Small Office, Home Office Information

Have you ever stopped to think that there might be times in the day when you’re more productive in your small business or home office business than at other times?

It’s not something that I had considered until this morning although it didn’t take me long to realise that I get the most done in the morning from about 4am through to 10.30am. In those hours I seem to be able to turn out around 70% of my day’s work.

I certainly am able to work during the rest of the day but by 10.30 my creative juices have slowed to a trickle and I’m easily distracted by research, birds outside my office window, the cricket and lots of other things too.

What made me start thinking about the best time to work was a post here by Darren Rowse. If you haven’t come across Darren before let me tell you that he is a very prolific and very successful writer who likes to share his blogging expertise with other people who want to make money from blogging.

Many small businesses and home office businesses have a real need for a digital camera and these days many people are trying to save money by purchasing the latest gadget, the combination mobile phone/digital camera.

But is that a wise choice?

Will a digital camera that is part of a mobile phone actually produce the quality and convenience that you’re looking for?

There are some interesting thoughts here

Over the last day or so I’ve been asking you to think about how much help you get from small business boards. There are certainly plenty of them around the net but are they really much help to you when it comes to developing your business?

In fact finding real help can be difficult but here in Australia there are a number of small business incubators springing up around the country. Basically the concept is that a number of small businesses are brought together under the one roof. They operate independently but they share expensive resources that they might otherwise not be able to afford.

You can read about one in incubator that operates in Sydney’s southern suburbs right here

The local electricity supply company has decided to cut the power to the neighbourhood where we live. There are no apologies and no concern or thought for consumers and the affect it might have on them.

The company says it needs to do some upgrade work and so the power goes off and it’s going to affect a number of small businesses in the area. Next door to us is a Bowen therapist, round the corner is a grocery store, two blocks away is a public school and in between there are lots of homes. Of course the company could carry out the work at other times of the day but, while that might suit their clients it doesn’t suit them.

To make it worse, this is summer time here and the temps are expected to hit the mid 80s.

Fortunately, as long as I remember to get the car out of the garage before the power goes off, we can pack up our laptops and go and work from a friends place but everyone else just has to put up with the situation.

Don’t you just love it when a big company has so little regard for its clients?

What would it do to our businesses if we acted in the same cavalier fashion.

Yesterday I asked if small business boards on the Internet were really much help at all to small business people and those who work from home.

While that post has certainly attracted its fair share of readers no one has commented and that really doesn’t surprise me. Anyone who says that they agree with me will then have problems going back to any board that they may spend time on.

Anyone who disagrees would be challenged to show us why they think those small business boards are useful. And justifying some of those boards can be difficult.

So if most of the small business boards don’t scratch where many of us itch then what are we to do and who are we to turn to for help?

For some small business help is waiting for them in business incubators - now that sounds a little scary but we’ll talk more about those tomorrow.

Some years ago in Webmaster circles my nickname was becoming well known for being contentious and rather abrasive. That wasn’t really a persona - I didn’t set out to make a name for myself by being abusive and nasty.

However I was, and still am, rather blunt and tend to call a spade a spade and I don’t handle fools very well.

And I’m telling you that because I’m really not trying to stir up trouble when I ask the question - how much help are small business boards really?

I’m asking it as an introduction to a series of posts I will be making over this week and I want you to think seriously about the question.

Are they any help to you really?

I have to say that most of the small business boards I have seen have been very light in genuine help for serious problems and rather heavy in people who want to troll the boards for business … or to scam. Undoubtedly part of that problem arises from the fact that most people who hang out on those boards are fairly new.

But there are others who want to be seen as legends - they have an opinion about everything and quite often their opinion is not based on their own experience but on what they have read somewhere.

So are boards like that much help is there some other way to get the help and support you need to get your business going?

I would be really interested to hear your experiences and feel free to mention any board that you find gives you genuine advice and support and isn’t just a bunch of people saying hello to every newcomer that arrives.

Publicity is important for any small business and it’s even more important for home based businesses. So how do small businesses go about getting publicity for their business?

Unfortunately some small business owners seem to think that any publicity is good and they will do anything just to get the names of their businesses in front of people.

And, if you ask them, they will tell you that notoriety works … but I wonder if it really does. Would you really expect a business person who uses those techniques to really tell you the truth if their move for more publicity actually bombed?

I think not and to me, anyone who wants to work the notoriety angle is showing signs of laziness and desperation.

So what can a small business or home based business do to generate publicity?

Here is an interesting article written by Abe Cherian. He talks about what every small business needs to know regarding publicity.

It’s not uncommon for people who want to start a small business to look for some way of rising to prominence by riding on the coat-tails of some bigger business. They think that choosing a name that’s every similar or perhaps even the same (but in a different country) to a well-known brand or a well known business will help them get lots of customers through the door almost from the time they open.

Unfortunately the owners of those brands and business names like to protect their position and so anyone who attempts to fast track their business by being associated with one of the bigger names is unlikely to last long.

If you have thought about trying that approach I would suggest that you think again because there could be a world of hurt in your future … and in the future of others too.

By the way - although I do possess some Photoshop skills - this photo was not photoshopped. We were heading down for an early coffee at our favourite cafe this morning and there it was … just sitting by the side of the road.

A major hassle for small business and home office people - especially those who don’t live in major towns or cities is finding someone to meet their printing needs. Of course anyone can play around with graphics and printing programs and produce business cards, flyers etc. but somethimes the professional look is missing.

If that is a problem that you face then here is a solution that might work for you.

A quartet of new web sites makes running a small business or home office easier with hundreds of free printable templates. Visitors to the sites can download, customize and print business cards, stationery, fax cover sheets and certificates in just minutes.

Visitors to http://www.FreePrintableBusinessCards.net will find 200 customizable business card templates. All of the designs can be edited in Microsoft Word, allowing the user to customize their cards with company name, title, address and other contact information. The choices include striking color photo business cards, elegant graphic designs and even fun business cards for personal use.

At http://www.FreePrintableStationery.net, users can download and personalize more than 150 stationery and letterhead designs. Each stationery template, available in “lined” and “unlined” versions, can be customized with the user’s personal information. To help small business owners create a unified look in their documents, many of the stationery designs have matching business cards at http://www.FreePrintableBusinessCards.net.

http://www.FreeFaxCoverSheets.net delivers more than 100 customizable fax cover sheets. Many of the cover sheet designs are ready to print and use, while others can be customized with your own business information.

http://www.FreePrintableCertificates.net delivers more than 100 printable certificates in PDF format. The selection includes award certificates (such as Certificate of Excellence, Certificate of Completion and diplomas) as well as blank gift certificates for business owners. For just $4, users can download any certificate in Microsoft Word format: these editable versions can be customized to meet their organization’s exact needs.

I’ve never used them and I have absolutely no affiliation with them but I thought that you might find these handy.

As I’ve said here before, all too often small business people - and especially those who work from a home office - never get away from work. It’s always there and it’s hard to take a break. But that is something that you really have to discipline yourself to do - especially when times are tough.

At those times especially you need to be able to escape and recharge your batteries before diving back into the fray again. Sometimes the escape can just be in your mind. When I need a short break I’ll dive into an online game for ten minutes just to clear my mind.

At other times though you need to get right away from it all - even if it’s just for an hour. One of those times came for us yesterday and this is what we found.

Sunset on the beach last night. It was just us, a lone fisherman and that stunning sky.