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Poverty is becoming a bigger issue by the minute. Billions of people around the world live in poverty, and the problem can seem overwhelming. But if everyone concentrated on a small patch of the world, eventually the individual efforts would add up.

And that means that your home business, no matter how small, can join the fight against poverty. Over at Responsible Marketing, there is a list of 25 things your business can do to fight poverty. There some things that even a home business can do. Here are some of my favorites from the list:

* Cook and distribute meals. You can work with a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. I know that my son's school has programs during the summer and holidays where you can help provide a meal for children who mainly only get good nuitrition while at school.

* Give to a charity. And encourage any employees you might have to donate as well.

* Have a donation program. You can donate some of your goods and services to charities. Additionally, it is possible to offer discounts to your clients who buy goods and services on behalf of others.

* Engage in microfinance. Not only does this help those in poverty, it can also help you create another revenue stream for your business.

* If you've been accumulating reward points, donate them. Many credit cards will allow you to donate your points to charity.

Can you think of ways for your home business to help fight poverty?

Today, in an unprecedented move of global economic cooperation, several central banks cut their interest rates by 50 basis points. The U.S. Federal Reserve was involved in the move, bringing the rate here in the U.S. down to 1.5%

If you have been looking for credit for your home business, this might help. Between the move by the Fed to buy commercial paper and offer short term loans to businesses, plus this rate cut, there are hopes that the credit freeze will thaw a little bit.

And that may mean that you can get the funding you need in the near future.

Are we ready to get serious about truly fixing the economy? Or do we just want a $700 billion band-aid?

Happy Friday!

One of the things that has me thinking this morning is the massive hemorrhage on Wall Street. As things slowly continue the implosion, I am a bit concerned about my job. See, I'm a freelancer. I do a lot of work for online companies especially. And as things worsen as far as the economic picture is concerned, I think about the fact that if something is going to get cut in some budget, it is probably going to be me.

So, it's time to cut back, make sure my emergency fund is in order, and hope that I've got enough work of different kinds to see me through this.

Does this economy worry you in terms of your home business?

I think it is fitting to remember certain dates, and observe them. 9/11 is one of those for me. I think it important to honor the losses and sacrifices of others. I hope that if I am ever called upon to personally face such a thing that I can rise as magnificently to the occasion as thousands have done before me.

So this morning I have reserved some to reflect and consider.

Do you observe 9/11?

With Election 2008 really in full swing, JibJab puts out its perennial video. I love this one, featuring Barack Obama and John McCain.

Happy Friday!

Over at My Organized Biz, Becky is offering a contest in connection with a 7-column BBB fridge grid pad. The idea is that you can plan out the week on this magnetic pad and stick it to your refrigerator.

I love this idea. It offers an at-a-glance look at which days are going to be busiest for the family. That would help me plan my work at home schedule (not to mention our meals) more effectively.

Head on over and take a look at the planning grid, and then leave a comment. That's all you have to do to enter the drawing.

Today, as I found out from Home Biz Notes, is National Leave the Office Earlier Day. The idea is that this is supposed to help improve productivity. You know, when you have to be more efficient so that you can leave the office earlier.

But what about the home office?

Really, though, this comes on a bad day for me. I'm already behind. Summer has started (so my son is out of school) and I really don't feel like I have time to leave the home office early.

So maybe what I'll do instead is take a longer "lunch break" with my son. We can go out to lunch and go to the park. But then I'll have to get back to work. It's not really leaving early, but it does have the benefit of spending more time with my son -- and less in the home office.

If you are interested in gaining more exposure and doing a little networking in order to help promote your home business blog, BlogWorld Expo might be the place to go. Bloggers from all over the world exhibit, hold workshops and seminars and network. And, right now, there is some early bird pricing available for BlogWorld.

Another conference to be aware of is the BlogHer conference and the Reach Out Tour. These are great opportunities to meet women in blogging -- and even men who blog about women's issues.

Conferences can be a great way to meet others in your niche (and outside your niche), and do some quality networking.

Planning a Leap Day party? Here are some "tips" for a Leap Day Party. Happy Friday!

Today marks the first anniversary of Shakadoo.

It's been a great first year for the Shak. I've been privileged to add my voice to this great Web site. I've enjoyed writing about working from home, and hope to continue to continue in blogging company with all the great folks at Shakadoo. It's been amazing to watch the expansion and to watch the Shak win awards.

Happy Birthday Shakadoo! And may you enjoy many, many more.

Today's Friday Fun Video is one of my messy desk. It's for a contest over at MyFax. Hurry up and send a picture or video of your messy desk over for your chance to win up to $10,000. The deadline is Monday the 25th at noon Eastern.

Take a work from home break tonight and head out to watch the lunar eclipse. Here in the US, it will be at a rather convenient time, starting just after 9 p.m. Eastern and total eclipse happening between 10:01 and 10:51. This is a great time to see the moon covered by Earth's shadow, turning it red and possibly even allowing some to see it as turquoise. National Geographic reports on the lunar eclipse:

"It's very well placed for the U.S.," said Fred Espenak, an astrophysicist and eclipse expert at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

It may seem like you have a lot to do today, but one thing you should add to your list is voting. If you are in one of the 24 states holding presidential primaries today on Super Tuesday, take some time off from your home business to cast your vote. Working from home can get hectic, but it is important to make a choice. After all, who's in office can affect the small business policies that in turn affect your home business.

This year, on February 11, marks the fifth annual Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day. The first thing I do when I get up is put on a robe and head down to my home office to get in some work. I just didn't realize there was a day  for it!

WebMomz is sponsoring a contest in honor of Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day. It looks like fun, so head on over and enter. And remember that working from home offers a variety of perks. Including the ability to get work done in your bathrobe!

The Flugpo Blog is now holding weekly contests every Wednesday. This provides an opportunity for free ad space if you are the winner. Here are some details about the weekly contests from the blog:

Every week, there will be a new contest. Nothing fancy or complicated, just some simple fun. Here is how it will work:

• Every Wednesday a new contest will be posted AND the winners from the prior week's contest will be announced
• There will be three winners each week
• The three winners will get free ad space starting the Wednesday they are announced as the winners. Winners choice, 125x125 button or a text link. You will need to provide the button HTML or text link HTML once you are notified as the winner. Your free ads will be on the right sidebar which is currently identified as "Home of Future Wednesday Winners"
• Your free ad will end the following Wednesday when the next winners are announced.
• The contests will be different but the prize will remain the same

This week's contest (it starts today) asks for a little creative writing. Check it out!

There has been a lot of speculation about when the next Google PageRank update would be. A lot of people have been talking about it this week and were wondering if it was taking place. Websites and blogs have been running more slowly and everyone thought it might have something to do with a PageRank update.

They were right! Google has updated PageRanks. Will this be good or bad for your sites? There is only one way to find out! Go take a look and I hope your rank is all that you hoped for.

Everyone makes New Year's Resolutions. And that's great. Goals should be encouraged, especially when you work from home. And Pimp Your Work is having a great contest. You can create a blog post about your home business New Year's resolutions and possibly win a great prize.

Here are my work from home New Year's resolutions:

1. Make more time for my family when we are together (limit my work from home activities).
2. Increase efficiency by relegating email to certain times of the day.
3. Write a book about writing.

What are your home business New Year's resolutions?

On Friday, I wrote a post in Shak In Style. My post was tagged for a game of blog tag!

I took my turn in the tag game today. I would like to invite you to view it. You can find it in Shak In Style right HERE. I hope you enjoy it. I found it to be very fun!

P.S.- Although it was just a game, it is a great way to network!

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. People camp out in front of stores to make sure they are first in line for the great deals.

Black Friday has made its way online too. More people than ever are shopping online rather than facing those daunting crowds. In fact, online shopping has become commonplace.

What does this have to do with working from home? It shows that selling on the internet can be a viable option for a home based business. You can sell your own product if you have one or sell through affiliate marketing. The options are endless and the costs can be relatively low depending on how you do it.

My other point is to point out the marketing brilliance of Black Friday. At one point in time, a very smart person recognized the fact that Americans do a lot of shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. The term Black Friday was coined and merchants realized the profit potential. They devised every incentive possible to lure shoppers to their store and product.

Sometimes it just takes a little creativity to increase your profit margin. Stay on top of what consumers want and go with it. Who knows, you might be the next person to come up with a brilliant strategy like Black Friday!

I would like to tell everyone about an opportunity I am offering on my blog Freelancer For Hire. I have decided to start featuring different freelancers on this blog.

This would be great exposure for you as a freelancer. You can see what a post about you might look like by visiting yesterday's post about a public speaker freelancer. The next post could be about you!

I am not charging a fee for this. It is just a free service that my blog would like to offer to freelancers. Of course, some kind of link would be appreciated although not required. I would like my blog to become a place where freelancers can find job listings AND where clients can find freelancers for hire!

If you would like to be the next Freelancer featured here, send me an email to kellybax@msn.com. Make the subject line of the email request "request for freelance bio". Please include any information you would like to be shown as well as a picture for the post. Requests are not a guaranty of inclusion however all requests will be given equal consideration.

This is from the Flugpo Blog. If you participate and win, you get a free plug for you business on the blog!

Flugpo Challenges YOU! Are You Up To It?

Tis the season to be jolly. Well, you know the rest. Most everybody will be caught up in the holiday season for the rest of this year. How can you make this work for your home business?

This is a great time of year to run promotions. Consumers will be spending a lot of money and love to find deals. If you can, offer discounts on your products or services. Give your promotion a holiday theme name to help attract searchers.

Everyone loves to win something so you could have a holiday contest. It could be a competition or a drawing and that helps your customers to feel like you are a company that gives back. It also adds a little fun!

Is there a hot product or toy (make sure it is lead free) this year? You could find a way to promote this hot product or you could make it the prize in your contest. Research what is popular right now and somehow incorporate it into your business.

If you are a little creative, you can make the holidays work for your business. Corporate America does, why not you? 

This is the unofficial "Ask Kelly" section. I am interested in learning about our readers. This is a call for as much reader feedback as you can throw at me.

Here are some things that I would like to know:

1) What type of work from home job do you have?

2) How long have you been working from home?

3) Do you have your own business or do you telecommute for an employer?

4) What topics would you like to read about here?

5) Do you have a great work from home story to share?

6) What do you want to know that will help you with your business?

If you ask me to research a particular topic for you, I will! If you have something interesting to share, send me an email with the story and I might share it here. Now please, bombard me with your stories and your interests and let's get the unofficial "Ask Kelly" section started!

You can comment here and you can also send an email to me at kb@kellfinder.com. Thank you and I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Shakadoo is going to start featuring Squidoo lenses! We will feature a new lens every day in one of the shaks. It will be done in an I-frame so your whole lens will show. The cool thing is that it will always be there in the archives and searchable.

If you are an existing lensmaster and you feel that one of your lenses would fit into any of the categories below, then submit it to my group Shakadoo On Squidoo.

Shak In Style: Stylish home interiors your passion?
Shak Hammer: Home improvement your passion?
Love Shak, Baby: Is the family growing? (parenting, kids, moms, dads, etc...)
LoanShak: Money matters your thing?
ShakYard: Got a green thumb?
WorkShak: Working from home?
Shaktronics: Love home electronics?
Shak & Jill: Real Estate

If you have never created a Squidoo lens before, get started now by clicking here: Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

For more information and complete details, please click HERE. We hope to see your Squidoo lens on Shakadoo!