Aug
27
The Solopreneur Life “Friday Bits” Column #17
It’s the end of the week, and just like every Friday at The Solopreneur Life, I have several bits of information to share with you. This week’s column includes items on: naming your business; keeping your most important goals in the front of your mind; Deb Howard Greenleaf’s recommended online invoicing services; my favorite Web site; a free, Web-based sitemap/flowchart software; and a very funny “botpreneur.” Let’s get started!
The 10 Commandments of Naming Your Small Business
Darrell Sahorsky at About.com has a useful column titled “The 10 Commandments of a Great Business Name.” The article contains more don’ts than do’s, but that’s O.K. because it’s important to know the don’ts. I like this little gem, the eighth commandment:
Ask Others to Spell It: When I started one of my companies and named it Insightica, it was unique enough but it drove me crazy the number of times I was asked to spell it. The word could be spelled with site or sight. Put your business name through the spelling test and ask others to spell it. Yourdictionary.com lists experience, intelligence, jewelry, millennium, and personnel as a few of the top 100 most misspelled words.
I certainly broke the eighth commandment when I named my site! I have said: “It’s spelled S-O-L-O-P-R-E-N-E-U-R” many, many times.
Live In Your Non-Urgent Space
Hundreds of personal-management corollaries have flowed from Stephen Covey’s “Four Quadrants” philosophy. For example, this week Dave Navarro at RockYourDay.com quoted Glen Allsopp, who suggests writing down each day your five biggest goals. Glen says:
Do you have the guts to write down your most important goals each day? I say “guts” because this takes real courage—it means that you’re establishing a baseline level of accountability in your life to really work on these goals each day, each week, each everything.
This is a terrific idea, and I have begun doing it. I think it’s important to add a time element to goals, so my list represents my five goals for the rest of the year.
Online Invoicing Services: So Many Choices!
The Solopreneur Life’s favorite accountant, Deb Howard Greenleaf, has written a handy roundup of online invoicing services that are available. Check it out and see which three services she recommends!
Fun Has Been Added to Links!
This week I added a listing to my “Recommended Links” page, under a new category: Fun. The link is for Leah Dieterich’s Web site, thxthxthx.com. A college professor of mine used to give us this writing advice: “Be brief. Be brilliant.” Nobody does brief and brilliant better than Leah.
Sitemaps…Get Your Sitemaps Here!
Two days ago I found out about Slickplan.com, a Web-based sitemap/flowchart generator that allows for the creation of free sitemap and flowchart design. Unlike other software programs, SlickPlan’s sole purpose in life is to create site maps and flowcharts. I haven’t used SlickPlan yet. Have you?
I Couldn’t Care Less
It’s been a while since I included an English-language usage lesson in “Friday Bits.” So class, sit up straight and listen carefully! Today’s lesson comes from @BitsofBeauty on Twitter: “The correct phrase is ‘couldn’t care less,’ but it gets f****d up often enough that people think ‘could care less’” is right.” Thank you @BitsofBeauty! I love the ironic twist, using an expletive in a post regarding correct usage. 
Class dismissed.
The Best “botpreneur” Yet!
“botpreneur” is a comic series that strives to “tell the truth about what it’s really like to start and run a small business in the age of social media.” “botpreneur” is drawn by David Billings, who publishes SparkyFirePants.com. The new installment of “botpreneur” is below.
Solopreneur’s Digest
In case you missed any of this week’s columns, here they are:
• 10 Things Your Client Doesn’t Want to Hear At Your First Meeting
• Featured Soloist Deb Howard Greenleaf: “Glad? You Bet!”
• The Solopreneur Life Has Made It To Alltop!
• Solopreneurs, Avoid the No. 1 Small-Business Marketing Mistake
Don’t Be Selfish!
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