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Get Motivated and Reach Those Goals!

Audrey — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:23:51 +0000

This post is a guest post from Mike Reeves-McMillan, who also writes about stress management and other personal development topics at his blog, Living Skillfully.

When you’re juggling a lot of different responsibilities, it’s easy for motivation to slip. You seem to spend your whole day lurching from crisis to crisis, only to come to the end of the day without much of a sense of achievement. What to do?

Here’s a technique which I call two-level goals.

1. Each morning, take a couple of minutes to sit down and write out your high-level goals – business, personal, family. Don’t forget to include one or two goals that support your personal development, rest and refreshment! About 5 goals is a good number. Writing them by hand is supposed to be a better way of focusing than typing them onto the computer. I’ve tried both, and I don’t notice much difference, so do whichever you prefer. They’re likely to gradually change over time, which is one of the two reasons for writing them out each morning – the other, of course, is to get them firmly into your mind.

2. Under your high-level goals, write down achievable things that you can actually get done today which serve those goals. You don’t have to have a second-level goal for every first-level goal, and you can have several second-level goals for one of your first-level goals. But if you’re always loading up one of your first-level goals and completely neglecting another, that tells you it’s time to reassess your focus.

3. Check them off, draw lines through them, write “Done” next to them, stamp them with smiley faces or otherwise indicate when you’ve achieved each second-level goal.

This is the kind of simple technique you could teach your kids to use too – but it’s a great way for you to both stay motivated with achievable daily goals, and also keep heading in the direction of your dreams.

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Develop a Schedule, Get Organized, and Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed

Audrey — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:50:40 +0000

Being a stay-at-home parent, as many of you are probably aware, is no picnic. Sure you get to spend all day with your kids and there are certainly benefits, like seeing all their firsts and watching them miraculously grow from crying, feeding, sleeping dependents into actual little people with comprehensible thoughts and emotions.

But the parent who goes off to work each day will probably never understand that while they get breaks and leave their work at the office when they log out, you are on the clock 24/7. And it can be even more difficult if you decide to embark upon a course in homeschooling. Trying to juggle your everyday household duties (cleaning, shopping, errands, food preparation, etc.) with the demands of being a teacher and a parent can sometimes leave you feeling like a sinking ship. But there are ways to swim to the surface, stay afloat, and head for calmer waters.

The first thing you need to do is set a schedule. Then you need to stick to it! The latter can be the tricky part. For some reason, children defy scheduling. When you want them to get moving, they stubbornly cross their arms and refuse, whereas getting them to sit quietly and study can be like wrangling a herd of wild Mustangs. Part of a child’s job is to test your limits, and boy, are they good at it. However, implementing a rigid daily schedule is a good way to get your kids into a habit that they will eventually conform to, so set up a roster of classes, work in break times for play, meals, and going out, and watch your kids fall in line. Of course, some days will be better than others, but at least you’ll have something to fall back on rather than running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

The second step to a good homeschooling experience is to get organized. Unless you want your household to be in constant chaos, you should adopt the following mantra: a place for everything and everything in its place. While most parents set aside bins and shelving for toys and books, you’ll need a specific setup for all the necessities of running a classroom. If you have an office that can double for teaching, you’ll certainly be able to set up storage and workstations for each child. But if you don’t have the extra space, you may be forced to hold lectures in the kitchen or living room, in which case you’ll probably need to integrate some furniture that can be easily hidden. To that end, consider a shelving unit with doors (like a TV cabinet). Use shelves for books, drawers for instruments (pencils, loose paper, arts and crafts items, etc.), and think about ways you can use the TV space to your advantage, such as by installing a dry-erase board (or even a monitor that can double as a hookup for your computer and a television). You can also have open shelving and simply install bins for each child to keep their schoolwork separated (as well as some for your teaching tools). As for desks, you can find folding ones that will easily fit into a closet at the end of the day.

While it’s certainly easy to get overwhelmed, a little organization and a solid schedule can take a lot of the crazy out of your day. If you’re having trouble getting started, there are all kinds of resources online to help you plan a schedule or find the tools you need to get everything in order. Running a tight ship is no easy feat, but parents all over the world do it every day, and with a little research and planning, your homeschooling experience will be smooth sailing.

Sarah Martins writes for Medical Billing and Coding Online where you can find more information about a career in medical billing and coding.

Home Office Ideas for Work at Home Moms

Homeschool Moms Can Earn Extra Income

Audrey — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:59:57 +0000

This post is a guest post by Laurie Neumann, a home business coach from the Christian Home Business Connection.

Many homeschool moms look for ways to earn some extra income and ease the financial burdens of their family. But homeschool moms are also very busy people. They are not only homeschooling their children, but running them to different activities plus keeping up the house, the shopping, and a host of other things. To even think of them adding a job to their schedule is unimaginable for most women.

Well, there is another way! A home based business can prove to be a such a blessing to the homeschool mom as well as her family. It allows her to contribute to the family finances and eases some of the stress from her husband. What woman doesn’t want to do that?

But there are other benefits as well. Running a home business can be a wonderful example and teaching tool for your kids. They not only see Mom working at her own business, but many times, they can be included in performing routine tasks. This not only teaches them about working at a young age but it can also be a real help to Mom in running her business.

If Mom chooses carefully, the business can also add a dimension of purpose to her life. I know homeschool moms feel homeschooling and taking care of the family needs is their purpose and that should be their first priority. But choosing a home business that uses your gifts and talents can be another outlet to bring fulfillment to your life. You have something to call your “own.”

Determine how much time you have to devote to a home based business. If you have a consistent number of hours per day or week, that can be enough to get you started. Choose wisely so that the business can be a benefit to you and your family.

Sound good but not sure where to start? Laurie Neumann offers coaching to help you choose a legitimate home based business and get it up and running. You can see the details at http://www.christianhomebusinessconnection.com/small-business-consulting.html

Putting My Children To Work

Audrey — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:23:07 +0000

The idea for this post came from my own two children, who desperately want a Nintendo DS lite. Much to their disgust, I tend not to buy them anything they want. I told them they needed to earn their own money so they can buy it themselves.

My children’s pocket money still has to come out of the family budget, so I’d still be indirectly paying for their gadgets. I suggested to them that they earn the money by writing. Sneaky, aren’t I? I know most homeschooling mums will say that their children don’t like writing, and mine are no different. However, with the thought of a sparkling new DS in front of them, they approached it with gusto, particularly my 9 year old. So, what did they write?

It’s not appropriate for 9 year olds to write custom content for people, in most cases they just don’t have the skill set to do a good enough job. We decided to create packages of plr – private label rights articles that can be sold for a lot less money, but sold many times over. I chose a topic that they were passionate about – dogs. We brainstormed some possible titles, made notes on each topic, then they wrote a rough article. I edited it for grammar and spelling with their help, then rewrote little parts to make it read better. They wrote about 7 articles, and I added a few to make it an even dozen, and they were good articles. To add value to the package, we included a lovely wordpress theme created by the very talented Michelle Adams , a list of dog keywords that are often searched for online, and a list of dog product affiliate programs that people could promote and make a commission on sales. We priced the package very low – $4.95 for the lot, and put it up for sale in a few internet marketing forums I read.

I’d love to say it was a financial success. They sold maybe half a dozen packages. We did put the money towards their DS, but they don’t yet have enough to buy it.

However, let’s look at what they did achieve. They have learned how to research, they’ve practiced their language skills, they’ve watched how to zip files and upload them to a server, and they’ve seen me write sales copy. Most importantly, they’ve learned that they can generate a bit of income without having to rely on a job or pocket money. That’s the most useful lesson of all, I think. So, I’m calling this a successful outcome.

I have another project in mind for them to try, and it will also earn a little cash for them, and improve their skill set.

There’s no reason why our children can’t develop an entrepreneurial mindset. I’d love to hear your ideas for helping your children earn their own money.

A Milestone

Audrey — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:30:39 +0000

As you’d be well aware, a good chunk of my online income comes from writing web content.

I was sitting back with my cuppa this morning, perusing my paypal account, and I discovered that, although the month is only three quarters through, my income from writing has, for the first time since I started taking it seriously, exceeded double my usual monthly income from my part time “out of the home” job.

Keep in mind that this is writing part time, while I’m looking after my two children and taking them to homeschooling excursions. So, it’s very much a viable option for mums who want to earn from home while they’re caring for a family. I will admit, though, that the housework isn’t always up to date, and I’m often working late at night. I’d rather put up with that than have to find work outside the home.

I was having a discussion with a friend last night about people’ s expectations from money making ventures. What are you most likely to respond to – earn $1000 a week with no work and no effort , or earn a few hundred dollars a month with a bit of hard yakka (for my overseas readers, yakka is Aussie slang for “work”)? There are some who would be tempted by idea of big dollars for no effort, but really, do you think it’s genuine? I think most people would appreciate the honesty of “put in the hours, and earn enough to make your car payment each month”. You could then ramp it up if you wanted to, and earn the car payment and pay the credit card each month.

Unfortunately, the earn lots while doing nothing hype gives people the impression that working online can be a scam. Sure, the scams are out there, but I can assure you, working online is legitimate, productive, and a great fit for people with families.

I’d love to hear your comments. Do you have the impression that online marketing is a scam? Do you think you could do it if you were shown how?

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The Importance Of Good Graphics For Your Website

Audrey — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:35:00 +0000

When you’re building your website, it’s vital that you have good content, to make it worthwhile for your visitors to stay. Articles, videos and even reviews of useful products will make sure they learn something new when they visit your site.

But, how does your website look? I guess if you’re in a serious type of niche, such as business, a sensible looking site is okay, but it could still be improved by an attractive header. If you’re in a non business niche – weight loss, dog training or any other niche – a good looking header will improve the appearance of your site, and make the visit visually pleasing.

Where do you get these nice headers? Well, if you’re not too bad with a graphics program, you can have a go at making one yourself. Create a new document that’s an appropriate size, add some colour, and then pop in a suitable image. Make sure you have the rights to use the image. Use either a photo you have taken yourself, or one you’ve legally obtained from one of the many stock photo sites on the web.

There are also software programs that will create headers for you semi-automatically. This is often quicker and easier than trying to argue with Photoshop or similar.

The third way of getting a good looking header for your blog, and my preferred method, is to get a graphics person to do it for you. This does mean spending a few dollars, but the result is worth it, I think. Have a look at my friend Roy’s work on his site Blog Header Guy. His prices are very fair indeed, and his work is awesome. Not only that, he’s a homeschooling Dad! I was lucky enough to win a header from him for one of my up and coming sites, and I can’t wait to get it on there and show you.

When you’re starting out, it’s fine to stick to either a plain header or your own creation. However, when the budget allows, splurge on a professional header – your site will really shine!

Earning From Freelance Sites Such As Elance

Audrey — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:02:59 +0000

: Image by orangeacid via Flickr

It’s been a while since I added anything to this blog, I’ve been reading through some opportunities but none have really inspired me and convinced me that they’ll earn, so I haven’t written about them.

Since I’ve had a bit of success in the freelance writing sphere of late, I thought I’d chat a bit about how to get the most out of sites such as Elance.

Elance, Rentacoder and other such sites are very useful for linking people who need a job done, and people who can do the job for them. Webmasters post details of their job, and you have the opportunity to bid for the work. The webmaster then chooses the winning bidder.

Obviously most of the jobs are computer based/online tasks so they’re ideal for us as stay at home parents. We can do the jobs when the children are asleep, or when they’re doing some quiet reading.

There are plenty of types of jobs, from graphic design, to writing, website building and virtual assistant type tasks. It can look pretty overwhelming. Think about your skillset, and stick to exploring jobs you have the skills to do well. If you don’t feel you have any skills that would be useful on Elance, have a look at the writing jobs. We all can write.

You really have two ways of tackling these sites. Firstly, you can try and get the work by being the cheapest bidder. I’d not recommend this route for a few reasons. Firstly, there are very talented people in countries such as India and the Phillipines, who bid very low. Many are talented writers with an excellent command of the English language, and often bid around $3 per 500 word article. Secondly, do you really want to spend your limited free time working for a few dollars per hour? Even if you did, you’d soon feel resentful of the time you were spending on your work, and how little you’d be getting back for it.

The second way, and this is the way I’d recommend you approach it, is to bid what you feel you’re worth, and show the website owner exactly why you’re the best person for the job. I won a bid to ghostwrite an ebook on dogs and exercise. My bid was fairly high, but I got the job. I’m a vet, so I know about dog health. I run with my dog and have competed in agility, so I not only have the theoretical knowledge, but tons of practical experience.

So, my suggestions for successful bidding on freelance sites are:

Make sure you’re capable of doing the job. You need to have the skills, and you need to be able to fit the work into your schedule. Many of these jobs have a deadline and if you don’t follow through, either because you can’t do it or you run out of time, it leaves the webmaster short of time to get the job done. Your feedback score will reflect this.
Work out what you want to earn per hour, estimate how long the job will take you, and bid accordingly.
In your bid, you have the opportunity to share your skills, knowledge and experience, and what you can bring to the job. Sell yourself to the website owner, and show them exactly why they want you to do the job for them.

Yeah, it’s a bit like a job interview, isn’t it?

But, it works. Think about your skills and your life experiences. Maybe you’re a nurse and can write about health issues. Maybe you’re a naturopath and can write about natural therapies. You don’t have any useful career related skills? You’re a parent, and there will be sites needing articles written about parenting issues. With the increase in the number of families removing their children from school, you’ve got a lot of valuable experience to share. If you still think you haven’t got anything to offer, it’s not hard to research things online so theoretically, you can write on any niche.

If you don’t feel confident in your writing ability, and want to learn more about writing for the web, I can highly recommend The Content Chef, written by Courtney Ramirez. This is an ebook which tells you how to earn an income writing web content. It has a 30 day step by step plan on how to get started. Yep, it costs US$37. But, thanks to this ebook, I’ve just won an ongoing writing job - up to 8 articles a week, and my winning bid was US$20 per 400-600 word article. It has well and truly paid for itself. Check it out here.

How Outsourcing Benefits Your Home Business

Audrey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:18:05 +0000

Outsourcing is a bit of a buzz word at the moment in the internet marketing arena. It can take your business to new heights if used correctly, and free up your time to be with your children.

What outsourcing basically means is that you subcontract some of your work to others, on a “as needs” basis. You don’t have any employees, and you don’t have to pay someone if there’s no work for them to do. It means that you can delegate tasks that you may not be as skilled at, to those who can do them more efficiently.

What outsourcing benefits are there to you as a work at home mum?

Firstly, it buys you time. In the early stages of a business, when cash flow isn’t great, you often need to do all of the work yourself. However, when you have an income from your business, you can hire someone else to do the tedious and repetitive jobs, and you can enjoy some time off.

Let’s look at an example. If your business is earning you $40 an hour, you could pay someone $10 an hour to perhaps get backlinks to your site. That leaves you $30 an hour and you have freed up the time you would have spent doing that job.

Another way outsourcing benefits you is that if there is an illness or injury, you can take time off to recover, or to care for your child, without your business going backwards. After investing all that time building your online enterprise, it’s a shame to let it go because you’re not well enough, or your child isn’t well enough, to let you work.

Thirdly, if you’re doing all the work yourself, your business can only grow as fast as you can work. Because you’re spending a large percentage of your time with your children, this will ultimately limit your income.

So what tasks can you outsource? Just about anything really – blog creation, article writing, getting backlinks, auction listings are just a few tasks that you can hire others to do for you.

To get the best outsourcing benefits for your business, there are a few things you must do. Firstly, be as clear about what you need as possible. Don’t ask for 10 articles on horses; instead, do your keyword research and specify what you want each article to be about, and what keywords you want used in each one.

Don’t necessarily go for the cheapest price either. You do often get what you pay for. Check the feedback of the outsourcers, and see if there have been any concerns raised by previous customers.

Lastly, when you’re building up a list of outsourcers you’re happy with, make sure you have tried and tested a couple of people with a particular skill. There’s nothing worse than needing articles written in a hurry, and your favourite article writer is on vacation.

There are several well regarded outsourcing websites where you can find people to help you in your business at a fair rate. I have personally found good help on Rentacoder, and I have myself taken on an outsourcing job for a webmaster on Elance. Both experiences went very smoothly. I’m currently investigating Odesk for help for my business, and so far all is going well. Click on the images in this post to be taken to their websites.

If you’d like to support another stay at home mum, then check out the site “Hire My Mom”.I really like the idea of helping another mum work from home, while I get help with my business. It’s a bit like looking after our own.

My favourite book on outsourcing is The Four Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferris. It opens your eyes to the possibilities of having an online business and outsourcing most of the work. Have a read.

While you may not choose to outsource anything in your business, it’s an option to keep in mind, should the need arise. It can be a great help.

How To Use Private Label Rights Material In Your Business

Audrey — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:25:38 +0000

If you look back to one of my earlier posts on writing web content for dollars HERE, you’ll notice I’ve mentioned you can write private label rights (or PLR) articles for payment.

In a nutshell, PLR articles, reports and ebooks are those which you have the legal right to modify and call your own. Rights do vary, so you need to check what rights come with each package. Generally speaking, you can usually use them as blog posts or website articles, or sell the ebooks and reports.

Why not look at it from the other side, and think about using PLR products yourself that others have written. PLR is very useful indeed when you’re building or maintaining an online business. It can save you doing all your own research and writing, and allow you more time to take care of your children’s needs.

There are plenty of places you can get free PLR, such as PLR Wholesaler. This type of site has a free membership option where you can pick up PLR for nothing. These sites make their income by offering a wider range of PLR if you upgrade to a paid membership, and by making you a special offer when you login . There’s no obligation to take advantage of either of these; I know that in the early days of your business, the budget is tight and there’s not a lot of room for such extras.

Another great place to check for good PLR is the Warrior Forum special offers. You can often pick up a great pack of well written PLR for under $10.

I would suggest that you don’t use any PLR as is, and you rewrite it to make it better fit your site. This doesn’t just mean that you rewrite and include your keywords, but that you write it such that it sounds like it comes from you.

So what can you do with PLR material?

Look at this example from the Warrior Forum:

One forum member picked up a great WordPress theme, 25 niche articles, an ebook with resell rights ( so he could offer it for sale and pocket the profits, or give it away to his readers) and a rough guide on how to use it all for $9. He then bought a suitable domain for $9. Because he already had a hosting package, he now had a brand new website for less than $20.

From there, he checked the Affiliate Directories for products that suit his niche. I’m thinking he’ll offer the ebook free in exchange for signing up to his newsletter. When he has a list of people interested in his niche, and he’s developed a relationship with them by providing them with good information, he can then start to market the affiliate products to them in the newsletter.

Newsletter marketing is a great way of earning ongoing income from your website visitors, and it too is a whole post topic on it’s own.

You can also rewrite PLR articles to compile into an ebook that you can give away or sell, use them as content on your niche blog, or add them to your own newsletter.

If you’re building a blog or website, and you’re pressed for time because you’re educating your children, see what PLR you can find in your niche. It’s a great timesaver!!

How Do You Squidoo?

Audrey — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:39:31 +0000

Squidoo is a great service which allows you to build a one page website for free – no technical skills required. While you can make money from your Squidoo lens, most people use their lens to direct traffic back to their main site, and to give them a high quality back link. This can really improve your search engine rankings.

It’s just as important to do your keyword research for a Squidoo lens as it is for your main website.

Use the Google keyword generator HERE to search for your key word phrase, and check for competition in Google. As we’ve already mentioned, over 500 searches a month and less than 200,000 competing sites in Google (when you search for your phrase in quotation marks) is a rough guide to choosing a good phrase. Make this phrase the name of your lens.

To get started, it’s a simple matter of signing up with Squidoo, and following the prompts to open your account and create your first lens. Then you can start adding modules. Click on the image below to see the modules you have available.

Your first module is an introduction – here you can share some details about yourself, and include your key word phrase several times. There’s the option to include an image in this module. You can use a picture of yourself, or your product, if you’re using your lens to market your own ebook or an affiliate product.

You can then include an ebay module or an amazon module if your aim is to make affiliate income from your lens.

Alternatively, include several text modules with more informative articles relating to your niche, and directing people to your main site or an affiliate product. The benefit of using several text modules rather than just one large one is that it breaks your content up into neat little “bites” and makes it easier for your visitor to read. It’s also a good idea to use images to improve the general appearance of your lens.

A guest book module will allow you to have interaction with your visitors. They can leave comments and feedback, which can in turn help you improve your lens.

There’s also the option to use tags to describe your lens. These tags are used by the search engines to decide what your lens is about, so it’s very important that you do use the tags. Go back to your keyword phrase, and run it through the keyword selector tool again to generate several other phrases that are closely related. These phrases can be used for tags.

Don’t forget to upgrade your lens frequently if you discover some new information about your niche.

This is just a brief guide to help you get started with Squidoo – there are lots of methods to improve your lens, and have it rate higher both in Squidoo and the search engines. We’ve given you enough information to get up and running – give it a go. It won’t cost you a thing.

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