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Inspired Home Office

  • newDo your projects masquerade as tasks?
    In person! Fun! Since Inspired Home Office classes are offered by phone, I don’t do a lot of teaching in person… but I love it. Last night, I got to speak to a full house of local artists about creating an inspiring studio space at The Art Depart…
    - 16 hours ago, 27 Jan 12, 5:33pm -
  • Farewell to January (and good riddance?)
    Farewell to January It’s almost the end of the month (thank heavens!) If it were up to me, I’d give everyone the month of January off. I’d wave my magic wand and clear every calendar, enforce regular nap times, and pay all bills due. Yep. A who…
    - 4 days ago, 24 Jan 12, 2:00am -
  • 4 inspired Ideas for a gentle January
    Hello, dear one! It’s January! Oh, yay! Oh, no! Did you get that excited feeling in your belly on January 2nd – quickly followed by a sense of dread? The possibility! The work! Yesterday, I shared the following message on Facebook – Public serv…
    - 25 days ago, 3 Jan 12, 5:47pm -
  • Wacky Office Products: Sentry Safe Guardian fireproof box
    Sentry Safe Guardian Storage Box Not to spook ya, but somewhere in the dark recesses of your filing cabinet are documents you know you want to have better protected. Your office inventory — the one your insurance agent told you to make just in case…
    - 30 days ago, 29 Dec 11, 2:11pm -
  • Wacky Office Products: A string of Christmas lights!
    Is your office a little Grinch-y this Christmas? With space at a premium, we home-officers wouldn’t dream of putting up even a tiny holiday tree (or would we?). With a bit of creativity, the holiday spirit can find its way into even closet-sized of…
    - 37 days ago, 22 Dec 11, 5:24pm -
  • Just know…
    It’s the time of year for high expectations. Whether you embrace or reject those expectations, you can end up feeling exhausted trying to manage it all. So here are some gentle reminders from the heart for the last two weeks of December 2012. You a…
    - 40 days ago, 19 Dec 11, 5:03pm -
  • Ladies and gentlemen, mark your calendars!
    National holidays can inspire! Do you ever envy postal workers, bankers and teachers for their days off? Okay, no one envies bankers right now, but they do get an enviable amount of days off! How do they do it? Simple: structure. When you’re workin…
    - 53 days ago, 6 Dec 11, 3:00pm -
  • Wacky Office Tools: Recycled writing?
    These days, for the sake of our planet, we want our take-out burgers in cardboard, not plastic. We carry our own bags to the grocery store. We write our notes on recycled paper and we dutifully carry our old computer monitor to the local electronics…
    - 68 days ago, 21 Nov 11, 3:03pm -
  • Wacky Office Tools: The ‘little black dress’ of the home office
     Introducing the amazing, versatile stair step folder holder thingy! Isn’t she a thing of beauty? Each of us has something like a stacker on our desks which holds work-in-progress folders, as well as the “to be read when I have a minutes and/or…
    - 75 days ago, 14 Nov 11, 3:03pm -
  • 10 lessons from 9 days without power
    You may have heard that the Northeast got an unexpected 16″ of snow at the end of last month — October. It knocked out power to millions of people far longer than anyone anticipated. My Connecticut family got caught in it and lived without power,…
    - 78 days ago, 11 Nov 11, 6:39pm -

The Small Business Blog

  • newTop 5 Business Data Cloud Storage Tips
    The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners. 1. Although you often pay a monthly fee for cloud storage, it still usually works out cheaper than buying physical hardware for data storage. 2. The…
    - 17 hours ago, 27 Jan 12, 3:53pm -
  • newA Mini Guide to Business Insurance
    There are many different types of insurance cover that a business will need to look into, and some that are required by law. You can find a full listing and evaluation of these on online comparison sites like Money Supermarket. But here is a list of…
    - 1 day ago, 27 Jan 12, 7:00am -
  • newEnd of ARC’s or Automatically Renewable Contracts
    Ofcom’s ban on automatically renewable contracts (ARCs) or ‘rolling’ contracts came into effect on 31st December 2011. This means it is now unlawful for telecom providers to roll customers over onto a new contract without their permission. But…
    - 2 days ago, 26 Jan 12, 2:28pm -
  • newCollaborate to Accumulate
    There’s no denying times are tough for small business. Competition for customers is fierce, overhead costs are rising, and although there is much talk of ‘going global’ the reality is for many small enterprises the costs of breaking in to new m…
    - 2 days ago, 26 Jan 12, 9:57am -
  • Sometimes great customer service only needs to be easy and familiar
    We’ve all seen the news lately and heard of lots of large and small businesses closing down. No doubt, you’ve also seen the impact on your high street with both large and smaller, independent retailers shutting up shop. However, it’s important…
    - 6 days ago, 22 Jan 12, 4:41pm -
  • Data management – failing to plan is preparing for failure
    In the 1980s, the idea of protecting your company against a data loss may simply have been a policy of “back that file up on a floppy disk”. Fast-forward a quarter of a century and the reliance on digital systems is so massive it is a safe conclu…
    - 8 days ago, 20 Jan 12, 6:00pm -
  • Online Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
    Every small business wants to emulate the success of the FTSE 100 companies‘ online marketing strategies. But as many SMEs have significantly smaller budgets they believe that these strategies are simply too expensive for them. Recent developments…
    - 8 days ago, 20 Jan 12, 2:28pm -
  • Crowdfunding – could it work for your business?
    Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly popular method for small businesses and social ventures to raise much needed funds.  The map below gives you some idea of the scale of growth in Crowdfunding over recent years.  Interestingly, the same sourc…
    - 10 days ago, 18 Jan 12, 7:21pm -
  • Top 5 Tips for Small Business Logo Design
    The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners. 1. The most memorable business logos are often just icons. 2. Text on a logo is not always necessary if you can come up with a strong enough visual c…
    - 10 days ago, 18 Jan 12, 5:45pm -
  • 3 real ways to help you stand out and build better relations with your customers
    Readers of this blog and my own across at www.adrianswinscoe.com know that I write about building better and more valuable relations with your customers and your people as a way of growing your business. Over the festive break I spent quite a lot of…
    - 14 days ago, 14 Jan 12, 1:33pm -

Unclutter

  • newWorkspace of the Week: Composed calm
    This week’s Workspace of the Week is H Sterling Cross' simple setup.Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.
    - 17 hours ago, 27 Jan 12, 4:17pm -
  • newHow to organize your kitchen pantry
    Directions for how to get your home pantry to work for you, not against you.Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.
    - 2 days ago, 26 Jan 12, 5:55pm -
  • newUnitasker Wednesday: Avocado Cuber (and Avocado Pit Removal Tool and Avo Saver and Avocado Knife)
    Sure, knives are incredibly functional and built to handle all your chopping, slicing, and dicing needs -- but why use an incredibly simple knife with products like the over-engineered Avocado Cuber on the market?Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Dolan…
    - 3 days ago, 25 Jan 12, 3:45pm -
  • newA year ago on Unclutterer
    2010 Use your mac as a television The elgato EyeTV Hybrid lets you watch televised programming on your Mac without needing a dedicated television set. 2008 Stop hoarding magazines Many magazines are now putting their entire publishing history on CDs…
    - 3 days ago, 25 Jan 12, 3:30pm -
  • newStop overlooking the perpetually out-of-place stuff
    Objects can easily go on walkabout and then hang out, as if on vacation, in whatever random location you left them. If this happens to you (like it does me from time-to-time), try these five strategies to help you to see and deal with the perpetually…
    - 4 days ago, 24 Jan 12, 2:42pm -
  • Cabin fever? Organize your summer travel plans now
    At least for those of us in the northern hemisphere, January is a great time to make summer travel plans. You are able to beat the rush and still get some good deals on popular travel destinations, as well as you are able to think about things other…
    - 5 days ago, 23 Jan 12, 1:30pm -
  • A year ago on Unclutterer
    2011 Unitasker Wednesday: Tea-Boy Penguin Tea Timer This just may be the cutest, most precious unitasker ever! Introducing the Tea-Boy Penguin Tea Timer. 2010 Netflix streaming on your Nintendo Wii Beginning later this spring the Nintendo Wii will su…
    - 5 days ago, 23 Jan 12, 6:30am -
  • Ask Unclutterer: Parting with a cherished item that has been broken
    Reader Lirpa wants to know how she can part with an item she used and loved for a long time, and is now grieving over it being broken.Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.
    - 8 days ago, 20 Jan 12, 3:27pm -
  • Workspace of the Week: Made to fit
    This week’s Workspace of the Week is Skorpion24's self-made bedroom office.Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland's Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.
    - 8 days ago, 20 Jan 12, 2:36pm -
  • Clear the clutter, build a fort
    Identify what matters most to you, identify the distractions that are keeping you from the things that matter, and do your best to remove the clutter so you can pursue the life you desire. Life is too short -- even if you live to be 102 -- not to bui…
    - 9 days ago, 19 Jan 12, 2:58pm -

The Solopreneur Life

  • newIn the NFL and In Solopreneurship: Winning and Losing Turns on the Strength of the Gameplan
    In his book, Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How Watch Football By Knowing Where to Look, (Amazon Affiliate link) Pat Kirwan explains how a National Football League team constructs its gameplan each week. Every NFL team has a playbook that’s about as t…
    - 10 hours ago, 27 Jan 12, 11:13pm -
  • newWhat Would a Solopreneurism 101 Course Look Like?
    Have you ever said: “I wish there had been an entrepreneurism class when I was in school”? It’s a comment that I hear frequently from solopreneurs of varied educational backgrounds, including liberal-arts graduates, law-school grads, tech-schoo…
    - 14 hours ago, 27 Jan 12, 7:16pm -
  • newFeatured Soloist Barbara Austin: “Don’t Jump Into It Without a Plan”
    This is The Solopreneur Life’s “Featured Soloist,” the purpose of which is to give all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Today we meet Barbara Austin. If you would like to be the “Featured Soloist,” p…
    - 2 days ago, 26 Jan 12, 12:25am -
  • newGolf-Swing Tips and Small-Biz Advice: They’re Irrelevant
    Some of you may know that I’m a geek when it comes to the golf swing. One of my favorite golf-swing experts, Jim McLean, frequently says that most golf instruction has absolutely nothing to do with whether the golf ball will be struck well. If you…
    - 3 days ago, 25 Jan 12, 8:25pm -
  • newWho Snaps You, and Your Solo Business, Back To Health?
    If it wasn’t for my chiropractor, Dr. Nick McGregor, I’d be walking on all fours. Seriously. I can’t imagine the pain and discomfort I’d be in if it weren’t for the adjustments I’ve received from Nick over the years. There are times when…
    - 3 days ago, 25 Jan 12, 1:43am -
  • Women-Owned Small Business Opportunities in Federal Contracting
    By: WinBiz Proposals, LLC Author: Jennifer Adeli, Owner and Senior Proposal Manager @WinBizProps and @SoloBizAdventur Even in today’s environment of reduced and slower federal government spending, there are still plenty of opportunities for small b…
    - 5 days ago, 23 Jan 12, 3:29pm -
  • Featured Soloist Nea Joy Justice: “My Fallback Position Is My Resourcefulness and Commitment”
    This is The Solopreneur Life’s “Featured Soloist,” the purpose of which is to give all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Today we meet Nea Joy Justice. If you would like to be the “Featured Soloist,”…
    - 10 days ago, 18 Jan 12, 8:30pm -
  • To Stay Productive Beyond January, Use Signs
    In last week’s Blog Talk Radio interview with productivity expert Claudine Motto — How To Stay Productive Beyond January — she said that productivity for solopreneurs often falters after the first month of the year because we lose sight of the…
    - 12 days ago, 16 Jan 12, 8:27pm -
  • Tools That Work: FollowUpThen.com
    I want to give you a heads-up regarding a free email-reminder tool that I’ve begun using. It’s called FollowUpThen.com and so far I really like it. If you struggle with remembering to get back to people on anything in your business or personal li…
    - 15 days ago, 13 Jan 12, 7:21pm -
  • If You See These Words In An Online Profile, Check Your Wallet
    I work with many aspiring and new solopreneurs who feel like they are drowning in too much information and too many choices. Oftentimes, these solos don’t know whom to trust and don’t know whose products and services will be worth the investment.…
    - 17 days ago, 11 Jan 12, 4:48pm -

The Solopreneur Guide

  • newThe Super Bowl and Social Media
    While some people may still be in a funk over their team not making it to the big game, others are buzzing in anticipation about the outcome on Sunday February 5th when Super Bowl XLVI will pit the New England Patriots against the New York Giants in…
    - 3 days ago, 25 Jan 12, 7:21pm -
  • What Are External Links?
    Most SEO experts will tell you that having quality external links is probably the best thing you can do to help your branding site rank well with the search engines. But exactly what are external links and how do you need to manage them? External lin…
    - 10 days ago, 17 Jan 12, 9:47pm -
  • 7 Website Indexing Strategies to Improve Your Website Ranking Part 2
    This is the second half of our two part series on website indexing strategies to improve your website ranking. In part 1, I discussed the importance of updating your website content regularly, using the metadata fields in the backend of your site, an…
    - 20 days ago, 8 Jan 12, 6:58pm -
  • 7 Website Indexing Strategies to Improve Your Website Ranking Part 1
    Website indexing is what search engines must do with the significant amount of content on the Internet to be able to return fast, relevant responses when people submit queries using their services. They constantly scrub online content to rank it acco…
    - 30 days ago, 29 Dec 11, 7:06pm -
  • 3 Keyword Tips for Better SEO
    One aspect for improving your SEO is the use of keywords. This basic, yet critical element for SEO success is often misused, misunderstood, or simply not used at all. Here are three tips for you to apply right away to help get higher search engine ra…
    - 39 days ago, 19 Dec 11, 10:39pm -

Solopreneur.biz

  • newThe Video Call to Action
    You can produce the most compelling, interesting video online, but without a clear call to action, your video is just pure entertainment. Whether you want a viewer to buy your product, sign up for your list, or take another action, you have to tell t…
    - 3 days ago, 25 Jan 12, 6:16pm -
  • Using Video as a Solopreneur

    - 5 days ago, 23 Jan 12, 2:01pm -
  • Four SEO Tools You Can Use Now as a Solopreneur
    Search engines matter because without them you would receive minimal traffic to your website. Use them well and you will receive very targeted traffic to your website. Targeted traffic turns into customers and repeat visitors. This means it’s not o…
    - 10 days ago, 18 Jan 12, 6:33pm -
  • Tips for Creating an Effective Facebook Profile for Business Use
    If you’re thinking of sharing about your business via Facebook, creating an effective profile is important. It’s easy to go into Facebook and set up a profile that doesn’t do much to reflect what your business is all about. A few tips can impro…
    - 11 days ago, 17 Jan 12, 2:34pm -
  • How to Increase Website Traffic
    Website traffic is always a priority for online solopreneurs – without some type of web traffic people won’t know your business exists. So just what is the right formula for more website traffic? Here are our top tips: 1. Write and distribute art…
    - 15 days ago, 13 Jan 12, 1:33pm -
  • Tips for Repurposing Your Content
    Content is an investment. You spend a lot of time writing it. You probably also spend a lot of time planning and researching it. It makes good business sense to make the most of your investment. When you repurpose and reuse your content, you maximize…
    - 18 days ago, 10 Jan 12, 5:42pm -
  • Kim Clausen Shares Her Business Plan Secrets
    It’s time for the January Easy Biz Teleseminar call for coaches and we’ve convinced Kim Clausen to join us once again – this time to share behind the scenes ideas that lead to success.  It’s the time of year to make plans about how your coac…
    - 19 days ago, 9 Jan 12, 4:32pm -
  • Energize Your Business in the New Year
    It’s now 2012 and I’m sure that creating a plan for energizing sales in your business is in the forefront of your mind. Energizing your sales isn’t a one-step solution; instead it’s a full scale approach. Each area of your sales and marketing…
    - 23 days ago, 5 Jan 12, 3:52pm -
  • Inexpensive Ways to Promote the Solopreneur
    Getting new clients doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor. The old axiom of “it takes money to make money” just doesn’t have to be the case when it comes to small business marketing. If you want to give your business an infusion of clients…
    - 24 days ago, 4 Jan 12, 5:31pm -
  • Using the Cloud for Business
    Today everyone is saying, “Take me to the cloud.” But what does that mean? And, is it a good thing for your business to get involved in? What and Where Is the Cloud? We are talking about cyberspace. You know it exists and you can see the results…
    - 26 days ago, 2 Jan 12, 5:37pm -