Where Do You Work?

You are called many things: Entrepreneur, Freelancer, Work From Home Parent, Telecommuter, and even a Green Office. One thing we can all agree on, if you have chosen this line of work you are dedicated to working despite the noise and distractions .... working from home there definitely can be a lot of them!

So the question I am posing today is: Where do you work? When you need to meet a client or just need to get out of the four walls you call home, where do you go?

Walk into any Starbucks and that seems like the obvious answer. Looking around you are pretty much guaranteed to see at least one person pecking away on their laptop, plus that woman in a track suit chatting on her cell phone ... well she just might be closing a $30,000 deal. I try to avoid Starbucks because they are crowded, but there are so many it does make a convenient meeting space.

In my quest to find the greatest escape from my home office I found the following places:

1) Main Street Coffee House in Vancouver, WA

Main Street Coffee is a great place to work, meet with a client, or simply enjoy some amazing fresh baked cookies. They have a great loft area above the hustle and bustle of the day to day business where you can easily get a great deal of work accomplished. An added bonus for me is that they are owned by a sweet married couple I met back when I was only 21 years old, it was a happy accident the first day I walked into the Coffee House and found them behind the counter!

2) Farrar's Bistro in Vancouver, WA

Farrar's is another favorite of mine, not just because they are less than half a mile from my house. But they have good food and a charming staff. The bistro can get quite crowded, but when I need some quiet I seek out their patio.

3) Corner Office, Inc.

This is not a service I have used, but I am researching it. They offer a conference room, discounted administrative services, and the use of physical address that is not your home all for a small monthly fee.

If you work remotely let me know where you go!

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Off The Wagon

My last post on this blog was August 24th. How did that happen to me, I do this for a living? After talking to other small business on the importance of blogging and other fabulous FREE marketing tools I haven't posted on my own site in over three months.

Over the summer I hit the road hard with an aggressive marketing campaign that really paid off. Between the blog posts, postcards I both hand delivered and mailed, networking events, and the Facebook updates I was everywhere. At first, I didn't see any results and started to wonder does this really work ... then the phone calls starting coming in & I noticed my billable hours creeping up!

So it really works and now I need to get back to it! When was the last time you posted on your business blog? I challenge everyone to make one new post before Monday morning!

Blogging Slump ... It Can Happen To Anyone

The real question is ... What are you going to do about it?

Over the summer I hit a blogging slump which made me think I couldn't be the only one. After a quick google search with over 247,000 results and realized I was definitely not alone.

There are a lot of ideas out there on what you should do to get out of your slump. Pro Blogger says you can get your blogging groove back in just 7 days by following the tips below:

The Daily Tasks

Day 1 – Write a List Post
Day 2 – Answer a Question
Day 3 – Write a Review
Day 4 – Write a Link Post
Day 5 – Write a Tip Post
Day 6 – Ask a Question
Day 7 – Tell a Story

Be sure to read the entire article: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/07/16/7-days-to-rediscovering-your-blogging-groove/

Another blog post I found 5 pages into my search was filled with great tips about "getting unstuck" that was really interesting was 20 Tips from Chris Brogan. These tips are just the thing small business owners need to be aware of with blogging. One of his suggestions is to think about the things you are personally struggling with and write about it, hence this post today!

I blog for several of my clients and I really enjoy it, but the only thing that keeps me on track is a strict calendar of what I am going to do and when. Today, I put myself on that calendar, too! As a small business owner it is so easy to put our clients needs before our own, but I am encouraging myself and anyone else reading this article to make sure to take time out for their own needs, whatever they may be.

If you have read other great ideas on curing the blogging blues please post them here ... I would love to read about them!

Thank You!