Representatives from Shustir.com made a big impression with their â??I Love Small Businessâ?? T-Shirts and their free â??virtual storefrontâ?? services for small businesses. Operating on ad revenue, Shustir gives its member businesses the power to update a blog, respond to customer inquiries, and add or edit photos and content, such as a virtual video tour.

The German British Broadcasting Corporation followed Shustir for a day learning about the ins and outs of being an entrepreneur in NYC. In this video you will see Shu at a Shustir tutorial with Constant Contact.

A follow-up to our write-up on Forbes.com.

Attending events such as Smart Business Moves' Expo & Conference is crucial to getting new ideas and contacts, said Patti Kemble, owner of Pet Sitting by Patti in New Fairfield since 2006.

"They're important," said Kemble, who also attended a seminar on digital advertising by Grace Gonzales of Hearst Connecticut Media Group, one of the event's sponsors. "By the end of the day, I should have more ideas."

Such gatherings allow for immediate connections with the right people, said Dan Lagstein, a representative for Shustir.com, a New York City-based online marketplace for small businesses.

"Any place where small businesses are, we go too," he said.

After leaving Lehman Brothers, Khanh Pham started an online marketplace for entrepreneurs. Today, Shustir.com has over 15,000 members.

Talk about taking lemons and making lemonade, Khanh and Shu have founded a successful business in a difficult business environment.

"The Internet is allowing people who always wanted to dabble in something to pursue it after hours," said Shu Kim, co-founder of Shustir.com, an online marketplace for small businesses. "Many platforms, including social media, can be used for free. You can educate yourself very quickly online about your business and industry. And you can get involved in Meetup groups where you learn from people who've done this all before.

W3 awarded Shustir the Silver for Social Networking

While some entrepreneurs try to use the social networking mainstay Facebook to leverage their brand to best effect, a new online forum called Shustir.com aims to facilitate a direct connection between business owners and consumers.

Shustir is a network of online storefronts created by individual business owners to showcase their goods and services. Founded by two former Lehman Brothers employees, Shustir officially launched in May 2009. Co-chief executive officers Shulammite "Shu" Kim and Khanh Pham started the site in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Basic storefronts are free, though a flat fee of $25 for a premium membership enables a storeowner to sell items online through Paypal.

Although the site title combines co-founder Shu Kim's nickname with the excitement of "stirring up the pot," Shustir's tagline is "it matters where you spend." According to Kim, more than 70 percent of money spent at a local business goes back into the local economy.

As the economic climate continues to be stormy, Shustir.com wants to be your weatherproofing. The site, which launched earlier this year, has been providing thousand of small businesses and independent entrepreneurs with powerful e-commerce technology. Now, after a site redesign and improved social networking tools, Shustir doesn't just want to change the way the 29 million small and independent endeavors in this country do business online; it wants to start a revolution.

Precisament, l'ensorrament del mercat immobiliari als Estats Units per culpa de les hipoteques escombraries va desencadenar la recessio economica actual. Els paisos mes rics i les potencies emergents continuen buscant-hi solucions, quan avui ja fa exactament un any que el banc de negocis Lehman Brothers es va declarar en fallida.