So You Want To Be Your Own Boss and Run Your Own Business!
At 59 years of age, I have spent most of the last 40 years working for myself in some fashion or other. I’ve owned my own business in some form since about 1970. Yes, there has been at least one extended period when I worked for someone else as my primary source of income, but even during that thirteen year stint I still owned my own business, and moonlighted working it.So when I talk to you about being your own boss and working from home, I do have some real experience to base it on. What I am going to impart to you here is from my o

Driving Customers to You - Your Car as a Marketing Vehicle
You can turn your vehicle into a rolling advertisement. Costs start at just a few dollars, and you can put your business name, slogan, phone number and web site URL in front of thousands of potential customers while you are driving along the freeway, stuck in traffic or even while you are parked. Here are some of the best ways to use your vehicle as a marketing tool.Bumper stickers are so inexpensive that you may want to print enough for employees, friends, family members, customers and others. Publisher Susan Sabo of I’m not hip to the lives and loves of celebrities. I’ve never been accused of being fashion forward. I don’t drive a Hummer. So it was an altogether new sensation when I recently opened my newspaper and learned that I, Erin Home-Worker, am setting a trend.

In a May 2006 report, titled Work, Entrepreneurship & Opportunity In 21st Century America, the US Chamber of Commerce stated:

“Traditional employment remains strong in our economy… Yet participants in the entrepreneurial workforce have cast aside the traditional model of working for one employer, for one paycheck, and on a set schedule that never changes

Responding to new economic, technological, and social conditions, millions of workers and companies are instead making alternative arrangements and are seeking different opportunities. These arrangements assume a variety of forms including flex time, telecommuting, independent contracting, working as a temp or on an on-call basis, home-based businesses, and starting a small business full time.”

The report went on to list some fabulous statistics about our flourishing flock:

• Nearly 20 million Americans – one in six workers – work from home at least once a week. 70% of these are telecommuters, 30% are self-employed.

• 18.6 million small firms were without employees, and 53% were home-based businesses, underscoring the entrepreneurial structure of this vibrant sector of our economy.

• In November 2005, 10.2 million Americans identified themselves as self-employed – constituting an impressive 7.2% of the workforce.

It’s great to see an official report validating our existence. But for th

rica, the US Chamber of Commerce stated:

“Traditional employment remains strong in our economy… Yet participants in the entrepreneurial workforce have cast aside the traditional model of working for one employer, for one paycheck, and on a set schedule that never changes

Responding to new economic, technological, and social conditions, millions of workers and companies are instead making alternative arrangements and are seeking different opportunities. These arrangements assume a variety of forms including flex time, telecommuting, independent contracting, working as a temp or on an on-call basis, home-based businesses, and starting a small business full time.”

The report went on to list some fabulous statistics about our flourishing flock:

• Nearly 20 million Americans – one in six workers – work from home at least once a week. 70% of these are telecommuters, 30% are self-employed.

• 18.6 million small firms were without employees, and 53% were home-based businesses, underscoring the entrepreneurial structure of this vibrant sector of our economy.

• In November 2005, 10.2 million Americans identified themselves as self-employed – constituting an impressive 7.2% of the workforce.

It’s great to see an official report validating our existence. But for th

, millions of workers and companies are instead making alternative arrangements and are seeking different opportunities. These arrangements assume a variety of forms including flex time, telecommuting, independent contracting, working as a temp or on an on-call basis, home-based businesses, and starting a small business full time.”

The report went on to list some fabulous statistics about our flourishing flock:

• Nearly 20 million Americans – one in six workers – work from home at least once a week. 70% of these are telecommuters, 30% are self-employed.

• 18.6 million small firms were without employees, and 53% were home-based businesses, underscoring the entrepreneurial structure of this vibrant sector of our economy.

• In November 2005, 10.2 million Americans identified themselves as self-employed – constituting an impressive 7.2% of the workforce.

It’s great to see an official report validating our existence. But for th

rt went on to list some fabulous statistics about our flourishing flock:

• Nearly 20 million Americans – one in six workers – work from home at least once a week. 70% of these are telecommuters, 30% are self-employed.

• 18.6 million small firms were without employees, and 53% were home-based businesses, underscoring the entrepreneurial structure of this vibrant sector of our economy.

• In November 2005, 10.2 million Americans identified themselves as self-employed – constituting an impressive 7.2% of the workforce.

It’s great to see an official report validating our existence. But for th

sses, underscoring the entrepreneurial structure of this vibrant sector of our economy.

• In November 2005, 10.2 million Americans identified themselves as self-employed – constituting an impressive 7.2% of the workforce.

It’s great to see an official report validating our existence. But for those of us living the life, it’s like preaching to the choir. Any Schmo can look around and see factors like rising health-care costs, the dissolution of pension plans, wanting to spend more time with family, and the way many employers change personnel like they change trousers – and the revolution seems obvious.

Karen Braschuk, a 48-year old entrepreneur and fellow home-biz convert, has seen the light. It not only inspired her to start her own Virtual Assistant business, Office Support 911, but has changed her mind about the future of the workplace.

“From personal experience, I believe companies are becoming more comfortable with the entire concept of telecommuting and dealing with outside contractors,” said Braschuck. “I am a Virtual Assistant and my entire industry barely existed 10 years ago. But then, all this amazing new technology crept in and suddenly we had laptops and Blackberries and email. I gradually realized that there was ‘virtually’ nothing I performed in the office that I couldn’t also do from home.”

Once Braschuk recognized a remote office wouldn’t impede performance, the leap of faith into entrepreneurship was easy. “My physical absence from the office had absolutely no affect on my ability to perform my duties, and it was seamless to my customers and co-workers. Now that I’m a business-owner, I have one client who I’ve never even met