Ever since I got my dual monitor set up a couple of weeks ago, Tweetdeck is almost my constant companion here to the right of my main monitor.  I love that I can casually monitor activity this way - just like I might vaguely listen in to chatter around me if I were working in a big office.

Here are my #followfriday recommends for cool peeps to follow this week on Twitter:

• @lindseypollak - Not just because she’s a blogger but because she says she loves cupcakes.
• @rockyourday - Dave Navarro has a kickass blog post you should read right away.
• @jenniferbourn - A print and web designer who gets it.
• @pajamaspr - Elena Verlee is a PR gal who describes herself as a serial entrepreneur.  (Who isn’t one?)

Who do you think I should follow? Feel free to leave a comment and tell me

A bunch of you took me up on my offer to answer your home based business questions here every Friday!

If you sent me a question I want to personally thank you and keep them coming!

It really does mean a lot to me knowing you’re reading my blog and taking the time to send in your questions!

Without your questions this segment will never take off so I’m depending on you to keep it going!

So, the first question comes from Jamie Harrington and she asks…
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This week’s Spark an Idea Thursday is about managing your business over the Holidays.

Will you be taking a few extra days off over the Fourth of July?  If you’re in Canada, are you taking a break for Canada Day festivities?

We entrepreneurs can have a hard time unplugging from business and the web.  I don’t really even like to be totally disconnected.  I usually have my Blackberry with me at the very least.  Still, I know that it’s healthy to disengage now and then.

The holidays are the perfect time.  But how to make it happen?

• Brandie says to plan for it.
• Lynette has created a system with her support team.
• Leslie is saying plan and have a system.

LOL!  Do you spot a trend here?

By the way, I apologize for not publishing this week’s Spark an Idea topic on last week’s round up post.  My bad!

Next week’s topic is:  Sparking an Idea to Improve Your Workspace.

If you’d like to chime in on next week’s Spark an Idea topic, we’d love to have you join in.  Grab our image and make your post by 9am EST on Thursday the ninth, then tweet me to let me know and I’ll include you in the round up post here on Sparkplug CEO.

We recently shared pictures of our home office workspaces with you - so I’ll be curious to hear what advice our Sparkplugging Authors will have for you!  And what tips you’ll share as well!

So I’m driving in my car this morning  listening to the news station on the radio.

Now I usually have some sort of business education CD playing on marketing, copywriting or how to get more traffic to websites. ( This is a huge lesson and I’ll write more about this in an upcoming post, OK?)

But this morning I was not playing my CD’s because my kids were in the car and the pain of listening to their moans and groans to my CD’s apparently outweighes my business education.
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We’ve heard a lot of buzz about membership sites over the last year.  For awhile it was ‘the’ topic in the internet marketing world, but that’s not why I’m talking about it.  I’m not a ”latest thing’ marketer. Actually, I’ve been running membership sites for over five years now. 

Today, I’m pleased to launch a new one.

Blog Internship was developed as a direct response to my readers, listeners and mailing list subscribers who have been keenly interested in how I work with my blogging interns at Mom’s Talk Network.

In my internship, I take brand new bloggers and teach them the basics of social networking and successful blogging.  Week by week they learn new habits and strategies and put them into practice on my blog network. They get feedback and constructive critique on their writing and blog formatting. They learn how to make relevant, natural affiliate recommendations that help to monetize the content. They give me ten hours a week and in return I give them coaching and access to my learning resources.  Basically, it’s a super sized barter agreement.  We both give, we both get. (more…)

Are you one of the blessed?  (Do you have a Kindle?)  I would LOVE to have a Kindle.  It’s definitely on my wish list for Christmas ‘09.  It would be so amazing to have my library available at my fingertips whereever I go.

If you are one of the gadget elite, I have good news for you.

Sparkplugging, the blog network, is now available on your Kindle.  For $1.99 a month you’ll have easy access to all of our posts anytime you like, wherever you are.

Cool huh?

Would you like to publish your blog via Kindle?  Just sign up here.

I outed myself today as an avid watcher of the ABC series, The Bachelorette when I announced the newest addition to my Mom’s Talk Network blogs, Family TV Addicts.

Yes, I am a television addict.  That probably shocks a lot of people who are always asking me how I have time to do everything I do and it should confirm once and for all that I don’t do all that I do ;)  (Outsourcing is a lovely thing.)

Actually, I watch a lot of television while I work.  Remember the evil Mac from my home office heaven post?  It’s primarily used as a TV.  (Yep, that’s Hulu.com on the screen.)

There are a lot of things that I do that requires focused attention but there are also a lot of things I do that can be done with a favorite program running on the side - and I have a lot of favorite programs - The Bachelorette being one of them.

So I know you probably couldn’t care less about my TV addiction or that I’m hooked on keeping up with Jillian’s current attempts at finding love, but I do have a topic that I want to pull from the program and that is issue of Ed.

Ed is a tall handsome man from Monroe, Michigan.  He was definitely finding favor with Jillian - but in episode five he shocked us all by telling her that he had to bow out of the program and head home to take care of work.  (His career is listed as ‘Technology Consultant’ and he mentioned talking with ‘his boss’ so he isn’t a solopreneur.)

I have often wondered how these adults manage to walk away from their real lives for such a long time in order to participate in a reality TV show.  Surely they earn something for their participation, but there has to be a pretty bit sacrifice involved.

When Ed told Jillian he had to go home, a part of me totally understood.  Sometimes our work is in a place that requires a lot of our attention. Hopefully not all the time, that would suck.

Jillian was visibly heartbroken and said it was obvious that Ed’s priorities were in a different place than hers.  She talked about risk. She was taking a big risk doing the show so she certainly knows a lot about it.

Love is a risk.  Taking time away from a career is a risk.

I don’t envy his decision at all, how about you?

Have you been faced with a choice like this?  Devoting time to a budding new relationship vs devoting time to growing your business?  Would you put love on hold or even say goodbye to it just to get more work done?

I can’t help but think that Ed was making a big mistake.   But who knows?  We all have to make daily decisions about what we give our time and attention to.

Fast forward to episode number seven.  Believe it or not, Ed came back and asked Jillian to let him back into the group.  He regretted his choice and wanted another chance.  When he walked through the door I think my heart thrilled just as much as Jillian’s, it was so sweet and vulnerable for him to come back and take that risk.  She could say no and leave him looking like a fool on TV.

But she didn’t.

I don’t know if Jillian will choose Ed in the end.  I’m sure she has some tough questions for him about his career goals and priorities.

Of course, I’ll be watching

(And rooting for Ed.)