As you may know our MarketPlace is the online version of our printed directory.  In addition to being a listing of our member businesses we have enhanced it to allow you to change your contact info, your website address and add a descriptive paragraph about your business.  Having a great picture that represents your business is important to let customers know who you are. 

We have some new features that will be becoming available in the coming months.  First, we will be adding the ability to allow you to upload your images for your business and not have to email or worse yet mail your images to NLLF for posting to your page.  You will be able to just load the image and change as often as you like.

Another feature that will be available shortly is the ability to add an image or pdf file for display on your MarketPlace page.  This could be your menu, particularly nice in PDF format, a chart of your rates if you are a service company, directions to your business, a PDF file of upcoming events or whatever your would like the general public to see related to your business.

In addition, we currently allow you to display one website.  We are going to increase that for those of you who may have more than one website related to your business.

So, we’ve got some exciting features getting ready to be made available to you.  And if you’ve never logged in to update your information, now is a great time to do just that.  Click on Login, and if you’ve never logged in before select “Password Forgotten” and enter the email address that you signed up with.  You will immediately receive an email with the password included.  If you don’t see it in your email let us know and we will be happy to help you.  info@newlondonlocalfirst.org.

Very happy NLLF finally has a blog! 

Wanted to introduce our business (Twin Enterprises) to any local manufacturers, suppliers, crafters or artisans who may be looking for another outlet to sell their products.   

We have two websites – www.bluebarnacles.com and www.theweatheredgate.com.  Blue Barnacles is within the top search results on Google for nautical decor, coastal decor, tropical decor and beach decor.   The Weathered Gate is within the top search results on Google for country decor.  

We are looking for manufacturers, suppliers, artisans, and crafters in the local area that make or manufacture home decor products with a nautical, coastal, beach house, tropical, country or cottage motif.    Since we don’t stock products, the supplier would need to be able to supply digital images, be willing to offer us wholesale or discounted pricing and drop ship the products to our customers upon receipt of an order from us.    

If you’re interested in broadening your customer baseline in these tough economic times, please e-mail us at twinenterprises@sbcglobal.net.

By way of introduction, this summer my wife and I spent some time in Hardwick, VT visiting The Center for an Agricultural Economy to glean  ideas about a local food system that might find some compatibility with needs here in New London, and was led to a next door restaurant that uses locally sourced produce, meats, poultry and fish. One of the most spectacular meals, truly!

The restaurant had been opened for just over a year (it’s called Clair’s and if your up that way, check it out). It is a community owned restaurant with all shares/funding provided by local residence and businesses. The article below decribes the practical application of this model.

Locally yours,

Art

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By Helaine Olen
Last Updated: September 10, 2009: 1:07 PM ET

 
Local investors gather around Kim Harmson (center, in skirt), owner of the Kizuri fair-trade shop in Spokane.

Grassroots stimulus
Using $2 bills and “buy local” promotions, these 6 towns have launched their own campaigns to keep local businesses alive.
HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (Fortune Small Business) — John Halko was halfway through renovating an expanded space for Comfort, his mostly organic eatery in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., when the credit crisis hit. His source of funding — a home-equity line — ran out, so he applied for a loan at a local bank. He was turned down.

Halko wasn’t ready to throw in the dish towel. His solution? The modern equivalent of an old-fashioned barn raising. Instead of soliciting neighbors to lift timbers, he asked them to open their wallets. For every $500 they purchased in “Comfort Dollars,” his patrons received a $600 credit toward meals at the restaurant. As the community rallied around Comfort, Halko says, “it gave us hope.” He raised $25,000 in six months, and the new, larger space – now called Comfort Lounge — opened for business in May.

Plenty of entrepreneurs are turning to their communities for support in these tricky times. As the recession wreaks havoc on America’s economy, finding the money to launch, expand or even just sustain a small business is often a struggle. In the second quarter of 2009, venture capital funds raised the smallest amount since the third quarter of 2003, according to the National Venture Capital Association in Arlington, Va. Banks continue to pull credit lines and credit cards from many small businesses. Even proprietors who are willing to extract capital from their homes — often their biggest personal asset – can’t always do so, because the declining housing market has left so many homeowners underwater.

Continue reading

One of the new features we would like to offer members is the ability to write posts to this blog.  If you’re a member you can request a user name and password for this blog and you will be able to write your own blog posts.  Write about your business or New London or anything that you feel would be useful or enjoyed by other members and the community.

Never blogged before and want to get your feet wet?  This is the time to do it.  We can arrange some group training sessions or you can just get a login and give it a try if you’d like. Ask other members who have blogged before.  Email info@newlondonlocalfirst.org and we will be happy to help you get started.

-  Shelley,  Website Committee

We are excited about this new blog for our members. We’ll be posting up to date information on what’s happening with our NLLF projects, events, and much much more.

Right now we have been extremely busy finalizing the New London Local First directory. As you can imagine the time to piece this together has been significant but we think well worth it.

The contributors to this project are numerous. Photography was provided by our local photographer, Adam Campos, and cover art design by local graphic designer A.J. Zane. Maps were carefully worked by Hugh Griffin, with editing by Hugh and Cyndi Johnson.

More as this very important directory becomes available throughout New London!

Locally Yours
Art Costa, Acting Chair