A new 30-day blog challenge just started today. The basic idea is to make a certain number of posts to your blog within a 30 day time frame. In this particular challenge, the goal is to make 30 blog posts in 30 days.

A blog challenge is a great way to grow your business! You can join us in this 30 day challenge too, if you like.

So, how can participating in a blog challenge like this help you grow your business?  It helps in several ways.  It gets you in the habit of writing more often.  This also creates information that you can use again in future projects such as ebooks or other projects.

This week I had a couple of family priorities that required my time….things that required appointments during the regular “work day” hours.  So that meant juggling my business commitments to fit around these appointments.

Do you find that this happens to you sometimes too?  A lot of us who work from home have family commitments that are important.  In fact, that may be one of the big reasons that you are self-employed…so that you have the freedom to flex your schedule to meet your family’s needs, sometimes on short notice!

Another great way to grow your business is to be a speaker for groups in your area.  Many groups need a speaker or program for every meeting.  By contacting these groups and offering yourself as a speaker you are helping them to accomplish their mission.  And it can have many benefits for you and your business too.

For example, speaking helps to establish you as a credible expert in your topic area.  It gives people an opportunity to hear you and see you.  It provides people with the chance to interact with you, through questions, feedback, or talking with you before or after the meeting.

I woke up with a migraine headache yesterday morning.  This happens every so often and it can really affect my plans for the day.  Fortunately, I was able to take some meds and I gradually felt somewhat better by early afternoon.  But my schedule and plans for the morning required some major adjustments.

I felt able to listen in to a CEU teleclass as planned, sitting with a cup of tea and taking notes.  And I was able to check my email inbox and to make a couple of simple phone calls.  But I did have to cancel out on a networking meeting that I wanted to attend.  And I wasn’t feeling well enough to write articles or make marketing calls that I had hoped to do during that time.

One of the characteristics of successful business people is that they are always reading and learning.  One of the easiest ways to adopt this habit for yourself is to listen to audiobooks.

I just finished listening to the audio version of a very thought-provoking book.  And I want to tell you about it, so that you can benefit from some of the ideas in it too.

As we continue our series about great techniques to grow your business, I’d like to encourage you to use the technique of finding a business buddy.  Let me explain what I mean. 

A business buddy is another business person who wants to grow their business too.  The basic idea is to plan ways to work together to grow their business as well as yours. 

One easy way to do this is to set up an accountability check-in process.  This can be a quick phone call during which each of you states what your top actions or priorities are for the day.  Or even for the next hour.  Then you each take action and then do another quick check in at the end of the time to celebrate the progress you each have made. 

Believe it or not, taking a day off is a great way to grow your business.  When you own a business it can be easy to fall into the trap of working every single day because there is always work to be done.   

On top of this, when you run your business from your home, the temptation to work every day can be even greater because your office is right there all the time.  It’s easy to think you’ll just check the email, or pull out a file, or work a little bit on that big project.

Are you ready for a challenge?  One of my wonderful mentors, Connie Ragen Green, is hosting a 30 Day Blog Challenge right now.  The goal is to write 30 blog posts in 30 days. 

I’ve decided to jump in and participate, so I am asking your support and comments.  This will be a great way to move forward on my goal to write more frequent posts for this blog.  I have lots of great ideas to share with you to help you grow your business!

If you would like to join the 30 Day Blog Challenge along with me, you can do that too. 

A few days ago, I drove to Austin to meet my friend Paula for dinner.  This is pretty amazing because we have not seen each other for more than 30 years.   We were best friends in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades and shared many interests.   When we were in high school, her family moved away and then we gradually lost touch over the years.    

On April 1, I’ll be doing another workshop and if you will be in