This great little icon not only tells readers how many times a post has been tweeted, but offers a VERY easy way to let them retweet the post! They simply click the green “retweet” button and they are automatically redirected to their Twitter home page where they will find a RT already filled in with the post name and a link. All they have to do is hit their update button and their RT is sent out into their Twitter stream.

Awwww…. come on…. I know you want one, don’t you? Then go and grab the Tweetmeme plugin and install it to your WordPress blog. After installation, you can decide where to put your snazzy new button. You can also use the full version like the one you see at the top of this post, or you can choose to use a smaller version. 

Don’t forget to follow me @kayecee and if you like this post, please RT. *smooches*

Kayecee gives the Tweetmeme plugin a five shoe review! (5/5 Shoes)

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I began working from home full time in 2002, but not entirely by choice–I was downsized. Now they say things happen for a reason, and that may just have been the kick in the pants to get me started. I’d been freelancing in my spare time since 1984 so I turned my side job into my full job and have been happy with the outcome since.

Working at home is NOT all roses and daisies. Yeah, you get to work in your jammies but you also have to deal with the paperwork, paying your own insurance, social security, and quarterly taxes. Collecting from slow paying customers is now more urgent because there’s no “real job” to fall back on. Your family doesn’t understand that you’re not just sitting at home all day playing on the computer.

A whole new mindset comes with working at home as well. Here are a few things I’ve found that keep me on track and productive. Maybe they’ll work for you.

Keep a Schedule/Set Daily Goals
If you are a structured environment person or work better with a little rigidity, then set up “office hours” for yourself. They don’t have to be business hours. If you work better in the middle of the night like I do, then set your hours for the middle of the night. If you have to deal with clients “in person” via phone or meetings, those days can be planned in advance and worked in.

If you don’t need the structure of set hours, then set a daily goal list. Unlike a “To Do” list, a goal list is a list of things that you can and will accomplish in a regular day’s work. In this scheme, as long as you get the daily goals met, a 3 hour lunch with a pal isn’t going to disrupt your workflow. But remember that “daily” means within a 24-hour period that also includes reasonable sleeping time, meals, breaks and chores.

Be Flexible/Prioritize
Once you’ve set your daily goal, be flexible enough in your mindset to allow for minor interruptions. If a client calls and needs a paragraph added to something and it will only take you 5 minutes, work it in. It keeps the client happy and might net more work.

If you don’t have clients to work with and are mainly designing for PODs and doing affiliate, then be flexible enough to restructure your goals and still meet them. If the work you planned on one niche/design isn’t motivating you right then, add that to another day’s goal, and work on one that is allowing you to get something done.

Treat It Like A Business
Even with all that jammie wearin’ flexibility, you still need to treat your home business like a business. Be firm with family and friends about bugging you during “work” hours if it becomes too frequent. Be firm with yourself about running off for that 3 hour lunch if you know it will impact your goal. The three hour lunch is NOT worth staying up all night when something doesn’t work out like you’d planned.

Which comes to the next point. While working at home does often mean that you work more hours than you normally might at an outside job, don’t let the work overtake your entire life. Part of the appeal of working at home is to allow more freedom to actually enjoy things. If you work 20 hour days, 7 days a week and don’t even get overtime, what have you gained? Take at least one day a week off and don’t feel guilty about it. The world won’t end.

Write it Down
It may seem silly, but start your day or your week by writing your daily goals down. Having them in your head is not the same thing. It’s way too easy to edit in your mind.

I find having a day planner is worth everything in this area. I have sections where I write down ideas and a section where I write my daily goals. I have even designed my own tracking sheets and goal lists that I print out and use in my planner. It’s cheaper than buying those fancy planner pages, and I can make them suit the way I work.

Attitude Matters
Roll your eyes all you like, but attitude makes the difference between joy and drudgery. The way I see it, we have to work to make a living so why not enjoy it? Working from home should be a first step to realizing that joy.

When I was downsized, the first thing I did was break a few things around the house, wonder how DARE they do this to me (and the rest of my team), plot some annoying revenge scenarios, and wonder if the world was out to get me. After that hour passed it was time to get down to business.

Setbacks happen, things go wrong, clients go away and it’s natural to be upset or angry. But once that’s done with, get to work. Instead of wasting time playing a blame game or beating your chest and rending your garments, use that energy in your work and make things that much better. Overcoming setbacks is the best revenge. EVAR.

There’s nothing wrong with the power of positive thinking, either. I have taught myself to try and see the good part about any bad situation. If the good part is only that it boots my butt to get going on something new, then so be it. I find that operating in this manner lets me sleep better and makes me look forward to coming to the computer to work on my projects. Not to mention it makes me a more pleasant person to be around, I’m told.

In Summary
Yes, I hear you grumbling “oh that pie in the sky stuff never works! I have to work 22 hours a day just to get by! I can’t let up! I can’t stop”. Well, yes you can. That kind of thinking can wear you down and can actually impede your work and lead to illness. Yes, there will be some times when you need to put in extra hours to get a project off the ground. But learn to target your efforts and organize them. If you go in with a scattershot approach you might hit something just by chance, but if you aim precisely, you’ll make a kill every time with a single shot.

Working accounts for 25 percent of our week (actually 23.8% but close enough). We might as well make the best of it. Our success is in our own two hands and how we structure our time and deal with setbacks can make all the difference.

As a reporter turned typesetter, RPF spends her time fiddling about with Robert Plant, and trying to build a POD empire. She has been working from home as a freelance typesetter and designer since 2001, and has been exploring the world of POD since 2002. She is located in Kentucky–a stone’s throw from Amazon.com and 3 stone throws from CafePress.

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So what’s a busy girl to do?

Simple… I found a great WordPress plug in called Automatic SEO Links. This baby is wonderful! I installed it and simply entered the keyword and URL. Now, whenever I type the keyword, the plug in automatically inserts the link into the first instance of it on the page! I can even choose whether to make the link Follow or NoFollow. 

If I’m doing a site about gardening and want to link the word lawnmower to a specific landing page for a certain company, I simply enter the keyword “lawnmower” with the proper URL and BAM!!!! Proper link! The company changes platforms, closes its affiliate program, or switches networks? No problem! Simply go to the Admin area and edit the keyword to change links. 

Kayecee gives Automatic SEO Links a five shoe review! (5/5 Shoes)

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I’ll share a little trick for sizing that some of you may not have realized. I mocked up a cheerleading design using clip art and took a screenshot of it in my image basket. I posted a picture of it below. Take note of the area I have circled in red with the arrow pointing to it.

*whispers* Do you see it? The size is listed there. Pay attention to the sizes of your designs when you duplicate sections!

I keep a list near my computer of a variety of designs and their dimensions. If I upload a design that’s 3000 X 3000, but duplicate a section whose design is 1500 X 1500, I’ll have to resize every stinking product. Yuck!

But, if I pay attention to the size of the designs, I’ll duplicate a section whose design is close in size. So if I already have that cheerleading design on products in a section and I upload a design that’s close to 3000 X 3000, I duplicate the cheerleading section, replace the design, and use the bulk tool to rename and change the description. Bam! I’m done.

Zazzle doesn’t show the size of the images in the image basket, but Printfection does in inches. Perhaps the same technique will help there.

Does anyone else have any sizing tricks you’d like to share?

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You’ve finally had enough of the daily grind. You’d love not having to hold down a “real” job and you’re envious of those who earn their living working from home. You may have found yourself dreaming more and more about giving up regular employment.

I hate to burst your bubble, but unless you’re one of those people actually making your living working from home, you probably aren’t aware of the many challenges involved. I’m not working at home full time yet, but I have already figured out the bitter truth: it ain’t all watching soap operas scarfing down bon bons! I still have to work hard for the money I make.

So is working from your home really for you?

First of all, you have to decide what you’re going to do to earn money as a home business owner. You need to think about your interests and talents as well as how much income you need. There are many opportunities for home based businesses and being computer literate opens up even more possibilities, such as owning an online t-shirt shop.

If you’re the type of person who is nervous when you’re in control and waffles in making decisions, working at home may not be for you. With a job, making decisions and scheduling your time is already decided and planned for you. As your own boss however, these responsibilities fall squarely on your shoulders and you need to be comfortable in these areas. The decisions you make directly affect your income.

Working at home successfully also depends upon your time management skills. There will be no time card to punch…. no boss looking over your shoulder and telling you what to do or how much time to spend on a specific task. You are the one in charge and will need to decide how to divide up your working hours so that the majority of your time is spent on completing money earning activities. Keeping your attention focused with the phone ringing or neighbors wanting to chat is one of the most challenging aspects of managing a home business. This task is even more difficult if you have small children at home that you must tend to. It may be an ambitious undertaking, but it is possible with lots of patience and a bit of planning.

Organization goes hand in hand with time management. There are many organizational tasks facing the home business owner… setting up your work space, using a planner to do both long range and daily planning, maintaining a supply of needed materials and having a bookkeeping system in place are just a few. For a work at home parent, you’ll have to be prepared to manage and organize your family as well as your business.

You’ve got to be flexible. Kids get sick… cats puke on the carpet…. gum gets tangled in children’s hair… those are just facts of life and you have to be able to deal with situations as they arise. You may wind up canceling a night out with the girls in order to meet that deadline you’re behind on because your daughter sprained her ankle while turning cartwheels. On the flip side of the coin, if the sun is shining and your fishing pole is calling your name, you have the ability to shuffle your schedule and spend some leisure time away from work.

The nice part about setting up a home business is that it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing situation. I started designing t-shirts 2 years ago, but I still hold my teaching job. Why not follow my example and try setting aside a few hours here and there to see if working at home is really for you? Doing this will allow you to try your hand at business ownership before making the major commitment of quitting your current job. Who knows? You may wonder why you didn’t start a long time ago.

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photo credit: orangeacid

If you have a domain being hosted by Yahoo, you might want to begin investigating the transfer process before your renewal date unless you want to pay an exhorbiant price for the privilege of doing business with Yahoo.

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