Ok, so I’m a fairly new business owner, and quite inexperienced. But articles about the expected economy-boosting tax rebates really perplex me:

The rebates, expected to go out in June, would cost about $100 billion, aides said. The package also includes close to $50 billion in business tax cuts.

The package would allow businesses to immediately write off 50 percent of purchases of plants and other capital equipment and permit small businesses to write off additional purchases of equipment.

“Write off 50 percent of purchases of plants and other capital equipment”? What the heck does that mean? Do businesses usually purchase giant plants, or are they talking about potted plants? Is everyone out there buying plant facilities? Am I missing something? And are plants considered “capital equipment”? Will I have to buy a factory to get the savings?

I’d like to think that this means potted plants because the EPA wants businesses to think green. I could use a couple of potted plants for my little office.

If I kill them, do I get a 100 percent write off?

I’ve been trying since last night to come up with just one topic today’s daily post. Picking one idea out of the million thoughts that are racing through my brain right now is impossible, so here are a few hot topics.

Things making me smile

• Yesterday’s webinar was a big success, with 50 participants and an average evaluation of more than 4 out of 5. Of the 31 people who filled out the survey, 12 wanted more information about my services. Yes!
• D.J. comes home on Sunday.
• A long-lost lead wrote last night to offer me another regular gig writing his newsletter.
• I took a few minutes this morning to write out my to dos, and the list looks manageable.
• My 9 a.m. appointment just rescheduled, freeing my morning quite a bit.
• I had to turn down a job this morning because I’m too busy and the pay scale wasn’t what I need. Five months ago I was dying to have work from this group!
• I recycled my ink cartridges at last.

Things making me worry

• When I ordered my second double Americano this morning (before 8 a.m.), the counter guy said, “Beth, you have a problem.”
• All the follow up from the webinar with the new projects — have I created too much work? How can I keep a balance? How can I scale my business as it grows?
• My laundry. My dishes. My unwanted body hair. My knees after running. Gravity’s effect on women over 40.
• The economy — will the downturn mean no one does any marketing for a few years, or does it mean companies fire their communications staff and hire me to write for them?

Things making me feel guilty

• I just sent a thank you note to two of the guys who helped on the webinar yesterday. They work in the same office, so I just sent one note. I know I should have sent one to each of them.
• It’s garbage day, and my neighbor was just fighting with the trash can in our complex driveway. It was too late to help her, and she was hopping mad about having to do it alone since it’s filled with construction debris and very heavy. She was already finished, so I exited. She is probably hopping mad about that as well.
• I haven’t been calling home much, and when I do, I’m distracted. My mother thinks I’m too tired, and my father keeps asking if I have the temperment to run my own business.

In five hours, I will start a web-based seminar on eNewsletter best practices and case studies. More than 60 people from around the country have signed up, and I have two sets of guest speakers.

Whew. I’m a little excited, a little nervous, pretty jazzed and very ready. I decided on a free seminar to combat the anticipated January work slowdown, and I had hoped for 20 participants. The success really makes me smile.

I’ve done these through my former company, but this is the first one I’ve done as the owner of a freelance copywriting business. People will call a number via phone to listen in, and they’ll login to a website to watch the presentation. When my guest speakers come on, we’ll switch to their desktops for their presentations. It’s pretty cool.

Setting this dang thing up has been quite a bother, though. Here’s a summary…

1. Decide on a topic and research backup material.
2. Outline the one-hour call.
3. Find guest speakers and do a practice run.
4. Find a service provider for webinars. I chose GoToWebinar for $99 a month.
5. Look for an adapter that will allow you to record both sides of a phone call into your computer. “They’re everywhere,” the lady at GoToWebinar said. Not True! I went to four stores then ended up ordering over the web for overnight delivery.
6. Once you have the adapter, fuss and hassle with phone and headset hardware that will work with everything. I had to buy another phone system, and I have to return the new headset.

So, wish me luck today and cross your fingers that all the technology works smoothly together. Here are some of the things that could go wrong:

1. I could get my missing delivery from Victoria’s Secret while I’m speaking, and I’ll have to stop to sign for underwear.
2. My landlord could choose today to finally come look at my heat, which keeps conking out.
3. My new phone could break.
4. My computer could die.
5. I could knock an entire double Americano over on my keyboard.
6. My cat could cough up a hairball in my living room/office.
7. Half the people on the webinar will try to instant message me with panic messages of “I can’t hear the audio” or “There’s nothing on the screen” or “You’re doing a horrible job!”
8. My guest speakers could lose their voices (my volunteer moderator had to bail last night — gulp!)
9. I could forget people can see my screen, and I will start surfing the web and checking to see if D.J. has written.

That’s all I can think of right now before coffee.

This fall I had a heck of a time creating a headshot for an article that was coming out in a magazine this month. I just got it in the mail yesterday.

I have no idea why I can’t simply go to a silly studio and take some professional shots of me looking like a professional copywriter. My ex-boyfriend took these pictures at his campus studio after we broke up. I’ve been told that the one I use for this blog (on the right column) looks like Trixie McGee or someone.

So, I wouldn’t go to the studio to take a professional photograph for $70, but I did just commission a little cartoon of myself for $80! I haven’t figured out what to do with it yet, and my dad says it looks like Hillary Clinton. A different ex-boyfriend says she looks too skinny to be me (thanks, Drew). D.J. enjoyed some of the anatomical incorrectness of the first version (on right). My friend Erin said she looked like she was doing the peepee dance.

I asked the artist to take out the curves and put her in a suit.