My name is Emily H. Martin, owner of OrangeBeautiful and co-writer on a blog called the SCOOP… I officially quit my 9-to-5 job in 2004 in order to start a company that provides custom design services for individuals, business, brides, new moms & everyone in between, and in the past 3 years, I’ve added greeting card designer, wholesaler, fine artist, printmaker & boss to my resume.

For the next week, during my time guest-blogging here on d*s, I hope to impart some of my experiences as a small business owner, as well as give you a peek into the business lives of friends & colleagues whom I work with, buy from & admire.

The slant of the week’s posts will be on choosing a life that you love; choosing to do what makes you happy; putting money, power & notoriety aside in order to focus on providing a service or creating a product that you truly feel is contributing to an overall good, rather than an individual success.

I hope that my posts will inform & help when at all possible and open a discussion among aspiring entrepreneurs – as well as those of you out there already running (& loving) your own small business – about how business can encourage, create & nurture, and how, through a community of like-minded individuals, much like what Grace has given all of us here on design*sponge, we can help each other with advice, resources, know-how & experience.

Thanks so much to Grace for including me amongst so many great guest bloggers. I look forward to this week of posts!

Emily