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Your Home Business Should Have a Blog

With Twitter getting so much play these days, it isn’t surprising to find that some think that blogging is dead. However, your home business should probably still have a blog. Adam Singer, at The Future Buzz, points out that a blog can be very helpful to a small business. He reports the following numbers from Technorati’s annual report on what’s going on in the blogosphere, in terms of professionals who have blogs:

1. Those with blogs have 71% greater visibility in their industry.

2. 63% of businesses claim that clients purchases products and services after being drawn to the site by the blog.

3. More than half (56%) of small businesses say that their companies are considered thought leaders now that they have blogs.

4. 40% of business owners with blogs have been asked to speak at conferences.

One of the biggest advantages to having a blog for your home business — especially one that is frequently updated with useful and well-written content — is visibility. You are easier to find, and it provides you with a professional image, and with the reputation as an expert in your field. And you can use blogging as an effective communication tool. So, while business blogging may take an investment of time and even a little money, in the end, the dividends it pays can be pretty substantial.

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Work from Home Advantage: Setting My Own Schedule

by Miranda Marquit 2 Comments

One of the things that I love about freelancing as a lifestyle is that I get to set my own schedule. It is true that sometimes I have tight deadlines, and I’m not entirely who’s really the boss, but most of the time I am firmly in control of my schedule, and I have a pretty good idea of what has to be done, as well as what can wait. And that gives me a lot of advantages when it comes to scheduling. Some of the things that I get to do, since I work from home, include:

* Volunteer at my son’s school.

* Swim laps at the pool.

* Run errands at more convenient times.

* Take my son to piano lessons (and help him practice at home).

* Go out to lunch with my husband (who is a student and can set his own schedule as well).

* Be available to watch my niece in a pinch.

The ability to arrange my work from home schedule around my life helps me be more relaxed, generally less stressed and have a more fulfilling than I would otherwise have. However, it is important to keep all these other activities in check. Sometimes, I just have to strap in there and get my work done. After all, I wouldn’t be able to afford this freelance lifestyle if I never got anything done!

Are there some advantages you see in working from home?

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Friday Fun Video: How Does Banking Work?

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

Here is an interesting video about how banking works. While it’s not exactly whimsical, it is interesting, and reasonably well done. It does help illustrate how the banking system works. So, if you have 12 minutes and a desire to learn more about how banks work in society, enjoy.

Happy Friday!

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Home Office: Save Energy with a Laptop

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

: Image by _escalade328s_ via Flickr

Every year, I participate in Blog Action Day. It’s a program in which bloggers around the world unite and blog about the same cause. This year, the cause is climate change. When one talks about climate change, one also has to talk about energy consumption. One thing you can do in your home office to reduce your own energy consumption is to switch from a desktop computer to a laptop. You can still put your laptop on the desk, if you want, but having a laptop saves energy.

Most laptops are build with LCD displays that are already energy efficient. Additionally, everything about a laptop uses less energy than a desktop. So, instead of buying another desktop to replace your current machine, consider a laptop. Not only will you save energy, but you will also have a more portable home office workstation.

Other things you can do to save energy in your home office include:

* Using power strips that you can turn off at the end of the day.

* Looking for Energy Star appliances for your home office.

* Using lighting that is task-specific.

* If possible, use natural lighting instead of electrical lights.

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I Live in One of the Best Places to Start a Business

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

: Image via Wikipedia

CNN Money offers a look at the best places to start a business (hat tip for bringing this article to my attention: My Two Dollars), and my current place of residence, Logan, UT, made the cut. Pretty cool, eh? Logan is not a large city, so it ranks #14 amongst small cities to start a business. This really floored me. I began my freelancing career, in earnest, when my husband and I moved to Logan just after I completed my M.A. at Syracuse University. We’re here while he gets his Ph.D., but we like it well enough that we might stay. And, even though I don’t interact much with the surrounding community in a business sense, I can see where Logan might be an attractive place to start a business.

It is worth noting that you shouldn’t believe everything you read, though. We have Utah State University here, which puts more experiments in space than any other school, and is a first-rate engineering school. Sadly, the writer thought it was the University of Utah. An understandable mistake, I suppose, but perhaps some fact checking is in order?

At any rate, it was exciting to see Logan on the list. If you are looking for a place to start a business, you might want to view the full list and get an idea of good places to go.

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Freelancing as a Lifestyle

by Miranda Marquit 2 Comments

: Image by Earl – What I Saw 2.0 via Flickr

I was reading over at the Freelance Folder this morning, and saw a great post from Laura Spencer about freelancing as a career choice vs. freelancing as a lifestyle. When I first started freelancing, it was definitely a career choice. We needed me to make money while staying at home with my son, and while my husband started school. My home business was just a way to pay the bills.

Now, though, since I don’t have to do a lot of the crap work I did originally, and now that I am more experienced, it’s more of a lifestyle. I can set my own rates, and I can choose the freelance projects I take on, not to mention figure out a time frame for them. And this means that I can work it around my lifestyle. It also means that I am not tethered to one location. No matter where my husband gets a job when he finishes school, I will be able to continue freelance.

Here are some of the things that Laura says about freelancing as a lifestyle:

1. You save money.

2. You can be there for friends and family as needed.

3. You can run errands during off-hours, providing a more relaxing experience.

4. You have a mobile lifestyle. You can work from anywhere — even the local park or coffeeshop.

5. You have creative control over your work and your life.

These are all things that make freelancing particularly appealing. And, after living this lifestyle, I could never go back to one that involves a traditional job.

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Cash Crate Can Help You MAke a Little Extra Money

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

When you work from home, you often look for ways to make a little extra money. These types of activities are generally things that you can do in your spare time, when things are slow, and you don’t have a lot of clients to take care of. It is important, though, to watch out for scams. One of the sites that provides you with money for filling out offers, and for providing referrals, is Cash Crate.

Cash Crate

I have not actually used Cash Crate. However, someone I admire and trust in the online world, Peter from Bible Money Matters, has been using it for a little over a year. He hasn’t made a ton, but he has made $1,744.83 over the course of a year. Which isn’t bad. That’s pretty good, for making a little extra money online.

He does caution against filling out all the credit card applications available, and being discriminating so that you are only filling out the free offers, and not signing up for monthly services and what not. It doesn’t sound like a bad way to make a little extra cash in your down time. And if you put a badge for referrals on your home business blog (if you do advertising), you might find that you can bring in a little extra.

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Friday Fun Video: Save Money on Geico with Speed Racer

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

I couldn’t resist this Geico commercial featuring Speed Racer. Classic stuff. Hat tip goes to Geek Culture for its awesome list of sci-fi character sell-outs.

Happy Friday!

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Networking Isn’t Always About the Sale

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

: Image by Aidan Jones via Flickr

One of the things that can be difficult to grasp as you head out to market your home business is that networking isn’t always about the sale. Whether you are using social networking online, or whether you are doing a meet and greet at the local Chamber of Commerce or whether you are attending a conference, networking may not always mean that you get a sale immediately.

Over at Sparkplugging, Susan Payton points out that always trying to pitch your new contacts put you on the fast-track to rejection. This is because you go to a conference or some other networking event (even online) to meet people. You don’t go to sell your stuff. Networking is about building connections; it’s not really about the sale.

Effective networking means that you meet people, make connections and let them know you are out there. Exchange business cards. Make small talk. Tell them what you do. But lay off on the sales pitches unless someone actually asks for one. In the end, if you establish a relationship with someone, the networking experience was a success. You may not get a sale until far down the road, or not at all, but at least the people you meet are aware of who you are, and what you do.

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Effective Communication for Your Home Business

by Miranda Marquit 3 Comments

When you are starting a home business, it is important that you understand the keys to effective communication. Whether you plan to blog, advertise in the newspaper or use some other type of marketing medium, you need to understand how to communicate effectively.

To this end, Problogger offers the three principles of effective communication. These are:

1. Provide a message.

2. Make your audience care about the message.

3. Provide a way for the audience to remember the message.

No matter what setting you are in, these three principles apply. Your personal life can even benefit from the application of these communication principles. And, of course, your home business will benefit immensely if you can get people to hear, care about and remember your message.

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