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From the WHY Vault*

2009-05-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

10 Tasks You Can Farm Out to a Virtual Assistant Right Now

If you run a business from home, it’s hard to bring in an assistant. It’s not just a matter of the expense and paperwork of employing a helper, but the idea of bringing someone into your home, even for work. On top of that, you have to worry about whether you have enough work for an assistant: no matter how many hours you agree on initially, you don’t want to run the risk of paying someone just to sit around.

There is an option that addresses these problems, however: the virtual assistant.

Virtual assistants, or VAs, aren’t employees — they’re contractors. By working with a VA, you don’t have to worry about any of the costs of employment such as taxes and insurance. Furthermore, VAs work as many or as few hours as you agree on, and you only pay for the time you actually use. There are a few drawbacks to working with a virtual assistant: because they don’t actually visit your office or home, there are some limitations on the tasks that a VA can take on. Also, prices can vary significantly. You can work with a VA based in India or another country for just $6 an hour, but most U.S.-based VAs charge at least $30 per hour. Taking that into account, there are still a wide variety of tasks that a VA can handle for you.

Newsletters: Many VAs offer newsletter writing services and are also willing to handle the logistics for sending a newsletter out over email or arranging for printing and mailing. You can also arrange to have a VA update a blog or handle other marketing communications.
Travel Arrangements: If you need to book a flight, it can take time to find an inexpensive ticket at a time that works for you. A VA can handle these details, along with finding a hotel, making arrangements for a rental car and more.
Research: Need to find concrete numbers on a target demographic or find a phone number for a contact? VAs take on research projects both big and small. In most cases, it’s just a matter of telling a VA what you’re looking for.
Customer Service: While most customer service matters are routine, you still have to see to them. That means answering emails or phone calls — or having someone else see to them. A VA can handle everyday matters, allowing you to focus on bigger things.
Bookkeeping: While you have to find a VA who specializes in bookkeeping to outsource this particular task, it is a fast way to eliminate an administrative chore many people dread.
Writing Services: Many VAs provide a wide variety of writing services, from editing and proofreading to creating press releases, articles and other materials for your business.
Website Design: Just as many VAs specialize in written projects, others have a wide variety of design skills. Many can create at least a simple website, as well as handle updating and maintenance. VAs also offer print design services, such as creating brochures.
Personal Tasks: Need to order flowers for Mom? What about scheduling an oil change for the car? VAs don’t have to handle just business tasks. Many are happy to help with personal matters — and often at prices far below those of concierge services.
Payroll: A VA can handle the details of payroll for your other employees. There are even a few employees that outsource filling out their own timesheets to a VA — although that’s usually as part of a larger batch of tasks.
Anything Else That Can Be Done Via Computer or Telephone: If you need to outsource a task not listed above, it’s still worthwhile to contact a virtual assistant. Even if you’re looking for a service not normally offered, if a VA can handle the task, he or she will. If not, that person might be able to find you someone who can.

Finding a VA is relatively simple: there are hundreds of agencies that will connect you to a VA as well as many independent VAs. All of them have websites. You can even find VAs through bid sites, such as Elance or oDesk. However, finding a reliable VA who works well with your business can be a little harder. When considering working with a particular VA, think about asking for references. References provide a simple way to weed out potential problems before you pay any money. Even with a VA with excellent references, though, it’s worthwhile to start out with a few probationary tasks — especially if you plan to have your VA handle sensitive information in the future.

Also, keep in mind that you’re not limited to working with one virtual assistant if you find that outsourcing certain tasks works well for your business. You could work with one VA for your bookkeeping needs and another who can handle your online marketing — it’s a matter of what work you need to get done and how much time you want to spend on it. The crucial skill to managing the outsourcing of tasks, though, is clear communication. No matter how good a VA is, he or she will struggle with tasks that aren’t clearly defined — requiring more time and money.

If you’re ready to start looking for a VA, the first step you should take is creating a list of tasks you want your VA to handle. Having such a list will help you narrow your search for a VA — not every VA offers every possible remote service. Instead, you’ll probably have to prioritize the tasks you need taken care of and start with a VA who can help you with those key items. From there, you can branch out as necessary — maybe even hand over the search for additional help to your virtual assistant.

--this article, written by Thursday Bram, ran in the january/february 2009 issue of WHY magazine, sponsored by the The Web Servant.

*From time to time, I'll present info from past WHY articles or WHY Xtras in case you missed them the first time around. :)

WHY Xtra: 5 Twitter No-Nos

2009-05-05T02:36:00.000-07:00

Retweeting without attribution. Think of it as plagiarism in 140 characters or fewer.
Having every link you post be for your own website. Nobody likes someone who only talks about himself.
Tweeting constantly. The general rule is to contain yourself to no more than 10 tweets a day.
Not including a link or photo when making a compliment or recommendation. That is such a tease.
Not thinking before you tweet. Remember, as fun and casual as Twitter seems, this is a social networking site used by many for business, employers as well as employees, so keep your comments filtered and fair.

HARO Rocks

2009-04-23T03:34:00.000-07:00

I'm researching a story about working at home with the kids for the next issue of WHY magazine. I've been using HARO over the past six months or so to find experts for stories I'm writing -- for WHY as well as other freelance projects. HARO has always come through with good and plentiful leads. This time, however, I was overwhelmed by the response I received. Since my query was sent out yesterday morning, I've received more than 100 (and counting!) responses. Amazing! And it's FREE! HARO rocks.

I Heart Twitter

2009-04-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

There has been so much media hype about Twitter over the past week, with Ashton Kutcher and CNN vying for the 1 million follower mark and Oprah tweeting for the first time on Friday. Non-Tweeters seemed more outspoken than usual about their dislike (or is it the inability to realize the potential?) of the social networking site, and those who were the first to jump on the Twitter bandwagon began complaining that Twitter had jumped the shark with all this new, rather mainstream attention. For me, Twitter remains a fantastic way to market a home venture, such as WHY magazine, or any small or large business. Networking has never been so financially feasible and fun! I've "met" a bunch of amazing entrepreneurs and telecommuters and have learned a lot from all of them. Shark or no shark, I'm here to stay.

WHY Xtra: 5 Telecommuting Myths Debunked

2009-04-14T04:42:00.000-07:00

"No schedules!" Au contraire! At-home workers may not have to punch a clock, but the onus is on them to chisel out blocks of their day for work or they risk getting nothing done.
"Too isolating!" Social media has helped take the lonely out of working from home, but successful telecommuters schedule regular face-to-faces with colleagues, clients and friends.
"No office politics!" Because they’re not at “an office,” telecommuters can have a hard time staying on their boss’ radar. Make periodic visits to your company office if you can, or schedule monthly conference calls with your boss or team leaders so that you can stay in the loop.
"I’ll gain so much weight!" Yes, the fridge is just a few steps away, but just as working from home is all about discipline, so is meal planning. Find ways to fight those cravings – make a bagged lunch, if that helps, and drink lots of water.
"No child care needed!" Whoever said this never experienced the stress of a conference call with a screaming child in the background. Although full-time daycare may not be necessary when you work from home, hiring a mother’s helper for an hour or two, and scheduling all your calls for that time period, is helpful when a SpongeBob DVD or box of cookies won’t do the trick.

Staying in Constant Contact

2009-04-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

I've been using Constant Contact for my WHY magazine emailers for more than a year. You probably know that already, because I'm so happy with the level of service I receive from the company that I gush about it to just about anyone who'll listen.

Earlier this month, there was an issue that came up with my account, and in the process of remedying things, I had a run-in with a poor customer service rep -- I mean, REALLY poor, the kind that makes your mouth hang open in utter shock. I was so infuriated with him that after I hung up the phone, I took to Twitter with some heated ramblings. Within minutes, I received a DM from a vice president of Constant Contact who assured me that he would help me solve my problem and get to the bottom of what had gone wrong with my communications with his sales rep. He was patient, he listened, he tried to crack jokes -- he did all the right things to make the customer (me) feel appreciated and understood.

Within minutes, my account was back in working order, and all was well.

Over the past year, I've read about varying degrees of customer service issues that have been resolved with the help of social media. It wasn't until now, though, that I personally have been able to experience its power in helping customers get their voices heard.

Although no company should be judged by one poor customer service rep, I do believe that companies SHOULD be judged by their responses to those inevitable glitches that pop up in long-term (or short-term) business relationships.

Props go to Constant Contact for its speedy attention to my glitch. Let the gushing continue!

WHYing Solo

2009-04-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

For those who have not yet heard, my business partner Lucille has left our little company to pursue other interests, and it will be just me, myself and WHY going forward. I'm excited, motivated, determined and scared to death -- just the way I like it.

WHY Xtra: 5 Tips for Writing a Short, Professional Bio

2009-03-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

Start off with a bang. The first sentence of your bio should be strong and attention-getting, and give a clear description of what you do and the field you're in.
Less is more. Don't give your entire work history. Instead, touch upon your main accomplishments.
He said, she said. It is standard practice to write professional bios, even your own, in third person, unless the bio appears on your website and you're going for a more casual, folksy flavor.
All work and no play... Include some personal information, so that there is a sense of who you are beyond the boardroom. But keep this section short.
Include contact information. Excluding it is kind of like trying to sell a house without an address.

Tweetdeck

2009-03-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Finally installed Tweetdeck, an application that aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by breaking down Twitter feeds into more manageable bite sized pieces. Although I've only used Tweetdeck for a week or two, my feelings about it, at this early stage, are rather lukewarm. Tweetdeck, with its fancy lists and constant updates, is probably terrific for folks who tweet continually throughout the day or have thousands of followers and have trouble keeping track of it all. However, for those who tweet occasionally -- meaning a few times a day -- to a few hundred followers, Tweetdeck doesn't seem like all that. Am I missing something?

5 Tips for Working at Home with a Spouse Who's Been Laid Off

2009-03-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

Establish a routine. You've got the office in the morning, and your spouse gets it in the afternoon for a job search, or you take Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and he or she gets Tuesdays and Thursdays. Whatever works for the two of you.
Be understanding. Tensions and insecurities may be very high during this period. Your spouse is feeling unwanted or hovering, so resist the urge to nag.
Be supportive. Offer helpful advice, knowing that sometimes that will mean building time into your own work schedule to spend time with your spouse either to scour the want ads or go for a walk.
Be upbeat. The power of optimism never can be over-rated.
Don't brag. You may be the only one in the house bringing in an income right now, but, as many will attest, anything can happen in this economy, so be humble and count your blessings.

Like what you read? Join the mailing list of WHY magazine and receive our popular "5 tip" emails in your inbox every Monday!

The Holy Trinity of Home Entrepreneurship

2009-03-23T04:07:00.000-07:00

I had a very interesting discussion with my husband this weekend about "drive": that little something inside of us that pushes, propels and urges us forward, that won't take no for an answer. Over the past two years as editor and publisher of WHY magazine, I've had the opportunity to speak with many people who run home businesses, and there are a few commonalities among them, including what I like to call the Holy Trinity -- if you'll allow me to steal a term from Louisiana cooking -- of Home Entrepreneurship:

Drive
Belief in yourself
Optimism

Not everybody has these traits, but if you're running your own business, you really need to. Home businesses are difficult, frustrating, exhilarating, challenging and often lonely enterprises. There are good days, and there are bad days -- sometimes mostly bad days -- but somehow there are those who continue to get up every morning motivated and excited, thinking, "I can do this." I'd like to think that I'm one of those people, and I have met so many others who are too, who try and squeeze a home business into an already chaotic life and do it willingly and enthusiastically. Where this kind of "drive" comes from, I'm not entirely certain, but, for me, there's almost no doubt in my mind: it comes from my mother.

Change

2009-03-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

I spent the better part of 2008 thinking about change. Political change, mostly. Moving forward. Learning from the past. Hoping. Believing. This spring, that feeling of change has extended from the vast political realm to my very own little entrepreneurial one, changing the way I do business in the months and years to come. It was a change spearheaded by me rather than being cast upon me, which is what I think would have happened had I not taken the bull by the horns and faced the agent of change head on.

Making changes, particularly when things have been going on the same way for a long time, even if on a downward slide, is hard work. But just as President Obama, who inspires me every day, can be hopeful in the face of such a great challenge, I too am embracing my own change, am invigorated by it and scared to death of it.

This spring, as you usher your business into a new season, remember that change will happen, whether we want it to or not. As that astute philosopher Ferris Bueller once said: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Don't miss it. Ride the curves. Force the curves. And hold on tight.

Lunch with Lucille

2009-03-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

Today I'll be having lunch with my eBusiness partner (as we call each other) Lucille. Haven't seen her since January, but we've made a pact that, even though we speak frequently by phone and via email, we'd do a face-to-face more often. Hey, we both need to eat, right?

Taking time to get out and see people --real people, not just your neighbors and mail carriers -- is probably one of the most important things you can do as a home worker, because working from home can feel isolating sometimes. Twittering is great, but it's no replacement for in-person interaction, so get out there and mingle!

WHY Webinars

2009-03-06T06:20:00.000-08:00

Very excited about this. Spring is just around the corner, and we've set our first WHY Webinar for May. Our new WHY Webinar series will tackle all kinds of work-at-home subjects, such as how to recognize a work-at-home scam, how to increase your at-home work productivity and all you need to know about starting a home business. We'll be letting our opt-in subscribers know first what the date/topic will be, so if you haven’t yet subscribed to our mailing list, now may be the time. Although, truth be told, even if you don't sign up, I'm sure -- or at least I'm hopeful that -- you'll hear about it anyway. Thank you, social media!

And anyone interested in sponsoring a webinar should DM me.

Gotta keep the ideas flowing in this economy. In any economy, really. Are those birds I hear singing?

WHY Xtra: 5 Offbeat Holiday Tie-ins

2009-03-04T06:09:00.000-08:00

Multiple Personality Day, March 5. Offer a hot deal on a product or service and then immediately offer an even better deal as a celebration of two "mindsets."
Employee Appreciation Day, March 9. Offer goods and services at discounted, "employee" prices.
Middle Name Pride Day, March 10. Offer 5 percent off for those customers who list their middle name on the order form or contract, or have special discounts for customers who share your middle name.
Pi Day, March 14. Got tipped off to this tie-in opp by Cafepress.com, which sent out an email with the subject: "There's 3.14 reasons to celebrate!" Yours can say something just as cute, like, "Our product specials promise never-ending fun." Be creative!
April Fools' Day, April 1. Lots of companies toy with bogus promotions on this day to generate excitement. Check out our quiz in this issue's WHY magazine for some of the most memorable.

Subscribe to WHY magazine today to get our Xtras sent to you every Monday!

New Issue of WHY is Live at www.workhomeyou.com!

2009-03-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

Our mar/apr 09 issue of WHY magazine features articles written exclusively for folks who work from home, including:

10 ways telecommuters can stay on their boss' radar;
7 tips to solicit business w/o looking desperate;
18 home business deductions to consider;
5 tips on using Twitter to boost your profile;
10 easy ways to green your home office;
10 things you should know about those elusive customers;
5 no-no's of online journalism, and much more!

We hope you enjoy the issue and would love to hear your feedback. We've got lots of exciting things happening at WHY. Join our mailing list and stay in the know.

Now, I think I speak for Lucille as well as myself when I say, "We're pooped!" Time to leave my computer after what feels like -- and probably was -- nearly 48 straight hours of work and play in the snow. Enjoy!

Celebrate Working From Home

2009-03-01T04:32:00.000-08:00

With more and more people working from home these days, don't you think it's time we work-at-homers had our own product line? We do too.

WHY magazine's online store carries all sorts of products that celebrate working from home. Whether you're looking for a unique baby shower gift, a gift for your telecommuting employees or just want to wear your work-at-home heart on your sleeve, there's lots of unique items at a variety of price points to choose from, including this 160-page journal priced at $11.99.

From the WHY Vault*

2009-02-28T03:45:00.000-08:00

10 Ways to Revitalize Your Business in 2009

Take a Client Out for Coffee. The first step to revitalizing your business has to be figuring out what area you want to work on. But handing out a stack of surveys to your customers isn’t really going to get a lot of answers: you’ll be lucky if you get any response at all. Sitting down with a customer and chatting about what he likes and dislikes in your product can provide plenty of information, especially if the client feels that he or she is getting something out of it. So rather than struggling through some mass emailing asking how you did on a scale of 1 to 10, pick a client or two to take out. Which clients? You might consider the client that you’ve had the hardest time with over the past year. Find out where the problem was, from the client’s point of view, and why he stuck with you. You just might be able to avoid a repeat next year.
Read Up On SEO. You probably (or should) have a website to support your business. But so do your competitors, and they might just be appearing above you in a Google search. Search engine optimization is the key to making sure that you’re the top result for a given set of keywords. You can hire a professional to optimize your website, but you should still learn about SEO so you understand the terms of the trade. You can start learning at sites like SEOmoz and Search Engine Roundtable.
Take a Break. If you’re feeling the spark that convinced you to start your business has disappeared, you may need a little revitalization yourself. Taking a break when you’re the boss feels impossible, but it’s necessary: successful business owners experience just as much burn out as corporate employees spending eight hours a day in a cubicle. Start small, if you aren’t sure how your business will handle your absence. If you’re the type to take phone calls during dinner or have a Blackberry on your hip all weekend, just try disconnecting during non-business hours. Do something enjoyable or relaxing, and see if you’re at least a little more prepared to tackle Monday.
Offer a Social Media Giveaway. With a traditional giveaway, every entrant gets one chance to win. But you can offer an online giveaway with a few more opportunities to pick up a prize: if you post your giveaway on your website or blog, tell participants that if they mention your contest in a blog post of their own, in a note on Facebook, in a message on Twitter, in a newsletter to their email contacts or elsewhere online, they can pick up additional entries. If you’re offering a cool prize, your contest can get mentions on hundreds of websites. To confirm that a participant has really posted about your contest, you will want to require URLs of those posts as a condition of entry.
Ask for a Recommendation on LinkedIn. Google your name. If you have an account on LinkedIn or another major social networking site, links to those accounts are probably among the most highly ranked results for your name. People looking for you will find those accounts right off the bat, so you want them looking the best. One of the easiest ways to make sure your LinkedIn account looks good is to make sure that you have at least one recommendation. LinkedIn has even made it easy to request that members of your network recommend you: if you take a look at your recommendations page, you’ll see a “Get Recommended” button. If you don’t already have an account on LinkedIn and other sites, like Facebook or Twitter, you can set one up easily and improve your Google results almost immediately.
Put Your Press Releases Online. There’s only so much a press release can do, sitting on your company’s website. You might email it out to a few different bloggers or news sites, but it’s only going out to people you already know about. You can reach a wider audience with your press release by submitting it to sites like PR Leap and PRWeb. Both of these sites do charge fees to post your press release, but they also reach tens of thousands of readers. Those readers include numerous bloggers who are looking for easy stories, as well as members of the traditional media looking for a hot topic.
Send Out an Email Newsletter. Email newsletters may seem like they’re behind the technological times on the surface, but they remain one of the most effective methods of staying in touch with existing clients online. If your newsletter includes information that your recipients feel is worth forwarding, you can even pick up new customers surprisingly quickly — newsletter recipients will forward an email because it’s easy. Web surfers are less likely to pass along a website or other information because they have to copy and paste it into an email and complete several more steps.
Attend A BarCamp. You probably already attend a conference or two within your professional niche each year. Those conferences may be pretty expensive and require quite a bit of travel. You can get the conference experience, cheaply and locally, by attending a BarCamp. BarCamps are usually focused on technical topics — PodCamps, for instance, focus on podcasting while WordCamps focus on WordPress. These technical topics can provide the introductory level material you’ll need for a number of online marketing techniques, as well as provide networking opportunities. Most BarCamps are listed on the BarCamp wiki.
Outsource One Task You Dislike. Enjoying your work is just as important as increasing your sales. If you’re like most business owners, there is one task that you absolutely hate — for some it’s invoicing, for others it’s finding advertising opportunities. But you can get that task off your plate, and get back to the work that really is important to bringing in more income. You can outsource it to a specialized professional or to a virtual assistant. VAs have a range of skills, perfect for a small business, and are more affordable for most businesses than hiring new employees or going to a specialist who handles only a limited variety of tasks.
Quit Advertising in Print. While print advertising can bring in some customers, placing a newspaper ad isn’t much different than firing a shotgun blast: you’re sending out an ad to thousands of readers, but most of them have minimal interest in your product or service. But with online advertising, you can often target your ideal customers specifically. With contextual advertising, for instance, you can advertise to potential customers who are specifically searching for information on your keywords. You can also advertise on blogs and websites that cater to the specific niche you are targeting. Therefore, you can slash your advertising budget by moving online, without losing new sales.

--This article was written by Thursday Bram and ran in the nov/dec 2008 issue of WHY, sponsored by Summit Publication Design.

*From time to time, I'll present info from past WHY magazine articles or WHY Xtras in case you missed them the first time around. :)

WHY Xtra: 5 Ways to Create Buzz

2009-02-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

Lead the social media charge. Go at 'em with your guns blazing: Use posts, tweets, videos, links -- everything in your arsenal -- to get your information out there. Remember, friends let friends drive traffic to their website.
Be a traditional media maven too. Stay in regular contact with those publications/websites that cover your industry or community. While social media is the hot place to chat up journalists, a solid press release -- emailed or snail-mailed -- still goes a long way.
Milk industry events. Conferences, meetings, seminars -- go to as many as you can and talk to as many people as you can.
Develop key opinion leader relationships. Opinion leaders are considered credible sources of information, and they can be found in virtually ever field. Know who yours are, and keep them well informed, making sure they know who you are as well.
Try something wacky. Invent a new buzzword. Host contests for your customers. Have giveaways. Get that Jason dude of I Wear Your Shirt to wear your logo for a day. You never know what can get the viral marketing ball rolling.

Need Input!

2009-02-20T05:18:00.000-08:00

I am currently finishing up two stories for the next issue of WHY magazine and would love to have some input. The first story is for our "telecommuters" story about how to get promoted when you telecommute -- how do you get onto your boss' radar, and stay there, when you work out of the office regularly. The second story is for our "you feature" about online writing ethics -- what's okay and not okay to do when you write for the web. Just today, I found a website that reprinted a post from this blog, and while I was flattered by the mention and the reference (w/o a link, though), I was upset that the owner of the website/blog was obviously oblivious to the fact that she had done something unethical. Should bloggers be held to the same standards are journalists? Is what this blogger did illegal as well as unethical? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Only 28 Days in February? Are You Sure?

2009-02-19T01:16:00.000-08:00

Man, if there was ever a time I was hoping for a Leap Year, this is it. Can anyone loan me a few extra days?

Just about a week to go until the new issue of WHY magazine goes live, and I'm freaking out as usual. Articles to write, edit. Pages to proof. A business partner to calm.

Wasn't it just yesterday that it was February 1? Where did the time go? How did February get the short end of the stick anyway?

Those Romans...

BTW, if you really want to know why February was the black sheep of the Roman calendar, here's the straight dope. Personally, I would have picked on January.

WHY Xtra: 5 Secrets of Great Presidents (of Countries & Companies)

2009-02-17T03:58:00.000-08:00

Strength: The ability to withstand adversity and motivate yourself in the face of it.
Self-confidence: The ability to surround yourself with diverse perspectives and still believe in your own vision.
Flexibility: The ability to change course when things don't go as planned.
Integrity: The ability to adhere to a strict ethical code, particularly when it's the least popular option.
Humility: The ability to remain humble in the face of great power.

A Social Media Birthday

2009-02-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

It's my birthday!

And this year, I've gotten birthday wishes from more folks than I can count. In addition to the usual suspects who are stuck seeing me every day -- my immediate friends and family -- lots of friends from Facebook were kind enough to extend birthday wishes. (And there were wishes from the Facebook application itself, as well as Borders and Wii Fit too. It's a brave new world!)

Would all of these people have remembered it was my birthday if Facebook hadn't prompted them with a reminder? Probably not. Even so, it's a lovely gesture and nice to know that someone has taken a moment out of his or her busy day to send me a greeting.

Peter Shankman (@skydiver) mentioned this recently at one of his speaking engagements, but if you're on Facebook, you can easily use the birthday notifications as a daily marketing tool. Take a few moments each morning to send a birthday greeting to a client or colleague. You'd be surprised at how far something so easy and thoughtful -- and free -- can go toward generating goodwill.

WHY Xtra: A Perfect Match? 5 Clues to Finding the Right Business Partner*

2009-02-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

You share the same business goals. If one partner is looking to get rich quick and the other wants slow growth, it’s not going to work. You need to agree – in writing – on both the short- and long-term goals of the company.
You both plan to make the same level of commitment. Not only in terms of financial investment, but of time and dedication. Again, put it in writing.
You don’t share the same skills. Your business partner should be “smarter” than you in her respective area of expertise. Complementing one another will provide a firmer foundation for the company.
You have a good sense of each other’s business track record. Even though your potential partner is a “great guy” that you know and trust, you also should know how he functions in a business setting and seek out references on past performance.
You both communicate well. There are ups and downs to any business, and partners rely on each other for support. It’s important to pick someone who will be available and accessible. Remember, the wrong partner can be worse than having no partner at all.

*Remember, you can join the WHY magazine mailing list and have each week's Xtra emailed to you every Monday in pretty colors -- and with a photo!

Google Alerts

2009-02-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

I realized I should have talked a little bit about Google Alerts when mentioning Twilert in my previous post. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results for whatever topic or keyword you input. Every morning, I receive a Google Alert for "Dina Santorelli," "WHY magazine" and "work at home." This way, I'm aware of ANYTHING that has been mentioned about me or my business or my field of business in the previous 24 hours. (I have my alerts set for 24-hour intervals, but you can choose whatever time frame works for you.)

As a writer, I'm able to see where my stories are running and who is linking to them, and as editor/publisher of WHY, I can monitor mentions of our magazine. If you like, you can also set Google Alerts for competitors in your industry or, on a personal level, for your favorite sports teams or celebs.

So Twilert takes care of Twitter mentions, and Google all the rest. Both are really invaluable -- and FREE -- tools, particularly for shoestring marketers (aren't we all?).

Track Your Tweet Mentions

2009-02-05T16:32:00.000-08:00

Do you know about Twilert?

Twilert is a Twitter application that lets you receive regular email updates of tweets containing your brand, product, service or any keyword you like. (Think Google Alerts for Twitter.) If people are talking about you or your company or retweeting your tweets, it's good to know.

No School 4 Her, No Work 4 Me!

2009-02-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

My daughter is home sick today.

As I write this, she is sitting across from me trying to remove barbecue sauce from the bread of a Quiznos sandwich that I picked up for her on the way home from running errands. Actually, at this point, she has removed everything from the sandwich and is just eating the bread.

It's weird having one of the kids home during the day -- a throwback to the years when they weren't in school and working from home was extremely difficult. But back then, I figured out how to work in spurts, during naps and viewings of Blue's Clues. Now, I feel a bit rusty, having been spoiled by the vastness that is the six-hour school day. So when Helena stops by my desk to see me, as she often does, to say, "Whatcha dooooin'?" it takes me a few minutes to recapture my train of thought and get back into the groove of work.

In other words, my productivity is taking a nosedive today, especially now that Helena has abandoned her sandwich and has decided to sharpen all the pencils we have in the house. Is it any surprise that the pencil sharpener is right next to my laptop?

WHY Xtra: 5 Business Plan Ground Rules

2009-02-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

Know your market. Thoroughly investigate everything there is to know about your product/service, including target customers and competitors. Whether or not you plan to secure investors, you can’t know too much about your business.
Be realistic. We’d all like forecast ourselves as millionaires in five years, but it’s important to carefully assess your operating costs and growth potential.
Be accurate. Make a list of one-time and recurring costs. If you have to, get input from suppliers, advisors, partners and others who are knowledgeable about your business. You also should ask them for assistance with projecting future cash flows.
Get a second opinion. There are organizations that can provide valuable – and free – assistance, such as SCORE and the Small Business Administration.
Don’t just file your business plan away. Your business plan is a dynamic document and should reflect any changes that take place within the course of operating your company. Changing it doesn’t make it unsuccessful; it keeps it relevant.

Going Face-to-Face

2009-02-01T09:44:00.000-08:00

I recently had a lunch with my business partner, Lucille.

You might not think that's a big deal, but for two people who have been working together on WHY for two years -- and another year or so before that -- we RARELY see one another. Although we talk constantly on the phone and chat via email and, now, Facebook, it always seems near to impossible to get our schedules to intersect for a live, in-person one-on-one.

Finally, we made it happen, as part of our new year's resolutions for 2009. And it was great. There's nothing quite like looking across a table over a BLT and seeing the reaction in someone's eyes when you suggest an idea.

Scott Monty, the social media guy for Ford, said the same thing in the social media story in our current issue of WHY: “It’s not just about online presence. Get out there and meet people face to face. That's where some of the best brainstorming and true relationship building occurs.” We agree, so we've resolved to have in-person meetings regularly -- hopefully every month -- to make sure that we're on the same page as we go forward with our little magazine.

Plus, I like seeing her and hearing her laugh. LOLs just don't cut it.

Thank You, HARO!

2009-01-31T07:36:00.000-08:00

Totally overwhelmed by the response we got through HARO for this month's bonus story: Tips to Improve Your At-Home Work Productivity. We'd only planned on running 25 tips in the piece, but it looks as though it's going to be more. I am putting the story together right now and (fingers crossed!) it should be live tomorrow. As always, I look forward to your comments.

BTW, I managed to stay clear of Facebook all day yesterday. (Yeah for me!) But it was the first thing I rushed to this morning after grabbing a smoothie from the fridge. (Boo for me!)

No Facebook Friday

2009-01-30T07:03:00.000-08:00

I have declared today No Facebook Friday.

I have spent so much time reminiscing with old friends on Facebook over the past few weeks -- enjoying every minute of it and laughing like I haven't laughed in years --- that I am getting absolutely nothing done. My productivity is shot. Every time I go to complete a task, I get an email from a friend on Facebook who is commenting on my status or on another person's status that I'd commented on or has completed his/her 25 Random Things About Me, and there I go off on another round of silly bantering.

It's useless to try to limit Facebook to a certain time of day, as I've heard people suggest. Once you make a few comments, the after-comments come pouring in, and I feel compelled to say "Who's there?" to every "Knock knock" for the rest of the day.

So today is a little experiment. I thought it would be super easy. But no sooner did I declare No Facebook Friday on Twitter than Martin Neumann sent me notification through Facebook that he'd completed his 25 Random Things About Me. And then my kids got out of bed and clamored to see that cute baby video that somebody posted yesterday and that we watched at least six times.

"I can't," I asserted as strongly as possible. "It's No Facebook Friday!"

Now it's after 9 a.m. The kids are gone, and Martin's presumably asleep (he lives in Australia), and the Facebook emails are few and far between -- just some stragglers commenting on things from yesterday. Should be a cakewalk from here on, although I just completed some tax forms and suddenly am feeling the urge -- the urge to chat or read at least 3 random things about somebody.

But I'm staying strong.

For now.

Productivity: Home vs. Office

2009-01-29T07:16:00.000-08:00

A recent Twitter post from @ericabiz stated this: "Working out of Citizen Space has made me realize how completely unproductive I am at home. I'm biting the bullet and leasing an office."

The comment made me wonder: Am I really as productive at home as I think I am?

Granted, one of the great things about working in an office is that you are away from "your life" and the various distractions of your home -- laundry, dishes, kids. But my last full-time office job was when I was a twentysomething working with a bunch of twentysomethings, and I can remember TONS of distractions, all of them self-generated: chatting by/in the bathroom, near the fax machine (remember those?) or copy machine, in the lobby, elevators and cafeteria. I called friends from the office, my dad to see how he was doing, my husband to chat, even though I'd just seen him an hour before. But somehow I managed to get all the work done as well. (Admittedly, that was before Twitter, Facebook and all the time-sucking rest...)

Distractions are all around us, whether we work in an office or at home, whether we find them or they find us. How much you give into them ultimately determines your productivity.

What I do miss about working in an office away from my home, though -- and maybe this is what Erica is talking about -- is that you're on "office time" and have no other reason to be there than to focus on your work. When you work at home, the work/home life is forever blurred, however thick your home office door is. Personal responsibilities, instead of being a subway ride away, follow you like a cloud and hover over your shoulder, even as you try to write your latest blog post.

Expert Advice

2009-01-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

Why social media is important for home businesses, as told to WHY magazine by Jason Baer, social media and email consulting expert of Convince & Convert:

"Social media is especially relevant for home-based businesses, because it is essentially word of mouth on steroids. No matter what line of work you're in, you can easily become a known and respected resource in that area using social media, enabling you to connect with far more customers and prospects than you could offline. The key is to focus on specific topics and outposts. Be truly helpful, and the clients will come."

WHY Xtra: 5 Super Business Card Networking Tips

2009-01-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

Always ask for a business card. Even if you think you'll never be in the market for that person's product or services, you just never know.
Take notes on the back of each person's business card to remember things like key points of conversation or personal attributes such as "likes football" or "peanut allergy."
Keep your business cards nearby--in your pocket, purse, briefcase and car. Business discussions tend to spring up everywhere, from wedding reception halls to supermarkets.
Consider rewarding people for referrals, if they pass your business card to someone else and it results in a sale.
Print a coupon or discount on the back of your business card, which will encourage people to hold onto it and may spur additional business.

*Remember, you can join the WHY magazine mailing list and have each week's Xtra emailed to you every Monday in pretty colors -- and with a photo!

The Check Is in the Mail

2009-01-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

After sending out my first invoices using my new QuickBook system this weekend, I was told by a customer this evening that the check was in the mail.

Gosh, already, I thought.

QuickBook rocks! If I would have known that plain-looking invoices that I got for free would get this kind of result, I would have dropped the fancy-shmancy-looking, custom-made invoices long ago.

Husband Knows Best? You Be the Judge.

2009-01-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

So what do I get for asking my husband his thoughts on the newest design in our WHY store, "Even President Barack Obama works from home"? I get a practical answer, of course:

"I like to be able to see the entire design as I'm drinking from a mug," he said.

Uh, okay.

But if there's something I've learned in 15 years of marriage, it's that it's not that unusual (at least not as unusual as I'd like it to be) for Tommy to be right, so today we unveil a variation on our President Obama design.

Let us know what you think. Is bigger better? Is smaller more tasteful? You be the judge.

A QuickBook Study

2009-01-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest things about running your own home business, in my opinion, is staying on top of the bookkeeping. Tired of my old system, which I'm sure hasn't been kind to more than a few trees, I embarked on a QuickBooks tutorial this morning, as part of my New Year's Resolution to get -- and stay -- organized.

I just shipped off my first invoice under my new paperless system, and, I have to say, it feels good. I'm not sure how much invoicing time QuickBooks will save me -- at this point, it's taking twice as long as usual while I input all my customer/vendor names and company information and I spent 10 minutes on each email personalizing the form letter -- but I'm hoping that come tax time 2010 I won't find myself rummaging through random pieces of papers to figure out if I have to mail out any 1099s, as I'm doing now.

That time that would be much better spent hanging out with my kids, sipping hot chocolate and watching SpongeBob, on this frigid Saturday.

Even President Barack Obama Works from Home

2009-01-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

The newest design in our WHY store -- "Even President Barack Obama works from home" -- pays tribute to the presidential nature of working from home. Looks like we home workers are in good company! To see this design on a variety of merchandise, including T-shirts, bags and pet products, as well as other work-at-home themes, check out our WHY store.

Twitterspeak: Thoughts from a Relative Twitter Newbie

2009-01-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

For those of us who get a kick out of trying to squeeze complete thoughts into 140 characters, Twitter is not only a great real-time communications tool, but a blast in which to engage. I also got a kick out of Grammar Girl's Strunk & Twite: An Unofficial Twitter Style Guide, which offers some linguistic tips on the best ways to Tweet. And, although they're not really grammar-related, I have some Twitter tips of my own I'd like to add:

For the love of all things holy, enough already with letting us know you've got something great coming: "Finishing up my next blog post, you're going to love it!... Next post almost ready... Just put the last period on the last sentence of my new blog post -- it's going up soon!" Just let us know when it's there.
And when you let us know, tell us once. Not over. And over. And over. Most of us don't have Short Term Memory Loss.
If all your Tweets direct us to your website or blog EVERY time, it gets a little boring. As much as we all understand it, it still gets a little boring.
When you're Tweeting a link, tell us why. Just having the link (even if it is coming from YOU) just isn't enough to get us to click with all the other tiny URLs we've got vying for our attention.
Be patient with Twitter newbies. It takes time to figure out the lingo, like RT and those bizarre pound-sign phrases. Remember, questions, however naive or ridiculous they seem, are what open our minds and move us forward.

The Imperfect Home Office

2009-01-21T05:59:00.001-08:00

Today, The Independent out of London has an article titled, How to Create the Perfect Home Office.

I had to laugh.

Is there such a thing as a perfect home office? Sometimes we only have a corner of the dining room table on which to work, and that's okay. Everyone's parameters for what makes for a perfect office differs, so it's important to remember that, although it's nice to have a door that closes and a fabulous skylight, some of us -- millions perhaps -- work without one just fine.

What the article does suggest is that there may be areas in your home or apartment that you've overlooked as good office space: an area behind your staircase, a closet not being used effectively. There's no sense in trying to work in an uncomfortable spot when there are alternatives at hand. A good idea for all of us right now would be to get up from our computers and take a quick walk around our living spaces. Are there any spots in your home that would be better suited to your home office than the one you're currently using? Hmmm... Just might be the perfect reason to finally clean out my bedroom closet.

WHY Xtra: 5 Thoughts on Leadership*

2009-01-20T06:08:00.000-08:00

"I walk slowly, but I never walk backward. --Abraham Lincoln
"Absolute identity with one's cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership." --Woodrow Wilson
"In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better." --Harry S. Truman
"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." --John F. Kennedy
"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." --Barack Obama

Wherever you stand politically, today is a new day, begins a new era, in American politics. All my best to President Barack Obama who, in the face of tremendous challenges, has managed to excite a nation and provide hope to a people suffering through what is the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

*Remember, you can join the WHY magazine mailing list and have each week's Xtra emailed to you every Monday in pretty colors -- and with a photo!

From the WHY Vault*

2009-01-19T04:32:00.000-08:00

Dry Finance: Raising capital when you’re low on funds

There comes a time in the life of many small businesses when you have to make a big decision: Should I invest more money into this project? According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), there are four key sources to consider when looking for financing:

Personal savings: The primary source of capital for most new businesses comes from savings and other personal resources, such as personal lines of credit or credit cards. It’s great if you’ve got it and can spare it, but know that there’s a possibility you won’t be able to pay that money back (but, then again, there’s a possibility you will). Also, keep in mind that many credit cards carry high interest rates for partial payments and stiff penalties for late payments, so running up your personal credit accounts may not be a wise strategy.

Friends and relatives: The benefit of borrowing from friends and relatives is that often the loans you secure are interest-free or at a low-interest rate (because they love and trust you). The problem is that you may not feel so obliged to pay the loan back, since, after all, it’s your dad. For this arrangement to work, you need to treat this as a business arrangement—call your dad “Mr. So-and-So,” if you have to. And use an amortization calculator to schedule repayment of the loan and to figure out monthly payments and interest that is amenable to both parties.

Banks and credit unions: The most common source of funding, according to the SBA, banks and credit unions will provide a loan if your business proposal is sound. Terms of loans may vary from lender to lender, but SBA lists two basic types of loans: short-¬term and long¬-term. Generally, a short¬-term loan has a maturity of up to one year and includes working-¬capital loans, accounts-¬receivable loans and lines of credit. Long-term loans have maturities greater than one year, but usually less than seven years; they are used for major business expenses, such as purchasing real estate and facilities, construction, durable equipment, furniture and fixtures, vehicles, etc. Interestingly, one of the benefits of seeking the assistance of a financial institution is that writing a business proposal forces you to take a good, hard look at your company and your market. In the end, you may discover that the answer to the question of whether you should invest more money into your business is a no, and better you learn that now than after you’ve taken a chunk of change from your savings account or your dad’s.

Venture capital firms: Companies that help expanding companies grow in exchange for equity or partial ownership, if you’re willing to give that up.

--This article ran in the may/june 2008 issue of WHY, sponsored by EcoVixen.com.

*From time to time, I'll present info from past WHY magazine articles or WHY Xtras in case you missed them the first time around. :)

WHY's Tip of the Day

2009-01-18T04:45:00.000-08:00

There's nothing wrong with taking the weekend off. Very retro. :)

Feedback

2009-01-16T06:03:00.000-08:00

Just about all the stories for the mar/apr issue of WHY magazine, which goes live on March 1, are assigned. Whew! Remember, if you've got an article or an idea that you think our readers would find interesting -- an interview with Bono about his home office, perhaps -- please let me know via our website or Twitter or carrier pigeon, whatever's easiest. Lots of our ideas come from reader comments and suggestions. I can't tell you how much I've learned myself from researching answers to reader questions or just from reading the articles submitted by our contributing writers. So keep that feedback coming!

Celeb Talk

2009-01-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Working on future celebrity interviews for WHY magazine. Whom would you like to read about? Chatting with celebrities is always fun, however much you poo-poo all that stuff. Some of my most memorable interviews over the years:

Dean Cain: So gosh-darn personable and nice and generous with his time.
James Gandolfini: His quiet, shy manner and accent-free voice was so startlingly different from the famous character he's played.
Michael Emerson: His voice is EXACTLY like his villainous character Ben Linus on Lost. As a Lost junkie, I have to admit I was a bit freaked out.
Larry the Cable Guy: Had me in stitches the entire phone interview and then sweetly called me back after it was done to make sure it was all right. GIT-R-DONE!
Adam Carolla: Also hysterical, but kept calling me "Gina."
Paul Reiser: Done at the Ritz-Carlton in Manhattan. I had to slap my "old reliable" tape recorder every few minutes to get it to work. I wanted to die.
Martha Stewart: One of the first -- if not the first -- celebrity interviews I've done. She was talking from her cell phone, which kept cutting out. (Hey, it was the mid 1990s.)

I also have Kevin Bacon on the brain. I recently interviewed him for a story I'm writing for Salute magazine, a magazine I edit as a freelancer. He was so unassuming, a mixture of Hollywood veteran/regular guy. His new film for HBO, Taking Chance, the story of a fallen Marine's final journey home, is very, very touching and offers a rarely seen glimpse into what happens to the bodies of our military men and women after they make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. The film airs on February 21, if you want to check it out.

It's Official: No Sponsored Posts

2009-01-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

Really great discussion yesterday about blogger relations and sponsored content on Chris Brogan's website. It actually put some things in perspective for me.

As readers of this blog know, I've been agonizing over the question of whether or not to blog for money. Gosh, we've even written a story in WHY magazine about how to do it. There's so much money out there to be had for people to write about companies and products, a new and exciting PR stream of revenue for us starving writers. But it looks like I've decided that I want no part of it.

Gulp.

This was made clear to me after reading all the comments from people who said, "Hey, I'll write about stuff too if you want to pay me" and "Write whatever you want, I don't believe any of it anyway."

For someone who values authenticity, perhaps even naively, it all left me feeling a bit deflated. Is that how it's going to be now? Can't trust anything? anyone? Is Dr. House chugging Vicodin not because it's authentic to his character, but because the drug company is sponsoring the telecast? Does Tony Soprano really want to eat Gulden's mustard or is ConAgra strong-arming David Chase? Am I being paid to mention Vicodin and Gulden's in this blog?

As a journalist, I've been trained never to accept paid trips or gifts from people. Yes, many times I have been treated to lunch at a press conference or by a PR exec or gotten tons of swag when my publisher decided to clear out the product sample closet. Yes, sometimes I think we're all kidding ourselves with all this talk about objectivity and honesty, but however you may feel about journalism, the goal, I think, is at least to strive for objectivity. Whether or not it can be attained at all is another issue.

The goal for blogs, on the other hand, is subjectivity, the opposite. Blogs are a serialized personal essay and, really, you can do whatever you want as long as your readers are on board and that includes writing sponsored posts.

But for me, as I mentioned in the comments section of Chris' blog, sponsored posts are really no different than advertorials, which, as you know, we run in WHY as part of our sponsorship package. Advertorials are articles, often with a specific point of view, that have been paid for (many of them, unfortunately, are schlocky). It doesn't matter whether or not they are negative or positive or whether or not you would have written the same thing anyway had you not been paid. That article is there, right now, because you have been paid to put it there. Advertorials are ads, clear and simple, and, in WHY, we define them that way -- as ads in a magazine. There's no gray area. It's understood.

But as a journalist trying to write a blog, ads/advertorials/sponsored posts -- it all makes me uncomfortable. There are no real boundaries when you have sponsored content within the context of your blog. Google AdSense on the side? Yes, that makes sense. There it is. I see it. You're making money (or maybe some people are...) for your blog that way. Good for you! But writing "this is a sponsored post" on one of your entries is not really a boundary; it's an apology. It's like when my husband attended a free workshop on how to raise a gifted child and was told by the session moderators that instead there would be a discussion of a new exhibit at a local museum that might be nice to take our gifted kids to. Huh?

The comment on Chris' blog that probably sealed the deal for me came from John Eich who wrote, "Whenever I'd get this slightly squeamish feeling in my stomach, even though what I was doing felt perfectly ethical, I knew there was a boundary somewhere that was being crossed. When I avoided those situations, I had internal clear skies...when I didn't, I could justify my actions, but there were clouds..."

So, long story long, no sponsored posts for me. I need all the clear skies I can get, inside and out. As I wrote to Martin Neumann of HomeOfficeVoice.com this morning: I'll be a happy, but poor idealist.

WHY Xtra: 5 Ways to Improve Your Focus, #2*

2009-01-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

Make a “to-do” list. Our homes are full of distractions – laundry, TV, more laundry – and having a written outline of your daily goals can help you stay on task.
Declutter your desk or office. It can be difficult to concentrate with stacks of papers and walls of Post-It notes vying for your attention.
Play music. If the kids’ laughing (or arguing) is keeping you from concentrating, playing a little music – particularly tunes that you like and know the lyrics to -- can help filter the noise.
Grab a snack. Who can focus with a grumbling belly?
Take a break. All work and no play can dull Jack’s mind. A quick walk around the block or (gasp!) to the laundry room can change your focus briefly and make you feel refreshed once you return to your desk.

*Remember, you can join the WHY magazine mailing list and have each week's Xtra emailed to you every Monday in pretty colors -- and with a photo!

WHY's Tip of the Day

2009-01-12T07:22:00.000-08:00

Don't sit on the social media sidelines. Engage. Get involved. You might be surprised at what you have to offer.

His Way

2009-01-11T05:23:00.000-08:00

“I don’t usually hang with men who wear earrings.”

This was said by Frank Sinatra to Bono, according to an op-ed guest column written by the U2 frontman recently in The New York Times.

The column made me smile. Frank Sinatra holds a special place in my heart. He sang the background music of my childhood -- summers spent with my grandparents in Brooklyn -- and was beloved by my Pop, who seemed to have adopted the motto, "My Way." A quiet filled the room every time the song came on the radio. Sometimes a smile. Sometimes a tear. And as I read Bono's discussion of how Sinatra's rendition of "My Way" turned from a boast in 1969 to a defeat years later, it made me think of my grandfather who I believe echoed those sentiments. He passed away early last year.

I miss him, but remember him when I drive (he taught me how), when I write (he wrote a novel after World War II that was unpublished and forgotten by everyone, but me) and when I hear Frank, who now provides the soundtrack to my work-at-home life.

Thanks to @HomeOfficeVoice who turned me on to the piece. Made my day.

Worth Fighting For

2009-01-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well, the Christmas tree is down, and the snow is falling. The kids are happy and quiet somewhere in the house, and I'm using the day to gaze out the window while finishing up some loose ends -- both personal and professional. Wherever this day finds you -- in or out of your home office -- I hope you find joy in the little Saturday tasks of life, whether it's returning emails, sending invoices, doing laundry or grocery shopping. Patrick Swayze, who reportedly has been hospitalized with pneumonia and has been fighting pancreatic cancer, has got me feeling humble and gracious on this cold, January day. He is one tough and ornery dude and an inspiration to all of us that life is worth fighting for. I wish him well.

From the WHY Vault*

2009-01-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

25 Home Office Essentials: The Must-Haves, Should-Haves and Would-Be-Nice-to-Haves you need to work more efficiently

No home office is the same. Some of us have carved out a nice little section of our living rooms in which to work, while others have a completely separate sound-proofed space replete with door, deadbolt and peephole. Some work in windowless basements; others enjoy the pleasures of shedworking with invigorating garden views.

Whatever your home-office set-up, there are gadgets, accessories and architecture that help make your work lives easier. The following 25 essentials, listed in no particular order, come from WHY staffers, experts in the field and other friends of WHY magazine and are just a few of the things out there that can help you conduct business more efficiently.

1. Door
Category: It Would Be Nice to Have
Why? One word: barrier. A door, by far, was the most cited “essential” of a productive home office environment. “During the day, the door can be closed to keep the rampaging hordes at bay on the other side of the barrier – and, hopefully, a bit of solace, solitude and quiet on the office side,” says Jeff Zbar of chiefhomeofficer.com. “Nights and weekends, it keeps the home officer from sneaking back in to check ‘just one more email.’ ”

2. WiFi/high-speed internet access
Category: Must Have
Why? Business nowadays is filled with large-file exchange, so it’s time to hang up on, not on to, dial-up connectivity. And WiFi allows for working outside, on the backporch, garden, poolside, and frees you from your office.

3. Laptop computer
Category: Should Have
Why? A laptop embodies one of the best things about working from home: mobility. “Even if you have a monitor on your desk, too, you’ll find that a laptop gives you flexibility,” says Myra McElhaney of myramcelhaney.com. “I normally work at my desk with my laptop but sometimes when working on a creative project I need a different perspective—literally. It’s amazing how you can refocus simply by moving temporarily to the sun porch or the local coffee shop to write or plan a project.”

4. Wireless telephone headset
Category: Must Have
Why? Cradling or wedging the phone into the crook of your neck, especially during long conference calls, is the quickest way to the chiropractor. Plus, as Julie Poland of summithrd.com advises, you should find a headset “with a mute button to camouflage the inevitable ‘Mommy!’ during important business calls.”

5. Alarm clock
Category: Must Have
Why? To keep track of when to start working and when to stop.

6. Window
Category: It Would Be Nice to Have
Why? To escape? No, for inspiration and to keep that connection to the outside world. It would be great to know the local weather not just by checking The Weather Channel’s website.

7. Paper shredder
Category: Should Have
Why? As Bronagh Hanley, “chief noisemaker” of Big Noise PR puts it: For “purging the files that seem to multiply and getting rid of confidential info.” Also, Geralin Thomas, founder of Metropolitan Organizing, suggests investing in a cross-cut shredder with a drawer that pulls out to empty versus a lift lid.

8. Desktop notebook (yes, the paper-and-pen kind)
Category: Should Have
Why? To jot down itinerary or ideas. Janet Perry calls hers the “book of all knowledge.” “Studies have shown that we remember things better when we write them down,” she says. “I write down everything which happens in my business in it, changing the color of pen each day.”

9. Space heater and blanket
Category: Should Have
Why? “Now that I work from home, I spend a small fortune heating my home all day throughout the winter,” says Laura Roeder of Roeder Studios. “A small space heater by my desk lets me keep things a little cooler throughout the rest of the house and save money.”

10. A good sense of humor
Category: Must Have
Why? You won’t last long as a home worker without one.

11. FedEx or other shipping account
Category: Should Have
Why? “It’s free and will save time, hassle and money,” says Aimee Bennett, principal of Fagan Business Communications in Castle Rock, Colo. “You can provide your number to clients or others as necessary if shipping costs should be billed to you.”

12. Multifunction printer
Category: Must Have
Why? Most of us don’t necessarily need high-resolution scanning or advanced faxing features, so a multifunction printer can be ideal. Having one machine that prints, faxes, scans and copies is a great space and money saver. “Even if you use eFax, it’s nice to have a spare machine for sensitive documents and a way to receive faxes ‘directly to my desk,’ ” says Alan Guinn, managing director, The Guinn Consultancy Group. “Clients love that special treatment.”

13. Multi-line phone, for work only
Category: It Would Be Nice to Have
Why? For lots of reasons: So you have the opportunity to have more than one caller on the line, so that callers don’t go directly into voicemail while you’re on the phone, so you don’t have to deal with the abruptness and obviousness of Call Waiting beeping. Plus, a work-only line will help keep the kids from accidentally interrupting a work call.

14. Label maker
Category: It Would Be Nice to Have
Why? We don’t know about you, but we like to have everything labeled – folders, binders, staplers. Helps keep things tidy and organized.

15. Surge protection
Category: Must Have
Why? To protect your electrical devices from voltage spikes (keep in mind that not all power strips feature surge protection, so read the label).

16. Small, stocked refrigerator
Category: It Would Be Nice to Have
Why? This mention comes from Meredith Gardner, president of The Strategic Edge. Indeed, a small fridge just for your home office will help keep you from wasting time (we hope!) by wandering into the kitchen looking for food when you need a quick pick-me-up. Keep this fridge filled with lots of water and healthy snacks.

17. Comfortable, ergonomic chair
Category: Must Have
Why? Your chair is the place where you spend the most time, so it pays to invest in a proper model. A stability ball, of course, is another way to go, for all you health nuts and contemporary living aficionados.

18. Ergonomic computer accessories
Category: Should Have
Why? Jean Schiller, a certified professional ergonomist, of Tenor Design recommends keyboard trays, monitor glare guards and palm/wrist rests too, in addition to the right chair, for keeping your body happy and healthy.

19. Wastebasket
Category: Must Have
Why? You don’t want your garbage and other tossables piling up when you don’t have time to venture into another room to dispose. Thanks to Gail Sideman of PUBLISiDE Personal Publicity for bringing this oft-forgotten home accessory to our attention.

20. Calculator
Category: Must Have
Why? Because we despise using the calculator feature on our computers.

21. Safe
Category: Must Have
Why? Protect important paperwork and data from fire, theft, etc. Find a safe that’s compact enough to be stowed in a cabinet or hidden under the floorboards, or one that can be mounted to the wall or floor.

22. Vision board
Category: Should Have
Why? To have a visual reminder of your “bigger picture goals,” says Adrianne Machina, chief velocity officer for Tornado Marketing. All it takes, really, is a poster or foamboard with cut-out pictures, drawings and/or writing of the things that you want to achieve.

23. USB flash drive
Category: Must Have
Why? For data transfer. Luckily, newer models are being manufactured to withstand our mishaps – like leaving our drive in our pants pocket while it gets tossed around the washing machine or in our pocketbook where the contents of a “sealed” juicebox find their way onto it.

24. File cabinet
Category: Must Have
Why? Because we all need a place to put our stuff. (For ideas on organizing paperwork, see this issue’s organization article.)

25. Supportive significant other
Category: It Would Be Nice to Have
Why? Human or animal, it’s nice to have someone to rest your head on when you have a bad day (or month).

--This article ran in the september/october 2008 issue of WHY magazine, sponsored by Annie Jennings PR.

*From time to time, I'll present info from past WHY articles or WHY Xtras in case you missed them the first time around. :)

X, WHY and Z's

2009-01-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

Lifehacker spilled the beans on Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret a few years back: Buy a wall calendar with big boxes and for whatever specific task you want to accomplish, put a HUGE X on the box each day you do it, and then, day after day, those big Xs will create a chain that you will feel obligated not to break, and you will be able to stay inspired.

Around that same time, we actually ran a story in the first issue of WHY magazine called Good Morning, Sunshine! that offered tricks to get you up and atom each day -- sometimes a hard thing for work-at-homers who don't have a bus to catch or a boss looming overhead to do.

I'm not sure how I feel, generally, about tricks and gadgets that promise motivation, but if Xs on your calendar or stickies on your alarm clock can help you stay on task, I'm all for it.

Banished!

2009-01-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

Thinking about the Banished Words of 2009 as per DailyWritingTips.com, and how the English language is a living, breathing thing -- new words created, others overused and misused and then "banished," and how spelling changes and grammar changes over time, as I recently discussed with a fellow grammarphile Sheryl McGinnis. When did it become okay to start sentences with the word "and." I don't know, but I agree with Sherry that there's something about it that "feels right."

I'm actually finishing up an MA in English/Creative Writing at Hofstra University, and as part of the program took a class called "The Grammar of Language" or something like that. Anyhow, I thought the class would be a way for me to firm up my grammar and have questions answered that have always nagged me, and I looked forward to the first day of class.

Well, much to my surprise, my professor told me that not only is it okay to start sentences with "and," but we can end sentences with prepositions and split infinitives to our heart's desire! It was all part of the evolution of the English language.

By the last day of class, my head was spinning. Wow!

The following semester, I was excited to use what I'd learned and put my newly freed prose to work on a short paper. When I got my paper back, it was sliced and diced with red ink with a larger than life C+ at the top. Apparently, the professor didn't share my previous professor's love of grammatical evolution.

Still, I write for a nice cross-section of publications and websites, and starting a sentence with "and" seems to be acceptable at all of them, even newspapers, such as Newsday. And we do it in WHY magazine all the time. And in this blog.

The more I think about, starting a sentence with "and," in addition to "feeling right," makes me feel a bit rebellious -- like a "maverick," if you will -- and that's why I like doing it. Perhaps the more mainstream it becomes, the more likely I'll move onto something else new and exciting.

Boy, I need to get out more...

Day 6: So Far, So Good

2009-01-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Day 6 of the new year, and my "For the Love of God, Get Organized" resolution is still going strong. How are you faring?

I have this nasty habit of falling so behind and becoming so unorganized that just the thought of attempting to sort one pile leaves me feeling exhausted. But as I dig my way out of last year's mess, I'm feeling empowered and productive. I know for a fact that I lost money in 2008 simply because I was unorganized, and that's absolutely inexcusable.

In this dreadful economy (another friend of mine got laid off yesterday), while we look for new avenues of opportunity, make sure that you're on top of the things that you CAN control. Banks are continuing to slap all kinds of fees on their accounts and credit card companies are raising rates, so now is the time to take a look at all the services you use to see 1) if you are being offered the best deal and 2) if you're getting the most out of the deal (read: not lapsing into overdraft and getting hit with $10 fees for each transgression).

If anything, this recession offers the best excuse for cleaning house -- figuratively, of course. I honestly don't know what it will take to get me to vacuum under the couch.

WHY Xtra: 5 Foolproof Follow-up Tips*

2009-01-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

Handwrite your follow-up note. Emails are nice, but old-fashioned snail mail – finding a pen, buying a stamp, driving to the post office – shows initiative.
Be specific. Cite responsibilities or opportunities discussed during your meeting, so that you can reiterate how your skills are best able to meet them.
Be upbeat. Mentioning how “very excited” you are about the prospect of employment or working with someone may be blatant kissing up, but, let’s face it, we all fall for it.
Add a personal touch. Referring to something personal discussed, such as your mutual love of golf, can strengthen your impression.
Send your note immediately. Keep note cards and stamped envelopes on hand – in your purse or in your car – so that you can mail your follow-up note the same day as your meeting.

*Remember, you can join the WHY magazine mailing list and have each week's Xtra emailed to you every Monday in pretty colors -- and with a photo! Ooh... Ahh...!

Teach. Cheer. Share. Help.

2009-01-04T05:27:00.000-08:00

Recently, Galesburg.com, home of The Register-Mail, a Galesburg, Ill., newspaper, featured an article on how all home businesses need a plan.

It wasn't an especially enlightening idea, although it is very true. Like anything you do, having a plan makes you more efficient and more likely to be successful.

However, what struck me about this particular article was the writer's appeal to home-based businesses to get in touch with him and/or the newspaper as a way to jumpstart their marketing. "If you’ve started a new small or home-based business, call or send an e-mail. It may interest us enough that we’ll write a story, which will be read by thousands of people," he wrote.

It's one thing -- admirable even -- to write informational or how-to stories in an effort to help at-home companies grow or manage their business. But in my opinion, the writer, Mr. Pulliam, went a step beyond when he said, Hey, we can help you. Write to us. Use us. "Take advantage of the newspaper's free, new business listing." Great idea. And he tells you how. "A form can even be ordered online."

Mr. Pulliam has taken what could have been a run-of-the-mill story about home business and created something more. He involved himself and made the reader feel not like she was reading an article, but getting advice from someone who knows and cares. I'm not sure what old-school journalism professors would think of his efforts, but, for me, the article connects with readers/aspiring home workers on a variety of levels -- as a how-to manual, a pat on the back, a classroom, a life preserver -- and reflects the kinds of things we try to do with WHY magazine.

Teach. Cheer. Share. Help.

I can't think of a better mission statement for a new year.

New Year, New Issue

2009-01-03T04:21:00.000-08:00

Putting out a magazine is kind of like having contractions during labor: There's this eerie feeling of calm, and then suddenly the pressure starts mounting until you don't think you can bear it any longer, and then WHAM-O!... The pain is gone, you're breathing a sigh of relief, and then you immediately start worrying about the next contraction -- or in this case, issue deadline.

For those who don't already know (and why don't you? sign up on our mailing list, silly!), the Jan/Feb Issue of WHY magazine is live and features all new stories written exclusively for people who work out of their homes, including:

10 tasks you can farm out to a VA right now;
4 ways to pull yourself out of a creative slump;
7 cheap ways to get folks to find your website;
4 tips to haul the dead weight out of your inbox;
6 reasons why social media can rock your business world.

As always, a special thanks goes to this issue's sponsor, TheWebServant.com, which offers design and coaching for service professionals and growing companies.

I'm not sure how I'm going to celebrate this post-issue calm. Do a few loads of laundry? Clean out my bedroom closet? Pay my (gulp) bills?

Maybe I'll just start working on the next issue...

Cheer up, Johnny Rzeznik!

2009-01-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

I saw The Goo Goo Dolls on New Year's Eve at the House of Blues in Atlantic City.

I've seen them five or six times before. Always a great night out.

Still, while the band sounded terrific, it didn't seem like lead singer John Resnik was on his game.

My husband would probably disagree (in fact, I know he would -- he always does), but I got the feeling that night -- as I've gotten many times -- that Rzeznik gets dragged down by his own success. He's sooo conflicted by it. Once the band left the garage, there was no turning back for them, and I think their early fans never let them forget it -- and that seems to weigh on him. He talks about it at all his concerts, but this time I really felt like going up there and giving him a hug.

He should take a cue from Jon Bon Jovi, who receives similar criticisms. I've heard Bon Jovi say that he's decided he doesn't give a damn what people say about him and his band and his music. He just does his thing. In fact, we can all learn that lesson. People say things all the time to try to deflate our enthusiasm and success. It's a fact of life. Just do your thing. Be happy. Be yourself.

Rzeznik ended the concert by saying that his New Year's resolution was to live in the now. "I think about the past and the future so often that I forget to enjoy the present," he said.

Total page out of the Oprah handbook -- but so true.

Cheer up, Johnny Rzeznik! There's nothing wrong with people wanting your song to be their wedding song or if your music appears on the soundtracks of mushy films and if people want to propose at your concerts (one did on New Year's Eve). Don't make us want to forget "Iris" to satisfy a bunch of knuckleheads who get off on writing letters to rock bands just to tell them that they suck.

Close the garage door for good, and enjoy the fresh air.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

From our WHY magazine family to yours: All our best for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!

An On-Deadline Rant

2008-12-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

I am sooo tempted to rat out a PR exec who left me hanging on a deadline.

Explain to me how a public relations "professional" can send out an email promoting a client and then when a news outlet shows interest, she says, "This sounds great! I'll let you know" and then never does. After repeated emails. And phone calls.

Listen, lady, all I need is an "I'm sorry, I can't reach Rachael at this time" or a "Thank you for the opportunity, but we're going to pass" or something along the lines of "Are we able to reschedule for another time?"

Well, you know what? Now, don't bother. I'm not interested. I wonder how your client feels that you've blown the opportunity for her parenting website to get a glowing review and a free press in this dim economy.

I wish I could type your name and let the social media circles wreak havoc on your reputation. But I'm too friggin' nice. Or just a sap.

I feel better anyway, despite this disgustingly vague rant.

WHY Xtra: 5 Resolutions for 2009*

2008-12-29T07:13:00.000-08:00

1. Create contests as a marketing strategy. The popularity of Peter Shankman’s giveaways on Twitter the days surrounding Christmas is proof that people still love a good trivia question.
2. Enter yourself in a contest or competition. Blogger’s Choice Awards, anyone?
3. Create a form of passive income. Think Google Adsense. Or a store (ours is on cafepress.com).
4. Get your company featured in the local press. Ask not what your community can do for you…
5. Guest blog once a month. Ask some of your favorite bloggers if you can take the reins for a day. You'll be surprised at how eager they are for some time off.

*Remember, you can join the WHY magazine mailing list to have each week's Xtra emailed to you every Monday in pretty colors -- and with a photo! Ooh... Ahh...!

I, Local 2.0

2008-12-28T04:59:00.000-08:00

ReadWriteWeb is reposting some of its "hidden gems" that you may have missed over the past year. This one discusses Local 2.0, a Web 2.0 way of thinking about how we interact with what's around us.

Local 2.0 brings the promise of Web 2.0 technolgoies to an area near you, driven largely by social networks and data that provide actionable info. The post explains that the work-from-home generation is more likely to interact with and care about local shopkeepers, while its previous incarnation, Local 1.0, had us hidden away in our homes buying online, doing deals over the phone and keeping to ourselves. It argues that local businesses are using the internet to trade with and partner with their peers and that people don't really live online.

This reminds me of something Ford's Scott Monty recently DMed me. When I asked him about maximizing social media marketing, he said, "It's not just about online presence - get out there and meet people face to face." (For more on this, check out WHY magazine's jan/feb 09 issue, which goes live Thursday.)

People still want to do business with people. I can't tell you, as a freelance journalist, how many times I've been asked to conduct person-to-person or telephone interviews rather than email interviews, particularly when time is not a factor. While at one time, we cherished the thought of being able to do everything by ourselves, on our own, there's a new appreciation for "otherness," particularly those right around us.

When a new coffee shop opened in my neighborhood last month, my first thought was, How can I work with them? What services can I offer? I wonder how their hot chocolate is. I don't think I would have cared much several years back, when the thought of doing business with someone in California seemed more exciting and going to Starbucks made me feel cosmopolitan.

Control, Now I've Got a Lot

2008-12-27T05:34:00.000-08:00

The end of the year can be chocked full of all kinds of Top 10 lists, many of which are rather innocuous and unhelpful, if you're trying to grow a home business, and often have to do with hair, clothing, entertainment or Barbara Walters (not that we don't like reading them for fun, particularly if we're procrastinating before a deadline). However, there's a great list of the Top 10 Free Tools for Monitoring Your Brand's Reputation on Mashable that's a must-read for anyone who wants to know what's being said about them and their business out there. As Dan Schawbel notes, these conversations used to be held behind our backs and behind closed doors, but now they're taking place right in front of our eyes, and you can choose to be a part of them. In fact, you should be a part of them. Make one of your goals for 2009 to join the social media fray, not just so that you can see some never-before-seen high school graduation photos of yourself (thanks, Robyne!), but so that you can regain some control, in an immediate and economical way, of your brand monitoring.

The Day After

2008-12-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

It's unusually quiet here today, despite the fact that all the kids are home from school. New toys and games will do that to a household.

In any case, I was able to finish up a freelance assignment in virtual silence, with the occasional sounds of plastic containers being ripped open and gleeful yells of "Yeah, I made it to the next level!"

Remember, the new issue of WHY magazine will be live on January 1, 2009, although I'm still way behind in finishing up copy. But my deadline is tomorrow. PLENTY of time, right Lucille?

Lucille?

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T07:04:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the day, and don't berate yourself if, later on, while the kids are playing with their stuff, you feel the urge to check your email or send a tweet. It's hard to turn it off -- even on Christmas Day!

How I Got Here

2008-12-24T02:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder -- particularly this early in the morning and this close to a big nostalgic holiday like Christmas -- how I got here, how life is hinged by momentary decisions. For those who don't know, the concept for WHY magazine came about as I was standing in my kitchen cooking up breakfast and wondering what kind of publication would be good for Lucille and me to start. Way too many parenting mags out there. Pets? Don't have one. Then it sort of came to me like the proverbial light bulb. I remember staring at my husband, who was sitting at the dining room table, and saying, "I got it! A home-business magazine. We'll call it WHY, which stands for Work, Home and You."

That was in January 2007. Four months later, WHY was born -- with very little fanfare and with pitiful traffic by two highly motivated, albeit web-challenged founders. Word about us spread slowly, thanks to a good concept and execution -- at least we'd like to think so -- and in large part to creative marketing performed by a gal who suddenly regretted eschewing business classes in college (the only one I took was Marketing 101, which was required).

Now here we are in a recession, but we're holding our own, buoyed by low overhead and two founders who continue to be highly motivated. What 2009 will bring, I don't know... There's so many people joining the work-at-home ranks that, I think, our magazine is needed more than ever, but as many wells of income are drying up, there are more of us going after the ones that remain. It's challenging, but, I have to say, exciting too.

Our goals for the new year are to continue to offer you important information -- in a dynamic and easy to read format -- that will help you start your own business, grow the one you already have or just work more efficiently out of your home. We'll hang in there if you will!

As we say in our magazine all the time, sometimes you just gotta take a chance, go with your gut, learn by doing and hope for the best.

It's kind of like parenting. Or owning a pet -- or so they tell me.

WHY Xtra: 5 Freebies You Should Know About*

2008-12-23T02:20:00.000-08:00

1. Free Mentoring. Small business owners can get free business advice, as well as mentoring, from SCORE, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping American entrepreneurs improve their businesses.
2. Free Shipping. If you order anything online, your first stop should be FreeShipping.org, which maintains a list of free shipping codes for over 800 online retailers.
3. Free Templates. There are thousands of free templates available online, including a wide variety from Microsoft, which checks the templates it offers for viruses and other problems before making them available.
4. Free Software. You need basic office software, like a word processor or a spreadsheet program, to run most businesses these days. OpenOffice is a free set of basic office programs that you can download.
5. Free Gift. Get 10 of your friends to join WHY magazine’s mailing list, and we’ll send you a cool fridge magnet (get it... cool?) from our online store. All they have to do when they sign up is type YOUR NAME & EMAIL ADDRESS in the comment box, and if we count ten of them, the gift is yours. Happy Holidays!

*Remember, you can join the WHY magazine mailing list to have each week's Xtra emailed to you every Monday in pretty colors -- and with a photo! Ooh... Ahh...!

Change of Heart?

2008-12-22T05:06:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this whole "getting paid for blogging" thing. It seems unethical, generally, to me, unless it is clear to your readers that you are getting paid for blogs that you write. At WHY magazine, our editorial and advertising are demarcated clearly, because we feel an obligation to our readers to offer content that is bias-free, so that when we say we like ABC Company, you know that we do -- we really, really do!

Google AdSense seems all right (as you can see), because it's clear to the reader that there are ads on the page, and those AdSense ads are so ubiquitous and universally understood that no explanation is really necessary.

But how do the paid posts work? Do bloggers have to write positive reviews? Is truthful and well-written enough? And is there a way to offer full disclosure to my readers while, at the same time, getting paid for reviews of products/sites I would write anyway?

It seems silly to leave myself out of potential money-making avenues when there is a way to do it in which both blogger and reader wins. This is a recession, after all.

I'm going to do a little research and get back to you...

Still Going!

2008-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Got 4 stories done since my last post... I think I can, I think I can!

Hang On, Lucille, Hang On!

2008-12-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

We've reached that familiar point in the production process for WHY when Lucille is about to strangle me. It happens around this time every two months. My copy is coming in late, and Lucille is starting to get nervous (rightly so) about getting the issue online on time.

"Any copy coming in today?" she asks politely, when I know she wants to hit me over the head with her laptop and shout: "Let's go, already, woman!"

"It'll be fine," I tell her over the phone, knowing that she is sadly shaking her drooped head at me. But I really do mean it.

The problem is, I've been trained by this godforsaken business to be deadline oriented, which means I tackle the dire emergencies first, then the semi-emergencies and so on. It's my little triage system of getting thing done. Therefore, a December 27 deadline seems years away, although I really know it's not, and then suddenly it's upon me, and the pressure is on, and then I buckle down, focus and bang it out.

But I know that not everyone works that way. And I know that tending to the dire emergencies first and neglecting everything else somehow creates a never-ending chain of dire emergencies -- things are on the back burner until they're not and on fire and demanding immediate attention. Then add hungry kids, piles of dirty dishes and laundry and a neglected husband to a raging deadline, and suddenly all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch reruns of House.

Just bear with me, Lucille, and hang on! The copy will get done. On time. Before Christmas. Don't be sad. At the top of my New Year's Resolutions for 2009: Stick to deadlines. Get back on track. Deadline Dina, that's me. You'll see...

Let It Snow!

2008-12-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

One of the best perks of working from home is typing away at your keyboard in your PJs and watching the big white flakes (no, not my neighbors...) of snow float to the ground. No messy commutes. No brrr's while you wait for the car to heat up or the bus to finally come. Nothing but pure white love viewed from the safety and warmth of your home office. Already there must be about two inches on the evergreen outside my window, and it just started coming down about an hour or so ago. Merry Christmas to me!

From the WHY Vault*

2008-12-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

On a Shoestring: How to cut costs and market through a recession

Join the Marketing 2.0 Revolution: If marketing means billboards and phone book ads to you, shift your thinking. Today, everything is online: online ads, search results, blogs, websites and social networking. All these tools can help boost your sales, and they’re a lot more affordable than the outdated print alternatives. In fact, some options, like social networking (think LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook) and blogs are free.

Take Your Newsletter Online: If you’re spending money on printing a physical newsletter, you’re wasting your money. People quickly read it (if they open it at all) and trash it immediately. Consider an online alternative. Email newsletters are easy to set up (try Constant Contact) and they’re next to nothing to send ($15 a month for up to 500 contacts). In them you can link to your website, which will get you more traffic.

Can’t Beat a Blog: Blogs are essentially expert resources. Whatever field you’re in, you likely know more about it than the average person. Use a blog to give readers free information, while establishing yourself as an expert. Link to your website(s) and cross promote. If your company is offering a special promotion or has news, blog about it. Blogs are easy and free to set up, although you can take them to the next level and make income from advertising on your blog (for more info on this, check out this month’s feature, Now You’re Talking).

Hot Off the (Virtual) Press: My favorite form of affordable marketing and PR is a press release. They’re short and to the point. And these days, you can get your news out in minutes online. Sites like PRWeb send your news to hundreds of news sites as well as sites in your industry. This boosts your placement on search engines and helps editors, bloggers and customers find you. Editors and bloggers may contact you to write a more in-depth article on your news or may simply post your press release on their site, getting you more exposure (the good kind).

Pay-Per-Click Ads: Forget print glossy ads. The average local business gets nothing out of them. However, a strong presence online can multiply sales exponentially if done correctly. Sites like Google and Yahoo! offer affordable advertising where you only pay for clicks on your ad. You select keywords that people would choose if looking for your company, then write a compelling ad that will cause them to take action and click. Clicks can cost anywhere from $.10 to $1.00.

--culled from an article written by Susan Payton in WHY magazine's july/august 2008 issue

*From time to time, I'll present info from past WHY articles or WHY Xtras in case you missed them the first time around. :)

Make Lemonade!

2008-12-17T06:12:00.001-08:00

I totally agree with the author of this post, that the recession can be your business' best friend because there are, indeed, many companies looking for alternative ways of getting their wares to the general population. Now's your chance to get into the game. Be better priced and offer better quality merchandise or services. Offer them something they've never seen before, and follow up consistently, but not annoyingly. Barter, network... Get out there and don't take no for an answer.

WHY Xtra: 5 Pairs of Words Often Confused #2

2008-12-16T02:06:00.000-08:00

1. amount/number: Use "amount" with quantities that cannot be counted and "number" with those that can be. She can't believe the amount of knowledge she gains from reading the weekly WHY Xtras. She only has a small number of tips left to read today.
2. lie/lay: "Lie" means to recline, and "lay" means to place something. You can lie down, but lay the book on the table first. Serious confusion arises because the past tense of "lie" is "lay." Yesterday, I laid down because I wasn't feeling well. Dang English!
3. i.e./e.g.: "i.e." means "that is"; "e.g." means "for example." A comma follows both of them.
4. who/that: If the noun you're referring to is a person, always use "who." The man who just walked into the store is wearing no socks.
5. who/whom: Ahhh, the dreaded who/whom. "Who" is the subject of the clause it introduces, and "whom" is used as the object of a preposition. Who is coming to dinner with Lucille? With whom is Lucille coming?

The Future Is Now

2008-12-15T04:57:00.000-08:00

There's an article on charlotteobserver.com today in which tech execs say that by 2020, the line between work and home will virtually vanish.

2020?

I don't know about your house, but work/home lines around here are rather fuzzy today.

I know so many home workers and home office experts who talk about and blog about the delineation of work and home activities -- the importance of separating work from home, establishing work routines and clocking out at a certain time -- but for many home workers that's just not feasible or practical or even desirable. If you're the type who likes writing her blog at 3 a.m. (anyone with young children knows that's one of the best quiet times), then there's nothing wrong with that. If you're the kind of person who frets about these things, then you should be establishing more boundaries in your work/home environment. But I think it's true that the people who are able to embrace the idea of working outside the traditional lines will be better equipped to handle the future trends in the workplace which will only continue to further blur our work/home lives.

Truth be told, I do try to carve out vacations without work, but there are times when that's not possible, like this year when there I was tapping away at a computer keyboard in a Hershey, Pa. hotel room while the kids were asleep in order to meet a deadline. And I'm okay with that. I think that's because as long as I feel like I'm in control of my schedule, I don't mind the occasional working vacation or answering business calls at the soccer field.

Perhaps there will come a time when I will be writing this blog at 3 a.m. not because I want to, but because I have to. One of the best things about working from home is being able to create my own schedule. If and when I am no longer able to do that, when I am being forced to keep up with a round-the-clock working universe, then the result may very well be as Victoria Nash of the Oxford Internet Institute warns in the aforementioned article: "Longer, less-efficient working hours and a more stressful home life."

And that I'm not so okay with.

got mug?

2008-12-14T05:08:00.000-08:00

This holiday season, the best-selling item in WHY's online store is a large mug that says: Every day is take your child to work day when you work at home.

To be honest, it wasn't the catchphrase that I thought would click. My money was on: Give a hoot. Don't commute. Work from home. Show's you what I know...

Earlier this year, when Lucille and I decided to put together a line of merchandise geared toward folks who work from home to complement WHY magazine, we didn't know what to expect. Would people like our stuff or even be able to find our stuff in the vast selection that is cafepress? At the very least, we wanted to make enough money to cover cafepress' monthly store charge of $6.95.

So every time I see a new purchase made in our store, I sit in my office chair stunned with a ridiculously goofy smile on my face and then zap Lucille a quick celebratory email. We're on our way to our first million, I tell her. Only $999,900 to go!

I Want to Bang on the Drum All Day

2008-12-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

The kids are home and happy and running and loud. Trying to write while making hot chocolate and oatmeal and finding matching socks to get one child out the door. Repeated calls from my husband who is store-hopping about sizes and colors. Mom just called. Ma'am just emailed: What time am I coming tomorrow? Do I like asparagus? Have two magazines in production (one shipping Tuesday) and two freelance deadlines this week and Christmas caroling at 1 p.m. with the girl scouts. Grad school final paper on Ulysses is due Wednesday, and the washing machine buzzer just went off. Happy Saturday!

From the WHY Vault*

2008-12-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

States of Being: How to Keep Clients Coming Back

Be reliable. Show up for your appointments, return your emails, answer your phone, send their order, admit when you’ve made a mistake, and put your best foot forward.
Be real. There’s nothing more appealing to a customer than dealing with someone who is down-to-earth.
Be available. When a customer places an order, answer questions and fulfill requests in a timely manner. If you are not available, someone else will be.
Be flexible. In situations where clients disagree with your approach or have a complaint about your process, be flexible and offer a means to rectify the situation.
Be attentive. The harder a customer has to work to get information from you, the less likely he or she will return.
Be easy to work with. Life goes more smoothly when you’re friendly and obliging. Develop a reputation of being “easy to work with” and you will build a strong foundation.
Be specific. It’s much easier to delete information than it is to add it, so be specific about matters like deadlines, project specs, colors and amounts.
Be curious. Look for interesting things related to the current scope of your clients’ project. Not only will it develop trust and confidence, but it will help to establish you as an authority and a valuable resource.
Be interested. Everyone who comes to you has the potential to become clients. If you show interest from the beginning — regardless of their “conversion-ability” — you’ve made them feel important. They’ll remember that!

--culled from an article by Donna M. Murphy in WHY magazine's july/august 2008 issue

*From time to time, I'll present info from past WHY articles or WHY Xtras in case you missed them the first time around. :)

Communication Is Vital

2008-12-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

In August, two writers totally blew off handing in stories for the sept/oct issue of WHY magazine. One I just didn't hear from, after repeated emails and calls, and the other apparently forgot and then decided our fee was not sufficient – two weeks after her story deadline and after submitting a signed contract. Ugh.

On a far, far happier note, all the writers submitted their stories on time and in great shape for the next issue of WHY, which goes live on January 1, 2009. In other words, it's good to be an editor today.

Note to freelance writers: Editors don't necessarily mind if you're going to be late with a story. Lord knows we half-expect it and pad our deadlines. But communication is vital. If you're running late, tell us. We get it. We're people too, after all. But looking to change contract details late in the game or dropping out of sight entirely -- even if it's due to complete embarrassment because you forgot to write the story (hey, it happens!) -- is a surefire way never to get hired again.

It's a Matter of Trust

2008-12-10T02:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks to @byosko for bringing this latest Forrester survey, People Don't Trust Company Blogs, to my attention on Twitter. Earlier this year, I read Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies for a white paper on social media that I was writing, and I found it fascinating. I think any company, big or small, must understand the role social media is playing today in the marketplace -- what's worked and what hasn't -- and Groundswell is not only chocked full of info but, surprisingly, a pleasant read. (Disclaimer: clicking on the "Groundswell" link above will bring you to the book's Amazon page through WHY's associates program, meaning we make a few cents if you happen to buy it.)

The Groundswell survey reports that 77 percent of people trust email from people they know. Makes sense. I know that my mother-in-law isn't trying to sell me a Chevy if she raves about her car or that my best friend doesn't have ulterior motives when bragging about a restaurant. However, only 18 percent of you trust personal blogs and 16 percent of you trust company blogs (the latter number moves up a bit for people who regularly read blogs). I totally get that too. It's hard not to believe that corporate blogs will give you anything but the company line or positive spin. And on the personal side, I know bloggers who are out there to hawk products and get paid, which really does make me skeptical about most of the blogs -- if not all -- I read, particularly when a product is recommended.

I still don't know where this blog, my blog, fits into the scheme of things. Is it a company blog or personal one? Sure, I'm here as the editor of WHY magazine to help offer tips and ideas for home workers, but you also get to hear about my own trials and tribulations of being a home worker (lucky you). In any case, the Groundswell survey only cemented a hunch I already had about the perceived validity of blogging. For what it's worth and although as much as 80-something percent of you may not believe, please know that it's all about the truth and full disclosure here.

And finding the truth (bandied about, debated and whittled down by thousands of bloggers and users) is what makes social media such a powerful tool.

In Defense of Workaholics

2008-12-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

You gotta love Jay Leno.

The man's got fame and fortune, and after saying goodbye to The Tonight Show next year, he'll be doing a one hour, nightly show on NBC, according to news reports.

The man apparently loves to work. Even now, he's off doing stand-up gigs on days when he's not taping his show.

My mom, too, loves to work. Earning money and participating in the economic machine. Being relevant in the workforce. Being a role model to her kids and grandkids.

"You're just like her," my husband said to me yesterday. "You like to be busy."

True that. And for me, the best is working toward a goal -- publishing a book, getting your master's, starting a business (perhaps an online magazine for home workers?), learning a new craft or skill -- while you're busy doing your day job.

But not everyone likes to go that extra mile -- especially if there's only a slim possibility of a payoff.

I have a neighbor, a closet writer, who asked me for advice once about how to get published. She was working as an assistant teacher, but had been told that she has what it takes to be a professional writer, which was her dream. I read some of her stuff, and it was good! Excited, I talked with her at length about pitching magazines, scouring the internet for literary agents who might be interested in her pieces, writing query letters, how to follow-up, etc. She looked at me quizzically afterward and said, "I don't want to have to do all that..."

Is it any surprise that after 7 years she's still unhappy and teaching?

I have a special place in my heart for "hustlers": People who love to work and work and work, whether it's to follow a dream, make boatloads of money, or just for the thrill or challenge of it.

You rock, Jay Leno!

WHY Xtra: 5 Websites We Love

2008-12-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

Here's this week's WHY Xtra, kids:

5 Websites We Love

1. WhoLinksToMe.com. Check out what websites link to yours. C’mon, you know you want to…
2. HelpAReporterOut.com. Sign up and social media meister Peter Shankman emails you 3 times a day with all kinds of queries from a variety of reporters looking for expert sources. Great free marketing tool.
3. Google.com/analytics. Free web analytics to help you improve your site and increase marketing ROI. We check ours first thing every morning.
4. Hulu.com. You can watch your favorite TV shows anytime, anywhere. We try to limit our A-Team and Incredible Hulk viewings to lunchtime.
5. Twitter.com. Many businesses are coming up with all kinds of ways to harness Twitter’s bite-size messages into effective marketing platforms. Join the flock, and follow us at twitter.com/whysgirl.

Contests and Creme Brulee

2008-12-07T04:59:00.000-08:00

Best part about last night's dinner at Morton's? Two words. Creme brulee. Hands down.

I entered another writing contest this week. This one is the annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid contest promoted by Winning Writers, which accepts all kinds of prose entries -- fiction and non-fiction. Since I sent in a short story last year and lost, I changed gears and submitted an essay I wrote in grad school about my son Griffin. The piece was well received by my professor and the vast majority of my classmates, but you just never know. Judging is so subjective. At WHY magazine, we've run a few contests of our own: The first one, in 2007, was a short story contest. The winning entry came from Beth Sears. And this year, we ran a slogan contest, and our winner was Jennifer Murray of The Nimble Assistant. Her slogan: Make your own damn coffee. Work from home. Love that! You can check out Jennifer's winning entry (and other cool slogans) featured on merchandise in our online store.

Still, how do you judge creativity or our reaction to it on a set of criteria? My professor used to tell me that as a reader or editor you'll feel a twinge in your belly when you read that something just isn't right about a piece -- even if you can't formally put what the problem is into words. Is then the converse true as well? I get a feeling of lightness in my belly when I read something in a piece that I think is good. I guess -- if I'm pressed to explain my judging method -- I tend to tally the lightness feelings, subtract the grammatical errors and declare a winner.

I wonder if the Winning Writers judges use such a highfalutin method!

A Night Out

2008-12-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

Tonight I'm having dinner with friends, one of those special (and rare) holiday get-togethers where the dining will be fine and the conversation/catching-up will be finer (with a little wine). When you work at home, which, for me, includes weekends much of the time, it really is nice to take a break and go out. The problem is, of course... finding something to wear!

When I worked at an office, my "nice" clothes were always dry cleaned and ready to go at a moment's notice. Now that I work at home, finding anything other than yoga pants and a T-shirt takes a bit of planning and some effort: put jacket in dry cleaners days before so it's ready... try on clothes to make sure they still fit... find make-up that isn't caked or dried up... find shoes, any shoes!

My hope is that when I walk through the doors of Morton's tonight, my friends won't know how much work it took for me to get there and look presentable. They probably won't even notice what I'm wearing. That's what I'm counting on.

Red Flags

2008-12-05T03:46:00.000-08:00

We hear so much about good work-at-home opportunities turned bad. On Monday, we posted 5 classic WAH scams to look out for. Yesterday, ABCactionnews.com posted 5 red flags when scouting work-at-home opportunities. Good stuff. We did something similar on this in our August 2, 2008, WHY Xtra: 5 Ways to Avoid WAH scams. They are:

Never pay money up front to an employer to get the job.
Consult with the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission to see if the prospective company's name shows up as "unsatisfactory."
Ask a lot of questions. Legitimate employers should be able to answer all of them.
Use a credit card -- preferably a virtual one -- to make any purchases needed. Just in case you need to dispute the charges.
Verify the company's contact info. Be wary of PO Boxes, but keep in mind that plenty of legitimate businesses use them.

Remember, being an educated applicant is your best defense against work-at-home scammers. Good luck!

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho...

2008-12-04T03:03:00.000-08:00

There's a good WashingtonPost.com article today on strategies for working from home. Much of it we've covered in WHY magazine, but some of the tips bear repeating:

Get ready for work in the morning as you would an office job. That means showering, brushing your teeth and getting dressed. We also suggest making your bed, in order to fight the urge to crawl back in.
Tell your friends and family (and neighbors!) that, yes, you really are working when you say you're working from home. That'll minimize disruptions.
Take lunch breaks -- or walking/running/stationary bike breaks, as I like to do too, to change focus sometimes. Just don't overdo it.
Keep in touch with co-workers, if you're telecommuting, to remind them that, "Hey, I'm still a member of this office team."

Working from home takes discipline, but if you approach it and structure your days like an regular "office" job, you'll better your productivity and really feel like you've accomplished something by the end of the day.

The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

2008-12-03T03:21:00.000-08:00

Finding useful -- and unbiased -- blogs to help you run your business can be tough. Many blogs are thinly veiled advertisements, while others are not so obvious -- they're supported by companies whose products are highlighted for pay, a little secret kept from the unsuspecting reader. Still others are just plain poorly written and unhelpful. I know... I've read them.

Never let any of this be said about our WHY magazine blog! The WHY blog, just like the online magazine itself, is here to provide friendly, useful, practical and honest info and tips to help you run your home business more effectively. We're not paid -- Lord knows we're not paid -- to promote anyone's company or product other than our own, a free magazine for home workers. If we happen to mention a sponsor of WHY, we'll tell you it's a sponsor. No secrets. Promise!

Now on with the tips!

WHY's Tip #1: Invest in a telephone headset, preferably with a mute button. This not only will free up your hands to file, type or change the occasional dirty diaper while you’re on the phone, but allows you to quickly flip on “mute” the second you hear those immortal words, “I’m telling mommy.”

Long Way Down

2008-12-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official... The nation is in a recession. If you're working at home, you no doubt have been feeling the pinch over the last few months. It wasn't until the day before Thanksgiving that things really hit home for me, as a freelance writer and editor. I lost a sizable client that day (what kind of client tells you he doesn't need your services anymore just before a holiday?), and I spent much of the long weekend feeling as if I were wearing a hat that was too small for my head, pondering how to replace the income lost in a market filled with an abundance of writers (many of them my friends) looking for work.

I'm optimistic, though. It's my nature. But yesterday when a well-meaning friend said to me, "Dina, you know that when a door closes, a window opens," I couldn't help but wonder how long of a way down it was to the pavement from that window.

WHY Xtra: 5 Classic Work-at-Home Schemes

2008-12-01T04:51:00.000-08:00

Happy December, kids! Here's this week's WHY Xtra:

5 Classic Work-at-Home Schemes

1. Medical billing. Start your own electronic claim processing at home and make boatloads of money -- for an investment of $2,000 to $8,000! The promoters promise all kinds of support, but rarely do, making it difficult – if not impossible – to find clients and generate revenues.

2. Envelope stuffing. Promoters usually advertise that, for a “small” fee, they will tell you how to earn money stuffing envelopes at home. However, later – when it’s too late – you find out that they never had any employment to offer.

3. Assembly or craft work. These programs often require you to invest hundreds of dollars in equipment or supplies, or they require you to spend many hours producing goods (aprons, baby shoes, etc.) for a company that has promised to buy them. However, after you've purchased the supplies or equipment and performed the work, the scammers don't pay you.

4. Email processing. After charging you for training materials, the company claims to pay about $20 per email for spamming the same ad you responded to.

5. Typing. After paying a fee, you receive a disk with information that tells you how to place home typist ads and sell copies of the disk to others -- like you -- who reply to you. A classic pyramid scheme.

Join the WHY magazine mailing list to have each week's Xtra emailed to you in pretty colors -- and with a photo! Ooh... Ahh...!

WHY Survey: 52% of Work-at-Homers Have Eco Home Offices

2008-11-30T05:37:00.000-08:00

As I sit here in my newly straightened-up work space, with a looming, still undecorated, green Christmas tree at my back, I am reminded about a poll that we conducted earlier this year in WHY magazine. We asked our readers how environmentally friendly or "green" their office was. The poll revealed that 52 percent of work-at-homers around the globe have semi- or mostly green home offices.

I thought the results were pretty encouraging. Forty-two percent of those polled said they’ve “taken some green steps” and 10 percent have a “mostly green” home office. Thirty-eight percent have a conventional home office but “hope to go green” in the future and 10 percent have a conventional office and “don’t have the interest in a green office.” No work-at-homers that were polled by WHY have a completely green home office.

Yes, I know... having a green Christmas tree has nothing to do with greening an office. I was thinking more about the newspapers and toner cartridges that were recycled. My office work space is far from being totally green, but I'm getting there -- although I still can't bring myself to unplug everything in the office every night as my green colleague Kristyn Lak Miller over at EcoVixen says I should. Something to work on...

Out with the Old, In with the Tree

2008-11-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which means it's time to put up our Christmas tree. As my husband and children scurry about piling up boxes in our living room, I'm trying to clear out the clutter that's already here. I’m sitting here at my “desk,” which amounts to a folding chair and home office armoire in my living room, and there are piles and piles (and piles) of papers surrounding me. When I moved my workspace up here from the basement, for the purposes of natural light and being closer to the kids, all my stuff came with me, and it’s been such a struggle keeping everything orderly.

We had an article recently in WHY magazine about paperwork—hiding it, organizing it, chucking it, etc. That’s what I’ll be spending a good part of this weekend doing. Unfortunately, I’m one of those people who likes to jot down little nuggets of wisdom on stray papers, so you can imagine the job that’s ahead of me. Are those sleigh bells I hear in the distance?

new kid on the blog

From the WHY Vault*

WHY Xtra: 5 Twitter No-Nos

HARO Rocks

I Heart Twitter

WHY Xtra: 5 Telecommuting Myths Debunked

Staying in Constant Contact

WHYing Solo

WHY Xtra: 5 Tips for Writing a Short, Professional Bio

Tweetdeck

5 Tips for Working at Home with a Spouse Who's Been Laid Off

The Holy Trinity of Home Entrepreneurship

Change

Lunch with Lucille

WHY Webinars

WHY Xtra: 5 Offbeat Holiday Tie-ins

New Issue of WHY is Live at www.workhomeyou.com!

Celebrate Working From Home

From the WHY Vault*

WHY Xtra: 5 Ways to Create Buzz

Need Input!

Only 28 Days in February? Are You Sure?

WHY Xtra: 5 Secrets of Great Presidents (of Countries & Companies)

A Social Media Birthday

WHY Xtra: A Perfect Match? 5 Clues to Finding the Right Business Partner*

Google Alerts

Track Your Tweet Mentions

No School 4 Her, No Work 4 Me!

WHY Xtra: 5 Business Plan Ground Rules

Going Face-to-Face

Thank You, HARO!

No Facebook Friday

Productivity: Home vs. Office

Expert Advice

WHY Xtra: 5 Super Business Card Networking Tips

The Check Is in the Mail

Husband Knows Best? You Be the Judge.

A QuickBook Study

Even President Barack Obama Works from Home

Twitterspeak: Thoughts from a Relative Twitter Newbie

The Imperfect Home Office

WHY Xtra: 5 Thoughts on Leadership*

From the WHY Vault*

WHY's Tip of the Day

Feedback

Celeb Talk

It's Official: No Sponsored Posts

WHY Xtra: 5 Ways to Improve Your Focus, #2*

WHY's Tip of the Day

His Way

Worth Fighting For

From the WHY Vault*

X, WHY and Z's

Banished!

Day 6: So Far, So Good

WHY Xtra: 5 Foolproof Follow-up Tips*

Teach. Cheer. Share. Help.

New Year, New Issue

Cheer up, Johnny Rzeznik!

Happy New Year!

More on Sponsored Posts

An On-Deadline Rant

WHY Xtra: 5 Resolutions for 2009*

I, Local 2.0

Control, Now I've Got a Lot

The Day After

Merry Christmas!

How I Got Here

WHY Xtra: 5 Freebies You Should Know About*

Change of Heart?

Still Going!

Hang On, Lucille, Hang On!

Let It Snow!

From the WHY Vault*

Make Lemonade!

WHY Xtra: 5 Pairs of Words Often Confused #2

The Future Is Now

got mug?

I Want to Bang on the Drum All Day

From the WHY Vault*