Words Of Wisdom 7 homebased BIZ Experiencess offer advice for the new year.

Ask the same question of 100 people, and you'll get 100different answers. With that in mind, BIZ Experiences has assembled across-section of homebased BIZ Experiencess--owning a variety ofbusinesses nationwide--who provide advice to help you have a moresuccessful and profitable 1997. Here's what they have tosay:

Robert Bougeon

Robert Bougeon Creative Design and Consulting

Chatsworth, California

Business established: 1992

Advice: Find a way to expand your niche.

Initially, this former graphic designer for the Los AngelesTimes handled only the graphic side of a project, butincreasing customer demand helped him quickly recognize the valueof overseeing the entire job from start to finish.

"Now, as production coordinator, I'll recommend certainprinters and techniques. I'll even do pre-press checks,"explains Robert Bougeon. "The point of this extra service isnot to tack on an extra charge and make myself a million. It'sto free the client--who is generally quite busy--from the mundaneaspects of a job."

And as everybody knows, time is the most valuable commodity abusy person has.

Lesley Sager Levine

Pet-Estrian Services

Belmont, Massachusetts

Business established: 1987

Advice: Be a good neighbor.

Running 45-minute play groups for dogs could provide LesleySager Levine's neighbors plenty of ammunition to howl about herbusiness. After all, there's a high potential for noise (andnose) pollution. But recognizing this, Levine, who used her love ofanimals to move from banking to pet sitting, took preventivemeasures at the start.

"I talked to [neighbors] before I started my business andtold them if they ever had any concerns to talk with me,"Levine says. In addition, she makes sure participants in her playgroups never run loose in the neighborhood, and when she walks hercanine clients, she always cleans up after them.

Beyond her own block, Levine acts as a good neighbor bydispensing health and pet-care information to people and by takingher dogs to visit senior residents in nursing homes. In short,Levine treats people as she wants to be treated. So far, it'sworking, and there have been no ruffled feathers to smooth.

David Forman

Pour Masters Custom Bar Catering

Phoenix

Business established: 1991

Advice: Stay on top in your industry, and use uniquemarketing to

do it.

Imagine throwing a six-hour party for 500 people complete withthree open bars, catered food, virtual reality entertainment, aseven-piece Caribbean band and valet parking . . . all for a grandtotal of $180.

That's exactly what David Forman of Pour Masters did in1995--and he'll do it again this year. "Every year wethrow a party for the entire industry--caterers, event planners andanybody who needs to know about my business," explains Forman,who supplies beverages for events ranging from open houses andfestivals to bachelorette parties.

Forman achieves this entertainment feat by getting everybusiness that participates to donate their services in exchange fora copy of the event's mailing list and the opportunity to puttheir marketing materials in a goodie bag that's given toeveryone who attends.

"I wanted everybody to know who we were--and that'swhat I mean by marketing," adds the Arizona BIZ Experiences, whosays none of his competitors do anything remotely like this.

Jim Lowe

Midwest MicroSystems

Ainsworth, Nebraska

Business established: 1987

Advice: Realize success doesn't happen overnight.It takes faith and the ability to stick it out no matter how roughthe going gets.

Cattle and computers were the unlikely combination that put JimLowe on the road to BIZ Experiencesship.

"When I started back in 1984, I was really an oddduck," recalls Lowe, who created a computer software programto help evaluate and cull his cow herd. After using the producthimself for a while, Lowe slowly began providing programs toothers. Although traditional ranchers were initially slow to acceptthis high-tech innovation, the former cattleman hung in there andeventually sold his ranch in 1994 to run the computer business fulltime.

"You've got to stick to it and have faith in yourbusiness because it's not going to happen overnight," saysLowe. "I'm not saying every idea is going to work. But ifyou have a good idea and skills, it will happen. Too often peopleget discouraged and throw up their hands. It takes faith and hardwork over the long run to make a business work."

Michelle J. Bloom

Creative Business Consulting

Minneapolis

Business established: 1986

Advice: Maintain a balance between work andhome.

Balance is important, especially for a homebased BIZ Experiences.But balance is not 50/50," says Michelle Bloom, who teachestime-management skills to emerging homebased and small businessesto help them cope with the challenges of starting and operating abusiness. "The first three years of my business I chose tospend about 75 percent of my time on the business and 25 percent on[the other activities] that balanced me."

Bloom says you must consciously work toward balance and that itwill change at different times during your business's life. Shedefines balance as taking time on the weekends to do the oppositeof what you do Monday through Friday. Consequently, "when youcome back on Monday, you've got energy," says Bloom, whoadvocates establishing a routine that gives you time away from yourbusiness.

While this may seem like a frivolous waste of time to some,Bloom is confident that in the long term, the proper balance helpsyou maintain enthusiasm about your business.

Tricia Molloy

Molloy Communications

Marietta, Georgia

Business established: 1988

Advice: Incorporate the principles of Feng Shui into yourbusiness.

For Tricia Molloy, environment is vital to getting in the moodfor business. After a friend introduced her to Feng Shui, anOriental philosophy of interior design that incorporates nature tohelp create positive energy flow, Molloy embraced the concept.

Inside her office, she installed an aquarium near the computerso each time she looks up, she sees the stress-reducing, gentlemovement of flowing water and the affirmation of an entireecosystem thriving before her eyes.

Outside, the music of wind chimes masks intrusive backgroundnoises and further soothes her psyche. "I also repositioned mydesk so it faces the door. That's a power position and makesyou aware of everyone who comes in and out," explains theentrepreneur.

Feng Shui was definitely a power move for Molloy, who says thechanges she made, both inside and outside her office, have reducedher level of stress and increased her productivity and income--amost revered result.

Charles Thibeau

The Old-Fashioned Milk Paint

Co. Inc.

Groton, Massachussetts

Business established: 1973

Advice: Go that extra mile to

make sure every customer leaves happy.

After 23 years in business, Charles Thibeau could write his ownadvice book. If he were to ever take that step, he'd have todevote an entire chapter to the lengths to which he goes to satisfyhis customers.

"The customer is everything. The product is secondary, ifthat. You can have the best product in the world, but if youdon't have customers, you don't have a business," saysThibeau, whose company manufactures and sells worldwide the oldestform of paint known to man--a milk-based substance.

If his customers are upset with the paint, even if they createdthe problem themselves, they still ended up having a badexperience, Thibeau says. "So if someone calls and says, `Thiscolor isn't what I expected,' I'll supply enough paintfor a whole new room--at no charge," says theentrepreneur.

Sound costly? Perhaps, but it hasn't hurt Thibeau'sbusiness. He says he's had some of the same customers for morethan 20 years, and that even though he advertises very little,people always seem to find his family-run company.