Good piece from Scott Allen on passive income, every entrepreneur's best friend.

Looking for ways to write a blog that's twice the drivvel that I have here?  It won't be tough, but if you need a little help- Tim Berry has some great ideas - http://timberry.bplans.com/2010/07/10-blogging-tips-my-1000th-post-on-this-blog.html

As I type this, we have about an hour to go before we open up the polls for voting for the first run of the Dream Big Grow Here grant contest.  Remember, anyone can vote, but you can only vote once per day between now and the last day of the month.  My advice: Vote Early and Vote Often. 

We've nearly reached the 15th of June already, which means there is only a couple days left to submit entries for the June Dream Big Grow Here contest.  If you haven't gotten your entry in, you need to do so by the time the clock strikes midnight on June 15th.  We've already had quite a response with ideas ranging from photography to tourism from all over the state of Iowa.  It's been exciting to see them roll in, keep 'em coming! 

The folks at Kauffman (yes, of the Royals ballpark vintage) always seem to have the latest on entrepreneurial stats.  This one doesnt suprise me in the least, and actually encourages me that entrepreneurship is alive and very well.

When you are livin on the cheap side, "frugal" - as I like to say, you are constantly on the look out to save a buck.  That all goes without saying.  So why would you pay for advertising, when you can work the media for a little free ink?

Pretty much every other blog I try to read has some sort of friday link-o-mania.  Some are pretty entertaining, others I find a bit drab.  I'm hoping to aim for a little more of the former and a little less of the later.  With that as a back drop, here are a few thoughts on the week that was - in terms of small business news and notes, sure, plus a fewstray cats thrown in as well. 

I had intended to write about the wonderful world of credit card fees a few weeks back as I was getting things together for the store, but I havent exactly found time for it.  At some point, I intend to put something a bit more full blown together on how it all works, but for now I just want to get a few words of advice out to you. 

I know its not a real holiday, but I am making it up anyway.  So here at the home office of Bootrappin', we have come to the final turn.  Tomorrow is the big open, so this is the last day to make sure we've got it together.  And for the most part, I think we do. 

Facebook recently had their annual developer's conference, F8, where they unveil the latest in all things Facebookie.  As you know I am not an IT geek, you may be wondering why I am blogging about something from the realms of potential geekery. 
 

We just had our last weekend before the open, so it was that last big chunk of time to get the place ready to go.  Unlike most things I do, I feel pretty prepared to go.  The inventory is stocked, the sign is hung, the wine and apps are ready to go, and it feels like we are down to a few nitty gritties as we roll into the last week.

I know I’ve mentioned Etsy.com before, but I was out surfing around some of the small biz site’s out there today and came across a pretty open interview with Etsy founder, Rob Kalin, in the WSJ.  Kalin’s perspective resonated with me this morning as he says “Be ready to do a hundred different things really well, and in a short period of time.”