The trend in a home based office is not toward striking a perfect balance between business and personal life. Instead, more home based entrepreneurs are choosing to blend the two, with the emphasis less on optimum efficiency and more on involving the whole family, including small children, in the business.

Blending may work well when two small-business owners and their families work together to take care of business and child care. One partner takes conference calls, while the other changes a diaper. A spouse can help assemble marketing materials, while a grandparent helps plan an event.

Bringing the family into the business harkens back to a simpler, less complicated, less stressful time when families spent most of their working hours together at the home place. Including family members (siblings, children, grandparents) can help create tight bonds, something that corporate players often sacrifice in achieving success.

• The cost of advertising;
  
• Automobile upkeep, including cost of operation and repairs and rental cars;
  
• Bank surcharges and fees for business accounts;
  
• Gifts to business associates, up to $25 per person, per year;
  
• Interest on business debt; and
  
• Office furniture and its upkeep or repair
  

You can get creative in your deductions, depending on the amount of risk you're willing to take in defending them to the IRS.

------------------
Sandalwood's Cosmic Creations: Working with the magic of love....

Breaking new ground into these specialty areas can take time. You will need to keep up your tried-and-true projects while you experiment with the more interesting projects. Consider doing some pro bono work or taking on lower paying projects on the side while you are in the process of building your reputation.

While you are at it, ask them what products or services they might suggest that you offer. Nose around politely about your competition, if they have encountered it, and uncover what the competition is doing right and wrong. Finally, query potential customers about what you can do to get their business in the future.

He says put yourself in the project poster's position. However, don't try to imagine the person she wants to hire. Instead, think about the problem that she might have to solve in hiring someone. Now you can tell her your solution to her problem--not nervously try to impress her with your personal insights! See tomorrow's tip for more tricks to email pitches.

A brochureware site comprises a few linked pages. Simple, cheap to develop, and cheap to host, it's used to promote your business and make connections with consumers.

You can build a brochureware site using HTML-development software and a good book. However, unless you have an eye for good design, you may want to hire an expert Web developer, who will be cheaper than a full-scale Web development shop. Freelance developers will often work for an affordable hourly rate without the overhead of a larger shop.

As a middle way between the cheap and the big-time, you might engage one of the multitudes of Web-hosting companies that provide templates crafted by skilled designers. You just populate the template with information about your business.

[This message has been edited by JoJo2 (edited 06-07-2000).]

For instance, if you have a fly fishing store, you can tell your visitors about current competitions & package deals & trips to popular spots. You can post weekly sales & specials available only on your Web site. To build an expanded marketing site, you may want to work with an Internet services firm, which can ensure the quality of your code, graphic design, and user experience. Or, as with the brochureware site, you may want to find a local freelancer who can build your site without the overhead of a full-service firm.

I'm going to try my PhoneTools fax and see how it works. I've been paying the insurance company next door for fax access - maybe I'll be able to cut that out!

------------------
Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation...
Edward R. Murrow

POLISH YOUR VOICE MAIL SYSTEM: Make sure that your voice mail system is high quality and able to handle the volume of calls you receive. Also, equip your system with enough options to meet your needs (for example, a call tree that allows callers to press 1 or 2 for more options). When you record your outgoing message, identify yourself or your company, make sure your message is audible, and ask the caller to leave the best time to return his or her call. The latter will reduce the amount of time you spend playing phone tag.

FIND OUT WHO'S CALLING WHEN YOU'RE ON THE WEB
If you have only one phone line and you worry that you're missing calls while you're online, you might try a free call-waiting/voice-mail service, such as BuzMe. The voice-mail boxes are advertised as "personal" and "private." You can check them any time by phone or Web. Although the basic service is free, BuzMe works with the Call Forwarding feature of your phone line to answer calls while you are online, so you might see an installation fee and monthly charge on your phone bill.

BuzMe gives you pop-up notification and caller ID when you receive a call while you're on the Web. The program also lets your callers know that it's trying to determine if you're available to receive their calls. You can preview BuzMe by visiting the company's Web site at: http://www.buzme.com/

Even if direct marketing and lists are your bread and butter, you might not appreciate direct-marketing mail from sources that hold no interest for you or your business. Perhaps you're inundated with literature from charities you don't support, or your name is on a group of lists that has nothing to do with your business.

To stop this kind of mail, you might try writing to Mail Preference Service, a division of the Direct Marketing Association. You can request in writing that your name be taken off all direct-mail lists. Be sure you include any variations of your name and variant spellings that you've received on junk mail. You can write this service at PO Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008.

This organization can be a handy business resource, so keep them in mind if you need to spread the word about your own business! You can learn more about it (from both the consumer and business perspectives) at the DMA Web site

At iShip.com, you can compare shipping rates from Airborne Express, FedEx, UPS, and the US Postal Service. You specify the size, shape, weight, origin, and destination, and you can see a table of the shipping times and charges. At this same site, you can track that package, and since iShip is now part of Stamps.com, you can implement Web-based delivery solutions into your small, medium, or large business. http://home.iship.com/

A new year demands new tips on organizing your home office. You know how much better you feel about your office and your business when it's streamlined and uncluttered. Let's face it: Clutter saps your energy and drags you down. So now's the time to develop some kind of organization system that you can live with. Today's tip and the next two will give you some good head starts.

Judith Kohlerg, author of "Conquering Chronic Disorganization," suggests a two-for-one rule. For every new item you bring into your home office, get rid of two old things, she says. If you can't bring yourself to get rid of something, try to find a new use for your old treasure.

To keep your messages from looking like spam, keep the subject line brief and descriptive, like "Outsource Your Record Keeping." Your message should be short, as well--ten, five, or even fewer lines. Just enough to make people want to click a link to your Web site for more information. But the best idea of all is to send mail to customers with whom you already have a relationship--those who've had the chance to "opt-in" to receiving email messages from your business.

Source: Tipworld

Here is an additional tip from me: Under Bill s. 1618 TITLE III, a letter cannot be considered spam as long as the sender includes contact information and removal instructions.

Mildred Leet, cofounder and president of the Trickle Up Program (devoted to making small grants to low-income entrepreneurs), offers practical advice to entrepreneurs striving to "follow their bliss":

• Talk to as many other entrepreneurs as possible. Leet says that a big difference in those who are ultimately successful and those who aren't is the ability to ask for advice.

• Following your bliss is fine but don't forget to write a business plan! Map out your plan that includes marketing, financial, and management profiles -- and be as financially practical as possible.

• Learn to do your own books. Leet suggests Quickbooks or Quicken as excellent accounting software.