May 9th, 2008
HomeBizNotes.com
Many home business owners contribute to worthy causes and develop projects to raise funds. Katelyn at Stamping Mad is initiating Giving Back - A Call for Alzheimer’s Related Art, at her blog. You can become involved by contributing your art for a zine to raise runds for Alzheimer’s research.
I was thinking to do something a bit different [from last year]. I want to create a zine (a type of magazine) called “A Portrait of Alzheimer’s” and am looking for people to make art that fits this theme to include in the zine. Since you can just take a good, high resolution photo for me instead of sending in original art, it should be less costly for everyone to do. Of course, all net proceeds from zine sales will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Foundation at Alz.org.
Check out the link above and read all the details at Stamping Mad.
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen
Tags: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's Foundation, fund raising, home-business, home-business-owners, Stamping MadShare This
By Mary Emma Allen -- 0 comments
May 8th, 2008
HomeBizNotes.com
Working at home with children is a test of anyone’s home business smarts… productivity, balance, space, time etc.
Genesis of the At Home Mom Blog knows this first hand. She runs a successful writing business from home, and offers some useful tips. Moms are the ultimate multi taskers, right?
These tips can be used by all work from home moms, not just writers.
Here’s a taste, but head on over to At Home Mom Blog for more on each of Genesis’s practical productivity tips. Her tips are especially valuable, as they are the voice of experience from a successful home business owner.
- Touch things just once
- Clean up at night
- Finish the yucky stuff first
- Multi task efficiently
- Find your best working hours
At Home Mom Blog - A Valuable Resource
Are you a work at home mom? What productivity tips do you have?
© Productivity Image courtesy of Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business.com
Tags: , at home mom blog, multi tasking, ProductivityShare This
By Yvonne Russell -- 3 comments
May 7th, 2008
HomeBizNotes.com
Were there favorite family foods of your childhood, foods your mom, grandmother, and other family members prepared and served? Do you have or use these recipes?
Then consider doing this for others and getting paid.
Why not collect them into a recipe book or scrapbook for your use and to pass along as a family legacy? Here are a variety of ideas for collecting and assemblying recipes for collection.
- These can be collected on 3 x 5 cards and put into a file.
- There are special recipe books you can purchase for acquiring family recipes.
- Have family members also write down memories associated with the recipe and add this to a recipe book.
- Collect pictures associated with special occasions when these recipes are served.
- Put the recipes on a computer disk that the bride can put on her computer and print off as she desires.
What have you done with recipes? Any other ideas or suggestions?
©2008 Mary Emma Allen
Tags: cookbook business, family recipes, home-+-business-+-ideas, home-business, recipesShare This
By Mary Emma Allen -- 1 comment
May 6th, 2008
HomeBizNotes.com
How long have you been in home business?
We’d love you to fill out our poll (see right sidebar under the archives). This information helps us get to know you and tailor our information, book reviews, guest posts and interviews to suit.
We’re also keen to hear any suggestions, requests, questions you may have to make the information here at Home Biz Notes more meaningful and useful for you.
Drop us a line by email (contact details in the sidebar), or leave a comment on this post.
© Image courtesy of Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business.com
Share This
By Yvonne Russell -- 0 comments
May 6th, 2008
Share the pain… We run a successful series called Home Biz Myth Busted which is a lot of fun. As fellow home biz owners we can all identify with situations which non home business people just don’t seem to “get”.
It’s time for some more home biz therapy and maybe you can help someone else in the process. What Do You Wish You’d Known About Home Business Before You Started?
While many of our readers are seasoned home business professionals, some of our readers are people still exploring the idea of a home business.
For me, the thing I didn’t fully realize was the isolation of being home alone most of the time. The very nature of a corporate workplace imposes an order, a structure and interaction with colleagues.
I think this is why so many work at home moms and home business owners find the internet offers connection “to the outside”, so to speak.
Over To You
- What Do You Wish You’d Known About Home Business Before You Started?
- What Tips Do You Have For New Home Business Owners?
Send up your tip. Contact details are in the sidebar to the right.
© Image courtesy of Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business.com
Tags: , home biz tips, home-business, work at home momsShare This
By Yvonne Russell -- 0 comments
May 5th, 2008
HomeBizNotes.com
Susan Gunelius, a work at home mom, blogging at Women On Business, asks the question, Why don’t more companies hire stay-at-home moms as consultants, freelancers or as telecommuting employees?
She has an interesting post on this topic, Tapping into the Experience of Stay-at-Home Moms at Women on Business.
Are you a stay-at-home mom? Are you considering staying at home with your children as Susan does with her triplets? Some moms develop their own at-home business. Others would like to work for a corporation from their home. Still others consider being a home based consultant, working on contract to a larger corporation.
What’s your take on this? Either as a stay-at-home mom or a corporation who hires them.
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen
Tags: contract worker, home biz, home business consultant, home-business, self-employed, Susan Gunelius, wahm, WAHMS, Women on Business, working from homeShare This
By Mary Emma Allen -- 2 comments
May 5th, 2008
HomeBizNotes.com
Carolyn Howard-Johnson visited Home Biz Notes awhile ago with Tips To Spark Your Media Releases. Since then she’s mentioned additional information that might help you with promoting your business, whether it’s connected to the world of writing (Carolyn is an author and expert on book marketing) or something else.
Mary Emma, how nice of you to share good media release tips with your home business readers. It’s funny how publicity and promotion for businesses of all kinds is both very alike and very different. The essentials are the same basically.
Have a great product, a great service. Let people know the benefits AND how they might lose out if they don’t utilize what you have to offer. And you have to do that frequently and over a long period of time.
Then it is your job to adapt the ideas to your business and that’s the fun, creative part.
In keeping with our theme for may, Carolyn is a mom and basically works from home although she teaches workshops and promotes her books throughout the country. She is the author of The Frugal Book Promoter, The Frugal Editor, and the Great First Impression Book Proposal. Carolyn also edits Sharing with Writers,” a newsletter that is also a community.” To subscribe send her an e-mail at HoJoNews@aol.com .
(c)2008
Tags: business promotion, Carolyn Howard-Johnson, home-business, writers, writing businessShare This
By Mary Emma Allen -- 0 comments
May 4th, 2008
By Jennifer Gniadecki
If you look for time management online, you’ll find more resources than you can shake a stick at. This is a good thing, because time management is a very individual undertaking, and people have different needs for a system. One type of time management that I have not found is the ebb and flow of normal life. It seems that most, if not all, time management systems want you to control time, and box it up, and make it into something that time does not naturally want to be.
With a time management system that lets the demands of your life control what you do next, it may sound silly to think you’re managing anything. It might even seem that you’re giving up time management altogether. I promise you’re not.
This has been the only system that has worked for my family. Far better than Franklin Covey planners and meticulous lists that go from A-1 to E-10 in order of importance and secondary importance. In my opinion, a time management system should never take more time to manage and figure out than your normal daily activities. The harder your system is to learn, the less likely you will use it.
My home office time management plan consists of these questions:
1. What am I working on today?
2. Is a child bugging me?
3. Is it important?
4. Have I played with the kids in a while?
5. Are they hungry?
6. Do they just want a quick chat and then they’ll be on their way?
7. Is it diaper changing time?
8. What’s my deadline?
That pretty much covers when I take care of the children vs. when I work. It has been a lifesaver, because I never knew how to add my toddlers’ needs to a Franklin Covey binder and as a result they were not on there. They still interrupted me umpteen times a day, refusing to understand that we had migrated to the Franklin Covey way of life and they needed to respect that. Not sure what they didn’t get…I mean…Franklin Covey is super simple, right? *laugh*
If you find you’re playing with the kids too much and not getting your work done, add a question that says “Do you really, really, really need to get some work done? If so, please work on that.” Yes, you can (and should) say please and thank you to yourself. You say it to strangers - why not you?
Are you getting all your work done but your kids are destroying your home? You probably aren’t giving them enough of your time. They don’t need a lot, but if you give a lot they’ll take every ounce they can. I don’t mean this in a bad way, I love playing with my kids, but they are very absorbent and will take whatever time is there to be had, because they love you and want to be with you. So try to have one part of the day where you have quiet time together and another part of the day where you play and get loud with your children.
Don’t have kids? Replace kids with dogs, cats, housework, and anything else you need to. Write it on a post it note and keep it on your monitor so you’ll look at it. Soon, it will become a habit and you won’t even need to consciously think of the questions - the magic will happen automatically and viola, you have an effective and simple time management system.
Your home office, your deadlines, and your plans and lists will thank you.
Jennifer Gniadecki is the author of Non Toxic Networking: From Poisonous To Popular. Find out more or purchase the book from Jennifer’s site as an ebook and coming soon in a hard copy format.
© Book and author bio photos courtesy of Jennifer Gniadecki and Non Toxic Networking.
© Guest Post Button Image courtesy of Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business.com
Tags: , Jennifer Gniadecki, non toxic networkingShare This
By Yvonne Russell -- 2 comments
May 3rd, 2008
By Jean Murray
Jeffrey Landers has written a book titled The Home Office from Hell Cure (Entrepreneur Press). He writes about two kinds of entrepreneurs – the Growth Maven and the Lifestyle Guru. This book was a huge revelation to me.
When I first envisioned my home business, I imagined myself a Growth Maven. I had big ideas about “passive income” and making lots of money sitting around waiting for the checks to come in. I planned out a huge empire which would eventually grow from my home office to a 20,000 square foot facility with 10 employees and lots of books being sold and my own personal assistant to book my public speaking engagements. Big dreams.
Now, I’m more of a Lifestyle Guru. I have discovered that I want a life and balance. I want to be able to spend time with my grandchildren, and I enjoy talking with my daughter. I also want to have time to travel with my husband. And I want time to indulge in my passion for quilting.
Sure I want money, but I don’t want to work so hard making a living that I forget to make a life. We have both worked hard all our lives and we want to enjoy ourselves.
You can find a brief excerpt from the book at MSNBC.com . The excerpt also has a quiz so you can see what kind you are.
So, which kind are you – Growth Maven or Lifestyle Guru?
Jean Murray is a b5 blogger at Small Business Boomers. She also blogs at The Thriving Writer where there are more tips for freelancers. Find out more about Jean.
© Image courtesy of Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business.com
Tags: , growth maven, home office from hell cure, home-business, Jean Murray, lifestyle guruShare This
By Yvonne Russell -- 2 comments
May 2nd, 2008
HomeBizNotes.com
Freelance writing and blogging are two areas that lend themselves to a home based business.
As it’s Work At Home Moms month here at Home Biz Notes, here’s a roundup of some great sites run by work at home moms who write from home either as freelance writers or as part of other home business ventures.
Just A Few To Get Us Started…
- Start Up Spark - Shannon Cherry offers great advice for “sparking startups with advice, inspiration and a bit of craziness… ” Shannon is a PR professional with lots to offer fellow small business owners.
- Work From Home Momma - Practical business advice for WAHMS from Laura Spencer
- Writers Notes - Jeanne Dininni’s blog is chock full of writing and blogging tips and resources
- At Home Mom Blog - Genesis is a work at home mom freelance writer. She shares her process and progress with things such as searching for a virtual assistant - lots of useful and interesting tips here.
- Jan Ferrante is the self titled Queen of Kaos. The slogan for her home business site is “WAHM! I never saw it coming”.
What are your favorite work at home mom blogs for
- writing?
- business?
- time out to relax?
Tags: , work at home mom, work at home mom blogs, work at home mom writersShare This
By Yvonne Russell -- 0 comments
Recent Comments