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Is Your Virtual Business Thriving? Please Share Your Best Advice!

When you earn money by something of your own creation, how much you earn is not a superficial fact--it is often a reflection of part of who we are.

It reflects our diligence, creativity, problem solving abilities, our integrity in creating great products and services that people want and that we stand proudly behind.

In much the same way someone who has built his own house with his own two hands will proudly tell you how many hours he spent working on it, how many nails he used, what kind of lumber he used, how many bruises he got, and how much the house is now worth, so an entrepreneur will likely be willing to give you an idea of what went into building his work of art (his business).

An entrepreneur who shares with us that his business is thriving is telling us a whole bunch more than just how much money he makes--he's telling us that he has found a way to create and run an successful online business, one that endures for years and years and one that continues to grow with his dreams.

The Top 5 Perks Of Having A Violently Opposed Idea

This quote from Einstein should be a permanently affixed bumper sticker on the car, bicycle, covered wagon, or backpack of every creative visionary in history:

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing--that cutting edge thinkers will disrupt the mainstream public's comfort level is a given, and oftentimes the opposition that a particular person or idea generates is in direct proportion to the uniqueness, importance, and potential impact the person or idea has on the world.

This drawing from Jessica Hagy is called "Lock The Library" (via), and she perfectly illustrates how a visionary can end up being an outsider.

I like this illustration, because it's an objective observation of the situation. It's not saying that the people who are doing the banning are ignorant or evil, or that the fear that a new idea instigates is wrong--it's just pointing out that new ideas (especially ground breaking ones that have the potential to change people's ways of thinking) naturally ruffle feathers and stir up passionate reactions and opposition.

When Is It Time To Get An Outside-The-House Office?

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine;told me he was looking at office space at this cool "collaborative co-working facility" (this is a more space age way of saying "office") called The Hive.

Undoubtedly it's much more cool than the office in my house (you should see the photos of the "chillout room" at their website, and they have a Wii!), but I wondered,

• Exactly what type of internet worker would really need to rent office space?
• Haven't we all been trying to get away from fluorescent lights and cubicles?
• Why not just work at home or at the cafe?

I had a few ideas at the as to the answer to these questions in respect to an entrepreneur with my friend's needs, but a new facet to this "virtual worker having space outside the home" idea popped up today when I found out one of my clients was actually doing something similar!

His reasons for getting outside space were different from my friend's, but I thought "Aha, I see a pattern here!"

Some very successful online entrepreneurs are yearning for a more structured workspace where they can get more work done, meet with in-person clients, and possibly socialize and collaborate with colleagues and potential clients.

Let's take a close look at these questions and discover when it's time to get an outside-the-house office.