Week 6-Legal Structure

 This week I learned about the legal structure of businesses.  I think that for my business I would I either start a sole proprietorship or an LLC.  Both have pros and cons.  I like the protection the LLC gives.  It would separate my personal assets from my business so my home and other personal assets would be safe in case of legal action being taken against my company. Here in Utah, starting an LLC is fairly simple.  This can vary by state though.  In Utah, you just have to fill out some paperwork and pay around $100 to start an LLC.  Then you have to pay $20 per year to renew the paperwork.  Whether you decide to start an LLC or sole proprietorship, you need to file the correct paperwork with your city. 

The tax rate in Utah for businesses is about 5%.  You need to register your business with TAP and depending on what type of business you start, you will have to file taxes quarterly or yearly.  This weeks material was very useful information and I learned a lot.

Week 5-Site Design

Site design is an important aspect of any website. You basically have 10 seconds to draw a customer in, before they click to the next site.  The site design must be appealing to the customer and simple to use. I hope to create a well-designed, organized, site that is esthetically pleasing to the eye.  Color schemes can play an important role in marketing, so I will need to research that a little further as I decide how best to design my website.  Another important aspect to any web business is how to receive payments.  This week I learned a bit about using a PayPal button on my site.  Although I have used PayPal in the past and feel that it is a trustworthy company, I need to find out how customer service would be provided if any problems arise with customers using it.   Also, how do tax rates work with this button?  Although it may be a great asset to add to any website, it also may come with problems, so more research is needed before deciding whether this is a good option for my site or not.

Week 4-Site Builder and Hosting

 This week I learned about site building and hosting.  I also learned about how to evaluate whether a business would be profitable or not.  I was able to complete a workbook that ranked my ideas based on demand, competition, profitability, time investments, etc.  Going into this assignment I thought that I had a clear idea of what I would want to do for my web business.  After completing the assignment I did a complete 180* and saw that my idea would not do well and fit into the requirements of this course.  I decided on making a blog dedicated to holiday cookie baking.  Although it doesn't look like it will be super profitable, I feel like this is something that I could build upon, maybe even adding affiliate links for kitchen gadgets as my blog grows.  I also learned that Weebly is probably the best site builder and host for me.  I do not have any experience with html or site building so I was looking for something inexpensive and easy to use.   I like that Weebly offers a month to month option instead of paying by the year.  There was a lot of valuable information shared this week!

Week 2-Sourcing the Product

 I learned a lot this week.  I had never heard of drop shipping before.  Drop shipping seems like a great business model.  You never have to deal with inventory and there isn't much of an overhead charge.  However, there are downsides.  There is often a long lead time before the products are shipped and it is also fairly time consuming because you have to input the customers address, etc in for shipping (unless you pay for a 3rd party to take care of that part).  But this is a really intriguing prospect as I decide which type of web business I would like to start.

The other type of business model I learned about this week was the affiliate model.  I really like this model, because it seems like it would take a lot less time. Of course, the profits may be smaller, per product sold as well.  But once your blog post is up with your links, you don't have to do anything except watch the commission roll in.

I am not sure which business model I would prefer for my own web business.  But this week has given me a lot of great information to get me started!

Week 1-Choosing a Business

This week has given me a lot to think about when it comes to starting my own web business. Would it be better to choose a product first, and then a business model or vice versa. I can really see pros and cons to both sides. I have come to the conclusion that it really depends on the circumstances and the people that are starting their business. If there are a lot of constraints, such as start-up finances or storage space, then it might be better to start with a business model that fits these criteria. On the other hand, it could be beneficial to use google ads keyword finder to find some key words that would drive traffic to your website. This way you could choose your product and then choose a business model that would work within that range. I really enjoyed this week and feel that I learned a lot.

Evan is Seven!!!

Just over a week ago, this precious, handsome little boy turned 7 years old!  How time flies. It feels like just yesterday that he was an infant in my arms.  He is sweet and funny!  He loves Star Wars, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon.  In fact, he had to have a Yu-Gi-Oh party this year!  That was a little tough for Mom.  He is the most thoughtful and unselfish kid I have ever met. He is always looking out for his siblings and if he gets a treat, he always is looking for someone to share it with.  HIs newest obsession is that he wants to go hang out in the attic!  Not sure why or where that came from, but I am "mean" because I wont let him!  :)  I have really enjoyed having this little guy in our family! 

 He was born September 23rd, 2003 in Missoula Montana at 11:08am.  I was induced 10 days early, but had been  having contractions all night and was dialated to a "4 1/2" when I got to the hospital, so I still wonder if I was in the early stages of labor anyways.  I was being induced so Kirk could be home for the birth, since he had to leave 1 week later for Afghanistan.  They put a little pill on my cervix to get it ready for induction, but it put me into labor pretty quick.  By 9am they broke my water to really speed things up and I asked for an epidural (because, let's face it, I am a chicken and was afraid to be in a ton of pain).  The anesthesiologist was busy, so he didn't make it to my room till about 10:30am. By that time, I was having to go pee every 2 seconds because they had been pumping me full of IV fluids to get ready for the epidural.  The baby's heartrate was starting to have some fluctuations, but we weren't sure if it was from me literally being up every couple of minutes or what.  Once the anethesiologist got in there, things started getting crazy.  He was trying to put the epidural in, but Evan's heartrate kept disappearing.  Again, the nurse thought that the monitor might not be picking it up well because of the position I was in.  I don't quite remember how it happened, but he must have had a significant drop because the next thing I knew there were 15 nurses (okay I am not sure how many, but the room was full) and they were calling the Dr who worked in the hospital.  He came running in and did an exam and yelled "We have a prolapse."  Everyone kind of paused with looks of horror on their faces and Kirk said "Shouldn't she turn over and get on all fours?"  That seemed to snap them out of it and the Dr told me to do that and the nurse put her hand on the babies head to hold it up off of my cervix.  It was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced!  I felt like a horse!  Anyway, they rolled me down the hall like that with the nurse sitting at the end of my bed, me on all fours, crying out in pain, having rapid contractions that I couldn't prepare for and Kirk running along side.  I remember seeing a couple of belt buckles as we passed people walking down the halls of the hospital.  Good thing they threw a sheet over the top of me, huh!  :)  Anyway, less than 4 minutes from the time the Dr got there, Evan was born.  I remember them shooting the anethesia into my IV as we were going down the hall.  I realized my arm felt like it was on fire and the Dr said not to worry it was just the meds to make me go to sleep.  They transfered me to the surgery table and I remember two nurses each pouring a bottle of betadine on my stomach as the Dr was lowering the scalpel to begin the incision.  I thought "Oh no!  I am not asleep.  I am going to feel everything."  And I started to steel myself for the pain, but the next thing I knew, I was waking up and I heard them say they needed to put me back on the gurney to wheel me to recovery, so I stood up and walked onto the gurney.  All the nurses freaked out (remember, this was like 10 minutes after he was born).  Anyway, all the nurses gave me a hard time about that later!  :)  My handsome little boy was born though.  He was 7lbs 5.5oz. 

 I swore he had brown hair, but when we got him home and in the sun I realized it was bright red!  A dark red, like mine, instead of a blond red like Alison's. He grew so fast.  This picture to the right was taken when he was only about a month old if I remember correctly.  I had to switch him to 3-6 month clothes at that time and finally packed away his newborn clothes when he was only 6 weeks old!  His pediatrician always said he was going to be a star football player!  Evan is fulfilling that prophecy now by playing flag football for the first time!
 I had forgotten about this glow worm!  How cute is that!  Look at that budda belly!  What a sweet little boy.

He got a swing for Christmas and this was his first time in it.  He didn't ever really like it though.  He preferred to be held.  He was a little colicky and didn't sleep well at night for a long time.  I remember him being 4 months old and still crying at night. 

We Love You Evan!  Thanks for being a part of our family! 

Joshua

August 29th, 2007 was a day I will never forget.  It was one of the best and worst days of my life.  I had received a call the previous afternoon saying that I had developed HELLP syndrome again and to get to the Labor and Delivery part of the hosptial immediately.  Oh yeah, and to lay only on my left side and not move.  I called Kirk and he came home to get me.  My wonderful neighbor watched the kids until Sara could get over here to pick them up and take them to Orem.  After a night in L&D, they sent me home with orders to call my Dr the next morning.  Kirk and I didn't get much sleep that night.  The next morning I called Dr Barton and he said to come in that afternoon (it was his first available opening).  Kirk went into work and then came home to pick me up.  We got there and he checked me out and called the perinatologist to get some advice.  Everyone including Kirk and myself felt the best option was to deliver.  I, of course, was worried about our baby (I was only 37 weeks, but had measured 2 weeks behind on all of my ultrasounds), and the Dr and Nurse both said they were expecting him to be fine, but sometimes they might need a little O2, so he might be sent to the nursery for awhile.  I asked if there was a NICU at our hospital and they said no, but they can handle most everything except the most severe cases.  We had to wait til 10pm to go in for my c-section.  I had eaten ONE BITE of a cookie, so they wouldn't do the surgery until it had been out of my system for 12 hours.  Kirk and I went home and waited on the arrival of Lee and Kathy who were half way home when they received the call to come back.  That night we went to the hospital and our sweet little baby boy, Joshua Liam Holmer was born at 9:59pm.  Everything seemed fine for a few short minutes, but I noticed that he wasn't crying very much or very loudly.  I mentioned to the Dr "Awww, listen to how soft his little cry is.  He is such a good boy."  The Dr kinda acted weird and made some sort of grunt of agreement.  That was my first clue that something was right.  Then I heard the nurse say "We are going to take the baby to the nursery for some Oxygen.  He needs a little extra help right now."  Then they showed him to me.  He was the most horrible shade of gray/blue.  Nothing I have ever seen before.  He didn't look healthy.  My stomach dropped.  I told Kirk to go be with our son while I was stuck on the operating room table being sewn up, but I wanted to hop off that bed and go with my baby.  Kirk left and soon I was in the recovery room all alone.  Kirk popped in a couple of times and he would sit down with his head in his hands and say that Josh wasn't doing great, but would never elaborate.  Finally he told me he was going to call our family.  A nurse came in and I asked how the baby was. Her reply was "Your husband is meeting with the Dr now.  I think he should be the one to tell you."  That is when I realized it was very serious.  Thinking Kirk had at least called his Mom to spread the word Joshua was here, I asked for my cell phone and called Jinna (the one person I figured Kathy wouldn't think to call).  I knew she would be waiting up for a call.  I started bawling and couldn't get any words out, but finally managed to tell her that something was wrong, but no one would tell me what.  Finally I was in my regular room.  Kirk came in followed by a nurse.  He sat down and held my hand and the nurse began to tell me that he needed to be life flighted to Primary Childrens.  Remember how I had talked to the Dr and Nurse when making the decision to have him early and they said that most everything except for the most severe cases could be treated at Cottonwood????  I was terrified.  I held it together until that nurse walked out of the room and then I lost it.  I know the anesthesiologist had given me some sort of calming medicine, but my mind was in full panic/horror mode while my body really wouldn't respond.  I wanted to see my baby and they kept promising me they would let me as soon as I started regaining some feeling in my legs.  The second I started to feel my legs I paged the nurse to take me to him, but she wouldn't.  She kept saying they would bring him to me. 

 Finally I got to see my little boy.  I made Kirk take a picture of the two of us, because I was afraid that would be the only picture I had.  They stayed in the room about 10 or 15 minutes and then left with him.  It was the strangest feeling ever to have a baby, but not HAVE the baby.  We were very blessed and after he slept off all of the meds they pumped him with to life flight him, he quickly did a 180* and was a healthy normal little newborn. Those first few days were the worst of my life though.  I feel like I am still dealing with the after effects of the trauma.   

I know Joshua is suppoed to be here and be a part of our family.  You know, those first few awful days, I kept feeling like IF something horrible happened, I would be okay because the Lord would be with me the whole time and support me through it.  What a wonderful gift from the Spirit to KNOW that without a doubt at such a scary time.

Now our sweet, mischevious little boy is 3! He is as healthy, happy and naughty as can be! :) We sure do love him and are proud of him. He is in preschool now and absolutely loves it. His favorite tv show is "Lego, Go go go" (Go Diego Go). He loves the color orange. I always am amazed at how young they pick a color and stick with it. He loves Furshing (fishing) with his Dad and always wants to play hunting. He wants to be Batman for Halloween, but I bought him a $5 Spiderman cosutme. We will see if he wears it! His favorite toys are toy guns! I'm not sure how I feel about that!!! He loves wearing his Star Wars shirt as often as possible. He is such a blessing to our family, always making us laugh. He loves to cuddle (on his terms of course) and is always making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to. If you aren't, you better watch out, because he will put you in your place, with force if necessary! We LOVE YOU, JOSHUA! Thank you for being a part of our family! Love, Mom