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Working Mother magazine is sponsoring a contest, and if you win, the designers at Ikea will design a new home office for you. Just go Working Mother Home Office Makeover Contest. You have to tell them why you’re deserving.
Does peanut butter in the DVD-Rom drive count?

It’s easy to get excited about huge goals with your online business. Some Moms will start their first website and say they want to earn $5,000 a month. Well that’s wonderful, and it’s great to aim high and work hard for that, but there is value in the small returns. Small increases in income can make life better…sometimes even more so than huge increases. (Read stories about lottery winners lately?)

For instance, a mom at Mom Masterminds recently posted saying how exciting it was for her to use her own debit card to buy things for herself and her kids. Just that small thing- not having to rely on her husband for every little purchase, was wonderful.

For some Moms, her business may mean the difference between buying the small package of diapers or the large package (which saves her money in the long run!). Or lunch out with a friend. Or getting ice cream cones for the kids on the way home from the park. Isn’t it the little things that make life happier?

If you’re discouraged about your business because you aren’t making big bucks yet, or if you’re procrastinating about getting started because you won’t earn tons of money right off, don’t be negative about that. Think about how the small things can have big rewards.

Alice tagged me so here’s more than you ever wanted to know about Carrie

Four Jobs I’ve Had :

1) Starbucks barista

2) Bank teller

3) Substitute teacher

4) Waitress- hardest job I ever had, I think I lasted two days

Four Movies I Can Watch Over And Over :

1) The Secret Garden

2) Mary Poppins (I wish I was as cool as her)

3) Fried Green Tomatoes

4) Star Wars

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch :
1) Umm…honestly, I don’t watch TV! I don’t have cable, and we don’t get any channels.

Four Places I’ve Been On Vacation :

1) Saluda, North Carolina- adorable little mountain town we go to every autumn

2) Tipperary Town, Tipperary Ireland (ok so it wasn’t vacation, but I’m trying hard to be interesting!)

3) Tybee Island Ga- last time I was there I went into premature labor in the ocean. Exciting!

4) New York, NY

Four Tunes That Play In My Head :

1) Augustus Gloop will not be harmed…Augustus Gloop will not be harmed…

2) King of Fools by Social Distortion

3) Ring of Fire

4) Roxanne by the Police. Oh wait, that’s dh singing in the shower.

Four Favorite Dishes :

1) Sushi

2) Breakfast at the Flying Biscuit in Atlanta

3) A slice of Fellini’s special (Atlanta pizza joint)

4) Yummy salads someone else made.

Four Websites I Visit Daily :

1) Adsense.Google.com

2) MomMasterminds.com

3) My own sites

4) My.Yahoo.com

Four Books I Really Love :

1) The Secret Garden- yeah I’m a kid. I read it with the accents and all.

2) Anything by Maurice Sendak. He is so cool.

3) How To Raise A Healthy Child In Spite Of Your Doctor

4) Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year, by Esme, my friend and former president of the coolest sticker club EVER. Buy all her books, she is just too cool.

Four Places I’d Rather Be :

1) Riding a Vespa with dh around Tuscany. I’ve never been there, but I’m pretty sure I’d rather be. You can see a picture of me on my scooter HERE.

2) Starbucks

3) In the mountains

4) In the mountains, in Italy, drinking coffee

Four Bloggers I’m Tagging :

1) The Lactivist

2) Carmen, who makes me want to have two more kids and blog about it

3) Stacie, who has an enviable tan

4) Nicole, my vote for Wahm MVP

I decided to spend the month of February focusing on my subscriber lists. I have 2 major newsletters and several smaller ones, and I really wanted to learn more about how to increase the number of subscribers as well as how to sell more effectively to them.

I joined Jimmy D. Brown’s monthly membership site and got to work. Here’s what happened.

On my main list, I grew my subscribers by 25% over the previous month. I’m very happy with that and on my second list, I grew my subscriber base by nearly 30%!

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that because of some of the changes I’ve made, my subscribers are becoming more responsive to the offers I promote. And that’s so important because even a small list can make you money if your subscribers trust you.

I’m getting more feedback from my subscribers in the form of more questions, testimonials, and more product sales.

In addition, I started several free ecourses of my own (or in partnership with other Moms) that will bring in more sales down the road.

What I love about List and Traffic is how Jimmy breaks things down to the simplest, step by step instructions. I am the first to admit that need that kind of help!

I encourage you to take a peek and find out the secrets Jimmy reveals about building your newsletter list and website traffic. Cick HERE to get started.