In my continuing effort to improve not only my writing skills but my presence on the web and my ability to possibly generate some income while doing what I love to do (blab), I’ve just purchased more domains so I can have each blog on it’s own domain instead of them all being only on one.

I know I’m creating more work for myself, but I think the payoff will be good when people can find me simply by the domain name instead of the way it’s set up now. It’s even hard for me to remember!

In a few days, I’ll be doing some work on the blogs and getting everything up and running again. I hope it doesn’t take too long, but I’m not making any promises.

Posted: March 30th, 2007 under Blog building.
Comments: none

Because I have the heart of an entrepreneur, I’ve decided to try my hand at marketing fashion and sports sunglasses. I’m starting small, with only two dozen pairs, to get a feel for it. If it takes off, I’ll be able to order more varieties of sunglasses.

Living in the South means that people wear them all year long. We use them not only for eye protection, which is very important, but also for making a fashion statement. Yes, even people in the South are keenly aware of trends in fashion.

My own eye doctor told me to wear them any time I’m out in the sun to prevent further damage since I already have “sunspots” on my eyes. Now I recommend them to everyone for the same reason. There’s no sense in anyone damaging their eyes if it can be prevented.

So, all that got me thinking that perhaps I could sell sunglasses to co-workers, relatives, and friends, and that through those sales could generate some extra income plus get the word out. I’m ordering from CTSWholesaleSunglasses.com because they do have excellent prices which makes the profit margin higher even if I offer them at prices fairly competitive with the local stores. The sunglasses they have sell for as low as $10 per dozen and the shipping (FedEx) is quite reasonable.

Are you currently marketing a product, either a purchased product or something you make at home? Let me know how it’s going for you and what your tactics are for increasing sales and growing your business.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, fashion, sports, sunglasses, eye protection, marketing, sales, business

Posted: March 27th, 2007 under Work, Business and finance, Entrepreneurism.
Comments: none

Tax season, that is. However, even if the only spreadsheet program you have on board your computer is in Microsoft Works, you can keep track of your income and expenses, maintain running totals, and make your preparer’s job much easier.

I use a local tax service and have done so for years. They have all of our past records and when I need information it’s no big deal for them to print it out for me. I’d suggest you do the same. Support your local tax preparation service and you’ll reap many rewards.

You can also glean a lot of wisdom from them. They may not be a CPA, but they do know the tax business and can give you a lot of pointers about how to save money and keep records, what is allowable, and ways you can get a larger chunk of your tax money refunded to you.

Begin with a plan of action. You can read more about my own personal plan at Plain Book of Homeschooling. I won’t repeat it all here since it’s so easy to find there.

Next, truly implement your plan so your next year’s tax season isn’t so stressful. Keep frequent accounts of your income and expenditures and be faithful to record them.

Use a printout of the full year’s business and go armed with that to your preparer. He or she will greatly appreciate not having to shuffle through all your receipts and paperwork if you have it all neatly printed and a cover page of totals on hand.

Technorati Tags: Tax, computer, Microsoft Works, tax service, CPA

Posted: March 26th, 2007 under Flights of fancy, Work, Business and finance.
Comments: none

If you write a blog, you may be very interested in reading this timely article written by Maria Langer over at the informit.com website. She deals with the issue of full text RSS feeds and the likelihood that your readers may not want to read ALL the articles you write to your blog, but may only be interested in certain segments. She has solved this problem through a script she’s written. Your readers can now subscribe to only the specific categories they want to read without reading all the ramblings you might be posting.

informit.com has lots of other great articles to read and learn from as well as a newsletter you can subscribe to. Check it out for yourself.

Read this article and give Maria Langer some feedback. I think she’d like to know others are utilizing what she’s created. I’m going to try to implement this trick myself very soon!

Technorati Tags: RSS, blog, informit.com, Maria Langer

Posted: March 25th, 2007 under Blog building, Tech.