Congratulations!  And welcome to

       The Creative Enterprises Network         for small and home-based business owners!

We're so glad you decided to join us and become a member of our merchants association.

I know you'll love it, AND the wonderful people you're about to meet!

So -- let's get started --

First -- let's make you official! If you click on the correct "Subscription" timeframe to the left, you'll be able to pay your annual dues through PayPal (whether you have a PayPal account or not).

Once that is done, we will get your site listed in our Creative Enterprises Network Membership Directory at       http://www.asmallbusinessdirectory.com. You will be notified when your site listings are online.

AND, we'll add your email address to our networking e-list, which is hosted at YahooGroups. You will get notification from OurCEcommunity e-list at YahooGroups, that you have been added to the list. Once you see an email come through that will introduce you and your business to other list members, please feel free to post to OurCEcommunity@yahoogroups.com (you will need to post from the same email address that you used to sign up.)

NOTE: Just about any business topic is acceptable on the e-list; but we do not do any kind of blatant advertising on the list. In order to keep your business web site in front of the other members (so they'll remember what you do), you are always encouraged to sign with your full signature line . . . such as:

Jane Doe

Owner of The Gift Shop

The Gift Shop @ .........

www . thegiftshop.com

Once a year (for one week in December), we allow retail members to put their "Specials" or Christmas advertising on the list, but otherwise the list would cease to be a help to anyone if we had to wade through advertising regularly.

Please pick up one of the banners or our CE membership card (which most members use) and place it at the bottom of your home page. If you choose the Membership card, you may want to include a line of text above it that says "Member of" -- this will identify your web site as a part of something more than just a single person -- it shows that someone online knows you and adds a bit of credibility to your online presence. As we all know, gaining credibility and respect as home-based merchants is still an uphill battle at times. We try when we can to make the job a little easier for you.

Here are your choices -- simply right click to save one to your computer, and then link the banner or membership card of your choice back to http://www.creativethought.com

Please make it a priority to post to the networking list and ask for reciprocal links with other members. Targeted, relevant incoming links exchanges are crucial to a good rank in the search engines, and we all know it . . . so our members are willing to help you get links, if you help them, too!

It's the way we work in this community -- happily helping each other when we can.

If you have any questions, please email . . . we will answer you just as quickly as possible.