Linda Derschang, legendary entrepreness behind Seattle hot spots like Smith, Oddfellows, King’s Hardware, Linda’s Tavern, and the Rob Roy, recently took a moment to share some of her business philosophies, secrets and inspirations with us. Read her thoughtful words below.

What was the biggest surprise you have had as an entrepreneur?
People get the impression that as the company grows, there’s less work to be done on the part of the owner. Its mind boggling. The bigger the company gets, the more work there is to be done!

What have you done to make your business more profitable and your finances more stable?
Buy low! Sell more! Keeping the businesses casual, and affordable, has always been really important. Despite the aesthetic development that happens with every new business idea, it has always been paramount that they remain accessible.

What are three top things you invest your time and resources into to grow your business?
Our employees, the design and details of the businesses’ interior space, and the daily or weekly financial analysis necessary to keep everything running smoothly.

What type of marketing efforts do you plan to increase over the next year and what things are you eliminating or decreasing investment in?
The devil is in the details. Little things like making beer cozies for King’s and throwing weekly movie nights on the patio feed the culture of the created space. Its just a matter of providing more to our customers and not necessarily using advertising in print as a means of popularizing ourselves.

Share some ways you stay motivated, encouraged or brave.
Staying motivated has never been an obstacle. There’s always so much going on, and you just can’t let it slip. There are so many employees counting on me; its just not an option. I work in an incredibly creative environment with interesting people. Its always changing which keeps it from getting boring or mundane. My encouragement comes from walking into one of my places and seeing them full of satisfied customers- that’s the applause and the pat on the back! Brave? Sometimes its a fine line between brave, and just plain crazy.

What advice do you wish someone gave you as you were getting started?
I tell people to think about whether they really want to run a business. Its great to have an idea, and fun to cultivate a project’s design, but think about the future and whether you want to do it every day.

Share something you are excited about right now.
I’m going to France this summer! I’ll be there for two weeks with my family and some dear friends.

Share a website, book or some other kind of resource you have found valuable in building your business.
I subscribe to about a dozen magazines, and pick up another 6-8 per month. Whether its food, design, or business, they’re a great source of inspiration.

Just when we thought PDX couldn’t get any better, we discovered Stand Up Comedy a bountiful boutique that stocks rare art publications, gorgeous clothing, and sexy objects. Check out excepts below from a fantastic interview with co-owner/entrepreness Diana Kim via Dream Sequins.

“We’re both interested in the absurd, so the name and the shop are a kind of challenge to ourselves, to remember,” Kim says. “We love comedy and stand up especially and are interested in its practice as a way of looking at the world we live in now… To laugh is to be on the edge of crying, right? The intangible quality that exists in between those two impulses feel very subversive. It’s like, what if you had an idea but no words to express it? That’s why the shop exists.”

The shop, Kim explains, operates on a set of default rules, which reads, appropriately enough, like an artist’s mission statement:

Stay within your budget. Have a memorizable inventory. Don’t add anything fixed to the space that doesn’t already exist in some form, only take away. Do not stock anything that can already be found locally. Make a website using a free program. Make it a living archive. Do not deviate from the standard template. Do not style products in the shop. Do not style products on the website. Do not attempt to cultivate an experience, only hope for the best. When a project is done in the shop, it becomes a shop project. Nothing should happen behind closed doors, no matter how messy or odd it may seem to a visitor. It’s all small ways of acknowledging that art becomes life becomes work becomes art. And on a more brutal note, that retail environments don’t have to be precious; neither does inventive, really special work of all kinds have to be.

For inventory, Kim says both she and Silberstein buy for the store together and “talk about every piece in minute detail before buying it.” Typically, she says, they buy only a few pieces of each item: “When buying, it’s better for us to be rather austere. Otherwise, too many outside influences can infiltrate.” In addition to price point and quality, Kim says “the main criteria are whether or not the thing adds a continuum to the story of the shop at the moment; and, does it help the creator reach a new audience or does it help the audience to be introduced to a new maker.”

Riding your bike in the city is a great way to commute to work, meet up with friends or run errands. However, riding safely is key to being a savvy urban rider. Many motorists don’t see or don’t think about cyclists, so it is important to make yourself as visible as possible and be prepared for anything.

Make sure you never leave home without your helmet and lock. Always ride in the bike lane if it is available. If not, keep to the right as far as safely possible. Always be prepared for cars to turn right in front of you, as many motorists only check cross traffic and sidewalk traffic before making a right turn. Always obey the rules of traffic. When in doubt, yield to cars.

If you ride at night, make sure to have proper lights on the front and back of your bike and brightly colored or reflective clothing. Safety can be fashionable too! Find yourself a sassy patterned helmet and put some reflectors on it. Create a glow in the dark jacket for when you ride at night. Get some bright orange shoes. Whatever you do, make sure you stay safe and stay seen!

Check out these amazing cycle-wear lines designed for women, by women:
Shebeest
SheSpoke

Click here to read part 1 of this series, posted on March 18, 2009.
Click here to read part 2 of this series, posted on March 30, 2009.

With the dawn of a new presidency, a deepening recession, and a fine-dining culinary culture that sometimes veers into the impossibly surreal, soberness is setting into the food world. Gone are the behemoth restaurants, $1,000 omelets, and ice cream made of dehydrated chili flakes. Hallmarks of 2009 will include a return to families cooking together and eating at home more than they have in decades, a premium on high-quality, seasonal ingredients that provide good value, and an emphasis on simple food for the people, by the people.

Check out Epicurious’s top 10 food trends for the home cook and restaurant-goer in 2009:

1. “Value” is the new “Sustainable”
These days, the economy dictates our cooking and shopping decisions: Bargains are in, no matter where they come from.

2. The Compost Pile is the new Flower Garden
Growing your own now refers to vegetables, not just herbs, and that will in turn help feed the gardener’s compost pile. Live worm garnishes, however, will not make it to the house salad.

3. Peruvian is the new Thai
You thought Peruvian cuisine was all about seviche, maybe? Guess again: Peru boasts culinary influences from Spanish, Basque, African, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, and British immigrants. Pisco Sour, anyone?

4. Noodle Bars are the new Sushi Joints
With some seafood being suspect or over-fished, and raw fish prices high, noodles make complete sense. If there’s no ramen, udon, or soba shop in your neck of the woods, there will be soon.

5. Ginger is the new Mint
Move over, mojitos. Ginger beers and ginger cocktails (like the Ginger Rogers, Gin Gin Mule, and Ginger Smash) are bubbling up at places like The Violet Hour in Chicago, the Clock Bar in San Francisco, and
Matsugen in New York.

6. Smoking is the new Frying
You know how everything tastes better fried? Well, almost everything tastes better smoked, too, and that includes cocktails. Bartenders are smoking their bourbons (Eben Freeman at Tailor, for example), and chefs, recognizing the national craze for BBQ, are smoking more than just salmon and ribs: nuts, salts, even smoked steelhead roe (at Chicago’s Alinea). Who says smoking’s bad for you?

7. Regional Roasters are the new Starbucks
It’s come full circle. What started as a local coffee phenomenon migrated to other cities and turned Americans into java junkies. Then the chain overexpanded and overreached, and the little neighborhood
coffee roasters thrive again, like Stumptown (Portland, OR), Bluebottle (San Francisco), and La Colombe (Philly).

8. Portland (Maine) is the new Portland (Oregon)
Abundance of great chefs, restaurants, and local foodies? Check, check, and check. Want examples? Visit Five Fifty-Five, Hugo’s, and Fore Street to start.

9. Rustic Food is the new Molecular Gastronomy
Wacky-weird-science cuisine that requires fancy-schmancy equipment doesn’t necessarily make food taste better, and more often than not it adds needless complexity (there are exceptions). Most importantly, no one really wants to do this at home. Expect to see comfort food stage a comeback. Again.

10. “Top-Rated” is the new “Critic’s Pick”
Power to the people; single critics are a dying breed. Why believe what one person says when you can read and reflect on what hundreds think?