Make a fresh start in 2008. A fresh start in your personal relationships, with your family and your business. What’s been holding you back? Why aren’t you building your business as fast as you would like? Have you been wasting precious hours on activities that don’t turn a profit? Frittering away your time by checking email over and over, visiting favorite forums and discussion lists? Or maybe just sitting there wondering ‘what do I do next?’

At the end of 2008 what will be your accomplishments? Will it be the same old, same old, or will you be able to say 2008 was your most profitable year ever?

A business plan isn’t just for bankers and investors. It’s a management tool that simply tells you where you’ve been, where you want to go, and how are you going to get there. Realistically a business plan can be used for any part of your life. Think about it. If you’re starting a diet, it’s important to know what your eating habits are (that’s the “where you’ve been” part of a business plan.) You then set goals for weight loss, say 20 pounds in six months (that’s the “where you want to go” part). And finally you determine what specific strategies and action plans will achieve that goal (“the how are you going to get there” part.)

You can be an Internet marketer, a writer, a home business person, or involved in the corporate world. You still need a business plan.

One of the best business plan packages I've seen is Business Plan Basics. You get an ebook on what should be included in your business plan, examples from business plans, tips and an Excel spreadsheet.

If you want 2008 to be great, get started on your business plan with Business Plan Basics.

Dee

There was an article in BusinessWeek online that said more and more people are getting interested in earning money online. Not in one of those get-rich-quick schemes you see advertised on TV, but as a legitimate business.

I found this website PartyIdeas: Kids that was developed by a young mother to earn extra money. The site is still pretty young, only about a month old. It's a fabulous idea. She obviously has experience throwing parties for kids. I especially like all her ideas for Valentine Day Parties for Kids.

Shes' earning AdSense revenue from the Google Ads and money as an affiliate for amazon.com. I talked with her and she'll be developing an ebook on the subject of - what else - Party Ideas for Kids and sell that as well.

This is just one example of someone who had no experience earning money on the Internet and using her talents to start an online business.

Dee

On The First Day of Christmas My Agent Gave to Me

By Dee Power copyright 2008

On the first day of Christmas my agent gave to me
A contract for my rep to be

On the second day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the third day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the fourth day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the fifth day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the sixth day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Six editors bidding
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the seventh day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Seven offers landing
Six editors bidding
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the eighth day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Eight contracts waiting
Seven offers landing
Six editors bidding
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the ninth day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Ninety thousand advancing
Eight contracts waiting
Seven offers landing
Six editors bidding
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the tenth day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Ten more rights a selling
Ninety thousand advancing
Eight contracts waiting
Seven offers landing
Six editors bidding
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the eleventh day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Eleven weeks bestselling
Ten more rights a selling
Ninety thousand advancing
Eight contracts waiting
Seven offers landing
Six editors bidding
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

On the twelfth day of Christmas my agent gave to me
Twelve months till we start again.
Eleven weeks bestselling
Ten more rights a selling
Ninety thousand advancing
Eight contracts waiting
Seven offers landing
Six editors a bidding
Five - days - to - auction
Four plot changes
Three revisions
Two critiques
And a contract for my rep to be

*****************************

Hope you and yours have a safe, prosperous, happy 2008.

Dee

Dee Power is the co-author of The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories of Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them, and two other nonfiction books. They've written Treasure In the Moonlight, a novel just waiting to be published and several screenplays. http://wwwBrianHillAndDeePower.com

I've started my Christmas shopping a little early this year. Usually I wait until the weekend right before Christmas. I'm getting a bit sick of the big box warehouse stores. It's seems they all have the same kind of merchandise. And everybody knows what you paid.

The shopping malls are fun if you actually don't have to shop. If you do, they can be a nightmare. Every teenager is hanging out text messaging each other from 3 feet away. People are getting frantic and buying something - anything - just so they'll have a gift.

This year I thought I'd use the Internet to shop. Not just amazon.com or ebay but neat little websites that offer gifts a bit out of the ordinary.

First stop are baby toys. Lots and lots of baby toys. I found this neat little site called baby-wise.com They have toys for every age and great prices. It beats the mall and the big box stores. Now I just have to make up my mind which toys I want.

Dee

One of the areas I've been looking at is how to earn money on the Internet by writing, while cruising I came upon a neat little site that's focused on helping people find jobs. I'm not looking for a full time job but this job search site was a little different. The jobs are ranked by the members. So if someone investigated a particular offering and found it, let's just say not as straightforward as the listing, they could give it a lower ranking.

I also like the tone of the site. It's friendly and has a "we're all in this together" attitude rather than "we're the might job board and you're the lowly job seeker." Reminds me of some publishers I know.

It's too bad that writers only have elance.com and guru.com. It would be nice to have a similar writing job search where the writers could rate the clients. I know elance does have a rating system, but seriously is any writer going to bad mouth a potential client? No.

Dee

Over Time, the novel
A great gift for a football fan or a romance reader. Romance? Yes.