Folks who work at home should always be looking for ways to network and increase their business' productivity. My Blog Log is one site that I'm beginning to learn to use in an effort to increase my business. You can find it at:

<a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/bridgetwright/" rel="05c3eae3cee4ac3a3e7ed945547305e3d7998c8b">Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification</a>

It never ceases to amaze me. The blog-o-sphere is such a big place, but at the same time a relatively small place. But what I find so ironic is although there are small sects of the blogging population within the big picture, there are still folks who do not adhere to common courtesies. Let me explain...

On one of the major network blogs that I write, I posted a rather appealing topic the other day that really got the community involved. I thought about it myself, it came from MY OWN BRAIN and I proceeded to write a rather engaging post about it that really sparked community. Pretty good, right? Sure it is. Only thing was obviously someone else thought it was good too when they decided to write about the same thing. No problem. It's not so unusual that two, three or a bunch of people could come up with the same idea about a topic that they both can write on. But what is so unusal is that they would and can come up with the same topic, within hours of each other and write pretty close to the same post, give or take a word or two. Or three.

The poster in question knew I had written about the same thing because they posted their same blog idea on a public discussion forum that we both share. They wanted to get some community involvement as well and polled the discussion group about it. They (the community) was all for it because it was a great idea! Go figure. Anyway, I posted a comment on the forum about having blogged the same topic that very day. No response. I re-posted my response, from a different angle hoping to get some feedback. Nothing again. But what I did notice is that the people who were eating up this "great" idea was being responded to by the poster left and right!

Why didn't I just flat out say something? Why, that would be rude and perceived as a whiner or cry-baby. Trust me, I'm sure this person knew just what they were doing and if they didn't mean ill will (as I'm thinking they didn't) they did exercise poor professionalism by not crediting the source of their marvelous idea. They should have at least created a link, or made reference to where they got this idea from. That's what makes social networking so popular. It's a give, take and sharing experience. Some people fail to realize that.

As a professional, when you "borrow" an idea (and you've truly borrowed it; you know when you have), credit the source. Call (write) that person's name. At the very least you 1) share an idea, 2) give credit where it's due and 3) experience the opportunity to create networking opportunities with other creative writers.

Do you think it's whining or just creating good will to ask for crediting your sources of ideas or blog posts?

To be a work at home professional, you need to initially establish certain guidelines to ensure that you are cut out for the work at home life and that you have what it takes to work from home productively.

1. Do you have a dedicated area of your home or office space where you can work from without interruptions?

2. Do you have young children around? Although some work a home professionals can successfully work with children under foot, some can't. If this is the case and your situation, you may want to consider some form of childcare to alleviate the time you need to dedicate to growing your business.