New Direction for my Blog

Hey there all,

I was thinking about something a writing teacher once told us. It was "the best way to learn something is by teaching someone else". Couple that with the fact that friends, family and readers of this blog like to ask my opinion and advice on home and small business matters, I made a decision.

Now I do not pretend to be anything more than I am, I am not an expert. However like most everyone else, I have the ability to look in from the outside and give my advice or suggestion with a clarity that comes from a fresh perspective.

And so I have decided that I will go through emails and answer them directly on my blog. I hope to provide a different spin and helpful suggestions and learn a few things myself along the way.

If you have any of your own questions or dillemas that you would like my take on, feel free to email me or leave a comment.

Have a great one!

Where can I go to network with other small and home business owners?

There are a slew of forums that cater to the small and home based business person. My personal favorite is Business Owners Idea Cafe. I have had so many great responses to questions I've posted. It also feels good when I am able to help out a fellow member.

They're best attribute in my opinion is the "cyber Shmooze" section. Here they have specific forums to better guide you in your startup and growth phases. Some are:

Start Up Stew

Biz Ideas

Working From Home

E-Commerce

Marketing Mix

And quite a few more. The people on this forum are real people with home and small based businesses and are eager and willing to take you into the fold and help in any way they can.

The also offer small business grants throughout the year. They grants are usually for $1,000 and the current grant is called the "Idea Cafe's Innovation and Originality Grant". You can also read about past winners and how they have put the grant money to use in their businesses.

You must be a member to ask or answer questions as well as to enter for the grants. It's easy and painless though.

So visit them over at Idea Cafe and start asking those questions you can't seem to find an answer for anywhere else.

Happy Business!

Why should I have a set schedule for my internet/home business?

Schedules are our friends. I admit that up until recently I hadn't thought about a schedule in terms of my company.

Like you, one of the main gripes I have about working a Mon - Fri for someone else is "set hours". I want to be free, free to work when I'm in the mood, so that my work will be at it's best, not when I'm groggy and the end result will suck, blah!

But what I've learned after taking a look back at the last year was that NOT having a schedule has been detrimental to my business. I believe it's one of the main reasons that I have not officially launched my site yet.

On the other hand, I am not saying that I (or you) should continue with a daily grind of 8 - 5 or 9 - 5 either.

You should take an honest look at your personality traits, daily errands, children's schedules (sports, dance etc) and come up with a plan to fit your lifestyle and not the other way around.

Personally I am NOT a morning person and do my best, most creative thinking after 5 pm. So it's natural for me to use my nocturnal hours for projects like writing, creating publicity and marketing plans and networking.

Day hours for emailing, editing and sending out press releases (releases that I create the evening before of course :)

So when I take all of the above into consideration, my schedule (and remember that I am still at my day job until I launch my site officially) looks like this:

Monday
Email Authors

Tuesday
Marketing
Answer Emails


Wednesday
Writing (articles and Blog entries – While dinner is cooking and 9 pm - 10 pm)


Thursday
Input Blog Entries and submit articles (lunch hour)
Marketing


Friday
Email authors
Family Nite

Saturday
10 am – 1 pm and 10 pm to 11 pm
Editing for the wonderful women of Duffie Books

Sunday
Writing 5 pm – 7 pm
Family Nite

I truly believe I will be a lot more productive this way, and I suggest you reign in your wild child and create a schedule as well :)

Happy Business to you all!

Should I spend money on a website designer for my new Business?

NO!

Well, unless you have buckets of cash to throw at your business, please don't make the same mistake I made. Now don't get me wrong, I like my site, I like it a lot actually. However it's been a money drain, it was $500 to get a designer to create it (though the process was fun!) and another total of almost $200 for the domain name and hosting for 2 years.

I was so excited after I made my decision to go into business for myself that I didn't do things in the proper order. I had no product for my site to sell, so really, it's been a pretty advertisement of nothingness. And it will continue to be just that until I find authors and publish their work.

So if you are starting your business on a shoe string budget, find a host that gives you pre-made choices for website designs and layouts. Choose one, you can then make it unique with your content and photos and products. Later on down the line should you decide to upgrade, feel free, but only if you can afford it.

I put the cart before the horse and I'm paying for it. Learn from my mistake, get everything else you need to have to launch your business in order BEFORE you create a website.

I will say this though, you should purchase your domain name as soon as possible, if it's available. Then wait on the site and hosting.

It's your best bet!

Good Luck All

Your call is important to us, Please continue to hold :)

Hey there everyone,

I'm back! So, what have I been doing for the last year or so? Attending to life. I was very excited to start on my own version of the American Dream last year, but family health and personal issues had to be addressed. And when I was blessed to catch my breath from all of that, well, I just lost my mojo, and have only just recently found it.

A publishing buddy of mine emailed me with a proposal. She started her own Press, Duffie Books and was swamped with all aspects of her small business. She invited me to come on board as their Editor and Marketing Manager. And I am just SO glad that I accepted, even though I had never done either before! Well, at least not professionally.

I have learned so much about the small publishing house business in this last month working with Theresa. And I am bound to learn more, I'm sure. I also realized that trying to simultaneously start two businesses was virtually impossible for me. I would say, if you are low on funds, don’t try to stretch those dollars to thin. I have decided to start my Publishing Company and focus all of my energy and available money on that.

As for Theresa, she knows that I have my own niche, hers is traveling the world for single women, and so we came to an agreement. I plan to go live with my website in 2009, probably Spring. I am also looking at how to connect my blog to my site, but being technologically disadvantaged, it's taking a while :)

Baby Steps

I am also looking at new formats and ideas for my blog. I'll be posting again soon.

So please be patient and try your call again later :)