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You’ve seen them.  They’re those intimidating pages with white backgrounds and big black text that say…

404 – Not Found

What does it mean?  How do you get back to where you were?!  From a customer/visitor’s perspective, that’s one annoying page.  There’s no explanation, no information, and no links to get them back to what they were looking for!

Don’t let your “404 Page” scare people off when it’s easy to fix!
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This is a special guest article reprinted with permission by Sue Painter of Confident Marketer.  I came across it in her ezine and thought the five points she offered were fantastic for anyone trying to transition from working a job to creating their own home business.

I promised to answer some of the questions you gave me when you took my survey a few months ago, remember?  One question that several people asked was how they could build their own business when they were already working a full time job.  From the questions, I can tell there is a good bit of frustration, exhaustion, and worry going on about this topic.  So I decided to pull together some ways to build a business even if you are working.
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I enjoy writing/working outside in the summertime–it’s something about the sunshine and fresh air.  Today though the mosquitoes are being particularly pesky and it got me to thinking about why people generally don’t like mosquitoes and the business lessons we can learn from them.

1) Don’t suck the blood out of anyone you come in contact with.
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Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

The lines between work and play can be blurred if you’re running a business you love.  I often loose track of time when I’m writing or designing.  But no matter how much you love it you need to get time away to recharge your batteries.  If you don’t take time out for yourself and your personal life, your health and relationships will suffer.  You’ll also find yourself exhausted and prone to making mistakes you wouldn’t otherwise make.

It can be challenging though to take time away from the office when the office is at home.  And it can be tough to slow down and relax.  Start small with a commitment to disconnect from your business for an hour or two each evening.  Then add one day off.  Just one.  If you’re concerned about staying in contact with customers or clients have a virtual assistant check email for you or setup an auto-response on your email account.  Step away from the computer, the blackberry, the iPhone, the sewing machine, those paints, the camera or whatever it is that you get paid to do.  And you may not count mopping your floors or cleaning out a closet as relaxation unless it’s really something that does relax you.  Be honest with yourself.

Here are some ideas of things you can do either to pamper yourself or reconnect with the people around you and recharge yourself:
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Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will eventually… the hard drive starts clicking… the screen keeps turning blue on your PC… the spinning beach ball of death keeps appearing on your Mac… or the power button doesn’t respond when you push it… and your computer is dead.  Do you have a backup ready to restore?  Or are all your photographs, videos, and business files lost?

A complete crash could spell minor or major disaster for a small business owner who stores everything from email and website files to financial records to client projects to virtual product files on the computer.  If you only save a file to a CD here and there, or haven’t gotten around to setting up any type of backup system yet, let’s look at three of your options.

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When you’re just starting a home business, you may not have the funds to spend on a fancy home office, but you need a place to keep your business “stuff” together so it doesn’t end up covered in Cheerios, juice or paste and glitter.  Good news!  You can get setup with the basics you need without spending a fortune.

The first step is to figure out what you really need.  Start with an inventory.  For example, if you’re running a business online, here are some things you may need: Continue Reading

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

This morning I felt horrid.  I emailed my husband to let him know I’d need his help with the kids and dinner: “I’m sock.  Can I have a sick day please?”  He seemed to get a kick out of this.  :)

Hmm… Apparently I’m a sock today.  :)  After some strong coffee and determination I’m at least sitting instead of laying on the couch and my laptop found me.  This got me to thinking about what a challenge it can be to take a “sick day” when you work from home.  So thought it’d make a good blog post.  Please forgive any typos, since I am sock, after all.

There seem to be four reasons it’s challenging to take a sick day when we work from home:

1. What do you mean I’m NOT superwoman?  (Giving ourselves permission to take a sick day is not always easy.)
2. No, please don’t paint your sister purple!  The cat doesn’t want it’s nails polished, honey.  (Someone’s got to watch those little munchkins… for their own safety, the safety of the pets, and so you get that rental deposit returned.)
3. Missed deadlines and unhappy clients.  (Never a good thing.)
4. No work = no money! (Products and services gotta get done!)

So let’s tackle these one at a time. Continue Reading