It takes courage to create a vision and change the world. And trust me this is easier said than done.

When you have a business dream, you look at business plans and you sort of cut and paste bits from businesses you've seen or partisipated in. When I started Tantus, I had previously worked for a manufacturer who had production issues and so when we started we had full bins waiting for sales. After 10 years of growth we've leaned it out to three weeks worth of stock (not including Feeldoes that take 8 minutes each to make and can only be made one at a time- talk about inventory issues). We've had sometimes when we hadn't forcast nearly enough growth- but we've been learning. Anyway these are some of the small details you look at in business planning and execution.

I, as many people associated in any way with the sexual health industry, have often contemplated creating a store- THE STORE that I would want to shop in. A store that was clean and well lit with no slat and no grid on the walls. Where less was more and quality was beyond reproach. A boutique where customer service wasn't looking at the daily reciepts but at the life long relationship between clients and the business. A store that was comfortable to talk frankly about sexual explorations and a couples intimacy- how to maintain it and how to spice it up so it was ever evolving. A place where family was center- even with no children  allowed. A community space where the neighbors would think it was an asset rather than a liability that the store was there.

How inspiring a store like that would be- a store like that is.

I will tell you- I've been to beautiful boutiques the world over. I've seen nothing like this vision until I stepped into Freddy and Eddy's store in Venice California.

What makes it unique is not the aesthetic but the experience. The espresso waiting for you at the door and the long hall of a sexual library where customers can take any book they like on loan free- it's on the trust system. What an amazing way to begin a dialog that is often full of secrets or even more often a dialog where the client doesn't know how to talk or what to ask.

Ian and Alicia, the owners, ask questions like "What kind of products does your partner already have?" "What vibrators do you already have?" And sometimes they send people home with just knowledge of how to use intimate tools more effectively. Sometimes they send people home with an erotic entertainment dvd, again from a free library of dvd's. What you can't imagine is anyone not returning. You'd have to be crazy to not want to share this kind of experience again and again.

Most boutique businesses are built using a lot of these practices- earlier in the day I'd come from Babeland, and I've know stores like Come As You Are in Toronto and San Diego's own Rubber Rose and so many more that are built on the principles of education and community involvement. Each gives their clients experiences that inspire. Freddy and Eddy's though reinforced why I came into this industry in the first place - to educate and make the world a better place.

Ian and Alicia are planning the first sexual educational consumer show- LoveLA on January 27. They are bringing in Tantus, Fun Factory, OMyBod, Vibratex, Sportsheets, Shunga, Aneros, System Jo, Pjur, Sliquid, Babeland, Pleasure Chest, JT Stockroom, Love Boutique and so many others. It's going to be something very different- something very special. As the website states:..>..>

	Each vendor has been carefully chosen for their uniqueness, sex positive message, quality merchandise, and/or their contribution to the cause of advancing the mission that sexuality is an acceptable, dignified, and necessary act to further the goal of happy lives.

And let me tell you- as someone who has attended many consumer as well as trade shows- this is a first!

See you there

6523 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, California