Set Up a Blog for $2

Whenever someone begins to network online and asks me questions about getting their word out there or setting up a website, I tell them, “Start a blog.” But then the questions start coming, where do I start? Do I need a domain name? How much does hosting cost? What do you mean by a niche site?Phew! It could go on an on. I don’t like overwhelming people and always advise one step at a time.

It’s daunting to many of us to get on the Internet and start a blog from scratch. People always see the finished product in their heads but getting from point A to B is the hard part. And I have to admit, if it weren’t for my hubby, it probably would have taken me a a long time to get things going as well. Every time I am stumped I just pass the laptop over to Brad (who is usually working on his laptop) and say, “I just want my site to look like this.”

Most people don’t have the advantage of having a business partner working side by side with them when working from home, so I found another solution.

I was just reading a step by step tutorial on setting up a blog from scratch at Moms Cash Blog for only $2! This is awesome and this is what I will send people to so they can get started on the right foot and start it in steps. The cool thing is there are coupons like getting a domain name for $1.99 and hosting for a penny!

This is worth checking out even if you already have a blog because if you do any training or a leader on a team, it takes the work off of your hands and it’s the training is all done for you.

Photo by Patricia Dekker

Childcare Solutions for WAHMS

Ok, so you may be working at home to be with your children but there will still be times when you want a little “me time”, “work time” or even a date out with your significant other. Here are some creative solutions to temporary childcare. I have to say because I worked in child-based programs for a little while with my children I ran into a few other moms or child care providers who wanted to share weekends or offered their time. And the bonus is, I know them as moms and how they are around other children. Because they worked with me they also had to be certified in first aid, CPR and babysitting courses. Woohoo!

One of my new favorite ideas I just discovered it the “party nanny”! What a great concept!

If you are a work at home mom, you probably became one so you could spend more time with your children. However, there will most likely be times in your business when you will need to arrange for childcare. The following are some creative solutions to your childcare dilemmas.

Party Nanny?
WAHMs in direct sales are very often faced with childcare predicaments. A main portion of their business is conducting sales presentations, usually held at someone else’s home. If you are a party plan WAHM, the most obvious choice would be to schedule these presentations when your partner can watch the children, but what if your partner has an odd work schedule or you are a single parent? You can hire a local high school student to come to the party and be the “party nanny”. Check with the hostess first, but she will probably love the idea (and so will the other guests, since they won’t have to worry about getting a sitter for their children, they will be more likely to come to the party and the more guests you have, the bigger your profits!).

Sharing Mommies
If you just need an occasional sitter, try setting up a “child care group” with your friends and neighbors. Each woman can designate a time frame on a certain day of the week or month to be “the sitter”. Any of the Moms in your “child care group” who need a sitter that day can drop their kids off at the “designated sitter’s” house. The children will get to play and interact with one another and each Mom can get free childcare on an “as needed basis”.

Free or Low-cost Options
Check with your place of worship as they may offer a “Mom’s Day Out” type of program where you can drop your children off for a few hours per day, a couple times per week. This may be a free or low-cost service. Also, check with local library as they may have “story hours” where you can drop your children off and the librarians will read the children a book and after the book is read, the children can participate in a craft, game or activity.

Other Part-time Options
If you just need some “quiet time” to do some work, you can hire a neighborhood teenager to come over and play with the kids while you are tucked away in your office. You will have some uninterrupted “work time”, but will still be there in case ‘something comes up’. If you have regular meetings that take you away from the house, check with friends and family to see if they can help out by watching the kids. Offer your product or service in exchange for their time. They may jump on the offer! There are lots of options these days. I know our city offers part-time nanny services. They are usually older women who come in on a day to day basis when you need, they charge by the hour and they are not only certified cpr/first aid but also have life experience of raising their own children already. I think we have so many options in our city and mommies jump at the chance to share “mommy time” is because we live in a city where many moms’ husbands work in the oil industry and are gone for long periods at a time and are almost considered single moms.

And don’t feel guilty if you need to put your children in daycare part-time. Yes, you may have had every intention of working at home in order to spend time with your children, but, there may be times when your business will need your total focus. By taking that time and completing your business tasks, you will be able to focus 100% on your children during family time.

Wahms Focus Tips

Here is a secret that you may not have heard yet: The dishes can wait! The laundry can wait! So feel free to make those phone calls or answer those emails. The laundry and dishes will still be there, waiting for you! However, if you wait too long to call a client back, they may move on to someone who gets back to them faster than you do.

One of my writing mentors was adamant about these tips, she said while she was writing, dishes would pile up and vacuuming would be put on hold until her writing goals were achieved for that day.

Questions you need to ask when your focus strays:

Why did you become a WAHM in the first place?

Did you need to bring in an extra $500 a month to pay off credit cards?

Was it to put money away for your children’s college fund?

Or was it to save for retirement?

Whatever the reason, write it down and put it where you will see it on a daily basis. When you are feeling distracted, look at what you wrote down. It will be easier to work when you remember why you are working in the first place. Create a vision board and put it above your desk.

You may want to team up with another WAHM. Send each other your goals and keep one another accountable. Call each other at the end of the day and discuss what you accomplished; you can share your successes or lend each other a sympathetic ear over things that didn’t go as you planned.

Stay motivated by setting daily, weekly and monthly goals. If you “work backwards” you will create a road map to your success. For instance, if you are in direct sales and your financial goal is to sell $1500 in product that month. Do the math and you’ll see that you need to sell $375 of product each week. Now, how many home parties do you need to hold each week to accomplish that? How many phone calls do you need to make each day in order to schedule those parties?

When you accomplish your goals, give yourself a little treat to remind yourself that you worked hard and achieved success!

Photo by Steve Woods

Jon & Kate plus8 - Good Housekeeping Cover

Maybe it’s the fact that when I watch them have fun together and get through even the toughest moments, I think, “If they can do it with 8, I should have no problem with 2!” (Working on that family of 4 ). Maybe it’s the fascination people have with multiples. I always thought it would be fun to have twins. I see how cool it is with my two who are 16 months apart, they are like best friends.

It’s also inspirational to see the transformation the family has gone through and how such a real and loving wholesome family is successful enough that Kate no longer has to work a part time job and they often attract incredible gifts in their lives like being invited to Oprah, a box at a Phillies game and even a trip to Hawaii. You’re watching a success story in the making, because let’s face it, staying on a budget would be pretty tough with a family of 8, but they are the law of attraction at work.

If you don’t watch it, at least check out this article this month in Good Housekeeping, it’s worth it.

Acquire Benefits Group Team offers solution to failed economy

Would you like to save money everytime you go to get gas, buy groceries or even go to the movies? Of course you would! Duh! This decision was a no brainer for me and for most people out there, which would explain why we have seen over 900 people join our Acquire Benefits Group team in 8 days!

The emerging company, Acquire Benefits Group, is offering an economic solution through exclusive discounts on medical, pharmaceutical, gas, grocery, retail and entertainment purchases in major companies while offering members profits from others’ purchases as well. 

Acquire Benefits Group offers discounts on over 300,000 different major companies including Cheveron, Kroger, Dell, Target and Walmart. The company went into soft launch on Oct. 12, 2008 in which thousands of people have already signed up free. The full prelaunch is Oct. 25, 2008.

“As a work at home mother of two, it made perfect sense to me to sign up for a business with a company where I can get discounts on the majority of my purchases especially in this strained economy. I also have the satisfaction of being able to help other people by offering the same deal!”

Members of Acquire Benefits Group also have the option to earn money from other team member purchases, offering members a business opportunity as well.

How does it work? It will work for people in a variety of ways from a discount card to coupons that can be printed out on the computer. And some of the company products can be ordered through the Internet where the member will be offered free shipping.

“This kind of business could be just one response to the economic problems people are seeing in North America right now. People are realizing they need to economize more than ever and most North Americans are looking to other sources of income and let’s face it, the Internet is offering the average Joe more opportunities than hitting the pavement and knocking on doors,” said ABG member, Brad Smith.

For more information about Acquire Benefits Group, watch the two-minute video  and reserve your spot for free by clicking sign up and enter id 126842. Or go to https://extranet.securefreedom.com/AcquireBenefitsGroup/Signup/EnrollNew.asp?RepDID=126842.

Photo by Jade Gordon

Cheerleaders Stage Mock Execution

A skit at a recent pep rally at the Nacogdoches high school in Texas gets national attention. I actually heard about it on the CNN news a few hours ago. The skit actually portrays a group of cheerleaders dressed as the opposing team stealing the Nacogdoches mascot at which time, the Nacogdoches cheerleaders toting toy guns and cowboy hats come in to save their mascot, force the “opposing team” to kneel and the cheerleaders pretend to shoot them in the back of the heads, throwing fake money in the air as a celebration and then pulling them into a pile.

Now, let’s keep in mind while the principal of the school, some of the moms and administration defended the skit, toy guns are strictly prohibited from the school. Not to mention, not everyone found it quite so entertaining.

Some student members wrote an editorial in the school newspaper against the skit and more than 120 students signed a petition against gun promotion at pep rallies.

Nacogdoches Independent School District issued a statement following a Daily Sentinel story stating the district does not advocate the use of weapons or violence under any circumstances.

I would like you moms out there to read the stories and watch the movie for yourself and let me know your thoughts. 

Above photo by Daily Sentinel

Ad Surf Daily Hearing wait continues

If you’re keeping up with the Ad Surf Daily | ASD Cashgenerator news, you can read the latest information at the ASD Cashgenerator blog. Ad Surf Daily members are eagerly awaiting the results of the two-day evidentiary hearing. We’re hearing only positive news from people who were in attendance of the hearing of what will become of the ad surfing company and all of the funds the government took from the people to “protect” them. The people are of course not particularly happy with the government right, oh wait, does this sound familiar? It’s getting tougher to know what information is truth from either side on most issues.

John Mayer’s song plays in my head often these days . . .

It just proves us moms can do anything! Where we find the time I don’t know. In fact, I am still tired from our Winnipeg road trip this weekend. (Oh, maybe it was the 16 hour drive each way. ).

Dianne also founded Wahms United, a resource of information regarding business, marketing and web development work at home moms.

Photo by Benjamin Earwicker

Wahms get to work at home with their babies

Don’t they report on any of the good stuff out there? I mean, really, give us some faith in human beings. I finally had to turn it off last night and just rely on my good ‘ol laptop to give me the news where I can choose what I want to read and watch instead of sitting through the whole news hour just to see the 2-minute good samaritan last segment. Here’s something that will make you smile.

Enjoy your day! Kelly

pic by Vangelis thomaidis

I am finally up and running again! Just working on making it pretty again. ;) I had no idea that the Wordpress 2.6 upgrade had issues, like all of my categories disappearing. For days I thought it was something I did. I kept going through the process over and over and without the automatic upgrade plugin. If you don’t have this plugin, get it because it makes the process sooo much easier.

And if you do have this upgrade of losing your categories, check out the solution at David Cumps‘ site.