Saturday May. 26, 2012
 

Every year, in fact - every month, I have some formal solo time set aside for putting thought into where my business is, where it's going and what adjustments it needs to zig-zag its way to where it belongs.

Ultimately all of that relates to where it leads you, how it changes your business and hopefully, your life.

Since preparations for an all-out-assault on the in-laws place are in their final hours, it leads me to think about stocking stuffers.

Stocking stuffers for your business, that is.

 
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FRANKFURT, Germany – Major central banks around the globe took coordinated action Wednesday to ease the strains on the world's financial system, saying they would make it easier for banks to get dollars if they need them. Stock markets and the euro rose sharply on the move.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England and the central banks of Canada, Japan and Switzerland were all taking part.

 
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What to do about growing numbers of neglected and abandoned horses in the US is an ethical conundrum that Congress and President Obama quietly addressed this month via a spending bill: bring back the slaughterhouses.

A Department of Agriculture bill, signed into law Nov. 18, reinstates federal funding for USDA inspection of horse meat intended for human consumption, which Congress had withheld since 2006. That de facto ban on horse slaughter has now come to an end, to the outrage of the animal rights community, amid reports that US horse owners were simply shipping their animals to Mexico and Canada for slaughter and processing.

 
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In Steve Denning's Forbes commentary this week, he mentions a presentation made by author and Harvard business professor Clayton Christensen decrying U.S. business schools' focus on numbers-above-all, saying the pursuit of profit is killing innovation and the US economy.

The pursuit of profit is not the problem.

 
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The Big Bobber Floating Cooler, a series of Cool Stands used to prop up laptop computers at Creative Sales Company near Columbia Falls. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

COLUMBIA FALLS — Gary Byers became an inventor for a rather old-fashioned reason: he would see a need and come up with a simple solution. Small trees or plants slumping over? He created a brace. Laptop computers overheating and uncomfortable to type on? He developed a stand. Knives, scissors or pruners becoming dull? He invented an all-in-one sharpener.

In Byers’ mind, where there’s a need, there’s an inventive solution.

 
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More Americans hunted for bargains over the weekend than ever before as retailers lured them online and into stores with big discounts and an earlier-than-usual start to the holiday shopping season.

A record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites during the four-day holiday weekend starting on Thanksgiving Day, up from 212 million last year, according to early estimates by The National Retail Federation released on Sunday. Americans spent more, too: The average holiday shopper spent $398.62 over the weekend, up from $365.34 a year ago.

 
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Cara Finch talks about the renovation and relocation of Mum’s Flowers while standing behind the counter in her business in downtown Whitefish. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

WHITEFISH – In the same way flowers are a constant presence at almost every celebratory occasion, from weddings to birthdays, Mum’s Flowers has been a part of Whitefish for almost 50 years.

That tradition is intact and has been relocated and revitalized by an unlikely florist, 24-year-old Cara Finch.

 
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A shopper in Los Angeles pepper-sprayed her competition for an Xbox and scuffles broke out elsewhere around the U.S. as bargain-hunters crowded malls and big-box stores in an earlier-than-usual start to the madness known as Black Friday.

For the first time, chains such as Target, Best Buy and Kohl's opened their doors at midnight on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. Toys R Us opened for the second straight year on Thanksgiving itself. And some shoppers arrived with sharp elbows.

 
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