6 New Sites for Entrepreneurial Parents

September 13, 2007· Filed under Blogging, Working from Home

Wendy, from eMoms at Home, has been busy – and I mean really busy! She has gone from having one awesome blog on internet home businesses for moms and dads, to having a whole magazine-style site complete with 6 new blogs plus the original eMoms blog.

New to the line up are:

• Ebay Selling for eParents is authored by Megan Jordan from Velventeen Mind
• Dad Balance is authored by Derek Semmler from DerekSemmler.com
• Freelance Parent is authored by Lorna Doone Brewer from Something Good & Tamara Berry
• CraftBoom! is authored by Lisa Lam from U-Handblog
• Parent Product Reviews is authored by Erika Jurney from The Plain Jane Mom Blog
• Seasonal Kids’ Activities is authored by Shannon Hutton from Believer in Balance

And the original eMoms at Home blog is staying put.  The “Original Recipe eMoms at Home” will always be there to talk about affiliate marketing, parenting, blogging, social media, empowerment, and everything else that her regular readers have come to know and love.

Take a few minutes this week and go check out the new sites. I have already added a few of them to my daily reads.

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Learn Something New – Take the Blogging DIY Challenge

August 30, 2007· Filed under Blogging, Working from Home

September is on our doorstep, the kids are going back to school, and your brain is ready for something different. I have a challenge for you! Take some time over the next few weeks to learn something new. Push your intellectual envelope. Feel the rush of doing something new – all by yourself!

I have gathered up some of my favorite web how-to posts for those of you who are feeling brave and wanting to push your self-guided professional development up a notch today!

1. How to choose and sign up for a Web host for your WordPress blog by Sarah
2. How to install WordPress using cPanel and Fantastico by Sarah
3. Tutorial – FTP – it’s as easy as 1-2-3 by Char
4. Tutorial – How to create your own FavIcon by Char
   
5. CSS Classroom – Div vs. Span by Char
   
6. Mixing Typefaces Cheat Sheet by Inspiration Bit
7. 6 Easy Steps to making a Web Hosting Switch by Char
8. 13 Steps to a Blog Redesign by Char
9. How to show your most popular posts in the sidebar by Randa
   
10. Blog Carnivals, Start to Finish by MamaBlogga
11. 8 Constuctive Bits on Running Contests by Inspiration Bit
12. The Ultimate Guide to Where the Moms are Online by Char
13. WordPress for Beginners – a whole category of great posts by Lorelle VanFossen
14. JUST ADDED – It’s Really This Easy to Add a Link to Your Comment by Dawud

Plus two mega posts from eMoms at Home:

1. 26 Internet Marketing How-Tos for Every Level of Experience
2. 28 Internet Marketing and Home Business How-Tos

Most of these tasks are not as hard as they might initially appear, and you won’t believe the feeling of empowerment that you will get once you have learned something new and DONE IT YOURSELF!

This post is part of Thursday Thirteen. For more Thursday Thirteen posts, visit the official TT hub.

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Taking My Business to the Next Level – A Progress Report

August 2, 2007· Filed under Working from Home

I know I have mentioned it before, but I am looking forward to the kids going back to school in late August. It’s not that I don’t enjoy spending more time with them (after all, that is one main reason I am a work from home Mom), or that I don’t enjoy hanging out at the pool, coordinating playdates, or constantly picking up after them. I enjoy all of those things (well, except the picking up part), it’s just that I am really looking forward to having 6 hours a day to focus on taking my business to the next level.

While I don’t exactly have it all ready to execute, I am gradually laying the foundation for growth now.  Here’s what I have done so far:

Purchased and installed QuickBooks. Yes, this is something I should have done a long time ago, but up until now, my Excel spreadsheet and I did just fine.

Made a list of other talented professionals that may be interested in taking on projects and tasks as I have a need for additional help. The blogosphere is a wonderful place, and while you might not realize it, your own blog and the relationships you create via blogging act as a dynamic resume.

Outsourced one energy draining task – house cleaning.  Yep. I hate house cleaning and I don’t really do a good job. Thanks to the gift certificate my brothers gave me, I had Molly Maids come out today and work their magic. They were very organized, professional and did a great job. But, the best part is, that during the 2.5 hours they were here scrubbing and dusting, I was able to work and earn more money than it cost me to have them here. That is good business.

There is obviously much more to do and I have quite a bit on my plate as it is, but I feel like I am taking steps in the right direction!

Oh, I almost forgot! If you need a good read, check out Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Work Week. I am just getting going on it, but so far, so good.

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Making the Most of Your Time

July 24, 2007· Filed under Family, Organizing, Working from Home

As I get older I am also getting wiser. I am learning (although slowly) that in order for me to be a successful business woman, mother and wife, I do not have to do it all myself. Doing it all myself does not make me a better person – it just drains me of my life energy!

I am learning to outsource even the most basic tasks so I can have more time and energy to be a great Mom, a better wife, and more efficient in my business.

One of the things I am most excited about outsourcing is the deep cleaning in our house. Let’s face it, I can barely keep up with the dishes and the laundry. I don’t enjoy the nitty gritty cleaning and don’t have the time to do it right. Thanks to my awesome brothers, I have a gift certificate for a cleaning service – it is just the right amount to get me started and get our family hooked!

Here are a bunch of great sites that will help you streamline, organize, and may even inspire you to do some outsourcing yourself:

• Wendy at eMoms at Home published an awesome list of 25 Parent Productivity Tools – lots on there that I had never seen before and worth checking out.
• Ariane Benefit has is a professional organizer. Her Neat and Simple site is packed with tools to help you conquer clutter, get organized an streamline your life.
• Working Mom is the site of my favorite grocery list generator. There are lots of other goodies there too.
• Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie is the mastermind behind my favorite way to start the week – Menu Plan Monday. You would not believe the time I save each week (and money) by taking 30 minutes each Sunday to plan our menu.
• David Seah makes great task planning notepads and tools. His site has plenty of additional productivity tips, too.
• Achieve IT just published an awesome list of The Top 50 Blogs That Will Unleash Your Motivation. Just be sure to schedule some time to go through this list.

What are your favorite time savers? What have you outsourced? I’d love to know!

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Too Much Information

July 18, 2007· Filed under Working from Home

I am suffering from a MAJOR case of too much information right now! Not “that” kind of TMI (you know the kind that makes you queasy or blush), but the TMI that comes from living and working in an environment that thrives on information and having the kind of mind that really wants to take it all in.  By the looks of things, I am not alone!

• Wendy at eMoms at Home put up a post yesterday that could have easily been written by me  – The Top 10 Distractions for the Work at Home Mom or Dad. I love being able to be home with my kids and wouldn’t trade it for the world, but it does get a little hard to concentrate on ANYTHING at this time of the year.
• Dawud must be feeling it, too! In an effort to be a more productive work at home Dad, Dawud is taking drastic measures. Follow his lead and Shut Down Your Email and Close Your RSS Feeder to eliminate some of the excess information noise.

My strategy for today is to set my timer for 30 minute time blocks and during that time block I will focus on ONE task at a time – no checking email or following links during this time. I have a list of 5 things I really need to get accomplished today – if I follow my plan, I can have them pretty much done by noon and then I can PLAY.

PS – I am also in meme debt thanks to HomeMom3 and Angela. I will probably catch up on these some time over the weekend.

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