Last weekend I had the good fortune of being able to attend TEDxRainer. The event could best be summed up in one word:

Passion.

Everybody there seemed passionate about being there, sharing ideas, looking for ways to make the world a better place. And after spending a solid 10 hours among such passionate, engaged people, it's hard to come away without being inspired.

The debate about increasing taxes on high-income people rages on in both Washington D.C and Washington State. Here in the state, there's an initiative on the ballot that proposes an income tax on people earning more than $200K (or $400K for joint filers). Meanwhile Congress can't seem to extend the Bush tax cuts for over 97% of the population, because a certain party wants it extended to the 2% of the country that earns more than $250K.

And the single reason I hear for not enacting these taxes? "Because you're taxing the people who create jobs!"

If you are, drop us a line.

I know, that's an ambiguous title -- are we looking for Drupal help, or are we offering it? The answer is yes!

Did you notice? The world's a different place. Rules for doing business have changed—there's new ways of getting hired, finding employees, reaching new customers, and (shudder) for them to reach you. Economies of scale have flipped—it's getting more expensive to do things on a huge scale, and far cheaper to do them at a micro scale. Mass market items have lost their appeal, and people yearn for authentic, individual connections in a world of franchise same-ness.

TerraBella Flowers - Organic Florist in Seattle

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terrabellaflowers.com

TerraBella Flowers & Mercantile specializes in European garden-style designs, using an assortment of local, organic, and sustainably grown flowers and is based in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. A longtime customer, we have seen the highs and lows of this site.

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Now here's a great video, which pretty much sums up the experience of, dare I say, every web professional?

Hat Tip to Denis Du Bois.

Open Source Solutions for Small Business Problems

Switch to Open Source and Improve Your Bottom Line!

Charles River Media announces Open Source Solutions for Small Business Problems, an exploratory guide to the operational problems shared by most small business

A web site is an essential marketing tool of a business. These days, especially in the Seattle area, people will check out your web site before doing business with you. The work you do with a graphic designer like Peter Mckinnon can have a big impact when someone decides whether you're the right fit for what they're looking to buy.

Just having a web site, however, does nothing to get customers beating down your doors. People need to find your web site somehow, amidst the millions of other web sites out there. For small, local businesses, they don't find your web site online--they find it from your business card, a sign on your car, word-of-mouth, or all the rest of the traditional ways people market their business.