FRIDAY'S FISHFRY

The Fishfry has five articles for you tonight: four focus on urban small business/development and one on rural development.

When you think of writing a business plan it is most often in preparation to asking your banker for a loan. Business Week makes the case that a small business owner needs to consider all the ways a business plan can be used:

Do You Really Need a Business Plan?

Every business needs a business plan, whether or not it will be borrowing money or seeking investors. Writing a business plan not only helps you determine whether your business idea is feasible, it also establishes a map for your company's future. Without it, your business is likely to drift along without direction or parameters for measuring progress.

• Defining a new business venture
• Determining whether your business will make a profit
• Providing an estimate of your startup costs
• Devising an effective marketing strategy
• Helping you compete in the marketplace
• Measuring your business performance and tracking your growth

Washington State is considering practical solutions to the small business/health insurance crunch:

Small businesses need Health Insurance Partnership

Small businesses are hit hard by the health care crisis. More than 200,000 small business employees in Washington are uninsured.

Even those with coverage are not secure. Premiums for small businesses have increased faster than for large businesses, and the quality of coverage they receive is lower.

Lawmakers in Olympia have designed a program to help.

The Health Insurance Partnership would help make quality coverage choices affordable for small businesses. Participating businesses and employees would save by paying premiums with pre-tax dollars. Low-wage small business employees would receive premium assistance.

The Oregonian covers an interesting variation to eco-tourism. The eco-destination meeting. Many local small businesses, whether they are part of Portland's evolving green industries or not, will benefit from the attraction to the city's green reputation:

City's gold standard for green meetings

Portland is counting on its long-standing "green" reputation to help it become the destination of choice for people who want to meet in an eco-friendly place.

To that end, Travel Portland, the city's marketing agency, launched a three-day "Green Familiarization Tour" on Thursday to persuade meeting planners from across the country that Portland is the place to convene.

Highlights include an expedition by biodiesel-powered bus to the city's organic farm in Southeast Portland, a look at the eco-friendly features of area hotels and a fashion show highlighting recycled clothing at the Gerding Theater at the Armory -- a Pearl District building that has earned the nation's highest sustainability rating.

"Being green is the biggest movement in the meetings industry," said Jeff Miller, executive director of Travel Portland, formerly called the Portland Oregon Visitors Association. "And Portland is uniquely positioned as the national front-runner right now."

Apparently the Portland/Metro Area has a rich selection of independent wine shops. All small businesses:

Raising a wine glass to independence

If small winery operations are the backbone of Oregon's $1.4 billion wine industry, small independent wine stores are at least part of the skeleton -- despite increasing consolidation among wine distributors and the might of retail powerhouses such as Fred Meyer and Costco.

UI to help rural Idaho towns market strengths

Helping small communities capitalize on their existing talents and resources is the focus of a new initiative by University of Idaho Extension and the Western Rural Development Center.

Called "2 Degrees Northwest: Where Art Meets the Land," the program will connect the arts, agriculture, history, food, and unique lodging opportunities with customers, said Lorie Higgins, a UI Extension community development specialist.

The USDA has other Economic and Rural Development examples.

Have a good weekend
Joel