I'm exhausted from an excellent BarCamp Vancouver which took course over the past two days--met lots of great new people, including lots of local tech/web business owners. I want to thank everyone who came, and everyone who has visited SpendLocally.ca and sent me such great supportive emails over the past few days. Mysteriously over the course of the weekend, a Google search for 'spend locally' has taken the site from unfindable to #2. I wouldn't have realized, but that's how Sherry of dsmBuzz found the site, and you should check out her blog (see below)!

Expect a new profile once I recover some much needed energy/sleep. Till then, two (actually the first two) new resources have been added to the Resources page:

Portland Buy Local (check out their "Why Buy Local" page for a great explanation of the benefits of supporting local businesses)

Portland Buy Local is a campaign of the Portland Independent Business & Community Alliance. Our mission is to support locally owned, independent businesses in Portland, to maintain our unique community character, provide continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs, build community economic strength, and prevent the displacement of community-based businesses by national and global chains. (from Portland Buy Local)

dsmBuzz (features a great blog on independent businesses)

dsmBUZZ is a grassroots initiative that exists to promote the efforts of locally owned businesses in central Iowa. Our mission is to be a resource for residents and visitors interested in finding out about the uniquely independent businesses in our community. We provide a collective voice for the buy local movement to encourage consumers to support their locally owned entrepreneurial neighbors. (from dsmBuzz)