I have a friend who will be attending Burning Man. It is NOT a therapeutic retreat for those who are recently gone through a bad breakup! I went to the website and found some amazing photographs of the artwork that is produced at Burning Man. We all have moments that lack creativity, Burning Man is the opposite, it is explosion of massive creativity. Here is a little about it from their website.

“The Burning Man project has grown from a small group of people gathering spontaneously to a community of over 48,000 people. It is impossible to truly understand the event as it is now without understanding how it has evolved. See the first years page and Burning Man 1986 – 1996 for the legendary story of Burning Man’s beginnings and to understand how the event has come to become what it is today.

The time line gives a short overview of what each year looked like. Please also check out the detailed archives for years 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Within each of these years are descriptions each year’s art theme, theme camps, large art installations, as well as maps, journals of our city being built, the newsletters to the community for each year, issues of the Black Rock Gazette (a daily news publication produced and printed on the playa), and clean up reports for each year, including a list of those sites that failed to “leave no trace”. These pages help understand the larger scope of the entire experience, from the planning that happens year-round to make each event possible, to the clean-up efforts which take place for sometimes months after the city has disappeared.”

• Write documents
• Make charts
• Draw
• Spread Sheets
• Calculate

Check out their Open Office website to find out more and to download it for free.

A perfect pair….Internet business and Facebook. You can set up a separate Facebook page for your business so that people can “like” you page and share it. You can also put links to your website, new articles, and current posts on your personal Facebook page so your family, friends, and coworkers can check it out at their convenience.

INTERNET BUSINESS FACEBOOK PAGE

I haven’t worked on it much, but I have a Facebook page for Jan’s Writing Services. I will be posting more often in the future and include help for people who are writing for pay in addition to mentioning my services. The photos will include pictures of me and my laptop at different places that I can work from. The one I have up currently is of me writing while watching my daughter ride her horse. When I post on my writing services page, it shows up on my personal Facebook page. It lets people I know keep updated with what I am doing with my writing services.

PERSONAL FACEBOOK PAGE

When you have an Internet business that only some of your friends may be interested in, you can pick and choose who you send information about your Internet business to. You will want to be careful that your friends and family on Facebook don’t feel like they are being spammed! My friends that I have on Facebook that I know from the Maverick would love my blog Jan Fran’s Redneck Yard but not be interested in Jan’s Ideas. I can pick and choose who I send links and updates to.

Don’t be afraid of matching up your Internet business with Facebook.

Time flies when one is busy. Some of my blogs haven’t had an update in a year! I remember when I use to post several times a month on them! There is really no excuse for 365 Ways to Save to not have current posts because I paid for posts so that there is a post for everyday of the year.  I just need to double check each post and put it up. The idea on that blog is to not have the year posted and have a post for every day of the year. Once it starts making some money I will move it to its own domain. I should have been able to do that by now because I started the blog a year and a half ago!

So I will be getting a few posts up on all of the blogs. Here is my new plan:

• 4-6 posts per blog that will be scheduled to post one per week
• Continue to post regularly here on Jan’s Ideas
• Focus first on Jan’s Group Home Support
• Focus second on 365 Ways to Save

I chose Jan’s Group Home Support because I can write quickly for it and I want to market it where I work and here locally. I chose 365 Ways to Save because I have the posts ready and waiting.

I have to work wage earning several days and am going to have some of my photos at a craft fair, so I will start working on the other blogs starting next week.

Advantages to owning my own writing services:

• Flexibility
• Income
• Learning new things
• Enjoyment
• Create jobs for others
• Self-employment
• Mobile

With writing for pay, I write about what I am paid to write about and though I love doing the research and learning new things, it is not always my area of interest. Since I have so many ideas and thoughts, it is almost a relief to be able to write down the things that I am thinking about! It is also really nice to just go straight to writing when I sit down without having to do the research first.

One level of writing for the joy of writing, is writing  for my projects. Some of my projects include the following:

• Jan’s Group Home Support-I love sharing what I have learned the past 12 years working with the disabled and mentally ill
• Jan Fran’s Redneck Yard-this is fun to write for because I can do a little creative writing
• Reduce Utility Bills and 365 Ways to Save-I enjoy sharing what I know and what others are doing to save money

Sadly, my own blogs, even the ones I enjoy have been neglected this past year. I’m hoping to get that turned around. This month I have posted regularly on this blog and have some articles ready to post on Jan’s Group Home Support. I had paid for posts on 365 Ways to Save and they have been sitting on my computer…such a waste! Not only financially for me, but for those who need help to save money as they struggle financially.

As I went to my blogs to get the links I see that with the neglect, the Adsense ads aren’t as targeted. This means that even if there are visitors, they aren’t finding ads that they will click on. This has motivated me to get moving on posting!

Another level of enjoyment is writing for some of my own Internet sites that I have just for income. Though the topic might not be of great interest to me, I like writing knowing that I will directly benefit (eventually) financially from my writing for the site.

For right now, I’ll have to be happy to get this post up and to get to my wage earning job on time!

For some people it is difficult for them to come up with ideas for their Internet ventures. For others it is difficult to develop the ideas that they have. I am in the second category, I have more ideas than I know what to do with. Ideas are constantly overflowing and I make jokes I have enough ideas to keep someone busy for 10 years after I die! For now, I need to focus on an Internet venture and give it a push so it can move on its own for awhile while I work on another one and then I can go back, give it another push, and repeat until it has enough momentum going so that it only needs an occasional push.

I started out with this blog, not because it will give me much return, but because it is easy. If you know me, you know I’m not choosing it just because I am lazy, but because it will help me to develop new habits faster. I can write easily on this blog so it doesn’t take much time away from my article writing business, Jan’s Writing Services. So this is the process that I am working on with Jan’s Ideas and then I will repeat with my other projects.

• Post at least every 2-3 days
• At least every other post has an image
• Post in advance
• Share blog on Facebook
• Have blog posts automatically post to Twitter
• Start a folder of my photos to use for posts

I probably won’t use article directories to promote it, but I might, just for the practice. The reason is that this blog doesn’t have the income potential as some of my other projects and might just wait and use the time to submit articles for my other projects. When I have about 2-3 weeks of posts scheduled to publish, I will then start on my next blog. I have chosen to work on Jan’s Group Home Support next. It has income potential and it is easy to write for. It is a topic close to my heart, I have been working with the disabled for about 12 years now and have found it very satisfying.

It might get a little messy in the recycling bin, but nothing that a little showering and a change of clothes can’t fix!

I was on vacation from my wage earning jobs and spent the time working hard on testing the waters to see if I can work full time writing. It has meant focusing on writing and making some choices, like staying home writing instead of going out dancing even though I haven’t gone out in weeks! It was been worth it. Though I mostly worked during my “vacation”, I did make some time to do something I really enjoy…cook and bake and I did spend time with family and friends.

I have discovered that my natural sleeping cycles are very different than traditional sleeping cycles. I am trying to learn to work with my natural sleep cycles instead of fighting it.

I also found out that even though I didn’t have the pressure of having to be somewhere at specified times, my body was still poised and ready to go. About 6 days into the time off I got to the point where I truly feel relaxed. I had to keep reminding myself that I don’t have to be anywhere!

I can be strange to work and live at home, I found myself needing to make sure I got out of the house and away from the computer periodically. When I do start working from home all the time, my son, Bob Schmuck and I have decided that we will schedule one day a week to “work” together. We motivate each other so that is a plus and the other is that it will force us to get out of the house (we will take turns which house that we get together at).

I’m looking forward to the day when I won’t be heading off to wage earning jobs and just do my writing and Internet projects. For now though, I am thankful to have two part-time jobs and my own business during a time when many cannot find even one job.

Before giving up your day job, it will be important to look at your personal life. Things that will interfere with the flow of self-employment success include the following:

• Drama filled lifestyle-get rid of the drama in your life, drama can be distracting and it will keep you from focusing on your business.
• Unhealthy relationships-energy consuming relationships will suck the life and energy from you, leaving you with no energy to develop your business with.
• Poor money management-if you can’t manage your personal finances, you will not be able to manage your business finances.

Some entrepreneurs choose to do what is needed to get their house in order before they decide to take the plunge and work for themselves. Before making the final decision, evaluate your personal life and your life style to see if it will be compatible with working for yourself.

There may be  times when you will still use childcare for your children to get uninterrupted time to focus on your business. These are some helpful hints when working from home with children:

• Start with setting a time that you child will play alone, watch a movie, do homework, or other activity while you work. Have a timer and at the end of that time do something with your child and give your child your undivided attention.

• Work while you child sleeps either at night or at nap time

• Set up a small desk and give your child his or her own supplies and “work” to do while you work

• Let you child earn money helping you with your business while teaching basic skills like filing, ordering, delivery preparation, email replies, etc. depending on the age and skills of the child.

It is easy for children to not consider you working at home as really working. You will need to set times that you are available for giving rides, shopping, homework help, and other things your children need you for. Stick with these times and your children will not get in the habit of expecting you to be available at their “beck and call” just because you are working from home.

It can be harder to work at home with small children, but it can be done with some creativity. It is much easier with older children that are busy with their own activities and friends. You can set up an “office desk” for younger kids to play on or use for doing homework while you do your work.

It has given me the push I need to create a plan to work full time for myself and further reduce wage earning hours until I can write enough to have my article writing business support me. I won’t jump into it and will take the time to factor in the following:

• Insurance costs
• Bonuses
• Transportation expenses
• Taxes
• Time working
• Business expansion
• Savings account balance

It would be so easy to jump in without considering all the related factors, but I’m going to do this right to increase the chance of success and reduce the risk of failure.

There are many things to consider when considering venturing out and supporting yourself with your own business.