Archive for May, 2008

Why I’m Glad To Be a Wahm

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Kelly has invited work at home Mom to post on their blogs this week about WHY they love being a wahm.

I occasionally hear people talking about the “negatives” or the “cons” of working at home, but in my opinion that ’s a little like talking about the “cons” of breastfeeding (another pet topic!). All of those so called cons can be overcome with a little planning or creativity.

So I’m taking a moment to express my gratitude. Just the other day I went out with some friends, and someone asked me what I do. I tried to explain in the simplest way I could since it would sound like Greek to them anyway. And then I mentioned that my business has been such a blessing because I’ve been able to work around my kids.

And his response was, “Yeah, and you get to do it in your PJs too!”

I had to laugh at that because so many people think about working in their pajamas. There’s a whole lot more to it than that for me. :-)

  • I love being a wahm because I get to decide what I want to do. If I don’t enjoy an aspect of my business, I can outsource it. I can choose the direction my business takes and how I earn money online.
  • I love being a wahm because I get to work when my kids don’t need me. I work when they’re happily playing alone, doing their schoolwork (and don’t need my input), with their Dad/Grandparents/a helper, or sleeping.
  • I love being a wahm because I don’t have to deal with an employer who might misunderstand my priorities. Their priorities are not my priorities. I once quit a really good job because my employer wouldn’t give me time off to attend a religious convention. I also quit a job when I had my first child. Those are my priorities. And they will be honored, because I’m the boss.
  • I love being a wahm because I can increase my income without a huge increase in time. Instead of having to rely on someone else to notice my worth, I can go out there and create value and make money from nothing… but the ideas in my head.
  • I love being a work at home Mom because I’m able to express my talents and creativity and be valued in a tangible way for that contribution. My kids love me, but until they’re adults, they probably won’t appreciate how hard I work. Making money is a great way to affirm your value.
  • I also like being a work at home Mom because I can work outside the home. All I have to do is take my laptop to Barnes and Noble and I’m all set. ;)

What about you? If you are grateful to be a work at home Mom, tell me about it. I’d really like to hear from:

Tiffany
Alice
Alyssa

SheLancers Free Preview Report

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

SheLancers has two main benefits for women in service businesses:

  • Helping them get new clients and
  • Helping them grow their passive income

They’ve just released this free report to illustrate how they can do #2. It’s got some free tips you can grab onto immediately to start earning money without being tied to your desk chair. :-)

Download it here to get just a taste of what SheLancers is all about.

Your Autoresponder Really Irritates Me

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

I use autoresponders in my business. In fact, my mailing list management system is busy sending out emails every day to thousands of subscribers in a couple dozen different email lists.

So, it’s not autoresponders in general that bother me. It’s just yours.

Bother #1: I don’t like that when I send you email that was likely a reply to an email you sent ME, your autoresponder automatically tells me that I will have to wait a certain amount of time to hear back from you. Now, if you’re someone I communicate with on a regular basis, and you’re going on vacation or are sick or just had a baby, this might be helpful. But most of the time, it’s just annoying.

Firstly, it’s probably not honest. It may take you a couple of days to get back with me, but it may take you an hour. Or it might take you a week. So if your autoresponder says:

Thank you for contacting (removed to protect the innocent). We will get back with you as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours.

Then I find that irritating. I don’t want to have to delete an extra email.

And, as a frequent internet user who makes her living from her computer, I use email often enough. But I would never promise anyone that I would get back with them that soon. I also have a life, and if your message to me was very important, you would pick up the phone and call me.

And if your autoresponder tells me how busy you are with your life and that it will take you a few days to get back to me, that’s irritating too, because we’re all busy. Your autoresponder is one-upping me with this busy-ness. And besides, you were the one who contacted ME about being a guest on my show/advertising on my site/publishing your article/joining your affiliate program, remember?

Those are harmless enough. What’s really irritating is this:

Bother #2: Autoresponder emails that I get after I send out my newsletter to you. The ones that invite me to look at your amazing business opportunity.

I want to say,

Do I know you? And exactly when did I opt in to your email list?

This is a bad way to try to recruit me. In order to get my newsletter, you had to go through a double opt in process. You had to input your name and email address and then check your email and click on a link to accept. See – I like to keep things legal around here. I don’t send unsolicited email. We call that SPAM around here.

And, as far as your MLM goes. I have been there, done that, got the T shirt and the closet full of soap. So don’t bother. And I don’t need your “opportunity” when I’m successful with my own business.

Let me ask you, is your autoresponder hurting or helping your business?

Man This Is Cool – Female Service Providers Check It Out

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Or perhaps I should say, wo-man this is cool! SheLancers is so exciting, it almost makes me want to start offering my services as a V.A.!

If you’re a Virtual Assistant or have any other kind of service based business, your most important goal is to find and keep clients, right? Yet time spent doing that takes away from the paid work you do hourly for your clients. Nicole and Darina to the resuce. :-)

They have an awesome site that can keep a steady stream of clients coming in through your door – and – (and this is probably the most exciting part!) teach you how to build your passive income streams at the same time.

If you offer services as a V.A., do graphic design, coaching, anything that requires clients, check it out: SheLancers

After Mom Masterminds, this is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen online to help women grow their businesses.

Shelancers - The Website for Female Freelancers

Offline Days Can Be Productive Too

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

We had some pretty severe weather here in Georgia last weekend. I woke up at around 3 AM and thought the large bay window near my bed was coming in on me because there was marble sized hail beating down. It was scary -but we’re fine.

There were tornadoes in the area but the only damage we sustained was our treehouse collapsing in the front yard. I’m sad about that but perhaps we can salvage it and turn it into a play house instead.

I did lose power, telephone and therefore internet for a couple of days. It was disappointing at first because my kids were at their Dad’s, and I usually get a lot of work done during that time. But I remembered that the last time something like this had happened, and it turned out to be the day I wrote most of my first information product.

So I just restrategized. :-)   And here’s what I got done:

  • Wrote five new articles from scratch
  • Strategized action plans and made to do lists
  • Made notes on topics to write about later
  • Added pages to two websites to publish later
  • Typed out several new recipes for my whole foods recipe site (and these I can submit to other websites for incoming links)
  • Cleaned up my desktop
  • Edited some PLR articles that were waiting to be published
  • Created a new PLR mini pack for Natural Mom Plr
  • Gathered some stuff in my office to sell on eBay, did some decluttering

Have you ever had a busy day in your online business when you were offline?

Let’s hear about it:

News and Tidbits

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Last week was busy - I was healing from surgery on my foot, and got a sinus infection on top of it. But I managed to get a lot done. Here are some of the bits of news I have for you.

I hosted Mom’s Morning Show all week to talk about A Man Is Not a Financial Plan. That was fun, and we got a lot of great chat, comments and feedback.

I actually forgot that Kelly interviewed me for WahmTalkRadio last week. We talked more about our efforts to examine and improve our businesses in 2008. Lots of great info in there if you’re feeling overwhelmed, scattered in too many directions.

My other blog’s redesign is now done, and I’m so pleased with the look. FreshNets did a wonderful job. Now what was 2 sites and a blog are now all neatly organized into one seamless design. Nice! Definitely check them out if you need a blog redo.

Shannon Cherry of BeHeardSolutions is doing a bit of spring cleaning. She’s offering three ebooks for the price of two.  That’s only $19.90 for exclusive insider information on getting free publicity for your business. Get your copies here.

If you’ve been on the fence about whether or not to check out MomPLReBooks, well now is the time.  They are offering a $1 trial. For just a buck you will get full access to this month’s content, instantly. The trial membership will last for 7 days, so there’s plenty of time to decide whether or not it’s right for you.

And, if you need some help getting your podcast launched or some other audio for your site, I recommend Christina Lemmey of MultiMediaVa. She recorded a really nice promo for my podcast the other day. I could never have made it sound that good myself and she found the music I was wanting to boot!

That’s it for now. :)