One of the biggest questions we get asked often is “How did you start your business?”

Looking back on the last 8 years, all I can say is that I honestly had no idea. I just did it. I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t know anything about building websites and if anybody would have told me back then what my business would be like today, I would have laughed.

You may have started your business the same way and if you’re just starting to explore the internet and web marketing solutions, you probably have similar questions regarding the terminology.

In reading a forum conversation about how to leave phone messages for people when contacting them about business, I thought this was interesting.

One person said they follow a carefully crafted script, another said they don’t leave messages, another said they leave a message only with their testimonial. Yet another said they leave only their name and number and wait for the person to call them back.

These scenarios sound more like telemarketing calls than business relationship calls.

Finding funding can make the difference between a small-art life and a big-art career

Over the course of her career, author and visual artist Mira Bartók has won more than $80,000 in grants to support her work. The funds have paid for her to travel to research a reindeer-herding community in Norway and attend the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont. She has lived in Italy twice on language study grants and participated in residencies in France and Israel. When she had a serious auto accident, grants even provided emergency funds.