I thought I'd share this promo for The Office as today's Friday Fun Video. You know, since the 4th season finale was last night. *sigh* Let the summer reruns begin...

Happy Friday!

One of the ways you can promote your home business Web site is with a blog. But you can't just put a blog up and expect people to come. Deb, over at Network Blogging Tips, offers some great insight into the mistakes that many new bloggers make. Don't let yourself fall into these traps:

1. Thinking that blogging is a way to get rich quickly.
2. Not doing enough research for your blog.
3. Blogging in a niche that is over-saturated.
4. Blogging about something you don't know.
5. Not promoting your blog.

Remember: If you do a good job with your blog, and you get out there and promote it -- especially by being a member of a community -- you will build a loyal following for your home business.

This is a guest post from Ryma Technologies.

When it comes to your home business, it is important to look at the "Big Picture." The "Big Picture" takes you beyond what you are doing to get started right now to how you will handle future challenges and changes to your products and services.

As your home business grows, you need to be aware of the challenges that scalability represents. It is important that you consider where you are going, and what you want to do. Starting a home business is hard work, and it can seem unimportant to take a look into the future. But if you integrate your plans for later into what you are doing now, later transformations will be easier.

Ryma offers expertise in integrated product management. You can learn more about integrated product management by attending seminars in Santa Clara (May 22), Phoenix (May 29) and Huntsville, AL (June 5).

Small business owners have until May 15 to submit videos for the NFIB Video Contest. This contest carries with it a cash prize of $5,000 and a free trip for two to the 2008 National Small Business Summit being held June 8-11 in Washington, D.C.

Here is what a NFIB press release says about the summit:

The 2008 National Small Business Summit, “We Are Stronger Together,” presented by the National Federation of Independent Business and eBay, brings together small business owners from around the country to meet their lawmakers face-to-face and share their experiences about how Washington , D.C. decisions affect small businesses. The Summit will focus on top small business legislative priorities, including healthcare reform efforts, and also will examine the political landscape leading into the November elections.

One of the problems that I have in my home office is that the paper clutter tends to stack up. I mean really stack up. You get a file, or a paper, or a report and add it to the pile. Sometimes you just shuffle things from one pile to another, or from one area of your home office to another.

Over at MyOrganizedBiz, Jennifer Hoffman offers a suggestion: Make sure you keep an expiration date on your files. The idea is to keep your paper flowing through your home office, rather than stopping there and gathering dust.

I'm thinking that setting a certain time each day to look at your files and Get Things Done. Or, at least go through your piles once a week. The idea is to keep paper clutter to a minimum, and make sure that you address what's in the files.

I kind of liked this commercial for the Lincoln MKZ. Amusing AND heartwarming. Awwwww...

Happy Friday!

One of the issues that might come up for a WAHM (work at home mom) is how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I know it's hard for me. Just bring a pile of M&Ms downstairs to munch on while I write. And sitting in one place isn't the best thing for managing one's weight. Which is why I really enjoyed some suggestions on weight management from WAHM Articles. Nothing earth-shatteringly new, but still some great information for managing your weight as a WAHM:

*Drink 4-6 glasses of water per day.
*Avoid eating while at the computer. This includes meals AND snacks.
*Try to eat healthy (I like to prepare fruit the night before so that it is available during the day).
*Try for a daily exercise routine.

I also like to get up and do the sun salutation (yoga) every so often to keep me energized. It only takes a minute. Another suggestion: take 10-15 minutes to meditate each day. I do my meditation while my son is having "quiet time."

When it comes to your home business, it is important to consider opinions of professionals. But it is also important to realize that "they" aren't always right. Over at Ledership Turn, Miki Saxon has some great quotes about some experts who were wrong.

My favorite? The Mrs. Field's Cookies warning: “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”

I am quite partial to soft and chewy cookies. Crispy cookies are hard and make a mess.

If you are educated and skilled in a particular area, you might try this home business idea: consulting. If you have the credentials to help others in a specific area, you can do a little consulting as part of your home business. Or even as the sole purpose of your home business.

I started thinking of this when I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal about SAHMs and how they are being tapped by the corporate world now:

The decision among some highly educated women to stay home with children is sparking a countertrend: The rise of the mommy "SWAT team." The acronym, for "smart women with available time," is one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss.

I thought this was really cool. And it made me think: If many of these women are so qualified, what's to keep them from making more as consultants?

When it comes to your home business Web site, there are many tools that you can utilize in terms of building your online community. And one of those things is online forums. If you are wondering about online forums -- from how to get one set up and going to how to properly manage it -- Patrick O'Keefe has written a great handbook: Managing Online Forums.

As social media becomes increasingly important, this book has been released at an ideal time. It has everything. O'Keefe uses an engaging and conversational style to share his experiences with setting up and managing online forums. This book will take you from the basic technical steps of setting up an online forum through creating guidelines for community members to managing inflammatory postings.

If you are interested in adding an online forum to your home business Web site, this book is a great read.