When it comes to a blog, looks aren’t everything. You have to keep your readers interested, make it simple to navigate your site and have a professional look. Easy, right? Not so much. The Social Media Examiner post “7 Essential Design Elements for Great Business Blogs” breaks the process down into seven things you should include in your blog to grab your readers from the beginning:

• Graphic header with name of blog, tag line and author name

• Email subscribe form

• About page with photo

• A variety of media: text, video, audio

• Plenty of white space to make it easy to read

• Links to share your content

• Links for readers to connect on your social networking sites

The post includes a short video showing blogs that use these elements. It’s worth checking out.

For the past year the old saying “the shoemaker’s kids have no shoes” has hit close to home or rather my home office. Instead of doing anything to improve the look of my work space, I’ve been busy designing clients’ home offices and writing about working from home.

I’m proud to say that my new home office rocks.  I love it! Here’s a condensed play-by-play of my home office transformation from ugly to awesome:

• I started with a cushy, wool rug in black, tan and red. It’s a good idea to start from the ground up. Paint and furniture are easy to find. Finding the right rug in the colors you like and within your budget can be more challenging. The rug fits the overall look of my home so if I ever get tired of it, I can put it in another room.
  Continue reading All dressed up: awesome office

It’s easier to keep doing the same thing every day than to take risks.  But how far will that get you? The saying, “Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result” makes sense and can keep you from making money.

You don’t have to be crazy to take risks (although sometimes it helps). Before you get back into the same routine today, consider these questions:

Have you thought of a way to expand your product or services? Listen to your customers and clients. My first business was strictly home organizing.  After I started hearing from people who work from home, the light bulb went off, I ditched home organizing and switched to home office services.  It was a risk because I’d spent so many years establishing myself in the organizing field. I’ve never looked back.
Continue reading Are you willing to take business risks?

You’re in the shower and an amazing idea pops into your head or like me, your best ideas come around 3 a.m. and you scramble to write them down.  (Unlike me, I hope you can read your handwriting in the morning.)  In a recent post, marketing genius Seth Godin shares his “Random rules for ideas worth spreading.” A few of his top rules are:

• Don’t poll your friends. It’s your art, not an election. When friends give you advice, you get what you pay for.

• Spamming strangers doesn’t work. Spamming friends doesn’t work so well either, but it’s certainly better than spamming strangers. How about not spamming anyone and then we can all be happy.
  Continue reading Start spreading your ideas

Happy Working Naked Day! If you’re one of the 32 million home office pros working without the support of the corporate workplace, you’re working naked. Who knew? It’s OK to blush.

Today’s the day to strip away your anxieties about doing it all by yourself.  Let the celebration begin with these five tips:

If you touch a piece of paper more than three times, you’re playing with it. Stop wasting time shuffling through papers you’re keeping “just in case” by asking yourself a few questions:

• Will I ever refer to this paper again?
• Will it be impossible to replace this paper if I ever need it?
• Would tossing this paper jeopardize my job or business?

If you answered no to these questions, toss the paper.  Better yet, recycle it.
Continue reading It’s Working Naked Day. Strip down and get to work!