2009 December

Predicting Small Business Trends For 2010

December 30, 2009 By Lisa

#233-Trends Wouldn’t it be nice to have a crystal ball to tell you what trends you’ll see in 2010? I’ve found the next best thing…the article “Top 10 Trends in Small Business for 2010.” In his article, USA Today columnist Steven D. Strauss shares his predictions for the coming year. He notes that his top trend of this year, the economy, was right on the mark. Maybe he has a crystal ball after all.

A few of the small business trends Strauss foresees are:

1) The New Frugality…the upshot is that people are spending less, saving more, and are looking for bargains. In other words, cheap is good (for the consumer) while at the same time a challenge for any small business owner.

2) Welcome the Era of Hyper-Connectivity… the accelerating trend is towards using a variety of tools to create an e-interconnectedness. Cool. Now your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and other online social media tools will need to play well together. Enter an update in Facebook and the rest will post the same update.

Filed Under: Working at home Tagged With: Small business trends, Steven D. Strauss

New Year, New Home Office

December 29, 2009 By Lisa

The new year is just around the corner and you know what that means: it’s time to make resolutions, evaluate your goals for the new year and more importantly, get organized. Start your quest for an organized new year with a few tips. #231-New year

Consider whether your home office still inspires you to work. Whether you’ve had a home office for many years or you’re ready to set up a home office for the first time, start by asking yourself a few questions: Is there enough light? Are there enough outlets? Is your home office in a high-traffic area or is it too isolated to let you accomplish anything? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office organizing, Working at home Tagged With: Home office organizing, New year, Working at home

Is Green the New Black?

December 28, 2009 By Lisa

We all know it’s politically correct to make your home office green and save energy. But how easy is it to do that? If you change only a few things in your home office, you can go green, save energy and save dollars, which makes sense.

1. Replace incandescent bulbs (lamps) with compact fluorescents. Those spirals look strange in fixtures but now you can get lamps that resemble what we’re all used to buying and they’re compact fluorescent. They’re more expensive than the traditional lamps but they last longer and save energy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office design, Working at home Tagged With: Going green, Home office design

Entrepreneurial Advice: Don’t Do It!

December 23, 2009 By Lisa

#229-Entrep-what not do When it comes to business, so many of us focus on what we should be doing that we forget to think about what we should avoid doing. In the article “A Dozen Don’ts for Entrepreneurs,” Guy Kawasaki points out 12 things that we as entrepreneurs shouldn’t do. A few of what he calls “duhisms” are:

Don’t worry, be crappy. Perfectionism, first of all, is an illusion. When your product is good enough (but not perfect ), ship it, and see what happens. It’s so easy to get caught up in doing everything the right way that you wind up doing nothing. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Working at home, Working with clients Tagged With: Guy Kawasaki, Home Office Tips

If You’re Happy Do You Know It?

December 22, 2009 By Lisa

#228-Happiness ‘Tis the season to be jolly with peace on earth and good will toward men (women too). Really? Then why do I keep running into cranky people at the mall, post office and the airport? Maybe what they need is a big dose of happiness. Without sounding too cute and kitten-ish, when’s the last time you thought about being happy?

I just read the article “9 Secrets of Truly Happy People” which made me stop, think, and best of all smile. In her article, personal trainer Kat Eden reflects on the secrets she’s learned from the happy people she’s met (obviously at none of the places I’ve mentioned). I’ve simplified her list for this post but her article is worth checking out. Eden describes happy people this way: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life Tagged With: Happiness, Kat Eden

Marketing Tips For 2010

December 18, 2009 By Lisa

There's more than one way to market your business.

Marketing a small business used to be easy with you consider there were only a few ways to spread the word about your business. The Internet and the explosion of social media have changed everything and have opened up other opportunities.

In a recent post, marketing strategist Ivana Taylor shares her “10 Must-Do Marketing Tips for 2010.” Her tips are easy to follow and if implemented the right way, could truly impact your business.

Build and Combine Lists: You probably have some kind of customer list (or three) lying around. This is the year to combine these names into a single customer list. I like her idea of using a basic spreadsheet and then grouping customers into segments and categories. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Making money from home, Working at home Tagged With: home office marketing, Home Office Tips, Ivana Taylor, Working at home

Pump Up Your Blogging

December 17, 2009 By Lisa

Typing is easy. Knowing what to write...not so much.

I often compare writing a blog that no one reads to having a party no one comes to. Just as you can plan an awesome party with no guarantee anyone will show up, you can write what you think your readers want with no guarantee anyone will visit your site.

Today I ran across a blog named Copyblogger, the party planner of blogging. The site offer tips that will make your readers hunger for more. Some of the tastier nuggets of info were in their articles: “The 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging,” “The #1 Conversation Killer in Your Copy” and “10 Effective Ways to Get More Blog Subscribers.” Copyblogger is filled with useful blogging tips and great examples of what works and what doesn’t work in the blogosphere.

The site follows its own recommendation that if you offer valuable information, you’ll bring readers back. I’m coming back right after I plan my next party. I hope everyone shows up.

Filed Under: Working at home Tagged With: Blogging, copyblogger

Finding The Right Work From Home Job or Business

December 16, 2009 By Lisa

Google “work from home jobs” and you’ll find page after page of jobs you can do from home. But how many of them are legitimate? (Hint: stuffing envelopes isn’t a real job.) The+WAHM+Guide+Logos A new site, the WAHM Guide, provides business resources, tools, and tips for finding a job you can do from home or a homebased business you can start. The site also includes scams to watch out for, weekly home job leads, free business training and more.

Think of the WAHM Guide as a (virtual) group of people sitting around, helping you find the right work from home job or business, minus the envelopes.

Filed Under: Making money from home, Working at home Tagged With: Home office, WAHM guide, Working at home

Take a Close Look at Your Site

December 15, 2009 By Lisa

It’s easy to criticize someone else’s site. Taking a close, honest look at your own site is much harder. In social media pro Chris Brogan’s blog post “Revisit Your Site Carefully,” Brogan analyzes what’s wrong with his site, what his site should be doing and what he should be doing. What he discovered could be applied to anyone’s site.

He has a high bounce rate (people don’t spend much time on his site). Have you analyzed your site to find out how long visitors are staying?

His calls to action are too plentiful. You can push people but there’s a point where you can go too far. Are you being too pushy?

Check out Brogan’s post to find out how he fixed these problems and a few others. His post has convinced me that I need to analyze my own blog. Stay tuned for a few changes coming up.

Filed Under: Working at home Tagged With: Chris Brogan

Lights…Camera…Web Video!

December 14, 2009 By Lisa

#222-VideoJantsch Last week I taped my first video for Working Naked. My younger son cringed as he watched it, then he told me it wasn’t funny. He was right.

Thanks to marketing guru John Jantch’s post “Creating and Using Web Video Never Easier” there’s hope for me and the new round of videos I’m taping this week. In his detailed post, Jantsch shares reasons for taping videos (more sites are using them). He also includes tips for capturing, editing and distributing videos. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Home office technology, Working at home Tagged With: John Jantsch