Daydream Believing in Your Business

This country was built on ideas. Many of those ideas may have even started out with someone dreaming about changing their situation to something different or better.

Thomas Edison's schoolmaster, "angered by the lad's inattentive 'dreamy,' distracted behavior, frustrated by his tendency to drift off during recitations, to draw and doodle in his notebook instead of repeating rote lessons," cuffed and ridiculed him in front of his classmates. 'One day,' Edison recalled with bitterness many years later, 'I heard the teacher tell the visiting school inspector that I was addled and it would not be worthwhile keeping me in school any longer. I was so hurt by this last straw that I burst out crying and went home and told my mother.' His indignant mother 'brought him back to the school and angrily told the teacher that he didn't know what he was talking about, that I had more brains than he himself.'" Mrs. Edison pulled Thomas out of school and began home-schooling, determined that "no formalism would cramp his style, no fetters hobble the free rein, the full sweep of his imagination." ("Edison - Inventing the Century" by Neil Baldwin, 1995).
Sigmund Freud wrote extensively about the psychological importance of dreams, including those of daydreams.

And did you know that some of the most innovative companies in the world, like Google and 3M give their employees the time and space to daydream? Visualization, in which athletes essentially daydream their own perfect performances, is widely used to maximize athletic performance.

The importance of allowing your brain to have creative flow through such avenues as daydreams is a critical piece of entrepreneurial success.

So take that break and allow your mind to flow freely...you never know what ideas may become as famous as Edison's or Freud's.

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A pioneer in the virtual world, as well as an author, speaker and business coach, Jennifer Wong has been helping entrepreneurs or "homepreneurs" succeed with their businesses for over 10 years. Sign up at http://www.thehomebizbuzz.com for her intense, information-packed ezine to be in on the buzz for your small business. Whether you're just starting out with your dream business, or simply looking for resources for your existing business, you won't want to miss getting in on the BUZZ.

How Come There Are No Business Naming Books Like The Baby Names Books?

A name is not just a name. It’s how prospective clients will see you first, their very first impression. You need to find a name that suits what you do. Business Solutions Plus was born out of my main focus of helping solve small business’s problems. (I highly recommend staying away from “cutsie” names that would give your clients a casual immature view of you.) A good place to start researching names is to take the names you are considering and Google them to see what comes up. Then narrow it down by taking those top 3 names and entering them into a domain name search (such as http://www.godaddy.com/ or http://www.whois.com/) to see if they are available for purchase.


Before you decide on your name, I highly advise you to sleep on it so that you’re comfortable with it. It doesn’t bode well to change it midstream. Your name should be not thought of as flaky or fly-by-night, so be sure before you get started marketing it!


A word of caution…you may also need to check your local zoning ordinances and register your business with your city and county. Later on you can consider registering with the state you are in and getting an EIN. Check with your financial advisor as to the best way to set up your business.

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A pioneer in the virtual world, as well as an author, speaker and business coach, Jennifer Wong has been helping entrepreneurs or "homepreneurs" succeed with their businesses for over 10 years. Sign up at http://www.thehomebizbuzz.com for her intense, information-packed ezine to be in on the buzz for your small business. Whether you're just starting out with your dream business, or simply looking for resources for your existing business, you won't want to miss getting in on the BUZZ.

5 Tips on How to Be Successful in YOUR Business

1. Be passionate about what you do. If you love what you do, it will show through in every aspect of your business. Likewise, if you don't love what you're doing, it will be apparent as well.

2. Commit the time to succeed. Follow your goals and commit the time you need to ahceive them, in your daily life and beyond.

3. Know when to ask for help. Whether it's by seeking out a mentor for your business, or outsourcing tasks to an assistant, know when you can't do it all.

4. Keep it simple. Know the phrase, Keep it simple stupid? Keep that in mind in everything from structuring your business to even what you offer your customers.

5. Know your competition. Knowing this helps you maintain that edge needed to offer either something your competition doesn't offer, or something better than what the competition offers.
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A pioneer in the virtual world, as well as an author, speaker and business coach, Jennifer Wong has been helping entrepreneurs or "homepreneurs" succeed with their businesses for over 10 years. Sign up at http://www.thehomebizbuzz.com for her intense, information-packed ezine to be in on the buzz for your small business. Whether you're just starting out with your dream business, or simply looking for resources for your existing business, you won't want to miss getting in on the BUZZ.

How To Avoid Being Exiled By Facebook

For the last several weeks I've been noticing a lot of BIG name internet gurus sending me notes telling me of their Facebook exile experiences. Facebook is a great social networking site that allows you to meet and network with other entrepreneurs, friends and family. Here are some red flags that will get you booted off of Facebook sooner than you can say "facebook."

Accepting too many friends at once.
OK so you've ignored so many notification/friend requests and you decide one day to catch up on all your friend requests...be careful! Accepting too many at once will send that red flag to the automated facebook police! Try accepting 5 at a time every day to circumvent it.

Sending out too many messages.
Facebook's spam filter will automatically flag you if you send out too many messages at once, so again, try to limit them to 5 a day until you catch up.

Promoting your business or service too much.
The automated facebook spam filter will pick up if your messages look too "canned" so make your messages personal and put your web link after your name.

Stay tuned in my next post on Twitter tips. See you around facebook!
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A pioneer in the virtual world, as well as an author, speaker and business coach, Jennifer Wong has been helping entrepreneurs or "homepreneurs" succeed with their businesses for over 10 years. Sign up at http://www.thehomebizbuzz.com for her intense, information-packed ezine to be in on the buzz for your small business. Whether you're just starting out with your dream business, or simply looking for resources for your existing business, you won't want to miss getting in on the BUZZ.

Knowing When To Hold 'Em and When to Fold 'Em

In this economy especially, it's hard to turn clients away or sometimes even dissolving your business relationship. I recently had to part ways with a client after a prolonged and agonizing self-examination of our relationship. My "a-ha" moment came after I realized that I was not enjoying our work together and that there was a disconnect between us. After analzying how much revenue (or lack of revenue in this case as it was not much) would be lost if I fired this client, I decided that it was time to fold 'em as Kenny Rogers says.

Looking back on how I arrived at this point to have to fire a client, I realized that if I had followed what I teach my clients to do, I would not have gotten to that point at all! There's a saying, "physician, heal thyself" that applies to this.

When new or prospective clients come to you, it's critical that you take those dollar sign glasses off and really look at several factors, such as:

• Do I feel comfortable with interacting with this person? (for example, are they compatible to my personality?)
• Do I enjoy doing the tasks or services they require of me? (for example, if you don't like making telemarketing calls and that's what they're looking for--well guess what? You'll be wishing you turned this client away from the jump start!)
• How much work or product would I have to make from this relationship for it to be worth it to me?
• Is the work or service they're asking for in alignment with where I want to be?

If you ask yourself those 4 simple questions, you will save yourself some questions later on. Having a great relationship with your clients is a key to more business--through referrals from them and future work opportunties with them.

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A pioneer in the virtual world, as well as an author,speaker and business coach, Jennifer Wong has been helping entrepreneurs or "homepreneurs" succeed with their businesses for over 10 years. Sign up at http://www.thehomebizbuzz.com for her intense, information-packed ezine to be in on the buzz for your small business. Whether you're just starting out with your dream business, or simply looking for resources for your existing business, you won't want to miss getting in on the BUZZ.

Getting the most out of your time...

As an entrepreneur for the last ten years, I have learned greatly from the mistakes I've made as well as the "home runs" I've made. I've compiled a list of tips to help you manage your time and business efficiently so that you have more time to devote to doing what you love to do best.

1. Have a schedule for the week. I'm not saying that you need to plan every minute but I've found it extremely helpful to plan the week out in advance. For example, Monday, post to blog, check in social networking sites, client check in calls. Tuesday, article marketing and social networking site check in. Planning out what days you do what can help you maximize how much time you have for other work and down time.
2. Decide ahead of time what hours are business hours for you. For example, if you have a child who goes to school, perhaps your hours would be during school hours. Or, if you have a toddler, your business hours could maybe be nap times and at night. Having set hours also helps you avoid the "all work and no play makes Jack/Jill a dull boy/girl" syndrome.
3. Have a whiteboard and calendar posted up prominently where you can see them. I put all my goals for the week on one whiteboard and on another put projects for each client and due dates. Being able to visualize what you have on your plate helps it not seem so overwhelming---especially when you can wipe it off when it's done!
4. Put all your tasks and reminders in Outlook under the Task Manager setting. It will automatically come up when you open Outlook and serves as an additional reminder of what you have going on.

Want more tips? Sign up for my bi-weekly ezine, jammed pack of tips and resources for your home business. To sign up, send an email to: ezine@thehomebizbuzz.com with your first name in the subject line.

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Jennifer Wong is a successful solo entreprenuer who began her business over 10 years ago, pioneering the way for many successful internet entrepreneurs. She offers home-based business coaching and mentorship programs and a biweekly ezine from her website, http://www.thehomebizbuzz.com/.

911 for Your Business!

I was recently reminded of how important it is to have an emergency plan in place for your business. Last week, I went to my home office to start a day of work and low and behold my computer would not power up. I, of course, went through all the steps I knew to try to troubleshoot it, but wound up taking it into the PC hospital.


Likewise, I was working offsite at a client's and wound up straining my back. Many of you know that I teach yoga many times a week, so this is almost like having a computer that won't turn on.


What lesson I learned from this was that every business, small or big, regardless of what you do, needs a back up plan or emergency plan. This goes beyond backing up critical files (although this is a great link for some info on how to back up your system: http://www.business.com/directory/advice/technology/data-management/backing-up-your-business/) This means also having that back up process where you are able to function remotely (such as from another computer on the premises, or laptop).


For example, what if your phones went out, 5 minutes before an important client call? Do you have your client's contact numbers in a physical place other than on your computer files? Do you have good coverage from your cell in your house?


Here are some suggestions for setting up your emergency business kit:

• Have a binder of important contact numbers and client processes on hand


• Make sure you have a printout of bookmarked sites for your clients (such as email access accounts for them if you have a custom email address for that client)


• Have a good cell phone coverage and plan in place so that you can have quality calls even if your business line goes down.

Most of all, make sure that you don't stress out! Be flexible and adaptable and realize that you CAN make it work wherever you are...that's the beauty of working remotely!

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Jennifer Wong is a successful solo entreprenuer who began her business over 10 years ago, pioneering the way for many successful internet entrepreneurs. She offers home-based business coaching and mentorship programs and a biweekly ezine from her website, www.thehomebizbuzz.com.