What Will 2007 Bring for My Home Business?
Although I''ve learned the futility of making New Year's Resolutions, at this time of year I can't help but reflect on the passage of time.
I took this photo a year ago this evening. I remember sitting on the bank overlooking the ocean thinking about what the coming year might bring. Well, now 2006 is just about over and 2007 is on the way.
Since I don't do resolutions, let's call these New Year's Intentions instead.
New Year's Intention #1: Higher standards regarding work-life balance.
You know, if I was single this would not be an issue for me. I see nothing wrong with working on business till all hours of the night. I find it fun and as long as it's not harming anyone, who cares?
As long as it's not harming anyone...that's the catch. I'm married and my husband is semi-retired, and he'd like to spend time with his wife once in a while. Not too much to ask.
And yet, I know myself. I get distracted up in my office and hours can go by. This will be a hard one for me to change. Really hard.
So here's my first baby-step towards this goal: I will tell my husband how long I'll be up in the office, and I will honor that time. So if I say, "I'll be right back" then I'll do that. If he says "dinner's ready in 10 minutes" I'll make sure to be there with time to spare.
New Year's Intention #2: Change all my passwords and write them down.
I have literally hundreds of online sites that I access - some everyday, others only once or twice a year. My passwords are in a mess, and I'm spending an increasing amount of time trying to guess them or look them up in my outdated binder (yes, I still use paper for some things!) This will be a relatively easy goal to achieve, and a satisfying one.
New Year's Intention #3: Streamline the things I am subscribed to.
This one goes hand in hand with #2. As I go though those hundreds of passwords, I will ask myself if I really need to belong to the particular membership / affiliate program / network / service. I'd like to pare it down to about 25% of what I currently belong to.
New Year's Intention #4: Start several new blogs.
This is a fun one. Actually, I'm kind of cheating by including it on this list because this is a goal that I need no resolve to accomplish. I love creating new things. In fact, I have a couple of new sites in the works that I'll be telling you about over the next few weeks.
Let's modify it then: let's say "find the tools that allow me to write valuable content for multiple blogs daily with the most enjoyment and efficiency". That sounds good.
New Year's Intention #5: Devote more time to social justice initiatives.
I write, speak and teach for a living. Most of what I talk about is business-related. How to start and run a home-based business. How to market your business. How to communicate effectively with others so that your business does well. Etc. Etc.
Even though I really enjoy what I do (correction: I love what I do), lately I've been questioning the venue in which I do it. Put bluntly, as an advisor to people in the affluent western world, basically I teach already well-off people how to become even better off.
What's the answer? Quit everything and run off to volunteer in an orphanage in India. Ummm...not for me. I don't want to stop what I'm doing, but I do want to expand my reach to help others who don't have the economic advantages that western business people do.
I'll tell you more about this as I learn, but for a sneak peek at two organizations I'm interested in, go to Kiva.org and Maiwa
What about you? What will 2007 bring for your home-based business? Leave a comment below and let me know.
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managing passwords is a mess. It's a good thing companies like google and microsoft are now making it easier for us to access all their services through one account.
On another note, I found a great article on growing a home business. I am sharing the link with you. Hope you find it as useful as i did :).
http://www.cvtips.com/expanding_self_employment.html