When does the hobby turn into a business? There are many good amateur artisans out there. They are as good if not sometimes better than people who have chosen to make a living from their field.

The difference between an amateur and a professional is that an amateur does not get paid for their work where a professional does. This has changed slightly in recent years, while amateurs are people who are happy to create pieces to give as gifts or even to sell to help recoup some of their costs a professional must sell their pieces so that they can cover their expenses as well as make a profit.

The good part in respects to most crafts is that to go from hobby to professional does not need to be a difficult process. Many artisans are lucky in the respect that they can go from fun into mastering their art and advancing to a level of a serious amateur with the final step of putting their experience and knowledge into earning decent money.

[read more here]

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When you run your own small business you are required to have many skills. However, to do this successfully you need to manage yourself first. Here are some motivating tips to success for small business owners to get them going.

Motivating Tips To Success No 1 – Take Care Of Yourself

• Have a healthy life, exercise regularly, eat good healthy food and be around people who have a positive attitude.
• Give your brain some new information and attend some development courses.
• Listen to tapes or read self-help and motivational books.
• By looking after yourself of yourself you will have more of energy, be motivated, and have more balance in your life which in turn will help you do more.

[read more here]

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and get it listed in front of more people!

Technorati Profile

I added logs to the blog, and I added details on the Write Post window, describing what the buttons were for.  You can visit that post here.

~ Wendy

Our server had some hardware issues this morning and it was down for quite a while.  The issue is being worked on but the site is up and should be working fine from here on.  They have replaced the damaged hardware and will now be checking to see that all files are unaffected.

Thanks for your patience.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 7:30pm - 9:00pm

The Blogging Project - Online Meeting - week 2

We will be meeting in the chat room to discuss:

Homework from our last meeting:

1. Did you get a chance to visit wordpress.com to view the backend of Wordpress and see how simple it is to use? Do you have any questions regarding how the blog works? 2. What is your goal for this blog? What do you want it to accomplish for you?

Our next phase:

3. Where to come up with content. What do you fill your blog with??

4. What action do you want your viewers to take? Are we putting ads on your blog or are we driving traffic to a direct sales webpage?

5. Blogging Schedules. You need to post regularly and plan to compile content regularly. A schedule helps you achieve your goals.

At this time we have a few people already in our blogging group. If you would like to join us, please contact Wendy and she will get you up to speed so you can be part of our blogging project.

More details on the website.

See you all there!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 10:00am - 11:30am

New Port Richey Monthly Networking Meeting

Where: Panera Bread, Trinity (Rt. 54 & Little Rd.) Directions here.

Bring Business cards and Brochures (or whatever you have available to tell us about your business) and meet us for coffee! We’ll discuss goals and accomplishments as well as find out what everyone does.

It’s not your typical networking meeting! Our goal is to build relationships with people that you’ll be happy to refer people to, buy from, and spend time with.

More details here.

>> Setting Goals: A quick and easy way to make sure that you have direction in your life and business.

This can be downloaded by visiting our site and clicking on the box that looks like this:

We’ll be posting over here:  http://blogging.networkofwomeninbusiness.com/blog/

Join us if you’d like to learn how to set up your blog and then maintain it in a way that earns you more money!

For most of us there comes a day when we toy with the idea of starting a small business; work stress and frustrated career goals can often leave us thirsting for autonomy and starting a small business seems to fit the bill. But for those who are thinking of starting a small business, the road can be one of sacrifice and learning.

Before starting a small business do as much research as possible. Talk to other people who have started a small business and are willing to give you some guidance, read books by people who have a passion for entrepreneurship, and get online to read as much as possible about the ins and outs of starting a small business. On the Internet you’ll also have access to advocacy organizations developed to help those starting a small business; as well as access to chat forums where you can learn from the experiences of others in your situation

Locally there should also be organizations that can help you in starting a small business. Look at the business advocacy groups in your local area that can offer guidance.

[read more here]

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