Saturday, July 28, 2007

Vending Machines

Vending machines are perhaps one of the best small businesses that someone can get into in my opinion. They are easily maintained and if placed with care can attract easily on their own.

Since 2003 one vending company, vendstar, has established a worldwide presence and welcomed almost 9,000 members into the business of vending machines.

Their new EZ-Count® Meter, on the Vendstar 3000, allows the vendor to get exact collection amounts from each machine. Another feature they have released is a 1” wheel, so that the Vendstar 3000 can dispense one inch gumballs and toy capsules, opening up the product offerings that vendors can provide.

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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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Step-by-Step Business Plan

Every business plan has several basic components. While they are each unique to the particular company it is for, the business plan is also generally made up in the same manner no matter the business. I will be going over what the basics of a business plan are and discussing each element in detail to help you better understand why they are important.

Each part will be broken down into a single post and I will tie it all together with the tag "step-by-step business plan".

So, come along with me and let's explore what it takes to create a business plan. In the end you should have a completed business plan that you can use for your business to help keep you on track, find investors or just let you know that you have a plan somewhere.

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Where do you ship to?

I was just ranting over on my main blog, Phantascene.com's Journal, about how the National Arbor Day folks won't ship trees to Alaska. It makes me stop and think about all the eBay folks that exclude Alaska and how annoying that is. Alaska is a State too people. If you have a business, then please familiarize yourself with the shipping of things to Alaska and Hawaii. Does it really cost $15 instead of $5 to send a Priority Mail package with a small under 2 pound item to Alaska or Hawaii? Do you really have to charge $1.50 instead of .47 cents (or whatever it is now) to send a letter to Alaska? No. We are the same as anywhere else in the United States. I had a fellow ship me a treadmill from New York city for petes sake. Don't exclude Alaska just because you don't feel like taking a moment to see what it would be to ship the item to Alaska, and please don't inflate the shipping charges out of sight just because you assume that it must cost more - take a moment to check it out, consider double checking actual costs to Alaska and Hawaii part of your preparations to sell things. You might be surprised how many potential customers such a action earns you and I have taken to putting people that will ship to Alaska on my watch list to keep an eye out for things they might have I would gladly buy from them. I'll even pay a little more for something if someone'll ship it to me up here in Alaska for a decent shipping cost rather than inflating their shipping, because I know what it costs to send things here from the Lower 48.

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Friday, July 27, 2007

Business Idea: Vending machines

One home based business that can let you set your own hours and grow at whatever speed you desire to expand it at is the vending machine business.

You can get vending machines from companies, such as Multivend, LLC, and distribute them in your local area. Laundromats, stores, malls and mom and pop shops are all possible locations that you can approach to set up a vending machine selling bulk candy.

The world's largest bulk vending machine company, multivend, has established a worldwide presence and the opportunities for home businesses seems to be growing still. Just last weekend, while down on the Kenai Peninsula, I dropped a couple of bucks into a vending machine selling fairy tattoos.


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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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Business Plan

Creating a business plan is not enough, you need to occasionally look back at that business plan and modify it to make it fit the current needs of your business. That is something that I am currently doing, looking back over my business plan and deciding what needs to be changed to fit in with the changes of the past year. Sometimes I do this every few years, other times I might do it a few times a year. It is always good to keep an eye on your business plan, so that you can keep on the track that you have set for yourself and not meander so far off the trail that you get lost in the brambles.

I am currently working out what the addition of my own hosting server means to my writing and how that changes the way my business plan is lain out and what I will expect to see happen over the next year. This will help me to see where I am now and, in a year, how my current goals match what I have achieved in one year. That will help me to grow my writing business from that point, just as I have grown it from where it had been a year ago.

If you have a business plan, take it out occasionally and look it over to see if your business is progressing as you envisioned it to, if you don't have a business plan then you should make one as soon as possible to help your business take better shape and to help guide you to where you want to be in the years to come.

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Watching people fishing on the Kenai River

Ah yes, some folks just know how to work hard in Alaska. Here we have a pair of fellows watching the men fishing on the Kenai River. I really like how this picture turned out, makes me wonder what they were discussing over there.



This is the group they were watching -



Yup, there are some days when it is just downright perfect to be living in Alaska and able to take your office anywhere you want to go.

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Gourmet Gift Baskets

Working at home usually means having a family business, your children might stuff envelopes or your spouse may help you with keeping your books. Gourmet Gift Baskets knows about family owned and operated businesses, they have been running one since 1940. For well over 50 years their dedication to creating gift baskets that can be called works of art has built their business to the point where they now ship worldwide via FedEx.

Hand crafted gift baskets are filled with delectable gourmet goodies and have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Each of these hand made gift baskets include a personalized gift card.

Gourmet Gift Baskets are so sure that you will love their gift baskets that they say; "Give us a chance to earn your business and we know that you will never shop elsewhere again." This is a promise that I think, after looking over their website, you will agree they are very likely able to fulfill.


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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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Alphasmart 2000

I took my little Alphasmart 2000 that I got off eBay with me on the road trip and got a bunch of writing work done on it, including adding a bunch to my novel-in-progress Heir To Magic.

I'm really happy with how that little machine is working. Its batteries (old dead ones from an old flashlight) ran dead on it and it powered down on me, I popped more batteries in and turned it on and found to my delight that it had not lost even one letter of what I had been working on.

That little machine is going to save me as far as my novel writing dreams are concerned.

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Working from home in Alaska

One thing that I love about working at home in Alaska is some of the scenery that you can find being the view out your window as you are working. We took a trip down to Seward last weekend and this was some of the scenery that I was able to enjoy working to.


Sailboat in the harbor in Seward



Sunrise in Seward



Alaska Railroad train getting ready to get underway in Seward

Of course, the folks in the neighboring office can be real bears at times


Mother bear and twin cubs on Kenai River

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Is Bigger Better in Pickup Trucks?

It seems like everyone is driving large trucks now days. When I was coming out of Wal Mart day before yesterday there was a pickup backing out of a parking space that was just massive. I wish I'd had a camera with me, because the thing was just huge - as in fire engine length huge. It did not help the perception any that the thing was also bright fire engine red. I actually looked around for anything on it that might signify the thing was a fire engine.

After I got in the car with my mom the bug truck beside us sat for the longest time as me and mom talked, finally the guy pulled out and we realized he had been waiting for us to leave because even though we were in our space all the way, his truck was so massive he had to make a very sharp turn to avoid doing a three point turn to get out of the parking area.

I don't understand driving them trucks that are too big to get around in places with. I can see where a nice extended cab would be good to have, even a king cab, but those ones that are more quantifiable as being a semi truck? :::shakes head::: Unless you're working on a large farm and need the hauling room for bales of hay, what's the point?

I know that a large part of the attraction to the larger trucks is that they have diesel engines, but now I guess Isuzu and Toyota have formed an alliance to work on developing a diesel engine for passenger cars. They're looking to create a engine that is environmentally friendly. Yoshinori Ida, President of Isuzu,states, "By teaming up with Toyota, I am certain that we will be able to create the world's best diesel engines." It is an alliance that he sees as not only strengthening the competitive edge of the two companies, but contributing to the global environment.

Katsuaki Watanabe, President of Toyota, seems to agree as he states, "Toyota sees protecting the environment as the biggest mission for an automaker." He goes on to note that hybrid technology is one effective way to protect the environment, "but given that each country has different energy policies and regulations... we believe it is necessary to further strengthen areas related to diesels."

I can't wait to see what the two come up with and which other automobile companies follow their lead in joining together to find a solution that benefits the environment more than it benefits big business.

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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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Ah, the efficient office... now where'd I put that?

I keep trying to make my home office more efficient and laid out to allow for me to move smoothly from one task to another, but there are times when I am blatantly reminded of just how futile that effort is.

case in point. I need a red marker that I had a couple of days ago. I know it is in this office, I know I put it in a very logical place, I know I can't find it. I've also in the past lost things such as the stapler, scotch tape... the list goes on. Thumb drives are being carefully herded into solitary confinement under my primary monitor when not in use for fear of losing them. I only have two, but I would cringe if I was to loose them since I can't figure out how to network my computers so they are my only means of moving work from on to the other between my laptop and desktop.

I think there must be a black hole in here somewhere, an abyss that things fall into when I think I have put them somewhere safe. I wouldn't be worried except I am the only one that ever comes in here so when something goes missing... it's really, Bermuda Triangle style, missing.

I guess the answer is to have a cluttered office so you don't realize that there is a shifting tear in the space time continuum that is gulping up stuff in your office? ::goes off in search of the red pen again:::

"Gasp! How dare your company has more to pay for marketing than my company does!"

That seems to be the theme for this morning to me. I was mindlessly reading my way through a forum and stumbled across a bit of mindless reading where a website was apparently grousing because their competitor site had paid for advertising on blogs. We'll call them Site 1 and Site 2 (or should that be Thing 1 and Thing 2? ::nods to Dr. Seuss).. anyway, our little story -

Site 1 went to an advertising market and they spent some of their money on paying people to go and look at their website and say how they felt about it. Now, I am presuming that they really did not want to spend their money on bad vibes, so they probably asked that only people that liked their site accept their proposal for paying folks. All very reasonable.

Site 2 went out on a walk-a-bout to see what their competition was up to and discovered one, or more, of the paid for referrals to Site 1. Gasp! They spent money on bringing in people and on potentially raising their Google Ranking! Oh man, how could Site 1 do something like that to Site 2? What was Site 2 to do? They did not want to spend their marketing budget on such things, maybe they did not even *have* a marketing budget. What to do what to do. The only thing Site 2 could do, or so it seemed to Site 2, was to start a smear campaign. So that's what they did.

Site 2 started writing about how awful it was that Site 1 had paid for marketing, how horrible of a thing it was for them to have spent money on something that Site 2 could not afford and set out misleading quotes to make it appear as though Google would penalize the site severely for what Site 2 claimed was a bad thing.

But... was it? Did Site 1 truly do anything wrong? I do not recall the particulars off the top of my head, but I do clearly recall something about this being asked of the head gurus at the major places, like Google and Yahoo and etcetera, at a conference somewhere and the response was a fairly universal "Why should we penalize someone, blogger or advertiser, for that?" Even the FCC says that it is perfectly fine to do, so why is Site 2 up in arms?

::shrug:: I don't know. Their marketing budget is not as good as Site 1's? What would they do if Site 1 ran a television campaign? I guess my point here is, rather than smear your competition for being able to take advantage of marketing promotions that you can't, just work that much harder at the ones you can take advantage of. Don't smear the competition, and those promoting it, for doing something perfectly fair and acceptable. Don't trying to make it look like it was an underhanded trick just because you could not also make use of that marketing tactic.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Ipod Skins and more at SkinIt

Share a home office with your spouse? Looking for a good way to be able to tell cell phones, Ipods and even laptops apart quickly and easily? Skin the suckers.

No, not go after them with a knife, although I have been tempted in the past with computer crashes ;-), nah, I'm talking about skins to put on the things.

I was over on the SkinIt website yesterday, before I went into town, and got a little distracted looking through the designs to see which ones I wanted for my laptop and cell phone. I, of course, ended up deciding that I needed to decide on a theme for all my gadgets then go back. Think I'll go for dragons... maybe fairies.

The point here is, whatever your interest, sports to Disney, or anything else, you can find Ipod skins, cell phone skins, laptop skins... Even skins for Bluetooth headsets. Just about anything you could want to put a skin on (including game things) and a wide range of skin graphics: sports teams, comics heroes, Star Wars, military.... I personally like the Larry Elmore skins, but I've been a fan of his artwork for years. If you like dragons they also have some of Ciruelo's work too.

Check them out, just don't get lost, you can spend hours looking through skins. - oh and check into their contest too. You could get your artwork made into a skin. How kewl is that? They'll display it for one week if it's selected, so you will have time to get your own personalized stuff that is *very* personalized.


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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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Thumb drive storage for backups

I have decided that I am going to be backing up my novels, and other important paperwork stuff, and keeping it all on thumb drives put away in my safe. It just makes sense to have a backup just in case something happens. That way the things are safe and ready to be restored if something happens to my computer.

I've also got plans to one day pick up a 4 gb thumb drive that I can drop a backup of my entire computer onto, for now I am getting 512 MB thumb drives to make backups of my novels and other important writing stuff (like tax records, and business receipts etc).

Laptop Cooling Panel

Went to town last night, out shopping at Wal Mart, and found myself a cooling panel dealie for using with my laptop.

The thing is made by Targus and sits under the laptop on the desk, it plugs into the USB port and two little fans silently draw air down and out the back of the panel to cool the laptop and keep the surface under it from heating up.

I'd talked about wanting one of these things before, had never seen one in a local store though. I found this one in the local Wal Mart and just had to grab it.

Found out when I tested it last night that the thing has an on/off switch on the power cord, really good for when you're running on battery power and want to turn the fan off to help safe battery life. Seems to work good, so I plan to put it to a real test today as I am working.

I'll take a picture of it later and get it uploaded.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Mac Poker Online

The world seems to be divided into the PCs and the Macs. There are a few people like me, that sees no problem with switching between the two as my needs and their ability to perform a task requires, but for the most part the world seems to have a clear line drawn between those that run PCs and those that run Macs.

And it seems like the world of online poker has long been on the side of the PC.

Well, now there is good news for the Mac owner that wants to find some Mac Poker on the internet to help them fill out the afternoon waiting for a kiln to fire pottery or the paint on their latest project to dry enough for a second coat. Mac Poker Online has information on online poker and casino games for Mac users.

For those just starting to dabble into the realm of online poker, Mac Poker Online has information on the legalities of online poker. And he presents it not as a series of boring to read legal mumbo-jumbo, but instead as a series of videos that discusses the subject. There are links to text files as well, so you can read the information yourself and not just rely on the people in the videos. Even going so far as to tell you how to search for more information and advising you on steps that you can take to help keep online poker legal.

Mac Poker Online also has great information on online poker rooms such as Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars or Bugsys Club. Giving you information on the layout and customer service. Watch for tips on the competition you might face there, and information on games played. And, of course, information on what operating systems are compatible with the game sites.

Another great feature of Mac Poker Online for anyone interested in getting into playing online poker is the Online Casino Bonuses that you can find out about through Mac Poker Online. This is a list of the leading online casinos and what their current bonuses are. Some have unlimited, current high bonus when I was just there was $888 at Vegas Red.

I am barely scratching the surface of what I found over at Mac Poker Online, so I'll let you get out of here and go check the site out if you're interested. From the looks of it the guys behind this site are going to be offering even more. Check out the "Macintosh Online Poker News" posts on the main page of the site, I was reading through some of the Famous Poker Players that they are spotlighting. And am currently reading over the "Las Vegas Guide, Tips, Tricks and Secrets to Sin City" in preparation for the next time an airline decides to strand me overnight in Vegas.


This post was sponsored by Mac Poker Online

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My Diet Tracker Online website

In other news on my websites, I have got a decent start on my Diet Tracker Online dieting website, even have the blog and cookbook up and started. I have a lot of work still to do on the whole thing, but I think it's coming together fairly okay for a site that is only about 12 hours old.

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Website won't work how it should

My dang websites are really starting to give me a headache. I tried to move my spammers blog "How Stupid Do They Think I Am?" over onto it's own site, but it is giving me a huge headache. The blog is not showing up on the site even though Blogger says that it has published to the site. I tried waiting a couple of days for the servers to populate all over the Internet, but it's not working. I'm about to pitch the entire thing out into the middle of the lawn and stomp up and down on it.

:::throttles website::::

Calm... calm... Need to get my webhost up here and have him help me sort this out. Headaches like this are what I get for deciding that I want to take on having my own hosting setup for my websites.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Royalty Free HD video stock

Do you work in advertising, broadcast media or creating your own low budget documentaries or films? If so then you probably want to check out the High Definition footage that is available, royalty free, over at AlwaysHD.

AlwaysHD has created a site where cinematographers can find interested buyers that are looking for good quality, royalty free, video stock that can be used in other productions.

I was impressed by the animations (check out the skeleton that runs and slowly fills in to be a man running), things that could easily be fit into any sort of documentary or film. The normal HD video stock is of a wide range of interests. One I like is a woman typing on her computer with the wind blowing her hair slightly. Great footage for a short film on writer's or writer's block.

From what I have seen the site is a wonderful source of quality work, all filmed in HD and royalty free. And when a clip is bought from the site, the cinematographer gets to keep 50% of the net revenue on the clips they shared, which makes this a good alternate source of revenue for the cinematographer.

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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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My Websites

Speaking of when the W@H site is up and going, I got my own server now thanks to my wonderful webhost and so am going to be moving all the sites over to it. Unfortunately it's giving me a headache so I'll need to get my hosting expert up here to help me with it. I'll soon be able to get things configured the way that I want, though, and get my websites all lain out properly. So jazzed.

Right now the sites are all still in their extended holding pattern and waiting for me to get my backside in gear and kick this massive relaunch into the air. I'm hoping that will be kick started over the weekend, and then I can unveil the new beautiful look of my sites to everyone.

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Laptop fixed

I got the keyboard on my laptop fixed. :::cheers::: Bought a replacement keyboard off eBay and got it installed yesterday. It worked good when I turned it on and it was really easy to get the thing replaced. I have plans to make a tutorial for it and put up on my W@H website for anyone that needs to repair their own laptop keyboards. I'll let you know when the site and that tutorial are up.

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Lovers Planet

This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com
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There are two basic types of people that sign up for the online dating sites.

The first are those who are just looking for a good time and to meet new people. The second, those looking for that special someone with which to build a future with.

The Lovers Planet website claims that Russian and Ukraine women, those of them looking to be brides, are more likely to make better brides than women in America, the UK or Australia. Lovers Planet says that this is because russian girls place their desire for family before their desires for a career.

Lovers Planet believes that those looking for long term relationships will find the Lovers Planet site the perfect choice for their goals.

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Red Bull = energy to work

The trick to being able to work long hours? Well, it sure ain't sleep. I don't get hardly any of that. No, I have been hitting the Red Bull.

Yup. I've been drinking that Red Bull energy drink thing, the sugar free version, and while I am not exactly wild about the taste (takes more than a little getting used to), I am happy with the drink because it actually does seem to help out with being more focused and able to think straight.

At least it to me it seems like it does.

Now, mind you here, that stuff is no substitute for a 8 hour stretch of good deep sleep, which I am in desperate need of ::falls over asleep::, but it is a decent drink and seems to work for me.

And that's my current secret, sure to change next week though. lol

Transformers: Desk Lamps In Disguise!

::snicker:: Okay, I did an evil thing to my little Robot Desk Lamp.

He has transformed into a long necked lamp with a set of arms for holding the stuff I need to have held in place as I work on that small scale stuff I am always fiddling with.

I can see so many possibilities for what can be done with these lamps. Right now I'm planning to create a work station for working on my crafts, putting one of these fellows on either end of it.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Long island based magician Robert McEntee

“Miracles of the Mind!” is an accelerated learning & motivational presentation for corporations, professional associations, and civic groups, given by Robert McEntee of Long Island. Known for his “Magic Beyond Imagination!” performances, a special brand of “motivational magic” that McEntee has performed for around 20 years, McEntee specializes in providing total family entertainment with customized themes.

Working in the Long Island, NY area (along with NJ, CT., several other states, as well as Canada), McEntee is more than a small party magician. A graduate of Villanova University as well as Mystery School, the world’s leading theatrical school for the magician. long island magician McEntee says, “My job as a magician is to make sure the audience’s imagination comes to life…. to let them experience a sense of awe and amazement, as well as joy and laughter.”

McEntee offers everything from sophisticated walk around performances for receptions to whole shows that are able to be customized for each individual audience and the event planner’s desired outcomes. The appearances are described as mesmerizing, with musical routines, great comedy, and plenty of audience participation. McEntee's shows can include everything from storytelling with positive themes to mind-reading. Balloon sculpturing and, when requested, fire eating.

For more information on McEntee's availability and performances visit MagicBeyondImagination.com, you can e-mail him through the site, or call 631-757-4206.



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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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Beef stew

Made some beef stew for dinner night before last and then reheated it last night. Was good the first night, but I never had a chance to have any the next night. LOL I was too tired by the time it was ready and went to bed. Folks, sis and nephews polished it off.

Here's a picture from the first night:

Robot Desk Lamp

I picked up a new lamp for my office from Wal-Mart. They had it on sale there last night when I was in there getting some things. It's a stick figure-style robot lamp (see pic) that stands about 15 inches high and has a multi-jointed body in a humanoid shape and a spotlight for a head. It's just multi jointed, though, not a real robot. drats.

The one that I got is not the same colors as the one in the picture below, mine has black tubing and silver joints, otherwise he is the same as the fellow in the picture. The lamp came complete with the wrench that is needed for tightening up all of his joints when they get loose.

Monday, July 09, 2007

IPITV Magazine

IPITV Magazine is a good example of how a small business can take off and thrive by thinking a little differently. They are a publishing company that specializes in creating new ideas, taking a 'different approach' to forming partnerships with travel tour operators and today’s business product solutions. IPITV magazine was co-founded in 2000 by Michelle J. Paltani and Eric A. Calhoun III, today it has partnered with more than 100 local, statewide, national and international clients.

IPITV Magazine is now recognized as one of the most successful publishing companies in South Florida. ipitv magazine's established tradition of excellence has been recognized with awards locally, regionally and nationally. In fact, they are one of only a handful of media publication companies in South Florida to have won South Florida Travel Publication Awards (the highest award in the travel media industry), not once but twice in a single year.

They are a company that anyone that wants to work in the field should look into more as an example of how to do it right.


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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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Mondays Suck

It is official. Rather you work at an office or from your home, Monday sucks.

Every joint in my body aches, I only got three hours of sleep at the most and was woke several times because my mom's TV wasn't working right and I am the only technologically savvy person in the house, and lo and behold I wake up and it is a muggy yucky day out there with rain threatening clouds.

Oh, and add in the boss snapping at me when I pause by the water cooler to talk to the office's lazy worker (aka my dad who ain't got up yet) and yeah.... it's a universal thing. Mondays suck.

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They are watching you

Okay, weirdness for today. You know them sequences where the diligent employee is working hard away and they get up to go get some coffee and the lazy office worker leaning against the water cooler snares them into a discussion. Then outta nowhere the head boss of the company pokes his head out of his office just then and snaps at them to "Get back to work!" apparently not thinking the diligent worker really HAD been working?

I just had one of those experiences working at home.

Let me explain. ::snicker:: I woke up a little before 7 and was diligently working away and got up about 7:30 to go get coffee. Paused to talk to my dad, who's still laying in bed since he don't get up for a few more hours, and I hear my cell phone beep. Check the text message and it is my Cali-Friend sending me a note simply saying "You have ads to write! Get to work!" :::snickers self off chair::: Asked her how the heck she knew I had been talking to my dad and she has me paranoid with her one word answer of "SPIES!!!"

Ah yes, Mondays suck. Can't even hang out at the water cooler in your own home. LOL!

Sunday, July 08, 2007

CreditCardSearchEngine.com

Are you in need of a credit card for your business but have poor to bad credit? Thinking that you have no options or very few? You want to check out the Credit Card Search Engine.

CreditCardSearchEngine.com can help you find credit cards that will match your needs, whether you want a specific type of rewards from your card or you need to look into the options of Bad Credit Credit Cards, you can find information and make comparisons online, then apply for the cards you want.

Credit card Search Engine features offers from leading U.S Credit Card issuers. Find cards from trusted names such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citibank. Get cards from the leading brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card.



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This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

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What makes a good work at home website?

I am looking for any suggestions that anyone has on what they feel makes a good work at home website. I have a lot of ideas for what I want to do with the site when I launch the companion website to this blog, but I am looking for any input that anyone has on what they have been looking for and not finding.

I want to downplay any "work at home and earn BIG money" schemes that I have not personally found to be paying schemes. The site is not to be a place where ads for rip off sites can make a bundle off suckers. I want honest information that can help someone with little or no money to invest in a business be able to kickstart their own side business or full-time business.

Whether it is writing, creating OOAK polymer clay figures, bookmaking, party planning, or dog walking, I want to help people find real part time work from home jobs that they can earn money from, not sink money into.

That is one of the reasons I have slacked off on my job spotlights here, I want to put them on the website instead where they can be easily found whenever anyone wants to look them over.

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My websites

Being in business for oneself means patience. I have so much that I want to get accomplished, but I know that I don't want to jump the gun and do too much work on something that is about to be moved and possibly loose what work I do now in less than a week's time. I'm working on getting a setup where I can host my own websites, thanks to my brother, and want to work on my sites enough to get them organized and maintained, but not so much that they are in danger of losing a lot of work if I can't move them smoothly.

Hopefully I will have everything moved by the end of the week, this Friday, and rebuilt by the end of the month.

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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change

If you are looking for something that can help you find out more about what coaching can do for a small business, then you might want to check out Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change.

Written by Sara Orem, PhD, Jacqueline Binkert, PhD, and Ann Clancy, PhD. Appreciative Coaching is for anyone in a position to effect change within a company. I'm not sure who would be in that position more than a small business owner.

Published by Jossey-Bass, the book guides the reader through four stages of "Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny," to inspire them to empower their self and their future.

Orem is a faculty member of Capella's School of Business and Technology. Capella University is known as being an accredited e-learning university has programs such as the online mba program in their graduate degree and bachelor's degree programs that cover fields such as business and information technology. Binkert is an executive coach who specializes in working with leaders and teams during times of change. And Clancy is president of Clancy Consultants, she has worked with community organizations, large corporations, and federal agencies.

All three women have drawn on their experiences in these areas to help write a book that they feel is "...really a new application of appreciative inquiry.”


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Office redesign

I went out to the shop and helped my brother make some shelves and a cat hidey box the last couple of days. I like the edge that he put on them with the router bit he was using and have decided that I want that sort of edge on the cabinets and shelves that I am going to be installing here in the office in a few more months. I think it would look really neat to have all hand made cabinetry in here. I need to get it all finalized on my preliminary sketches that I have been doing, but I think it will turn out really sharp and will share pictures as the project progresses.

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Happy 4th of July!

I just want to wish everyone here a safe and happy Fourth of July! Drive safe and be careful with the fireworks!




The above picture was picked up by me over at Photobucket, I figured that it makes a good picture for use from up here in Alaska since there is only a few minutes of darkness to see fireworks like that in up here at this time of the year. I think that our best displays are at the state fair in September each year, those ones are set to a musical accompaniment and even though I have only made it over to watch a few times, it was really kewl each time.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Redesign time for my home office

Working from home requires you to build a place where you can work. I am fortunate in the fact that we have an unused room in our house that I am able to dedicate to use as a home office. I am now in the process of getting my office ready for a complete overhaul that will include building shelves, so now is the perfect time to be scouting for Home Depot coupons and maybe looking for some good deals on new office stuff from places such as Staples or Office Depot.

I want to set up a full printer / mail center area where I can store the assorted kinds of papers and mailing stuff that I use in my business, so I'm definitely looking for Staples discounts. If you want to redesign your own office, maybe not to the scale I am redesigning mine, but at least with a new computer or a laptop, then you should check out the Dell business deals as well, including $300–$400 off specific desktops and notebooks through July 31st.

I'm in the layout phase now, working on a floor plan that will let me do what I want to and still have an easy to move through office. I'll post information on the project as it progresses, but don't expect it to be a fast project.


This post is sponsored by CouponChief

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The Work at Home Quiz

It can be hard at times to figure out if you actually have a home office or not, so the Work At Home Newsletter presents this fun little unscientific quiz to help you determine if you work from home or not. Please note that this is a for fun quiz and is not meant to be verifiable proof for the IRS that you have a home office deduction.

So, score yourself based on the following questions and check your results at the end.

1) Do you ever have to clean spilled Lucky Charms up off the presentation that you left laying on the kitchen table?
a - did that this morning, and yesterday, and the day before, and... umm.. can I just say 'yes'?
b - a time or two, but the kids are generally good about not eating at the table when my work is there
c - once, then I stopped setting important things on the dining table
d - what would my presentation be doing on the dining room table?
e - what would my presentation be doing at my house?

2) Have you ever found items that are required for your work in your children's bedroom?
a - just got back from retrieving a missing item I found in the kid's bedroom
b - a time or two, but the kids are generally good about not going into my office
c - once, then I got them their own version of whatever they filched
d - what would my work stuff be doing where the kids might get it?
e - what would my work stuff be doing at my house?

3) Have you ever had to stop working because of a skinned knee?
a - yes
b - sometimes
c - occasionally, not often
d - nope, never hear about the skinned knees
e - I get told about it when I get home

4) Where do you eat lunch?
a - dining table surrounded by work
b- at my dining table which is less than a thirty second walk from my office
c - bagged lunch in my office
d - a local cyber cafe
e - bagged or purchased in the office lunchroom

5) When did you take this quiz?
a - when I should have been working
b - after I finished working for the day
c - while reading all my e-mails work and personal
d - during my lunch break
e - on my iPhone stuck in a traffic jam

Score:

Look for what you have the most of in your answers and that is probably a reasonable identifier of your qualification for saying in a casual conversation "I have a home office".

Mostly A's - You might have a home office, but it is not fully dedicated yet. Likely it is one that moves from room to room in your home.

Mostly B's - You probably have a home office, and you probably keep a tight leash on separating office and personal stuff.

Mostly C's - Chances are that you have a home office, but your work tends to leak out into the rest of the home as much as it remains in the office

Mostly D's - Hard to say. You might just work outside the home and bring your work home on occasion.

Mostly E's - why did you take this test? It is most likely you have a office outside the home and are planning on having a home office someday and wanted to see what to expect.

Please note this is highly unscientific and was written while the writer was still blurry eyed and sipping her first cup of coffee in the morning after staying up working in the office until 4am and falling asleep in the office chair. It is probably not an accurate gauge of anything aside from the creator's inability to think before her vitamins and cup of coffee number two.

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This quiz was presented by
The Work at Home Newsletter
workathomenewsletter.blogspot.com

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