Today's lowlights: trip to the landfill, quick errand at town hall, 30-minute walk. Lunch was: grilled cheese sandwich, pumpkin soup, a can of V-8 and fresh pineapple chunks for dessert. Then, watching too many court TV shows.

Highlight: getting a call from a former co-worker who was laid off the same day as me. I'm trying to coordinate a get-together at a centrally-located diner for about 8 of us, all but 1 laid off by the same employer. (The last one is still working there.)

Over the weekend I did design some new business cards for my freelance work. I plan to pick up blank cards at Staples tomorrow and print them out myself.

I have another business name, and cards, which I've used the past 7 or so years for all my freelance work, but the business name speaks to the real estate industry, and i do, on occasion, get work for non-real estate clients.

So I really like my new business name. (Which by the name I am not registering, which some people do so that no one else can use that name in the state, because then the town latches on to you and starts taxing you as a business in town!)

I like the new business name because 1. It's clever and 2. It positions me as specializing in copywriting and marketing work for small businesses, a niche that is generally under-served. That's partly because they can't afford big agency rates, so that does present other challenges; i have to make my rates affordable, but still enough that it's worthwhile for me. With state and federal taxes taking 36% off my gross income, that can be a tricky balancing act.

I have done work for small business clients before who wanted to "consult" with me in person multiple times. My practice now is that I'm only willing to meet once with a new client because all the running to and fro can quickly erode my net profit. I'm a one-man show working out of her home, not a big, fancy agency that can give clients the star treatment. It's sometimes a bit of an educational process during which I have to gently explain to the client how I work, and why.

My goal is to keep my 15 or so "For Sale" items continuously posted on Craig's List, as I believe this is the best time to sell stuff. I've gotten some nibbles on my Made in Russia die-cast toy cars as well as my tripod case and otherwise have sold some camera equipment, a drum and some wireless earphones.