Thursday, August 21, 2008

Family Caregiver's Social Network

I got Family Caregiver Info updated and working, so now I get to get the content written and uploaded onto it. I am also looking for suggestions from other caregivers on what they would like to see in a social website for family caregivers. Right now I am going to go on a hunt for plug-ins for the program so I can load up what I want to have in a family caregiver's social network.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

hoffice?

I was reading an article in the Ocala Business Journal this evening (I love being able to read papers from all over LOL) and I came across the term 'hoffice'. Now, what drew me to the article in the Florida newspaper was a blurb on the RSS feed that said:

Items personalizing Andy Stracuzzi’s work space include a desk built from wood salvaged from a barn and topped with a map of Alaska.


Topped with a map of Alaska? Oh rly? I just had to check this one out and see why his home office has a map of my State on it, right? lol Turns out that Alaska reminds him of adventures. Kewl! I can see that. Anyway, I saw the term hoffice in the article and found that interesting. He defines it as a new term for home-office, but I had never seen it before, so I went looking to see if I have had my head in the construction going on next door more than I had realized. Where did hoffice come from?

Seems like there are a lot of ...hoffice... websites out there. There is a book at Amazon.com (if you want to shell out $185.76 for it) that discusses the hoffice: Telecommuting: A trend towards the hoffice? (Current issues series) A little out of my price range, but apparently I've been not paying attention to the trend for longer than I had realized. The 29 page book was published in 1994.

And yet, I don't see where Wikipedia has any references to hoffice, nor does Google seem to find anything to help define the term when I search for definitions. Apparently I am not the only one that is behind on the lingo trend.

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Friday, August 08, 2008

Presenting your best image when working from home

Trying to start a home based business is chaotic at best and can be downright frustrating at times. There is a lot to take into consideration before you get started, not the least of which is if you should even start in the first place.

One thing I see a lot of is people asking about finding space for a home office. It is possible to run a home based business from your home and not have an office actually in the home. Many people have run successful businesses with no more than a laptop on their coffee table. Others have converted an unused garage or maybe a spare bedroom if they are lucky, but even just a hall or spare bedroom closet can make a good home office area.

I have seen quite a few home offices that are part-time guest bedrooms, and while this makes sense from the perspective of multipurpose space, it must be remembered that if the home office serves as anything not directly related to the home based business it can not be claimed on taxes as an actual full home office.

The key factor in having a home based business is in presenting a professional image to the client. You don't want to make them believe that you are larger than you truly are, since that can cause problems and even loose you work in the long run, but you do want them to see you as a person that is going to be taking their project serious and who takes your own business as a serious job - not just a way to earn pizza money for your Friday movie night: even if that is all you consider the job to be.

One way to present a professional image is to rent virtual office space - these are locations where you have all the convinces of an office, but you are renting the room based on the month, week, day or even hour. Such places have not only office space, but conference rooms and other necessities, including package and mail pickup and sometimes offering an answering service.

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