(FORTUNE Magazine) – Run, baby, run: As you already know, the days when pregnant women hid their bellies beneath tentlike shifts are gone. Today's moms-to-be are inline skating and running marathons, and they want the gear to go with it. Enter Bess Hilpert, founder of a year-old apparel company aimed at outfitting pregnant athletes with practical and stylish sportswear. A marathon runner, Hilpert happened on this market niche when she was expecting her third child. Finding running shorts to accommodate her bulging belly meant monthly trips to the store for ever-bigger sizes. By the end of her pregnancy, she was holding her belly while running because the shorts didn't provide enough support. So she started Mothers in Motion, based in Round Rock, Texas, to sell sportswear to other frustrated athletes with babies onboard. Among the dozens of items in her catalog: unitards, yoga suits, extrasupportive sports bras, even two-piece swimsuits. Athletic moms-to-be aren't afraid to show a little skin while they're working out. Hilpert's $45 Hot Pants leave little to the imagination, yet they're among the more popular items. Is there room in the $600 million maternity-apparel market for this new arrival? Well, Hilpert has already managed to get some rack space at the upscale retailer Nordstrom. Some 50 maternity boutiques, athletic supplies stores, and health clubs also signed on to carry the line. Hilpert has yet to turn a profit but expects revenues this year of $382,000....

Promise me an herb garden: Ken Hakuta comes by his interest in the herb business naturally. His grandfather made a fortune in the ginseng trade in the 1920s. These days Hakuta is taking a new tack in the old trade: herbal e-commerce. He recently started Allherb.com to tap into the $13.9 billion market for herbal remedies and supplements. To lure customers into his online store, Allherb carries advice columns by health gurus, among them shaman Don Antonio Montero Pisco from the Amazon rain forest in Peru. (The shaman discusses his somewhat unorthodox methods of treatment, including the use of hallucinogenic herbs, which aren't for sale on the site. The drugs are for him--not the patient. The shaman claims they help him make a diagnosis.) Allherb recently sponsored a contest for an all-expenses-paid trip to meet the witch doctor at his remote village clinic; 14,000 applicants entered. Wacky marketing ploys are nothing new for Hakuta. He's the inventor of the Wallwalker, a toy octopus that was a big hit in the early 1980s. By his estimate, he made $20 million on the toy. Hakuta may have made his first fortune the old-fashioned way, but he runs his new company like any other cash-strapped cybershop. He's paying the shaman a nominal salary and stock options....

For the love of Xerox: Do small businesses love their copiers more than their customers? Seems that way. John Tschohl, a consultant based in Minneapolis, estimates the average small business spends $1,400 a year on copier maintenance and virtually nothing on educating employees about customer service. Tschohl says small businesses are better at attracting new customers than keeping old ones. His advice: Take 10% of the advertising budget and put on a seminar to teach workers how to keep longtime customers happy....

So long, lucky seven: Is nothing sacred? Joe Camel or Betty Crocker could replace the cherries in slot machines, if one company has its way. Slot Marketing-Advertising Revenue-Retention Techniques of Deer Park, N.Y., wants to put advertising characters or logos in place of the classic images of fruits and numbers in slot machines. By company estimates, players would see each logo six times a minute. Sunset Station Casinos in Las Vegas and the Tropicana in Atlantic City have expressed interest in the machines. Holland Casinos wants to install 50 slot machines with advertising in the Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam. But there's one snag. The company has yet to find any advertisers....

A poor SCORE: The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) is a nonprofit group of retired business executives who dole out free advice to entrepreneurs. Their biggest complaint: lack of financing. This year SCORE is sharing its pain. Its $3.9 million budget was cut 7% by the Small Business Administration, which itself is strapped for cash this year. Cutbacks mean SCORE's 14,000 volunteers may not get reimbursed for their travel and expenses while they help small businesses.