insurance issues

Ok, fellow freelancers. I need to hear from you on this one.

So we (we meaning my husband and I, not we as in business partners) received a letter from our insurance company yesterday informing us of a rate increase for 2009...which figures out to be a 25% increase. That's right, my friends. 25%. That's huge. It's ginormous. It's insane. And it's totally uncalled for.

I will be calling our provider later today to ask some important questions. (Why are the web site quotes so different from our actual raters? What justifies this enormous increase? Do you really think people are going to be able to continue to pay for this service if it keeps going up and up and up in leaps and bounds? Who can I talk to--who can give me actual answers--about this problem? Because it is a problem...a BIG one!)

But what I'd like to know from you, fellow entrepreneurs, is if you buy your own insurance, how have your rates increased this year? If you're willing to share, by how much? How much longer do you think you can actually afford to buy health insurance? What other solutions have you considered? What do you think needs to be done?

This is a huge problem in our country. I'm not going to spout my political views on the subject. I'm just wondering how many others are in the same boat and how you're handling these inflated costs. Thanks in advance for your comments.

the blog is back (again)!

After a year plus of neglecting this blog, causing it to join probably thousands of other lost blogs in cyberspace, I've decided to resurrect it. This is partly due to a book I'm reading, The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil. If you've ever considered publishing a blog for your business, this a great read to help you learn how to go about it.

Web 2.0--interactive, user-generated, online content--is huge right now. Blogs were at the forefront of this type of technology when they first emerged several years ago. Other popular Web 2.0 methods soon followed (MySpace and Facebook are notable right now). Blogs are still going strong--and they aren't just for teens searching for an outlet to bemoan the trials and tribulations of adolescence anymore. Many businesses--both large and small--are jumping on board and putting blogs out there for everyone to see.

This includes me. While I've been a blogger for several years, I've not been consistent about keeping this particular medium up-to-date. That's primarily because, as I've mentioned before, the number of hours I have to dedicate to personal projects as a work-at-home-mom (WAHM) ebbs and flows. When I'm not chasing after my two-year-old, I'm working on writing projects. And I need to meet deadlines for my clients first, so other things tend to fall by the wayside, including my own marketing tactics, like this blog (yes, blogs are indeed a form of marketing!).

But now I'm inspired and ready to blog again. I'm back in the saddle and ready to rumble. I want to get some dialogue going! And I'd love to hear what you have to say about blogging for business. What cool blogs have you come across? What do you like about them? Have you made an effort to offer feedback as you read your favorites? Why or why not? Talk to me!