We all know that social networking is now must-do online business activity. Remember the days when Facebook was for reuniting with high school friends and MySpace was the ultimate site for socializing? Well, that social focus is still the draw of sites like Facebook for our kids, as it should be.

But it’s a scary world out there in the social media bubble. I, for one, am happy to have several more years before my kids get online. But if you have pre-teen kids in your family, they will likely be asking for their own Facebook, if they haven’t already. The issue then becomes protecting their interests while giving them some freedom. This is where FaceChipz comes in.

FaceChipz is an invitation-only social network that allows kids to communicate only with others they’ve personally invited. There are no strangers. No one can arbitrarily contact them. No one can search for them. This is awesome.

On FaceChipz.com, kids interact with their peers, only their peers. Kids connect by either emailing an invitation to a known friend, or printing up a coded invitation and physically handing it to a friend.

Features of the site include:

• Customizable profile pages
• Message boards
• Photo uploading
• Status updates
• Games

From the site:

FaceChipz was created by parents who were concerned about how, when and where their kids were spending time on the Internet. Our ‘tweenagers’ outgrew the traditional websites for children but weren’t yet ready for the full-fledged, open social networking experience. We created FaceChipz to address those needs. Our kids were the ‘Chief Creative Officers’ and ‘Alpha’ testers of this site. They told us what they liked, what they didn’t like, what worked and what didn’t work. We listened, and then we programmed.

I think this is pretty cool … definitely something I’ll explore further once my kids are ready to go online. What about you? How will you introduce your kids to social networking?

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I had my third baby a couple of months ago…so I am in the midst of all-baby-all-the-time mode. And, of course, being a geek transfers to parenthood, too.

All of my kids are close in age (3, 2 and the baby), so the infant stage was still pretty fresh in my mind. But, it still took us some time to get used to the tracking and transfer of knowledge that comes with having more than one person taking care of him.

For example, I have to make notes so I can keep my husband in the loop about when the baby ate, slept, and had his diaper changed. Plus, because of some special needs, we need to closely track other things like when he took his meds, how often he spits up, contact with allergens (he’s allergic to latex) and any unusual behaviors.

I did pen and paper, and tried emailing the notes from my BlackBerry, but it’s just annoying and time consuming to keep track like this. Not to mention on the days we’ve had the grandparents help out…I swear, I had to write pages of notes to make sure they knew everything they needed to know.

So I found this site — Baby-connect.com — which seems to have solved my problems. It’s a free site that lets you track and share vital information about your baby. Here are some features of the site from their website:

• Easily track feedings, diapers, sleep, activities, mood, temperature
• Easy to use! Log entries with just a click
• Easily view entries from current and prior days
• Email reports to spouses, doctors and nannies/sitters
• Upload photos
• Enter free-form notes
• Indicate and modify the time of an entry
• Upload child photo, indicate birthday, blood type and allergies
• Bottle size Unit: oz or ml, Time Format: am/pm or 24
• Track as many babies as you like
• Setup as many parents and caregivers as you like
• Send entries to twitter
• 60 built-in activities descriptions
• Display real time log of activities during the day

And here’s a screenshot:

I signed up and have been playing around…I’m really impressed with the functionality. I’m especially intrigued with the iPhone app since I may be making the move from BlackBerry to iPhone soon. But more on that in my next post.

Anyway, pass this site on to new parents or even those who have multiple caregivers for their older children. It’s a time and sanity saver!

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As we get ready to dive into 2010, we’re making our resolutions, identifying our goals and getting ready to make the year a great one. One common resolution small business owners make is to find a way to spend more quality time with their family. This is a big challenge, especially for those of us who work from home and constantly fight the work/life balance issue.

But there is a way to merge the two facets of your life — family and work — to create a harmonious solution. Depending on their age, your children may have some understanding about what you do, at least from an observer’s perspective. By opening the door to them and giving them an opportunity to get involved in your work, you are sharing an important part of your life and letting them see a whole new side of you.

Here are some of the biggest reasons to let your kids have a hand in your work:

• It lets them see how you work.
• It teaches them responsibility.
• It lets them experience the pride that comes with completing a project.
• It gives them an opportunity to learn about business.
• It helps them appreciate what you do every day.
• It allows them to spend some quality time with you.

A toddler can…

• Put paper in the recycling container
• Carry files to your desk
• Help you open and close file cabinet drawers
• Stack books in piles

A school-age child can…

• Fill your pencil holder with new pens and pencils
• Alphabetize your files
• Collate and staple reports
• Stamp letters and seal envelopes
• Count pages and inserts

A teenager can…

• Shred documents
• Type letters and memos
• Mail packages
• Enter data in a spreadsheet
• Purchase supplies
• Complete online research
• Scan photos and documents

• Paying them for their time
• Letting them pick what they would like to do in the office
• Creating “work hours” especially for them, once or twice a week
• Telling them what a great job they are doing

You can even set up an area in your office where they can do their own homework while you work. And don’t forget to turn off the business mentality and remember it’s not about getting as much done as possible; it’s about learning more about your kids and sharing a special time…just between you and them.

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Just a little opinion (and rambling) post from me today…

Resources:
Flip Video Camera: http://www.theflip.com
Jamie’s Blog: http://www.blogjamieblog.com
Zoobuh Kids Email: http://www.zoobuh.com

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Summer brings vacations, time off and lazy days, and many of us don’t start to think about the impact on our businesses until we start planning a vacation. But one of the best things you can do for your business, your family and your sanity is to have an ongoing coverage plan for work. After all, you never really know when you might be out of the office unexpectedly, and the last thing you want is to have to scramble to make sure the needs of your clients are met.

There are a lot of ways you can keep your business running and prevent losing clients when you are not working. You may have clients that typically plan ahead for most of their work, so taking off a few days even without much notice may not impact them greatly. But if you have a large client base and a lot of work that tends to come in unanticipated, you’ll need a more formal plan in place.

One of the best ways to line up coverage is by collaborating with a fellow VA. If you subcontract work regularly, your subcontractors can be the ideal people to step in and cover for you. They already know some of your clients, understand their needs and know how you like to work. Or, even if you don’t subcontract, you can coordinate with another VA to create a vacation-coverage arrangement where you cover for each other. Plus, many times the coverage you will need while you are not working is simply having someone you trust checking and responding to e-mail and voicemail, so the time commitment shouldn’t be too great for either party.

Another thing to think about is creating a set of operations manuals that document how your business runs and the work you do for your clients. This is a huge project, but something you can start to tackle little by little and benefit from immediately. Not only can this type of manual be a working document for your own business, but it’s also something you can provide to your clients so they have some insurance that their own businesses will not hit a stand-still if you are not available.

How do you plan for time out of the office and ensure nothing falls through the cracks?

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A brand new conference organized by Kelby Carr (@typeamom) of Type-A Mom was recently announced, and I have to tell you, it’s already starting to look like it will be one of this year’s “cannot miss” conferences. As one of the speakers at the conference (I am honored…check out this lineup of speakers), I wanted to share the info and get you other geeky moms out there to sign up! Here are the details:

The Type-A Mom Conference is a unique mom blogging conference designed to help you take it to the next level. The conference will feature some of the most influential, admired and insightful mom bloggers talking about topics like power social networking, branding, blogging, finding your voice, and turning your passion for blogging into a real paycheck.

It will be help from September 24-27 in Asheville, NC.

One of the coolest and most unique aspects of the conference is KidCon. KidCon is actually a conference for kids that will be going on while all of the Type-A Moms are doing their thing. And it’s not just babysitting! The kids will get to participate in a schedule rich in fun and educational activities, get to demo and test out cool new toys, and get swag bags geared at their specific age group.

From now until the end of June, super early-bird registration is only $100 per person.

As the conference slogan says: “You can come, but only if you BRING IT!” So who’s in?

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I read TONS of books and Rob will attest that I buy TONS of books too. He actually had the audacity the other day, to say that I was going to create a sinkhole in our basement with my vast collection. Humph… he just doesn’t get it.

One of my favourite and often referred to books is  by Maria Veloso. I haven’t read another book that has given me so much inspiration or guidance in creating great sales copy for the online world.

One of the best tips she offers is to find a sales page online that you think is really great and effective, and literally sit down with pen and paper and copy it word for word, five or six times. Yep, it’ll take you forever – some of those pages are LONG but you’ll soon start to feel the rhythm of the copy and understand the methods they use and it can become second nature.

This book is chock full of awesome ideas with plenty of examples to get you in tune to write your own dynamic copy that sells!

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