Over on our newest webtitle, Small Business Booster, we are beginning a new series on business startups — all the advice you’ll need before taking this massive step, plus tips and shortcuts for when you get going.

Many people dream of fleeing the rat race and starting up on their own. Thoughts of freedom — being one’s own boss — and all that lovely money to be made, waft across the mental screens of most of us at some time or another.

But have you got what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Do you have the grit and stamina to see it through? Above all, do you have the right talents and personal qualities to succeed where many others fail?

At the outset, before the business has any assets, only one object exists : YOU.

Start the startup series now.

Why do people make resolutions at New Year? January is a dark and dismal month and it’s always easy to break them.

Me? I make mine on my birthday in mid-March when spring has raised a tentative finger to the heavens. Yes, I really am two fish swimming in opposite directions. You always knew that didn’t you?

As for spring, here are two shots I took on my walk early this morning in the West Country of England :

So what are my resolutions this year? I only ever risk three. Here they are :

1. Give up politics — I’m a bit of a news junkie which, given the state of the world (especially Britain) makes me mad as hell. It then takes an hour to disperse the bad chemicals generated.

So no more newspapers, no IP channel hopping. Reading matter will be strictly books until further notice.

2. I hesitate to use the word Fatblogging, since this has become an obsessive cult in some quarters. See the originator : Jason Calacanis, and the pupil : Jeremy Wright. Not for the weak of stomach or faint of heart.

However, I have 7 – 12 lbs of winter pudge to shift before Easter, so it has to be done. Press ups and weights at 7.15am, followed by a brisk five-mile walk. Also, food that couldn’t be faulted by Mahatma Gandhi on a good day. Seriously.

3. Make more time for the two books I’m writing and stop getting caught up in the endless memeing and fizzy-pop of the blogosphere. Memeing? Well, Fatblogging for starters.

That’s it. I’m not going to be posting my weight every 10 minutes as some are doing, so you’re welcome to return to the civilized environment that is Syntagma — an (almost) Fatblogging-free zone.

Mind how you go.

Update : Aaron Brazell of WordPress fame has addressed this question over on his Technosailor blog. You can find his thoughts here.

In WordPress 2.0.x there was a simple facility to bulk change the link categories for numbers of links. Unless I’m mistaken, that appears to have been dropped from 2.1.x.

I’ve just imported 52 links to what’s now called the Blogroll (it used to be “Links”) and have had to add the link category individually to each one. To say that’s time-consuming is an understatement, especially if you have lots of sites to do.

In earlier versions of WP, you could set the link category default then import links, using AdminMySQL on the server, and they would automatically slot into the default.

In 2.0.x, this didn’t happen, but you could switch the whole lot to the same category with a couple of clicks.

Now, even that’s disappeared, and a pre-industrial, “by hand” method is all that’s left.

Am I missing something here? Anyone know?

Syntagma Digital is delighted to announce the launch of our latest webtitle, the first in a new stream of small business sites which will form part of our Moneyizor network magazine, scheduled for April.

Small Business Booster will concentrate on ways to “boost” the efforts of small business owners and startups. Well, what did you expect?

It’s authored by our Small Business Team, a group of folk with a great deal of knowledge in their fields, but with little experience of writing online. Consequently, their efforts will be put together by an in-house editor. The group includes an auditor, a finance professional and a business adviser. They all work in some capacity for Syntagma Digital.

Take a look at Small Business Booster.

Back from an idyllic break which went on a little longer than planned — a touch of March sanity there, I think. Now down to the next phase in our business plan.

Lots of stuff to do including new paperwork and author agreements arising out of incorporation — you wouldn’t believe how much. But principally preparing for our new network magazine, Moneyizor, which will range across finance and small business areas.

We’ll be starting the design work — or rather Thord will be — in April; in the meantime, we’re developing a number of webtitles for the magazine inventory. We currently have four and are developing two more. We also wish to attract outside sites to the fold once the magazine is visible.

You may also have noticed the new header on Syntagma. This is Thord’s work, originally suggested as a logo, but looks great as a header I think. We’ll also be redoing all the logos in the logo cabinet in April and preparing a new version of our template for Moneyizor sites.

Maybe I should extend that holiday further.