The thing with service-based businesses, one of which I also am running, is that they depend on your labor. To make more, you have to either work more or do harder work to get paid a higher rate. Now what’s the fun of that?

I’m not so dense as to think that product-based businesses do not also require a ton of time, but at least the opportunities to bring in others to help are out there.

I purchased another domain name last week. If you think of a good name for your company, even if it is your own first and last names, lock it down. These days, you really need an online presence, and if you are just starting out, you’ll be surprised at what’s already been taken.

Even if you don’t move on your idea for five years, lock down the domain name now.

My recommendation is to buy the domain from Go Daddy. I don’t find them useful for much else (Their interface is much too cluttered and hard to maneuver.) but their registration fees are still lower. Then, find yourself a good web hosting company and set up an account. You can host multiple domains on one account using addon domains.

This means that you pay one hosting fee and run multiple websites from it. Yes, you get email and everything. All you have to do is direct the DNS (domain name server) information in Go Daddy to your new hosting service. And they’ll tell you what that is.

Personally, I haven’t found a company that works as well as Lunar Pages yet. Their interface has become harder to use over the years, but their support articles are great. And it is still very, very easy to set things up how you want them to go.

To be clear, this is not about building a website. This is simply getting the web hosting account set up.

And if I decide to start a brand new company rather than expand the one I currently have, I’ll try to document the steps here.

So really, what is it that I should be doing? In this particular test, there are only seven questions. And by answering those seven questions, it’s going to grade according to six categories:

• Realistic
• Conventional
• Social
• Enterprising
• Artistic
• Investigative

Apparently, I can do all of the above except for being social. Duh, I knew that already.

I’m counting my blessings that my little business is attracting so much work.

I’m very impressed with this chain. I don’t remember Holiday Inns being this nice.

It seems like every hotel (at least all the random ones in the numerous states through which I traveled) has been completely redone.

The rooms are clean and well designed. The front desk personnel were all very nice. And the free breakfast offerings (bagels and pastries, cereal, yogurt, hot cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy) are certainly added values.

There is usually a pool and a workout room. Always, there’s free wifi. I also appreciated the free coffee and tea in the rooms—along with the mini-fridge. No microwave though. I found that strange.

Anyways—Good job, Holiday Inn Express people. I think you’ve made some good choices here.

At $99 a night (rate I received regularly), these hotels are higher than their competitors next door, but if you’re looking for a clean, comfortable, and reassuring place to sleep, they are a good bargain.

If you’re getting a book like this, I’m going to assume that you think you can write to a certain extent. If you are looking for Writing 101 help, this is not for you.

This book gives the whys and whats of flyers, sales, letters, ads, etc. The author tells about each piece’s purpose and how readers tend to interact with it.

But beyond the technical aspects of creating copy for these formats, this book also provides coaching on how to figure out your audience and on how to find an appropriate voice in your communications.

A point from the book that I really need to keep in mind is that describing a service or product is not as compelling as explaining how it will solve a customer’s specific problems. That’s a good tip for me because I don’t think I would have believed in the principle had I not read her examples.

I think the advice and guidelines from Marcia Yudkin are solid and authentic. I believe the points inside will help me successfully revise my existing materials.

Even if I decide to work with a copywriter to complete my projects, I’ll have a better sense of what to ask for and what to look for.

It doesn’t have much to say about writing for electronic media, but then again, electronic copy is not “on paper.” This is a book that delivers on its title.

How have I not realized that time management is also organization? She compared organizing time to organizing closets. Hey! I know how to organize closets!

And all of a sudden, figuring out my schedule got so much easier.

I have a lot of irons in the fire right now. With my own business, I no longer have the set schedule that a 9-to-5 job affords. I get things done, but I often feel flustered doing them.

I haven’t always known what I should be working on at any given moment. My to-do list is always in front of me, but it can be daunting at times. For this past week, I’ve applied her system.

My mind is already calmer. It didn’t feel like I worked as hard as I usually do, and I definitely got more things done. If you are an otherwise systematic and organized person who can’t seem to get a handle on time, I think this video will help you too.

She presents seven easy-to-understand steps. Some of them you already know and do. Her time mapping concept, however, was new to me. And it has really helped.

As she suggested, I block out my week by categories, not by specific items. Then when something comes up, I don’t have any qualms about postponing doing it until the right time in my schedule.

For example, household organization (paying bills, filing papers, etc.) takes place Sunday evening. For the rest of the week, I put everything in a pile and don’t have to think about making time for them.

If I’m lost about what I should be doing next, a glance at my time map tells me which category within which I should be working. When it’s a work block, I ignore everything else on my list. When it’s a personal block, I can read or watch TV without guilt or worry.

Of course I’ll have to keep fine tuning my time allotments as I go along, but so far, this is really helping me out. She’s given me a tangible way to think about time.

I’ve had the good fortune of being able to work at home from Christmas until yesterday. Today, I had to get up at normal-people hours to get onsite at an office. I dreaded it.

Since this post is being written on Saturday and scheduled to post on Monday morning, I wonder how I’m doing right now?

College was the first time I realized that my body’s natural settings made me a night person. I love the times past midnight. Everyone else is asleep, and I’m putzing around thinking, writing, and doing my schoolwork.

I would walk the campus all by myself and feel totally at ease. I’ve joked that I may be a vampire many times.

So for the past eleven or so days, I’ve been able to settle into the asleep at 2:00-3:00 am / get up at 10:00-11:00 am rotation. If you’ll notice, that’s still about 8 hours of sleep.

When I try to fit into a societally decreed workday, I am sluggish a lot of the time. Without caffeine in the morning, my mind stays foggy all day. I find myself feeling that things are just off some of the time.

It seems that I am just not cut out to exist in normal society. :)

Luckily, the decision I made to start my own business is helping my situation a bit. I do have more flexibility now. But, that also makes it harder to adapt when every day calls for a different set of hours.

I wonder what evolutionary purpose my clock’s setting is designed for. Am I the night lookout? Do I make sure the fire stays lit? Or perhaps I make sure the night crawlies stay out of the cave?

I’m sure not made to commute-sit-commute.

But I do it anyway. At least sometimes.

When I have a boss, I actually have to problem-solve it. So in addition to a set income, I’m also continuing to expand my abilities. I love knowing more stuff. :)

With the position being part-time, I don’t have as many responsibilities and pressures. But I’m making the same salary rate as I used to at my more-than-full-time job. Less and easier work for the same pay? Win.

I can also use the withholding from this paycheck to offset the incomes from my other pursuits. I hope that will simplify my financials.

Another benefit from this part-time job is that it keeps me connected with people. A home office has many benefits, but it is isolating. Even the commute reinforces my relationship with society at large.

And finally, let’s not forget about having access to the lovely office equipment, such as copiers and scanners.

I decided to try VistaPrint because they seemed to have a pretty easy online ordering system. And with the addition of Retailmenot’s coupon codes, you get a great bargain price.

In reality, the bargain isn’t that great. VistaPrint‘s online template is not reliable at all. First, the lines are not identified on the page so I can only guess that one is the full bleed threshold and the smaller one is the actual trim size.

I ordered three items from them: business cards, letterhead, and address stickers.

For two of the items, the business cards and the address stickers, the printing came back noticeably off center. I asked for a reprint on the business cards because they were so off, there was a band of blue on one side of the cards. I’m guessing that this is the edge of someone else’s cards. So that’s a whole print run of horribly off-centered cards.

Getting customer service to redo my cards was pretty easy. With the volume they get, I don’t think the company really cares. So if you do get something bad, it should be fairly simple to get a refund or an exchange. But the customer service center was obviously not in the United States. I had a hard time understanding the person on the other end. The phone call was longer and louder than it should have been.

Unfortunately, the replacement set I received is also of inferior quality. The centering is still noticeably off, but I’m just going to shave the sides or something. But get this—this set came back in a completely different color. The ink must have been running out in the machine or something, because the white of the card shows through the color background. I don’t think I’m ever going to get an acceptable set so I’m cutting my losses and will not order something as important as business cards from them again.

The address labels were also off center, but issues like this are less important on this product. It’s hard to find a wide selection of colors out there (and I’ve tried) so I think I will do my reordering from VistaPrint.

The printing on the letterhead is acceptable, but the quality of the paper is really poor. The business cards suffer from the same problem. In both products, the materials feel cheap. The business cards are instantly recognizable as low-quality card stock. The letterhead is on some generic glossy paper. If you are expecting the recognizable texture of business cards and letterhead paper, you’ll be in for a disappointment.

Still, at least the letterhead is usable for now. And I couldn’t have expected too much given the price.

Their website also freaks me out. It’s constantly trying to get you to click on things and if you don’t read the fine print, you’re going to end up with extra product orders or monthly subscription fees. Even though I clear my cookies and personal data every day, the VistaPrint site always has my information up when I return to it. That is not cool.

In the future, I will still go to VistaPrint. I will probably order test items and less important business products from them because you really can’t beat their prices. For the more important business branding items, I’ll spend the money and get some personal attention paid to the project.

Have you used VistaPrint before? How did your experience compare to mine?