JoJo Tabares at Communication Fundementals posted an interesting question this morning: “What’s on your desk that shouldn’t be there and what does that say about your life?”

I live on the run! With two boys in scouts, clubs and sports, I stay on the road. My desk is proof of my hectic life:

• Papers that need to be filed
• Papers that are in the process of being graded
• Print outs of articles and books that have been proofed, retyped and left lying
• Day Planner
• Calendar
  
• Computer CDs
• Pens
• Clipboards
• Books in the process of being read
• Coffee cup
• Timer
• The usual desktop accessories
  

To say that my desk is a bit cluttered is a slight understatement. In between deadlines, this is one of my FlyLady hotspots. So it will stay clean for a short time. but if I am not very careful, I will get busy and BOOM there is that pile again.

Is my life like my desk? Unfortunately, YES! Staying busy is one of the reasons I choose to work from home! If I was unable to set my own hours and work around all the running, my life would be boring and dull.

Does a messy desk mean that you are unorganized and unsuccessful? NO! We are so focused and driven by what we do that the small stuff gets lost in the shuffle. I may look unorganized, but I live by the timer and calendar. If I did not have everything in the schedule we would never get where we are going and I would never meet a deadline.

One of the reasons that I will soon be outsourcing more of my daily work and maybe even some of the work here in my home and office is to help restore the peace in my home. The clutter that is created by my hectic life has a tendency to send me into CHAOS and that is not someplace that I need to live.

Technorati Tags: Organization, Work from Home

As a teen, you may already know that you want to run your very own business, and that you would prefer to start doing it now rather than later. In fact, you may be in such a hurry to get started that you may not have thought everything through as fully as you should have. Your excitement and impatience is understandable. However, there are a few things you should consider before making that HUGE leap into the business world.

First of all, is the business that you’re so eager to embark upon something that you can really sink your teeth into? Is it something that you love doing enough that you will be excited to work at it every day for as long as you own and operate the business? Think on this one very carefully before answering an unqualified and resounding YES! Depending on your current age, something you must understand is that things that are a vital part of your existence right now may no longer interest you in as little as 1 year from now.

There are some steps that you can take to see if you’re moving in the right direction to become an entrepreneur, but they require your patience and complete focus. Sit down and make a list of all the things you truly enjoy about the business idea you have. This part should be a long list and should take very little time to make. Now, make a list of things that may potentially get on your nerves about this idea. Be brutally honest with this part. If there’s anything on that list that may cause you to be less motivated in the future, you may want to reconsider this particular business idea.

Don’t be discouraged if your very first idea isn’t really THE ONE. There are always many more ideas just waiting to happen!

Technorati Tags: Creativity, Get Started

• Who is your customer? Do not take your customer for granted. Know what they need, what they want, what they are hungry to get! Once you find what they are hungry for, give it to them! That is your product, that is what they will buy, that is what will sell!
• Create your marketing plan. You need to know what steps to follow, what will be your next move. Do your research; write your ads; create your campaigns! Once you have things in place you need to know what is working, what needs to be tweaked and what needs to be scrapped. A well organized plan will show you each step and when you need to back track. It will keep you focused and disappointment at bay.
• Do not limit you market because of your age! Just because you are a teen does not mean that you can only reach other teens. With the right product and the right marketing anyone is a prospective customer/client. Use your marketing to reach a varied audience. Get creative and find out which market best suits your business.
• Use the free or cheap tools available online. The Internet is a fountain of information. It may take some time, but everything you need for your marketing research can be found at your fingertips. With all the widgets and gadgets, Google is an unlimited source of information. Who is looking for what? Where are they looking? It is all out there for you to find!

It’s been proven, anyone who is willing to pay the blood, sweat and tears can become a millionaire, but it will not happen overnight! Do it now! Do not wait until your 40 and to start your own business and make your million! Become the next successful teen entrepreneur!

Technorati Tags: Teen Entrepreneurs