<h2>Sunshine and Ramblings</h2>

It’s a beautiful morning. The sun is shining and it’s already 59 degrees. I’m feeling inspired so thought I better blog because it’s supposed to rain all afternoon—no telling how inspiring that may be!

Beyond the weather, I am also feeling motivated by the success of others. Yesterday, Harmony Cornwell of Writer in the Making blog posted about all that she has accomplished so far this month. Wow! Great job, Harmony. You’ve done excellent, and made me realize that I need to be pushing myself a little more.

About a month ago, I heard from a client in Texas (yes, I know this is off topic—hence the rambling part of the title). In December I wrote a press release for her that really helped increase her exposure in the media. In fact, an editor from Entrepreneur Magazine contacted her via email to do an interview for a potential future article. She was excited. So was I.

But being the skeptic that I can sometimes be, I decided to check out the legitimacy of the email she received. I went to the library to view the list of editors in Entrepreneur Mag to see if any were the one she had heard from. Sure enough, there was Kim Orr, the very editor who contacted her. So this really was great. It will be even greater if they do a write up about her. I really do care about her business, and I’d love to think that my press release may have helped her with some amount of success.

Of course, since I had the magazine in my hand I read it. I found it to be an excellent source of info! Right on the table of contents page—before even getting to the real meat and potatoes of the magazine—is a section called “Resources.” This is a list of useful websites, organizations, and events for all kinds of business owners, large and small alike.

Another section I enjoyed was called “Small-Business Answer Book.” This is a Q&A segment offering advice on topics such as marketing your business on a budget, improving customer service, and how to keep up with current technology trends. All of these are important topics for any business owner. I looked through a few recent issues and this seems to be in most of them.

If these resources aren’t for you, then maybe you may at least find the success stories inspirational to read. I think it’s great to read how others have made it and what they have done to find their success. For me, it makes me feel hopeful that I can apply what I have learned, follow the example of freelancers around me, and find my own success.