Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

The Two Biggest Problems with Being Your Own Boss
Lots of people make a mad dash for a work-at-home existence, thinking it will be an absolute utopia. But once they start sitting at home every day, they start to realize how many positives from the workplace they need to replace.

The two that hit me especially hard were structure and interaction.

With the lack of a structured quitting time to focus me on getting things done, I found it easy to divide my focus between the task at hand and a half-dozen other future options that I should have filed away as separate projects, each with their own designated times and focus. That was what led me to 12-hour-a-day, 7-day work weeks (with me usually accomplishing less than I had accomplished in the office in a 40-hour week).

The lack of interaction was probably even a bigger killer. If you're the only one expressing an opinion on your ideas, you always get exactly what you want.

The problem is that you never get anything better than what you want. Bouncing an idea off of someone else and seeing them validate it as a good one frees you from that nagging doubt that maybe there's a better way of doing this.

Similarly, bouncing an idea off someone else and having them bounce back an even BETTER idea puts you that much further ahead in your work.

I almost chucked it all and went back to the confines of the office just to get that interaction back. Fortunately, I found like-minded people to interact with online.

Never go it alone when you work at home! You need human interaction in your business, even if you're a lifelong introvert like me.

There are many more elements of a 40-hour, on-the-job work experience that you need to consider when you make the jump from employee to entrepreneur. These two are two of the biggest, though.
Jeff

Labels: entrepreneurship, start business

The Real Source of Success
Here's a favorite quote from C.W. Wende:

"Success in life is a matter not so much of talent and opportunity as of concentration and perseverance."

May you grow in those elements.
Jeff

Labels: inspirational quotes

A New Look for One Stop Web Support
One Stop Web Support, the parent site for this blog, has a new look!

I've been pulling down some of the most outdated content over the past month and have made plans to update the rest. The more I looked at the site, though, the more I felt it needed some visual updating. That visual updating is now complete.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think of the new look. I'll be making some more changes to various areas of my business in upcoming months.

A new look for this blog is in the works, too. But I have a number of decisions to make on those changes -- not to mention a number of other enhancements to my business that currently are more closely tied to my monetization plans.

Stay tuned for more!
Jeff

Labels: website design

Finding Your Writing Rhythm
I got a question the other day about how I overcome the "blank screen" syndrome when it comes to writing.

I don't think I had ever laid it out anywhere before, so I thought it might be something good to share with you, too. Here's what I do.

I usually schedule my projects so I can do them over a couple of days. I know this doesn't work for everybody, but it works well for me.

On Sunday I'll lay out my writing for the week. Each article I plan to write, I plan a compelling (yet limiting) title, something that has a solid hook in it, yet is specific enough to keep me from trying to cover too much ground. Under each title, I write the words, "Intro" and "Conclusion" on separate lines. Then I write two to four headings for each article between those two lines to establish my structure.

Sometimes, I jot down notes about specific analogies, facts, or ideas I want to cover under the headings. If inspiration strikes as I write all this down, I follow it. If not, I let everything sit until Monday.

Then I tackle one article at a time. I don't look at any article except the one I've chosen to start with. That focuses me on the task at hand. I read over the headings and notes and start wherever the first thought hits me. I fill in the other headings and, eventually, the introduction and conclusion. If content under one heading gets too long and involved, I pull it out to write as a separate article the next week.

I take each article in turn, taking enough of a break in between to clear my mind. By the end of two or three days, I have first drafts of all my articles for the week.

Then I set them aside for a day or two and go back to polish them. By Saturday, everything is polished and ready to distribute. The rythym of this process works for me, although finding this process took quite a while.

I think that's what it ultimately comes down to: experimenting to find your own rhythm. Each of us is unique. What works for one won't work for another. But once you find your rhythm, writing is even more of a joy.

When it comes to writing blog posts, I'm a little more spontaneous and a little more casual. I'll usually log on when I have an idea (like this) that I want to share. I'll write it in one sitting. First I'll write whatever comes to my head. Then I'll read back through it and polish it a little.

Overall, my blog posts are a bit less polished than my articles, but it's more of a casual medium, I think.

I hope this helps anyone who's struggling with writing online. If nothing else, it's a little look behind the scenes.

Jeff

Labels: article marketing, blogging

The Problem With Personalization
Have you noticed lately? Personalization is everywhere.

Yet that personalization seems more IMpersonal than ever.

You get an email that displays your name in the subject line. You open it and find your name sprinkled repeatedly throughout the text, as if the writer had written the entire thing specifically to you.

You know, though, that they didn't. You know they inserted a little snippet of code at those places where your name appears. You know that that code had pulled your name from the company's database and inserted it for greater personalization.

And, if you're like me, you feel a little manipulated to know all that.

I found someone else today who feels the same way and has some interesting insights on personalization done manipulatively. He suggests what marketers can do to go beyond thinking of personalization as just slapping people's names all over their emails and, instead, to give people a personalized experience that they actually appreciate.

Enjoy!
Jeff

Labels: customer service, email marketing, persuasion