Archive for the ‘Home Business’ Category
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 |
It finally hit me a few weeks ago just how much of a factor Facebook has become in our lives.
Do you want to know why I think that?
Well, I’ve been on the Internet doing my “things” for more than 10 years now. And you know what: during that time my online and offline world never met, never collided - heck, most of my offline world (eg: friends and family) thought I was pissing away my time and life at this thing called the Internet. Bah! That’s for another column.
Well recently, those two worlds for me have collided.
The point of impact in this collision? Facebook!
When your Brother-in-law (who’s on Army duty overseas) and your cousin who lives 5,000 miles away finds you on Facebook and wants to be Friends then you know the two worlds have collided, or … are nicely welcoming each other. Online world: may I introduce you to my offline world. And so on…
It’s become a big revelation for me these last few months about how Facebook is really the one and only Web 2.0 app that has broken through the echo chamber and is working the mainstream with aplomb.
Facebook and the Home Business
You’ve read about it, there’s been post after post after post, it’s been written about by mainstream media and your everyday citizen journalist/blogger.
It’s called “isolation”. The home business owner faces it constantly, if not every day.
Yep. Isolation can be a big issue for the home-based business owner. I know because for years I upped my nose at this isolation clap-trap only to realize that yes, even me, your humble Aussie home business Evangelist, got caught up in isolated insulation that was just not plain healthy. It hit quick, it hit hard and I had to do something about it.
Of course, I quickly figured out that getting away from the computer for a round of golf, or a walk down by the beach or going out for a drink or three did the trick.
Stuck in the home office, it’s background music or radio, or taking an hour off work to do some IM’ing or Skyping or pottering around in the garden.
On the outside, it’s getting to a crowded coffee shop with pen and paper in hand or off to the library (which I religiously do every Monday morning). Daily interaction (often missed when one opts for working from home) is almost a must for the majority of us to keep some sanity in our lives.
Now back to Facebook. With Facebook, this can be taken all to another level. Because lets face it. Competition is fierce. There are times when you are building your business (from home) when every hour counts. You just can’t up and leave it all behind. You’ve got to spend the hours in front of the computer building your business, doing the hard yards.
And that’s where I found joining Facebook handy.
Spending an hour a day at Facebook has improved my mood and my productivity remarkably. You can let off steam just by being yourself, seeing others being themselves and basically being the social creature that we all are.
It also helps that the Facebook Developers have released a Facebook Toolbar for Firefox - and for one who literally lives online in their many Firefox tabs this not only tips Facebook over the edge, but is something that I highly recommend every home business owner gets into - your professional and social life has never been easier to manage than it is now.
Posted in Home Business, facebook, isolation | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 |
Hello and welcome to HomeOfficeVoice version 2.0 (I know, I know … that 2.0 bit is as cheesy as hell).
HomeOfficeVoice never went away, it just laid low for awhile, outputting simple/short web app posts/reviews for most of this year.
In other words, I took leave of action and did other things (mainly online). I recently had a Aha! moment and rediscovered myself if that makes sense (No, this ain’t no hippie, trippie BS). What I rediscovered was my passion for the home business sector - both in Australia (as can be seen by my upcoming launch of SmallOfficeAustralia … shameless plug, sorry!) and home business in an international sense, primarily the home business that is run online using the many wonderful web apps out there.
I’m hoping this passion shines through here in my twice-weekly column.
And so I’ve taken a beautiful Brain Gardner theme and have tweaked the header and played around with the CSS a little - so as to look a bit different. Hope it’s easy on your eyes - if not, drop me a line.
I’m looking at taking this place up a notch or three, so join me in reading two weekly columns/posts/articles (whatever you want to call them) and enjoy my take on running a home business in this day and age.
Note: My first column will be up within a few hours and it’s about home business, isolation and Facebook.
Cheers,
Martin Neumann
Publisher | Editor | Blogger
HomeOfficeVoice.com
Posted in Home Business | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 20th, 2007 |
I’ve been running this blog for the past year pretty much as a sideline to my other web properties - where, although I haven’t given it much attention, I have been posting at frequent intervals.
Well that’s about to change. It’s time to re-focus and do this blog justice with some quality and frequent posting.
The Re-Launch
HomeOfficeVoice will be turned into a twice-weekly column looking into the home business industry - primarily towards the more web-savvy crowd.
The two columns - every Tuesday and Friday - will run the full gamut of my experience, my opinions and there will be a strong pro-home business slant to my writings. But just as much, I won’t be wearing any rose-tinted colored glasses towards the sector: if need be, I’ll smack it around the head a little if I see fit.
The main issue here is consistency. That’s been solved by the clear statement that this will now be a twice weekly column.
The second issue is quality. Because I have only two columns to write I have the opportunity to delve into matters more, take a more measured approach with issues and my writing of them. In other words, you will be seeing a vast improvement in quality here … although maybe not in a grammar sense (but I’ll try my best) :-)
Opinionated as Ever…
Much as a traditional column, I’ll be having my say and be as opinionated as ever. Home business is a passion of mine, it has been for quite a number of years and through many ventures.
Putting modesty aside, I see myself as a home business evangelist. But more than that, my passion is to see the home business model of starting and running a business become accepted by all: business, consumers and government.
For at the end of the day, a home business is just a business. The perception of the home-based business has never been good. The internet revolution over recent years has helped quite a bit … but there’s more to be achieved.
But all this is for my future columns. :-)
Over the coming days, I’ll put a fresh coat of paint on this blog (ie: change blog designs) to mirror the re-launch, polish up my “About” page and even place a short audio message.
I hope you enjoy the ride from now on and enjoy my columns and I encourage you all to leave your comments, your thoughts, your feedback … whatever. Let’s engage in some conversation!
Cheers and all the best in your home business,
Martin Neumann
Columnist | Editor | Publisher
HomeOfficeVoice
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Posted in Home Business | No Comments »
Sunday, September 16th, 2007 |
Just a quick note: I’ll be re-launching HomeOfficeVoice this week with a more clear focus, a new design and a simple objective.
Basically, I will be turning this joint into a bi-weekly column (aka two “hopefully thoughtful” posts a week) that covers the home business industry from my own opinions to writing about whats out there for home business owners.
Watch this space…
Posted in Home Business | No Comments »
Sunday, September 16th, 2007 |
Great news for the home business content industry, with the recent launch of eMomsatHome.com - “The Internet Home Business Magazine for Moms & Dads”.
Wendy Piersall, who has been a start performer in blogging about home business at eMoms at Home for more than a year has relaunched her blog into an online magazine with 9 authors at 7 blogs channels.
Read the introduction post ….
I congratulate her on this move, especially knowing the hard work that goes behind the scenes of setting something like this up.
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From a personal point of view, I’m watching with a keen interest how Wendy’s move goes.
For Aussie home business owners, I’m in the launch phase lead up at SmallOfficeAustralia - which is something like Wendy’s attempts but a little different.
You can watch my own progress at the Inside the Magazine section of SmallOfficeAustralia.
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Good luck Wendy, and keep building that brand.
Posted in Home Business | No Comments »
Thursday, September 13th, 2007 |
Spending a few minutes Stumbling around the Web and I come across WhitePapers.org
What a great idea, a clean site and with a tagline like “All The World’s WhitePapers in one place” they’ve got a lot to live up to.
I’ve already downloaded a couple of useful whitepapers, but they need to ramp it up a little. Attract some big names and get their name out there a little.
Check out WhitePapers.org …
Posted in Home Business | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 |
I think we can all safely agree that Facebook is the flavor of the month - in fact, the buzz has been out of this world. Almost like it’s the best thing since slice bread.
I’m not too sure about that - but what I can safely say is that it sure beats MySpace … MySpace being a total junkyard, messy and all over the place.
What perked my interest in Facebook is the few posts going around indicating that Facebook can become a real competitor to LinkedIn - and the many posts that showcase a small business case for using Facebook.
Now as a small business publisher working from home this naturally intrigued me. Because how far can bootstrapping your publicity drive take you ?
So … without bias or any favor, I’m going to spend one hour every night on Facebook for the next 30 days and really dig deep into it’s offering - primarily from a small business owners point of view.
I’ll report on my findings next month.
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BTW, here are my profiles for both: Facebook | LinkedIn
Posted in Home Business, facebook | 3 Comments »