Home Business Blog
I have received some excellent reader requests lately. I appreciate when you guys let me know what you are looking for. It makes content creation for The Work at Home Wife much easier. I know exactly what you need, and I can get to work providing it.
To make it a little easier for those on the shy-side, here is a quick and easy survey to share your needs and interests. I thank you for your feedback and continued support.
Sylvia Rosen is an online writer who enjoys writing articles about how business professionals can improve their business and work life. Whether it’s purchasing tips on how to find the best alarm systems or coverage on latest technology trends, Sylvia enjoys writing about it.
Working at home sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? But make no mistake that telecommuting from home or running your own home business requires even more discipline, determination, and perseverance than sitting in your cubicle day after day.
You have to be a self-starter, a person who is willing to motivate and inspire yourself to work harder than you would with a boss breathing down your neck. But before you begin your first day in your home office, you can set yourself up for success with these important tips to transform your home office space into a successful business environment.
Telecom Setup
The very first order of business to create a quality home office is to set up a reliable telecom system. The business phone system that you choose will determine how well you communicate with the outside world, especially with potential clients. At the very least, it is important to have a professional phone system with a recorded message.
If you have multiple clients that you are catering to, you may want to consider a phone system with more features, such as a phone tree dialing system that provides clients with specific information they may need over the phone. Other forms of telecommunication, like chat and Skype, can be integrated to your liking, depending upon how you communicate with clients and your employer.
Home Security System
Just like in your regular office, it’s essential to make sure that all of your business documents are safely secured and protected from damage. One of the best ways to do so is to install a home office security system that will allow you to monitor your workspace while you are away.
And, as always, make sure that you install the proper protective software on your computer and backup your files regularly so that you never risk losing important, irreplaceable information.
Office Décor
This may seem like an afterthought, but it’s helpful to set up your home office very similarly to your traditional office if you want to stay organized and on task. You absolutely must have a filing cabinet, printer, fax machine, phone, and any other business items that you regularly use on a day-to-day basis. Take the time to invest in a high-quality computer, desk, and comfortable chair since this is where you will spend the majority of your time each week.
In addition, consider the location of your home office carefully. Since you’re going to spend up to eight hours a day there, you want a comfortable, bright, quiet place where you can concentrate while you work. Make sure that any family members at home understand that your office must be respected so that you can minimize distractions. In the event that clients will be stopping by your home, make sure that you have an impressive meeting area with a desk, coffee table, and chairs to discuss projects.
Creating a professional office environment for your home office is important to fueling your productivity. Having the right office equipment, security and décor is the first step to creating your successful home-based business.
I’m getting a late blog start this week already. But, that usually means I’m super busy with work. Work is always good! Let’s see what is in the goodie bag since the last round-up of best blog posts from around the web.
Blog Topics
81 Topics Ideas for Starting a Blog that Matters – Have you been following ThinkTraffic’s Million Dollar Blog Challenge? It’s a great little project focused around how most of us are building blogs these days – as authority sites vs. niche sites. The topic of their project site was chosen from among reader-submitted ideas. The ideas in this post were the leftovers. There are some great topics in here for starting your next blog (or mine).
Social Survival for Bloggers: a Peek from the Inside - Have you ever been confused about what you can and cannot submit to individual bookmarking sites? This guest poster on Problogger tried to shed a little insight into what is acceptable in terms of topics and self-promotion.
AdSense Publisher Toolbar - You know I love this new toolbar from Google. We are getting closer and closer to one-stop stat checking.
vebtools is a great little link-up of SEO tools that every webmaster may need at some point in time.
Drop My Link - Where to find related sites with KeywordLuv, CommentLuv, DoFollow, or any number of other criteria for building backlinks through commenting is still highly sought-after information. This little search engine makes finding those applicable blogs much easier.
Business Posts
I Want to Have an Online Used Baby Products Marketplace - Online marketplaces are hot now, regardless of what they are selling. 1099 Mom tracked down the owner of reCrib for an interview on what it takes to run this type of site.
How to Create an Online Writing Portfolio with Contently - If you are a freelance writer, Kristi Hines has reviewed a new site called Contently that may come in handy.
Your turn. What great blog posts have you read lately? Speaking of great reads, please share which bloggers you are following lately for marketing and monetizing advice. Any great up-to-date info products available at the moment?
This post brought to you by Contest Factory. All opinions are 100% mine.
Are you drowning in an unorganized mess? Is your PC fighting for every breath? You are business owner. We can’t have you working under those conditions.
Pimp My Cube Contestis looking for the worst excuse for an office ever. Well, it doesn’t need to be that bad. And, I hope yours isn’t. 
But if you are working in an out-of-date space that is killing your productivity, you can enter the Pimp My Cube Contest.
The Prize (value approx. $1200):
How to Enter:
Winner Selection:
The contest period is 12/5/11 to 1/31/12 at 12:00 PM.
Please visit Pimp My Cube Contest more details, rules and to enter your home office to win a makeover.
So much to cover, yet so little time this week! I have some interesting finds this week. Interesting to me, at least.
8 Predictions You Need to Know for 2012: SEO Moz gives us a little rundown of how their 2011 predictions turned out and what they foresee in the future.
Everything You Need to Know About Pinterest: I think Pinterest is on the verge of blowing up this year. Whether it will explode or implode is yet to be seen. Everyone seems to be getting nervous about how they can leverage this network. This can mean trouble for a budding community. If brands, businesses and bloggers start pumping it full of self-promoting link spam, things won’t turn out well for anyone. I have decided to play super nice on Pinterest and keep my self-promoting to my profile bio.
Do “Top Blogger Lists” Really Mean Anything at All?: This is such an important post if you get bummed out every time your blog, business, etc. isn’t on the latest list. The Work at Home Wife got some crazy, unexpected promotion last year. I even had a post that was discussed on a nationally syndicated radio show. Guess what? I still had to get up and blog the next day. I’m still blogging right now. My traffic went through the roof for a while, but my bank account didn’t. If fame and feeding your ego are your ultimate goals, these lists may be important. But, you are constantly going to be chasing the next big list. Stick to your real goals. It is far less work.
Let Tory Feature Your Business: Do you have a “rockstar product?” Can you offer a “WOW” deal? Tory Johnson features cool items each week on GMA’s Secret Steals. This isn’t just for the big guys. If your product is available for purchasing online and you can have thousands on-hand for steal shoppers, she may just talk about your little biz.
Google Penalizes Itself: It’s a good day when the rule maker admits publicly to breaking the rules, isn’t it? It’s an even better day when they punish themselves as they would any of us. I have talked about nofollow links with sponsored posts before. Well, someone saw Google doing sponsored posts for Chrome. Someone tracked down bloggers that didn’t nofollow those links. Google got called out and now they have to take their spanking publicly. They are dropping Chrome down in the search ranks to show they are not above the laws they create. Protect yourself. Protect your sponsors.
That’s it for today! Share in the comments anything you found that I need to read and/or your opinions on the above. Here are the posts on The Work at Home Wife this week in case you missed them:
SOPA and the Online Entrepreneur - I received an email from these folks yesterday stating we had TWO Senators fighting this bill right now. We need 47 to get it stopped on January 24th. Help spread the word.
Did you see this on the news this week? Sitting down makes your backside bigger. We can now use the following excuse, “I have a desk job. Weight gain is not my fault.”
Tel Aviv University recently did research and found that people that sit for long periods of time, like at a desk, put pressure on these little things called preadipocyte cells. These cells stretch under pressure. Once these cells reach maturity, they have 50% more fat than normal cells. 50%! Yikes! Even with diet and exercise you may still fall victim to “secretary spread.” If you forego the diet and exercise, things will get even worse.
What is a work at home girl to do? This chair is where I spend the majority of my time. The news program did provide a little peek into what some “healthy workplaces” are doing. I think it is a great idea. It is also something that us folks that own our workplaces and get to make all of the decisions can incorporate. I have already made my revised wishlist known to the necessary parties.
This is now what I want for Christmas. You may have saw my sad little list before. There was not much on it. I consider myself a rather simple gal. But, now I’m going big. This is what I want, Santa. Heck! I don’t *want* this. I *need* this!
Do you want one? Do you think you could walk and work?
It’s the end of the year. It’s the holidays. I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Some of those things wouldn’t have been possible without my blog readers. So, it is time to take a moment to give back. It is your turn to get a little free publicity and get a blog post knocked out at the same time.
How to Play:
1. Head over to your blog, and write up a post of things you need or want for your home business this holiday season. Stay realistic, or get plain crazy. It’s your wishlist. If you know you would be far more productive if you moved your home office lakeside, it’s your wishlist. If all that you really want is 30 minutes of peace and quiet to actually get something done, I certainly understand that too. Tell me what you want.
2. Head back over here once your post is published and drop your link.
3. Feel free to visit some of the other links and get to know a few new people. This is a great time to network and find a few new blogs.
This is a great opportunity for a little free publicity, to meet new people and maybe get a few things off your chest. If needed, you are welcome to grab the little button code above to insert into your post. (If you have any issues getting it to show up correctly, just try to retype the quotes. Sometimes those get screwy.)
Now, what I want for my home business this holiday:
1. I would like someone to put hundreds of dollars into my Fivers World account. I stumbled upon a great writer over there, and I could seriously have her writing all day long if I had unlimited funds available. I see Fiverr has gift cards available now. I haven’t seen this at Fivers World. Even if I did, I’m not sure that anyone that buys me gifts would know what the heck I was talking about.
2. I need a new laptop…still. This was on last year’s list also. But, I’m *way* too cheap to buy one considering I just had to buy a new desktop a few months back. I will continue to suffer.
3. Santa really needs to hook up my new router that I purchased Thanksgiving Day while he is visiting. I put it back in the box after tech support tried to tell me that it wouldn’t work because I must not have internet service in the first place. (I wonder how I am blogging right now…) AND, he tried to yell louder than me when I told him otherwise in a not-so-soft voice. THEN, he had the nerve to try to call me back after I got so frustrated that I hung up. Can you believe that? The magic fairies, Santa, trolls, somebody is going to have to take care of that. I can’t deal with it again. 
Okay. Your turn! Go write up your wishlist and come back to drop the link in the linky tool. I will leave this open until Wednesday, December 7. I can’t wait!
Drop Your Links Here:
I love November and December. My four year anniversary of working at home was this month. There’s the holidays. My birthday is in a few weeks. I get to spend time with my family, which I don’t get to do often enough. This time of year makes my heart swell with all of the things I have to be thankful for.
My Husband – This handsome guy is top-notch, and he’s always been my biggest cheerleader. He is the one that encouraged me to work from home in the first place, and he has pushed me along every day since I took that leap.
Family – It always feels good when your parents tell you they are proud of you…even when you are 34.
Faith – When something feels right, I always have faith that I can make it work. One way or another. I took that leap of faith four years ago. I have never looked back on that decision.
Stubbornness – Failure is never an option. If something is not working, it is because your are trying to go in the wrong direction or you just aren’t trying hard enough. I consider my stubbornness one of my best qualities.
Internet – Thank the Dear Lord that we live in a time where working from home is even possible! The ability to earn a living online is one of my biggest blessings.
Community – Working at home can be lonely. I’m thankful for my good blog buddies, my readers, forums, Twitter, Facebook, text messaging…
I could go on all day, but I want to hear what you are thankful for. Leave me a comment, and don’t forget my Pre-Thanksgiving Sale ends today. This is your last chance to gobble up my download goodies at a deep discount.
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