About Sparkplugging

Long ago, in a land far, far away, one little mom wanted to start a blog as a hobby. She had big dreams of running a snazzy dot com from her kitchen table office. She thought maybe one or two other moms might be interested in what it was like to run an internet startup from home. So she blogged about her startup on a site named eMoms at Home.

That little hobby blog grew and it took on a life of its own. 3 months later that one little mom ditched her other startup to work on her hobby blog full time. And suddenly there weren’t just moms hanging around. There were dads too. And even people who didn’t have any kids at all.

So many people came to hang out with this mom that she decided to branch out. She couldn’t keep up with the demand for information on how to run a business from home. So she started to hire authors to lend a hand. Really cool, talented, experienced writers who rocked. Oh, and they knew a thing or two (or twenty) about running a business (and running a family), too.

But this all presented a tiny problem for the little hobby site for “eMoms”.

We were more than just moms (& dads), and more than just home business owners. We were entrepreneurs, telecommuters, moonlighters, freelancers, consultants, bloggers, tech geeks, artists, media professionals, marketers, stay at home parents, authors, podcasters, WAHMs, & WAHDs, and we didn’t want to hear the same old crap about running a business from home. We needed fresh, current, and balanced content that helped us to run a business while making sure we had time for what’s really important in life.

So in April of 2008, exactly two years later, eMoms at Home became Sparkplugging.

Why Sparkplugging? Because the people who come to this site are Spark Plugs - we are people who make things happen. We love business, and we love our free time. And we’re willing to do what it takes to make a great living while also living a great a life.

Wendy Piersall, Sparkplugging CEOWendy Piersall, Sparkplug CEO

CEO and founder Wendy Piersall has over 8 years’ experience working in a home office & Sparkplugging is Wendy’s third home-based business. Her past experience includes several entrepreneurial endeavors, as well as holding two Business Development positions with Socrates.com and Paladin, a marketing recruiting firm. She also currently writes for the Entrepreneur.com Blog Network and resides in west suburban Chicagoland with her husband and three children.

Please also take some time to get to know our authors. They ROCK. Seriously.

Marla Tabaka, Ask the Coach

Marla TabakaMarla Tabaka, founder and president of LifeMap Coaching, is a Life Coach and Business Development Specialist. Her practice focuses on entrepreneurs and individuals who wish to identify and achieve their life’s vision through a consistent structure of support and innovative strategies and approaches. Marla’s areas of study and expertise include e-myth Mastery Coaching, NLP, (neuro linguistic programming) science of mind philosophy, applied kinesiology, and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). In addition to extensive training in these areas and applications, Marla has studied with the Coach Training Alliance and The Coachville School for Coaches and is a member of the International Coaching Alliance. She has a combined 25 years experience in corporate, start up and entrepreneurial ventures.

Marla also serves as a Success Coach for Make Mine a Million Dollar Business award recipients of the nationally known organization, Count-Me-In for Women’s Economic Independence. Funded by American Express, this coaching program is targeted at assisting promising, women-owned businesses to grow to annual revenues of one-million-dollars and beyond.

Starla Sireno, Ask the Coach

Starla Sireno Four years ago, Starla ESCAPED. No one was holding her hostage, except for the golden handcuffs, but her exit from corporate America sure felt like an escape. It was the most liberating, exhilarating and terrifying thing she had ever done. And the healthiest decision of her life. She chose the path of coach and trainer because that’s what she’s built for - helping others connect with what is important to them. After spending tens of thousands of dollars on a Masters degree and 12-years in the corporate world, it seemed like a shame to throw all of it out the window.

Her company, Fearlessness, Inc., is an entrepreneurial coaching company that helps business owners, like all of you, who want to get past the overwhelm so that you can find more fun and freedom in your lives.

Edward Mills, Ask the Coach

Edward MillsEdward Mills is a Law of Attraction Coach, seminar leader and product creator. His mission is to help people think, dream and play much bigger in the world. His coaching practice is backed with extensive business experience including 6-years as director of the marketing department of a national financial services company. And from 1992 - 1999 he ran a successful freelance marketing and web design business. Edward is a Founding member of the International Association of Coaches and of Coachville where he pursues continuous training in the latest coaching tools and techniques. He also explores personal development, conscious evolution and the Law of Attraction on his EvolvingTimes Blog.

Brandie Kajino, The Home Office Organizer

Brandie Kajino Brandie Kajino is “The Home Office Organizer“. She enjoys empowering home office professionals to get organized, increase productivity and reduce stress. Brandie’s specialty is helping passionate home office professionals streamline their offices, so they can go out and change their corner of the world. She has been featured on the television show, “This Week In Real Estate”, contributed to Portland Family Magazine, Vancouver Family Magazine and radio talk shows. She is also an active member and volunteer in the National Association of Professional Organizers on a national and local level. She currently lives in the beautiful Portland, Oregon metro area with her husband and son.

Susan Payton, The Marketing Eggspert

Susan Payton Susan Payton is the Marketing Eggspert, and owner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations. Egg helps small and medium sized businesses “hatch good ideas” through internet marketing. Egg offers press releases, eNewsletters and marketing strategy. After earning BA degrees in French and English as well as an MBA, Susan found there was a niche for businesses that needed marketing but who couldn’t afford to hire a marketing staff. She developed her company to serve this niche. Susan is a self-professed entrepreneur, and is the author of Lifetips 101 Entrepreneur Tips. She is passionate about helping other entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.

Melissa Moog, Simply Green

Melissa Moog Melissa Moog is the founder of Itsabelly Baby Concierge, a premier national baby planning service designed to help parents navigate the world of all things maternity and newborn. Itsabelly focuses on helping parents choose green products and adopt a more eco-friendly parenting lifestyle. Melissa loves to work with new parents to provide them with the best baby gear decisions based on their budget and lifestyle. Every month Melissa can be found offering parenting and baby gear advice on Portland’s AM Northwest television program. Itsabelly has been featured in Pregnancy Magazine, Tot Trends Weekly, Cool Mom Picks, Peekaboo Picks, Portland Picks, and Metro Parent. Melissa reviews green products and provides eco-friendly tips on her own Itsabelly blog.

Lisa Lam, CraftBoom!

Lisa LamLisa is a 30 something bag-making-o-holic, who in 2005 turned that passion for making bags into a business at U-Handbag. 2 years later her bag making supplies e-commerce business is ticking over nicely, and she adores running it! It is by far the most satisfying job she has ever had. Lisa gets such a kick out of running her own craft business that she works hard to help other women and men who want to make a living as an artisan experience similar highs (and hopefully fewer lows!) for themselves.

Derek Semmler, The Man Page

Derek SemmlerDerek is a father to two terrific boys and has managed to cast a spell over a terrific woman that agreed to be his wife. Like many superheros before him, he dons the disguise of a Software Engineer by day and answers the call of the Interweb by night. With a B.S. - if you only knew - in Computer Science, he thrives in a technical setting but really loves the opportunity to work at home to be close to his family. As the founder of Red Staple Media, Derek is enjoying the ability to blog about his passions, share time with his wife and kids, and hit the open road on his Harley at a moments notice.

Shannon Hutton, Seasonal Kids’ Activities & Believer in Balance

Shannon HuttonShannon Hutton believes the key to living a happy life is balance. On good days, she gets work done and plays with her three girls! She draws on her experience working full-time, part-time and from home with three kids to blog about the universal challenge of achieving work-life balance at Believer in Balance. In addition, she uses her master’s in counseling and professional experience as a school counselor to write about parenting and school issues in her Ask the School Counselor weekly segment. Shannon also shares creative, easy and fun kids crafts, recipes and coloring pages at Seasonal Kids Activities.

Lorna Doone Brewer, Freelance Parent & Celebrity Business

Lorna Doone BrewerLorna Doone Brewer is a freelance writer and entrepreneur based in Spokane, Washington. After earning a B.A. in Theatre Arts at Gonzaga University, she took her love for the arts and social justice one step further by pursuing an M.A. in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Nonprofit Organizations. Along with her business partner, Tamara Berry, Lorna combined this education with a passion for writing to found the Berry-Brewer Freelance Agency. The company produces a variety of materials for businesses, with a special focus on nonprofit organizations. From grants to web content, Lorna and the entire Berry-Brewer Freelance Agency strive to help each organization fulfill its mission.

Tamara Berry, Freelance Parent

Tamara BerryTamara Berry is a freelance writer/editor and co-founder of the Berry-Brewer Freelance Agency. She currently holds a B.A. in English Literature with a special focus on technical writing. Although literature is her passion, her primary focus throughout her professional career has been writing for a variety of business types, including a special focus on nonprofit organizations. She currently lives in Spokane, WA with her husband and daughter.

Dawud Miracle, Contributing Author, Sparkplug CEO

Dawud MiracleDawud Miracle is a business growth adviser that has been in the trenches with business owners since 2003 teaching them how to increase revenue while creating more free time. Today he not only build static websites and blogs, but I also help small business owners understand how to use the full internet to expand their own businesses. He’s doing more and more coaching and consulting to help clients learn how to use these incredible tools or to help them solve a problem in part of their business that’s stuck.

Kelly McCausey, WAHM 2.0

Kelly McCauseyKelly McCausey worked hard for others for many years and never made ends meet. Now this single mom enjoys the freedom that comes from working hard for herself as an internet marketer, podcaster and WAHM business coach. Host of Work at Home Moms Talk Radio, Kelly is driven to help other moms achieve their personal and professional dreams of working at home.

Megan Jordan, eBay & eCommerce

Megan JordanMegan Jordan is a stay-at-home mom of two toddler boys on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She stumbled into eBay selling as a fluke and quickly found success as an owner of an eBay store. Her down-to-earth style and easy approachability were instant hits with her eBay customers, as well as friends, family, and strangers who sought her out for advice on how to get started selling on eBay themselves. She now lives in her own home bought on - you guessed it - her eBay earnings.

Kristie McDonald, eBay & eCommerce

Kristie McDonaldKristie owns eCommerce store Nitro Toyz, is an entrepreneur and a mother of three. From a strong background in systems consulting, Kristie made the transition into Working At Home over 2 years ago and has specialized in eCommerce stores and web marketing. Her experience with building her own online Yahoo! store combined with her passion for consulting and teaching others to do the same has catapulted her career in eCommerce and Online Business coaching & consulting.

Erika Jurney, Roaming Smartypants & Idea Chipper-Inner

Erika JurneyErika Jurney is the mom of 3 crazy boys and lives in Norther California. Her personal blog is Plain Jane Mom, and you can also always find her hanging out on Twitter. She also runs a directory for small, ‘tiny’ really, businesses over at Businesses Run by Humans. She enjoys skeet shooting, free-range chicken farming, and creating obscure Hotmail accounts.