I’m all about saving time and making the most of every minute but at some point, enough is enough. Some days, especially after a tough week, there’s nothing wrong with wasting time.  In fact I encourage it.

If you’re an obsessed entrepreneur—I include myself in this group—you’re going to make up the wasted time at night or over the weekend anyway, so cut loose. Here are four great ways to waste time (electronically):

• Create an Avatar of yourself. My younger son created an animated version of me through the South Park website. He gave me sunglasses—he thought they made me look cool—and an interesting outfit. For those of you who know me, the top half is purely wishful thinking on my part!
  Continue reading It’s fine to waste time while working naked

Google the words “legitimate work from home jobs” and you’ll find around 4 million listings. Some of the listings truly are legitimate but others are clearly scams. Sara Sutton Fell’s business, FlexJobs, is one of the exceptions. FlexJobs offers legitimate work from home jobs—every company is screened carefully before any of its jobs are posted—that can be done from home.

FlexJobs has had to overcome a few misconceptions (I admit I had a few doubts), thanks to less-than-honest scam artists out there who are ready to cheat anyone. Fell offers a few questions to make it easier to tell whether an online placement company is legitimate or not.
Continue reading Online jobs…safe or scam?

For the past few months I’ve been researching online payment systems for this site. The many articles I read gave me insight into what to look for and the costs involved.  While the articles were helpful, I turned to a few friends and colleagues to get their two cents about the checkout systems they use.

“For a new small business, there are a few tried and true online payment portals that people trust and are relatively easy to set up. PayPal and Google Checkout being the most obvious. Authorize.net is another relatively popular (and trusted by buyers) payment processor. CNet and Authorize.net have both published  comparisons.”

—Mika Lofton, MarComm 3.0
Continue reading E-commerce makes cents…dollars too

Guest post by Dave Yankowiak

As a web developer, I’m often asked how much it costs to build a website. If you want a simple and generic website that doesn’t do much, it can be relatively cheap. If you want something custom with beautiful design and interactive features that will really appeal to your site’s visitors, it gets a bit more expensive. Here are a few tips to set expectations up front and get exactly the website you want.

Share Examples of Sites You Like. One of the best ways for a developer to get a feel for your tastes is to show him or her a few sample websites. Discuss what you like/dislike about each example, evaluating elements such as fonts, colors, layout, graphics, functionality, sections, navigation, and content.
Continue reading You CAN get the website you want

What did we do before e-mail, voice mail and the Internet? How did we get anything done in record time? It’s easy to take technology for granted (until you lose power in a snowstorm) but consider how tech tools have changed the way we work from home.

1. Computers. Computers have come a long way from cabinet-sized hard drives to small laptops. From storing information electronically to keeping us on budget and on time, computers are invaluable for running a homebased business.

2. Handhelds. You say Blackberry and I say iPhone. Either way the Internet, contact information, to-do lists and anything else we need to function every day is in the palm of our hands.
Continue reading Are you taking technology for granted?