SailingToSuccess

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This article has some good food for thought.  Kristie makes some great points and Direct Sales fits into her thinking perfectly!  Enjoy it!
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Can we really have it all… a career, the good life and parenthood?
Can parents afford to raise a child on one income?
How can new parents decide whether to work or stay home with the kids.

Kristie Tamsevicius, author of I Love My Life: A Mom’s Guide to Working from Home says that the answer has never been clearer.  Since September 11, 2001, people are going back to basics. Fueled by frustration with their current work environments, people long to spend more time at home with their families.  This desire has led millions of parents to say “goodbye” to corporate America and “hello” to a work at home career.  

One of the toughest decisions you face is whether you will stay at home with the children or go back to work.  Financially, it can be difficult to make the switch to living on one income.  Additionally, women often wonder if they are sacrificing their career by choosing to stay at home.

New parents are overwhelmed with the onslaught of child relating expenses including baby gear, clothing, diapers, and medical bills.  In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, raising a child from birth to age 2 costs $13,400 a year.  So how can families cut back and survive on less income and endure these added costs?

The common myth is that if both parents work, there will be more income.  

But this is not always the case.  If you add up the numbers, oftentimes you are not getting ahead financially by working and paying daycare. When you subtract childcare costs, auto expenses, dry cleaning and other work related expenses many find they are not making that much by working outside the home.  

The truth is that we trap ourselves into thinking that we need two incomes to survive.  Whether it’s keeping up with the Jones’ or buying high tech toys, it seems when you make more, you spend more.  When our income increases, instead of banking the difference, we raise our standard of living.

The pressures of dual working parents can weigh on a family.  Sometimes working mothers feel guilty for wanting to work away from home.  Then there is the issue of balance.  Juggling the pressures of work and home can be tough.  Trying to make sure meals are made, the house is clean, and the bills get paid between running kids to soccer practice is trying.

We have to ask what we are teaching our kids with our busy lifestyles. Are we teaching our kids that this pace of life is normal and desirable?

Will daycare teach your kids the values you would?

No one will love and teach your kids the way you do. Daycare will attend to the physical needs of your child, but are they teaching your kids the values and lessons you would?  In situations such as the bullying kid at daycare, or the fight over toys is the daycare provider shaping your child’s character in the same way you would?

Children reap vast benefits when moms stay at home.  Mothers can provide care with love.  They are there to discipline and teach proper behaviors.  While spending quality time, mothers can develop a lasting bond with their children.  This bond creates a stronger sense of security and well being within the child.  

Kids enjoy other benefits too.  Moms can provide a more varied diet and better nutrition.  And children receive more mental stimulation when one on one sharing time with mom.  

How can moms learn to live on less and stay at home with the kids? Shopping smart saves money.  Thrifty minded moms cut coupons, look for sales, and buy in bulk to cut costs.  Many families are learning that a simple life beats the pressures of trying to keep up.  By setting a lower standard of living, you can learn to enjoy the simple things.  You teach your children that wealth lies not in material possessions, but in the joy of living.  

Working from home can help parents to have the best of both worlds: precious family time and extra income.  

Statistics show that today’s working people are eager to say “goodbye” to corporate life and say “hello” to the joys of working from home. Working from home offers a variety of benefits including being your own boss, flexibility, the ultimate office space, no commute, increased control, time with family, and the sheer joy of designing your own business and life.  

Entrepreneurship offers thrills, stimulation, challenge, and a new powerful choice-driven reality.  It provides an option for single parents and families struggling with family and career concerns.  It’s allowing dads to quit the 9-to-5 grind and stay at home with the kids. It’s providing a new chance for people who have been laid off or kicked out of the corporate system.  It’s providing a new income-earning opportunity for people who can’t live on their retirement funds alone.
At-home careers offer an income for people with disabilities who have trouble finding jobs in the traditional workplace.  

So realize that as a parent, now you don’t have to decide to work or stay at home, you can have both: a career and time with your kids.



Article by: Kristie Tamsevicius, is the author of "I Love My Life: A Mom's Guide to Working from Home"! Thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs have used her step-by-step home business system to earn money working from home. Get a free ecourse Home Business Success Secrets at http://www.Webmomz.com

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Carol for a Cause

My friend Marie from Mommycommunity.com came up with this fabulous idea for a fundraiser for the Susan B. Komen foundation for Breast cancer research.  You'll get a smile on your face when you hear other WAHMs sing (or rather try to sing) some our favorite Christmas carols (my daughters and I are singing Silent Night as one of the selections), get some fabulous freebie thank you gifts AND be helping this great cause.

Click Here to go to Carol for a Cause!

Sexy and Smart WAHM: Multi-task Your Way to a Healthy Body and a Booming Business by Nicole Dean

 Can you relate to this dilemma?

I sit on my keister too many hours each day while I'm working.
With the holidays coming, I'm a little worried about it ... growing.

Without getting into too much details about my keister, we'll just say that it's definitely not the best thing for any keister to be sitting too long each day and leave it at that.  

Do you spend too much time in your swivel chair, too?

That got me thinking. A lot of my time sitting is spent listening to recorded teleseminars to boost my business.

So, I decided that I'd use the teleseminars as an excuse to get Skinny, Sexy and Smart all at the same time! How? By getting an mp3 player and listening and learning while I walk or run.

Of course, the first player I looked at was the Ipod which is awesome and comes in a lot of different colors that would look great with my walking shoes -- but, the Ipod is pretty expensive. I didn't know if I would be THAT dedicated to walking just yet, even though I was really drooling over the green one. If you have the cash to spend on the Ipod, then go for it. I'll be green with envy if you do.

I checked into some more options and found a cool little mp3 player that was a fraction of the price. I received it last week, and I love it! It's working just fine for what I need.


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The first thing I did when I got my mp3 player was to start a file with about 20 hours of audios that I had saved up from a bunch of speakers who I admire. Talks on getting traffic,

improving my copywriting, and writing ebooks ... that fun kind of stuff that really gets us Internet Marketers fired up, and puts the rest of the world to sleep.

So, needless to say, I've got a lot of walking ahead of me. I'm feeling like Forrest Gump. I may start running ... and never stop.

If you're dreading the holiday weight gain, but don't want to take time away from your business, an mp3 player might be a good investment for you, too. Definitely shop around, if you're on a tight budget. There are a lot of options available and the prices on the lower end are very affordable. Ask Santa to help you multi-task to be a Sexy and Smart WAHM, too.



Stay mostly-sane with Nicole Dean at  http://showmomthemoney.com/free-tutorial.htm. And, if you hate exercising, Nicole recommends http://www.funexercisevideos.com .

Article Source: http://www.ladypens.com

Working from Home -- Examining your 'Why' by Nicole Dean

 As Work at Home Moms, we talk about our "Why" as a positive thing. Our "Why" is our purpose, our reason, our muse. We refer to our 'Why' when we need inspiration or motivation to reach outside our comfort zone, to try a little harder, to keep going even when it's hard. Our 'Why' helps us to succeed.

Today I was asking "Why work from home" in a slightly different tone. Today, I am home with a sick puppy and am up to my eyeballs in puppy puke.

I'm new to this puppy thing. I was warned up and down about how much work a puppy is, and I thought "I have two children. How hard can a puppy possibly be?!" Well, one difference is that newborn babies aren't born with fangs --

at least mine weren't. So, in between changing the gauze patches on my shredded arms (those teeth are sharp!), and hours of puppy school, I fell in love with this furry beast. He was added to my list of "Why's".

So, today, while I was composing my work at home mom newsletter, in the background I hear my furr-ball start to vomit -- again. The thought that ran through my mind initially was not a happy "Why". It was more like:

* "WHY in the world am I home to deal with this while my husband gets to sit in a quiet office all day?"
* "WHY isn't HE dealing with cleaning up the 8th pile of yucky stuff?"
* "WHY don't I get any peace and quiet while I work?!"

After I cleaned up the puppy, rubbed his head and got him clean blankets, threw in another load of laundry, and climbed into bed with my sick 7 year old and my 3 year old to read stories, I had time to collect my thoughts. A little bit (ok, a LOT) of puppy puke was sure worth it.

And, later, when I made my phone call to my husband to tell him about our day, it wasn't the puppy-puke I was telling him about....

I told him how our daughter said that she wanted to plant some jelly beans to grow a jelly bean tree. And, how the kids were playing the game of Life and I overheard their rules. They decided that the person who got the most parents
into the car won. That's why I stay at home.

And, if a furry little tail starts wagging when I walk into the room? Well, that's sure an added bonus.

So, the next time your warm and loving "Why" turns into a plea for help, take a deep breath and think of all the memories you would be missing -- both good and not-so-good, if you weren't a work at home mom.



Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane Mom behind www.ShowMomTheMoney.com.
Are you a Work at Home Mom looking for help in your online business? Take the ShowMomtheMoney 101 Tutorial

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Want a Steady Stream of Income? Do This and You Will! by Kathleen Gage

 Are you looking for cost effective strategies to reach your market and build credibility within that market? Most people would answer with a resounding, “YES!” Read on, the answer is as close as the next sentence.

As any of my longtime readers know, I am an advocate of email marketing. A method of marketing that allows me to keep in touch with people for a very reasonable cost and generate substantial amounts of revenue. Revenue not just for me, but also for clients and business associates.

I am not talking about a get rich quick scheme. I am talking about a system that has been invaluable over the last several years.

Although I have sold product directly from my web site to people who are on my list, it is the backend use of the names that has created the most value. By backend, I mean other products and services I make available to readers. Things such as free events where I have sold product and services back of the room; paid events, keynote speaking, training and consulting.

Granted, email marketing is not for everyone. I will be the first to admit this. Utilizing your email list in an effective way requires a commitment to a system to make it work effectively. For some the thought of having to have a consistent system is beyond what they want to do. No problem. However, if you want to learn how to utilize a valuable asset of your business this article will be of particular interest to you.  

When deciding to do email marketing, it is essential to keep in mind netiquette. What this simply means is there are certain courtesies in utilizing an email list. One is to avoid, at all costs, spamming. Do not send something to someone who didn’t request to be on your list. Additionally, avoid renting or selling your list to anyone unless people who are on your list are fully aware you are doing this.

Although I will promote events and products for others, no one, absolutely no one outside my company, has access to my email list. Granted, if there is a cross promotion that I do with others, all parties involved in the promotion will have access to the list of people who signed up for a specific promotion. What this means is people will sign up for an event and be put on a separate list. This in and of itself is a great way to continue to build your list.

Another part of netiquette is to not send a mass email out to people where everyone’s address is showing. This can be one of the worst offenses to people on your list. One, depending on how long your list is, it can take a considerable amount of time to scroll through the masses of names. Two, others now have full access to your email list. The best approach when managing a large list is to utilize a good software program that will allow you to effectively manage your list.

As with any form of marketing there are pros and cons. The advantages of email marketing are ease of use; inexpensive when compared to postal mailings, time effective and with the press of a button you can reach literally thousands of readers.

On the other hand, it is easy for people to delete your messages or save them for a “later read” and never get around to it. Or, if you are not clear in your subject line, people may assume it is spam and may delete it accidentally.

You will want to periodically clean out your database. People move, change providers, or they get too much mail at one address so they change the address. With programs such as Get Response (www.getresponse.com) a lot of the maintenance will be taken care of for you.

So how does one build a list? There are a number of effective ways. One, you can buy a list that promises thousands, and even millions, of “good” addresses. My advise – don’t do it. You will be wasting money.

Better than that is to find ways for people to request to be on your list. The first is to have a form that can be filled in on your web site. Depending on the software you use, the name and contact information will be put right into your database. This requires very low maintenance and is extremely efficient with the right software. The challenge here is how do you direct people to your site to sign up.

You can have a contest and invite people currently on the list to enter and to invite their friends and colleagues to enter. Great way to build a list, but unfortunately it may be with people who only want something for nothing.

Another way is to offer free reports, e-books, or articles. Again, invite others to tell people about your site.

If you are new to all of this, the best place to start is with your current client list. Develop something of interest to them, such as a special report. If you don’t have their email addresses you can either call or mail them a letter letting them know the report is available at your site and all they have to do is visit it.

If you have not gotten to the point of getting a web site yet all I can say is you should seriously consider what this might be doing to the image of your business. Can you afford not to have a site and stay competitive? I think not. However, make sure that your site runs smoothly and is professional looking. A bad site can hurt you more than no site.

Another option is to conduct a survey with your current client list. Simply send a message via email with a link to your site and the survey. You can promise to send the results of the survey to anyone who responds. Again, ask people to send the survey to others who would have an interest. Surveys work well because people want to be kept abreast of what other people in their line of work and industry are doing and thinking.

Beyond your customers, you have prospects that may be interested in being on your list. Once you are clear on whom your market is, it is easy to know who a prospect is. And prospects are literally everywhere.

Recently, I was in the grocery store buying some seafood. The woman who was helping me asked what I did. I told her I am a marketing and promotions advisor to small businesses who need to market efficiently and cost effectively. She mentioned her brother having a business and asked if I had a card. Of course I gladly gave her my card, but I also asked for her email address and her brother’s. I told her I would be happy to send her some articles that may be of interest to her brother. She agreed and presto, another name and address in my database. Of course, if I didn’t follow up – shame on me. But of course, I did follow up.

Other people’s customers are also a possibility. You can offer to write an article that can be sent to someone else’s list. The other person does the sending and at the end of your article you simply include a short byline with contact information on how to get more information. If the sender won’t let you include a byline with contact information you may want to reconsider writing for them. The idea here is to not only provide great information; it is to build you database.

Another valuable strategy is to do presentations tied into your primary product or service. I have been building my list with this strategy for years. It has been extremely effective and has been the foundation of so much of what I do in my local market. Activities that generate a continued stream of income.

These are just a few ways you can build your email list. A list, that if properly cultivated, can be worth untold revenues to you. As simple as it may seem, the best way to get people to want to be on your list and stay on your list is to create so much value for them, they wouldn’t even consider not being there.



Do you want to gain massive visibility within your market? Kathleen Gage can help you do just that. As a published author, keynote speaker and top rated business advisor, Kathleen Gage teaches strategies that give high impact and high return. Sign up for Gage’s FR*EE Report “Learn How a Salt Lake City base consultant made over $100,000 from one idea” at http://www.streetsmartsmarketing.com




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Tips for Overcoming Procrastination - By: Aurelia Williams

I've been meaning to do a newsletter on procrastination for week now, but I just haven't found the time to get around to it. Now how could I have resisted an opening like that?

Do you frequently find yourself putting essential tasks off until tomorrow, later, or never instead of doing them today? If procrastination has worked its way into your life, it may be time to change the way you think about your tasks and goals and begin to utilize better ways of tackling those things you've been procrastinating on.

As you can imagine and probably know from personal experience, when you procrastinate it not only affects the task but it can also affect you emotionally and bring on feelings such as guilt, inadequacy and stress.

There are many reasons that you may procrastinate. Poor time management, anxiety about a certain task and being bored by a certain task are just a few of the reasons that people procrastinate. In the end, procrastination usually leads to more stress.

Here are some tips for overcoming procrastination and building momentum:

Can you approach the task differently? Always be mindful of how you approach tasks. Ask yourself: Do I need to use a different technique? Will a new way of approaching this task make me feel better? How can I get some JOY out of starting this project? We all work in different ways and are inspired by different things. Find what works well for you and go with it.

Be sure you have what you need: Make certain that you have the right information, equipment and energy level to enable you to complete the task.

Plan, plan, plan: Did I say Plan? The time we spend in preparation and planning to see a task to completion is imperative. Set a time limit for yourself. Put a deadline on your tasks and work to reach that deadline.

Break it down: Big projects can feel overwhelming. Break them down into the smaller subparts. You'll get more done if you can do it piece by piece. Even the most dreadful tasks can be done in small increments.

Boost yourself up: Give your own motivation a good boost. Trust in your strengths. Take a moment to reflect upon other tasks that you have accomplished and feel good about! Keep reminding yourself that you can be successful!

Reward yourself: Celebrate and let yourself enjoy the completion of your tasks (large or small). It is important to never minimize your accomplishments.

Overcoming procrastination can be done and it usually involves both better organizational and time-management. You can start overcoming procrastination now and in the process, feel much better about yourself. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be surprised at how much joy, exhilaration and sense of accomplishment is on the other side of procrastination.

Tips for overcoming procrastination and building momentum

Aurelia Williams, certified Personal Life Coach and owner of Real Life Coaching and Real Life Solutions. She's the author of Journey To Joy, an empowering and life changing eBook.

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Holiday Sanity Savers from a Mostly-Sane Mom - By: Nicole Dean

The Holidays are a stressful time. Between the additional errands, the extra traffic, and the stress of spending money that you don’t have – even the sanest mom will be questioning her sanity as the holidays near.

Here are a few ideas to help you keep your sanity this holiday season.

Make a list (and check it twice). Keep your shopping list in your purse to keep from being overwhelmed or worse – overspending. If you walk into a store and are bedazzled by all the shiny things, I can relate. I get so overwhelmed that I get nothing accomplished. But, as the Holidays near, I tend to switch into “SuperMarket Sweep” mode and I start throwing everything into my cart (whether I really need it or not). Having a list can help fight this urge, keep you sane – and help your budget stay sane in the process.

As soon as you start buying, start wrapping. There's nothing more stressful than tackling a mountain of unwrapped gifts two days before Christmas. Save on the cost of wrapping paper by buying it after the holiday each year and stowing it away for next year. Be sure to attach gift tags as you wrap. If you're wrapping a month in advance, there's no way you're going to remember what that funky rectangular shaped box is, let alone who it's for.

To save time and sanity, wrap gifts that go together in all the same paper. For instance, wrap all gifts that will be going with you to your mother-in-law's on Christmas Eve in the red paper with the gingerbread men. And put all gifts for your friends and neighbors in the blue paper with the snowflakes, etc.

Cook in advance. Did you know that you can make mashed potatoes during the summer, freeze them, and have them ready for the holidays? Mashed potatoes can be kept in the freezer for months if you use a freezer-friendly recipe. Cook your mashed potatoes in advance and offer to bring them to Christmas dinner. You can skip the stress of cooking, because they’ll be ready and waiting for you.

Limit your travel. The holidays are about family, but they are also about togetherness and making memories. If you’re spending your holidays trapped in the car together, driving down icy roads, stressed out, consider ways to travel less.

The Holidays are a time to make memories. Oftentimes the memories we are making are of a stressed-out mom, running around missing out on all the fun because she’s trying to create a perfect moment. Instead, relax and experience the holidays with your family. Between a little planning and taking some of the pressure off, you’ll have a Holiday that would make Norman Rockwell sigh.

The Holidays are a stressful time. Between the additional errands, the extra traffic, and the stress of spending money that you don’t have – even the sanest mom will be questioning her sanity as the holidays near.

Nicole Dean is a mostly-sane mom and creator of ShowMomTheMoney.com – a fun and informative site to help moms achieve success working from home. She invites you to learn more money-saving tricks at http://www.showmomthemoney.com/TimeSavers.asp and to take her free tutorial for work at home moms at http://www.showmomthemoney.com/free-tutorial.htm

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