’ heart: [click here to continue…]
From the “Weekend News” segment on Saturday Night Live, November 5, 2011:
“Macy’s announced this week that its flagship store in Manhattan will undergo a $400 million renonvation that will create the world’s largest women’s shoe department, featuring more than 300,000 pairs of shoes, and—as always—one cashier.”
And:
“Several department stores have announced that on Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas shopping season—they will open their stores at midnight because nothing puts people in the giving spirit like enduring a long, stressful holiday with their family, hopping in the car half drunk in the middle of the night, and battling an angry mob over a tennis bracelet.”
On behalf of the mom and pop businesses everywhere, thank you, Seth Meyers. Big time.
(If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Keep the Cheer Here, The 3/50 Project’s 2011 holiday campaign.)
You guys are GOOD. Thanks to all the creative minds out there, selecting a winner from the hundreds of great titles submitted during The 3/50 Project Holiday Campaign Name Contest was tough. Tough. Of the lot, however, it was Julie Ward, a consumer in southern California, who came up with four magic words that shone brightest: Keep the Cheer Here.
(Side note: I had to break out in a huge smile on Delta’s Atlanta-to-Minneapolis flight when the guy across the aisle, one row back, saw me designing the poster on my laptop and said “Keep the Cheer Here–that’s really good. What’s it about?” Bingo.)
Since the whole idea is to promote the heck out of our wonderful, independent, locally owned brick and mortars, there are more free downloadable materials than ever before to work with:
[click here to continue…]
I’ve been pretty vocal on The 3/50 Project’s Facebook page today about the overwhelming risks passage of SOPA or PIPA would have on independent brick and mortars. Here’s a cheat sheet to get you through the muck.
