Blog Carnival | Home Office Warrior

Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival #5

Dec 15, 2007

As many of you know, last week I was gone. Than we had an ice storm and now overnight we had almost 8 inches of snow. WOW!!

But, to keep the Carnival going, here is this weeks version.

Home Office Women starts us off this week with a post about marketing an online business. She discusses the benefits of email marketing.

From a new blog to me anyway, Business Services, ETC comes a post that is dear to my own heart, Starbucks Addictions & the Virtual World. I too find myself going to my favorite coffee shop on occasion to work.

Dad Balance reminds us of those Special Moments of Being a Dad.

A topic I visit with individuals a lot about is targeting your marketing efforts with a niche blog. Perfect example of a targeted niche: back fat is from Escape from Cubicle Nation.

And to top that one off, Escape from Cubicle Nation had another post that caught my attention, 5 business ideas just waiting for an entrepreneur … like you? It just goes to show you there are many ideas out there we can do from our home offices if we take advantage of the experiences we have developed and how we can use them to help others.

How many times have we heard about the holiday slump and we can wait until after the holidays? Freelance Switch gives us some help in Putting the Holiday Slump to Work for Your Business. This is truly another one of those blogs you just have to read and subscribe to. It continues to have some awesome stuff each week.

I know this one is not a blog, but flujo has some cool stuff for the home office warrior. Even though it is a UK company, you can still get some great ideas from it.

Chief Home Officer gives us some Very Last Minutes Home Office Tax Tips. Least we forget it is the middle of December and the 1st of the year is just around the corner.

Another topic close to most of our hearts is Working from Home with Kids. And this week we see two post from them. Part 1, Home Office Pieces you may want to buy and Part 2, with the same title.

A topic and problem I have decided to work on this winter is the electronics and mess of wires in my office. And to help. Getting Electronics Organized, Part 1 and Part 2 will help.

Here is a post I just could not resist including. This is from one of the, shall I say, interesting blogs, Robin Good. He gives us a look at Communication Etiquette for Mobile, Chat and VoIP. I know I use my iPhone in public. But, nothing can be more intrusive than to be out for a nice meal with my wife and have someone’s cell phone ring and they answer it and talk to the person on the other end like they are hard of hearing.

Here is a post from a blogger I have not included in the Carnival yet, Scobleizer. Not sure why, when you consider for a moment his impact on the blogging world. Anyway, Robert Scoble give us a post on Surviving the 2008 Recession. While I am not a doom a gloom type of person. Scoble’s post gives us some things to consider, just in case.

And finally and I know, this is in direct conflict with the home office warrior theme. But, if I could find an office like this, I might be tempted. Office Snapshots provides a look inside offices throughout the week. And Theadless HQ is an office I just love. But, of course if I could find a warehouse like this and put my “Home” in one part and my office in the other, that would be perfect.

You can submit your blog articles to the next edition of the Home Office Blog Carnival at this LINK.

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Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival #4

Dec 01, 2007

It appears there was some stored up posts on everyone’s computers after the long Thanksgiving weekend. There was a ton of great stuff on the Internet this week. And I am only providing a small portion of it.

TheStreet.com provided another take on How to Qualify for the Home-Office Tax Deduction.

Home with the Kids gives us her 10 Reasons Why I Love Working at Home.

Home Office Buddy has a post this week about setting up your home office the right way, the first time. Included is an interesting video guide.

Creating a Stylish Office at Home is provided by SSOnet.com this week.

And here is another take on setting up a home office from Cheif Home Office.com. A Quintessential Home Office Start-up List gives you seven steps in doing so.

To continue the early theme of setting up a home office, I found Setting Up a Home Office at Productivity501.

Another of my favorite blogs, 43 Folders has a timely post called Sink or Swim: Managing RSS Fees with Better Groups. I have had some ask me how I come up with some of the links I provide in this Carnival. RSS is one of the ways. If you read blogs, if you blog you HAVE to use RSS. This post provides some great tips on how to manage them. I have been culling my feeds this week. It is a great feeling getting rid of those subscriptions I no longer read.

eMoms at Home really hit the mark this week with her post called, “The Home Business Industry Needs to Realize Its Not 1999 Anymore. Wendy states:

In the last week or so, I was at an informal gathering in which I had a conversation with a woman that greatly impacted how I think about my business. We were four women business owners talking about internet marketing systems… and one of them said she had a friend that had spent over $50,000 dollars on such programs. I was astonished. $50K on internet marketing programs?

She goes on to state, I will no longer accept advertising for any of them (legitimate or not).

As home office warriors we may need to spend some time promoting our business and in turn our blogs or websites. Dosh Dosh gave us a guide this week called Push Marketing v.s. Pull Marketing: Using Both Strategies to Promote Your Site. If you are blogging you are most likely using the pull method. And if you aren’t, you should. Later in the post, we are provided seven (7) common pull marketing strategies.

Home Office Envy has a post concerning what Google might be up to concerning pagerank. Are Google Pagerank’s days numbers? Seems Google Labs is working on a “Digg” style page ranking system that allows users to manually rank sites or delete them from their search results.

Over at the Entrepreneur’s Journey Yaro has a post called 4 Tips for Becoming a More Productive Entrepreneur. Interesting ideas. But give up sugar and TV? Humm!

ProBlogger has an interesting post today called How My Blog Traffic Grew 20% During a 3-Week Vacation. It would appear according to the post, that when we plan for our vacation, don’t overlook having lined up guest posters for your blog. I have used guest posters in the past and it is great for both the blogger and the guest. It gives the blogger a different voice on his blog and a break from posting. It gives the guest poster exposure on another blog and some great linkage.

Why Giving Away Your Services for Free Will Get You Business is a from one of the best blogs out there called, Freelance Switch. This blog is packed full of information. If you are not subscribed to it, you should.

One of the items we have been exploring for the Home Office Warrior is a forums and a membership only forums. And this blog post from Daily Blog Tips called “Forums: Are They Right for Your Blog?” could not be more timely.

Chuck Newton is just one of those guys that gets it when it comes to working out of a home office. One of his post this weeks, Is a Home Office Looking More Appealing to You is just another example. There are just so many reasons to work from home.

And here is part two of Home Office Deductions from The Street, How to Defend Your Home Office Deduction. By the way, part one is at the top of this post.

Career Counselor presents Six Time Management Tips for the Self-Employed During the Holidays posted at ask the CareerCounselor.

You can submit your blog articles to the next edition of the Home Office Blog Carnival at this LINK using the submission form.

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Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival #3

Nov 24, 2007

This week’s installment is the third edition of the Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival. While postings on most of the blogs I follow and even those I don’t, have been light this week. There has been some good stuff. Here is what I found.

Chuck Newton asked a very good question on his blog, “Is Working from Home Right for You?” He points out 6 considerations you should look at before you decide if working from home is for you. I will be the first to admit, it is not for everyone. Read Chuck’s post and consider all six of his points. Great post Chuck!!!!

While this is not a post for the carnival. I wanted to point out that one of my favorite blogs, Web Worker Daily unveiled a new look this week. I just love it too. I for one find it actually easier to read in the new design. Great work guys.

Blog on Expo is another blog I have been following. BlogOnExpo is a digital conference covering the topic of blogging. They had a post this week called The Key to Success with Banner Ads: Get Creative. While not everyone puts ads on their blogs, this post is a good one. They give us both the do’s and don’ts.

And right along with that is a post on Seth Godin’s Blog called Eye Tracking Rules. Placement of ads does make a difference. And formatting can draw attention. Good list to consider.

Oh, and remember Web Worker Daily mentioned above. They had an interesting post called Telework is good for you.

Since we have been talking a lot lately about using a virtual assistant on HOW, this post from The Self Employment Blog is quite timely. What should you pay for help is the question being answered there.

A new blog to me, We The Change had a post called 8 Ways to Increase Effectiveness when Working from Home. Great list.

I know I could not live with email. And Edith Yeung gives us The 5 Rules of Writing Effective Email this week. While you are there, check out the other post on this great blog.

That is it for this week. Next week, you can submit your post HERE. See you than. And by the way, looking for someone to host the upcoming edition. Drop me an email at grantgriffiths@mac.com if you want to do the next edition.

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Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival #2

Nov 17, 2007

This weeks installment is the second of what I hope will be many. I tried to get a good cross section of blogs and I think you will enjoy. I even threw in a blog from a practicing attorney and from a non-practicing attorney.

Here are this weeks links:

Chuck Newton is back to riding the Third Wave as he tells us he is back, but hold the applause. Chuck is a home office warrior. Don’t discount Chuck’s blog just because he is a lawyer. He works from a home office. In fact, he is in a new office/home as he calls it now. Chuck’s insight into the “Third Wave” is really something. Check out his blog.

Also from the legal side of things, Susan Cartier Liebel reminds us that her blog is one year old and she has a present for us. Susan’s blog is called Build a Solo Practice, LLC. This is another one that should not be discounted just because it is done by an attorney. Susan’s blog provides a huge amount of information about building a business. Not just a legal business, but in my opinion, any solo business. Be watching for something special soon.

Next is the Clerical Advantage presents… and her post When is a Blog more than a Blog? You may know Tina from her great series of 100 ways for a Home Office Warrior to use a Virtual Assistant running on this blog. Good stuff.

The WSJ.com had a post just the other day called The Good News About Telecommuting. More and more, the main stream media is picking up on the home office “worker” over the last few weeks.

In fact, NPR not only had a blog post called The New Home Office. They had a “Talk of the Nation” topic on the home office.

“Is my advertising effective?” was a question asked by FreelanceMom.com She reminds us that target marketing is the most critical aspect of a campaign. Target marketing is something I talk about to individuals who are considering blogging to market their business. Niche or target marketing is in my view the most effective for your time and money.

You know you are living in 2007 when…. is this weeks post from Essential Keystrokes. Her number 1 is wonderful. “You know you are living in 2007 when you accidentally enter your password on the microwave.” Not far from the truth actually. Good list.

5 technologies that hurt your work life balance was provided by Dad Balance, one of the blogs in eMoms at Home network of blogs. However, I have to say, I would not give up any of the 5 whether it would help my work life balance or not. Nope, not happening.

Escape from Cubicle Nation gave us excellent reading for those paralyzed by fear of leaving their job. And that might be and most likely is the first thing that has to be done to become a home office warrior. By the way, if you don’t have Escape from Cubicle Nation in your RSS feeder, do it. It is worth a weekly read at least.

And a new blog to me anyway, Home Office Telephony is packed full of “Tips & Tricks for Home-Based Businesses to attract more clients using “Big Company” telephone systems and strategies.” Check it out. Good stuff.

Well, thats it for this week. Be watching same time, same place next week. Unless of course, someone wants to be the host. Here is the link to submit your post for next weeks Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival. If you are interested in hosting an upcoming issue, please drop me an email at grantgriffiths@mac.com

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Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival #1

Nov 10, 2007

Today is the first installment of what I hope will be a weekly event. The Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival will be an opportunity to provide links to some of the post from the previous week that were of interest to a Home Office Warrior. As the carnival grows, we will make it more formal.

Here is this weeks links:

Entrepreneurs, Business cycles and ‘the Rut’ is from a great blog Chief Home Officer.com

There were a few post this week about the problems with telecommuting and working at home. One of them was Why telecommuting stinks from Computerworld - Careers.
Do you really want to work from home - learn how was brought to us by an interesting blog to say the least, Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life.

There were a few home office photos this week. The most interesting and inspiring came from Apartment Therapy who shows us that even someone living in an apartment can work from a very efficient HOME OFFICE.

Small Business Online Community provided The 30 Second Commute and reminds those considering a home-based business to make sure they are aware of the personal and professional challenges they’ll be facing.

eMoms at Home had a post this week which gave us Three Tips for Better Time Management. One of the tips, “avoid email” is next to impossible for me to accomplish. I even check email as it comes in on my iPhone.

Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Home Business? Something to think about from Work from Home Momma.

Making Life Easier at Home & In Business provided a tip about a service I use myself, One Number With Grand Central.

This last week, we received some great insight and tips on using the Internet to boost our home businesses.

Home Business Wiz provided Home Page Booster.

If you don’t read ProBlogger, shame on you. Put it in you RSS reader and read it everyday. Today’s post Self Branding - Moving Beyond the Niche to Generate Income as a Blogger is just one example of why I have been reading this blog for almost 3 years.

Well, that is it for this week. Our plan at Home Office Warrior is to have a HOW Blog Carnival each and every week. Some are posted on Sunday and some go live on Mondays. I have decided this one will go up on Saturdays. I will be provided a link to submit post and articles for next weeks carnival soon.

What I really need is help. If you are interested in hosting the Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival, let me know. We will be putting up more information about this soon. It would be great if we could get a different blogger to host each week. Seriously, 52 home office warriors hosting one time a week. Be watching.

UPDATE: Here is the link to submit post and articles for next week’s Home Office Warrior Blog Carnival.

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