Pajama Mama – This is a take on at-home mom costume that mom’s never wear but admittedly I did as a costume in college. The big difference is that not only do you wear your jammies and robe, but you need to accessorize with a large cup of coffee and a laptop or Smartphone!

Twitter Maven – You can do the full deal and dress up like a blue bird. Or simply walk around with your Smartphone commenting on everything. Don’t forget, you have to talk in 140 characters or less!

Facebook Maven – Not into Twitter, then why not dress up as a Facebook Maven.  Get a big piece of card board and cut a hole big enough for your face to show through. Along one side list all the stuff you’ve been doing. Add a quiz to make it realistic. And don’t forget to add a “Facebook Me” option so others can befriend you.

What ideas do have?

When most people think about working at home, they think about the tasks specific to the work. Making their crafts, emailing for a client, completing a report. What is often left out is marketing. Without marketing there is no one to sell crafts to, to email for, or write a report for. The challenge of marketing is that its really like farming. In farming, you plant a seed today, nurture it, and months later you have a feast. Marketing works much the same way. You plant the seeds by either writing an article, sending a press release or running an ad. Then you have wait for the results.

Another challenge is that when results start to come, sometimes people stop planting their marketing seeds and then wonder why a few weeks down the road the sales have dried up.

Serious WAHMs know that something needs to be done today, to insure an income tomorrow and beyond. So as part of your daily to-do list, you should have something related to marketing. It could be contacting a podcaster about doing an interview. Writing an article. Adding your event to your Facebook page.

By doing something everyday, you can spread out the tasks of marketing so its not overwhelming and you insure that you’ll have business in the future. So…what are you doing today to make money tomorrow?

I’m a project and idea queen. I have so many great ideas and usually I just jump right in. The problem is, I have so many projects, that I can’t seem to manage it all. And because I jumped in, many are live and active but aren’t being cultivated. It comes to a point when I have to determine if I stick with it or let it go.

Obviously, I need to do more work before launch to figure out if a project should be pursued. But sometimes I get really excited about it and the potential of it, that I just run with it (I can’t be the only one). So I’m left with doing all the evaluating after the fact. I thought it might be helpful to share how I’ve been trying to determine whether to hold on to a project or fold it up.

1) Do I still have enthusiasm for it. You’ll notice I didn’t ask if it was making money, which is an important factor (see #2). But if I’m really excited about it, I’m willing to work with it for a time until it does make money or re-evaluate it later if it doesn’t.

2) Is it making money? New projects can take time to make money, so at least I need to see traffic or something that tells me its reaching its audience and the audience is starting to respond. After all, I do need to pay the mortgage so I don’t want to waste time on projects that won’t earn its keep.

3) Does it fit my goals? Its so easy to turn a hobby or passion into an online income stream these days. But not all my ideas work off one another and that can be harder. I have priorities and goals that include getting my book sold (which involves PR, marketing, and public speaking), I have a website that needs traffic (SEO and articles), and an information product that needs to be sold (articles, affiliates). All of these are related to working at home so much of my effort overlaps. When I get traffic to my site, they see my book and information products. But then I have some projects that are completely different. And while they can make money, they aren’t helping my goal of getting my book sold.

Even with these criteria, I’m still struggling to let some projects go. They’re like little children that I birthed and nurtured. But when too many projects makes it impossible to be efficient and effective, then something has to give.

Lemmings are those creatures that follow everyone else even if its off  a cliff and to their deaths. I have found that in some cases, people are like lemmings and that they want the people around them to be lemmings too. They don’t want others to reach for the stars and break away from the pack particularly to be successful. You see it all the time when friends and family sabotage dieting efforts (they don’t want you to be thinner or prettier than them). As long as the lemmings keep everyone in the pack, they can blame their circumstance on anything but their own failure to take action.

When you break away, strive to do and be more, the pack will try to rein you in so they don’t look mediocre. Their attempts to hold people back are often disguised as concern,

“I hope you aren’t setting yourself up for disappointment.”

“I hope you know what you are doing.”

“I heard those things never work.”

Other times they might just try to beat you down by making fun of you or saying that you aren’t smart enough.

“No one is going to buy from you.”

“I can’t believe you fell for that.”

“That’ll never work.”

The sad part is that friends and family, the people who should be the most supportive, are often the first ones to question, tease and even discourage you.

But, if you really want to succeed in working at home, you need to hold firm to your dream. Do you think people thought stay-at-home mom Mrs. Fields was crazy to think she could open a store selling her chocolate chip cookies? Do you think people thought Mary Kay Ashe was nuts to think she could support her family selling her cosmetics from her kitchen table? Do you think people thought J.K. Rowling was wasting her time and not being a good mother (they were extremely poor) sitting in that cafe day after day writing about Harry Potter?

Everybody starts at the bottom with only a dream. Mrs. Fields did. Mary Kay did. JK Rowling did. I did. None of us let the lemmings in our world (and those sometimes lurking in our psyche) hold us back. So don’t be a lemming. Move away from the cliff and forge your own path!

Sparkplugging is continuing our tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

I’ll admit it. I could use a good purge. I’ve got piles of papers, closets full of stuff, and storage room full of … well more stuff. I’d love to get rid of most of it.

The problem is the sorting. If I could just take it all and trash it, that would be easy. But I can’t. I have to go  through it, deciding what to keep, what to trash, and what to donate. That process is really horrible because in order to sort, you have take every thing out. That gives you a bigger mess than what you started with. And when you’ve finished sorting (assuming that you do), then you have to deal with the keep stuff….which for me means just piling it again. The whole thing is too overwhelming.

I suppose if I wasn’t careful I could end up on one of those Clean House shows, which wouldn’t be so bad if I got new furniture out of it. But despite my purge-reluctance, my house isn’t that bad. I think its because I do purge a little bit as I go. I deal with mail the moment it ends up in the house so I don’t have piles of junk mail waiting to go into the trash. A couple times a year I go through my books, and sell some on Amazon.com  to deal with my overcrowded book shelves (and to make room for new ones!). You won’t find Happy Meal toys or other junk stuff because once its left somewhere, I pick it up and throw it out (My kids have never seemed to notice).

I guess this makes me a purge-as-you-go type person. For the most part, the stuff I keep, is stuff I need or will use. There are exceptions because there is stuff I needed at one time that I don’t need now that I could probably part with. But that would take too much work and make a bigger mess. So I guess I’ll wait until I move. I’m a master purger when I move…the more you purge the less you have to pack and carry!

I’ve been providing work-at-home information and support for a long time. I’ve talked to a lot of women who were gung-ho about working at home one day, and then after a discussion with their husbands are content to commute and send the kids to day care. What happened?

What baffles me is not so much that the husband talked them out of it but that if the husband was going to be part of the decision, why wasn’t he brought in earlier? I have this impression that women are telling their husbands, “I want to work at home.” And the husbands are saying “Yes, dear.” But when she finally takes the step, and reality hits, husbands pull back. “Whoa! Where are you going to find the time?”, “What if you fail?”, “What is this thing you sent our hard earned money to?” (I should add here that I know this happens to husbands too who’d like to start a home business.)

Odds are the questions the husband raised were answered when the wife was researching, but I bet that her spouse didn’t visit a single website or read a single email when he expressed his opinion. And faced with a questioning spouse, she now has to explain her choices and maybe begins to second guess herself.

If your spouse has influence over your decision about working at home, then bringing him into the mix early on will be key to your success. Its hard enough to build a business without having a spouse who isn’t supportive.

Here are some ideas to help get your spouse on your side:

1) In most cases, it is very important to have your spouse read all the materials you read, listen to any recordings or calls, and talk to those you talk to as well. That way he/she can get the same information you do without your trying to explain it and missing something. Any questions or concerns can be raised and explored together. If he/she is resistant in participating in the research and evaluation process, then let him know that he will need to trust that you can make a good decision and support whatever decision you make. How can your spouse influence your decision when he doesn’t have all the information that you have?

2) All successful businesses have a business plan that outlines financial aspects. How will the business be funded and maintained? Many spouses worry that the family will fall into poverty if you quit to work at home. Therefore, make a plan to show that you won’t let the family finances suffer. Will you work your business around your job? Will work to live six months on one salary saving the second income to be used to start the business and live on until the business is successful?

3) Make a plan that shows how you are going to fit your business in with what you already do and how it will benefit the family in the long run. Let your spouse help with goals and even reap some of the rewards. My husband put the kids to bed (baths, lunches for school etc) so I can work because he would like a new car and a trip to Mexico this Christmas.

4) Plan for household management. Because I am home, I usually make dinner and take care of things that need to be done such as scheduling repairs. But I do work so my husband and children help with household chores as well.

5) Make a schedule so you have clear work and non-work hours I work a lot in the evening but I don’t work 3:30 pm to 7 pm; this is family time. I tuck my kids in at 8:30 pm and sometimes I work some more. But at 10 pm, I’m off for needed down time and hubby time.

6) Finally, let your spouse know working at home is important to you…if it is. Often home businesses, especially those run by moms, are seen as little mommy hobbies. And its okay if it is just a hobby. But if you are looking to make this your “career” or if its important to you, you need to convey that to your family.

If your spouse is holding you back, take a good look at why. It may be that one of the suggestions above will help him understand what it is you are trying to accomplish and how. But if its an effort to keep hold you back, then sometimes the only way to get
through to them is through success. Show them that you believe in yourself and your goal. Make a believer out of him by succeeding in your home business.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Something You Want So Badly You Can Taste It

Admittedly when I first read this week’s meme, I thought, “Oh great, I’m not wanting for anything. What can I possibly write about?” So after a brief discussion with our General Editor, Kelly and also after a bit of pondering I came to the conclusion that my “Something I want so badly I can taste it” doesn’t need to be a cure for world peace or a career milestone.

I was raised with the clear distinctions between wants and needs.  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has all of my basics covered – physiological, safety, social, self-esteem and self-actualization.  So when I said that there is nothing that I need; there is also not much else that I want either. I’m a content, happy person.

Alas, I have to pick something. So here goes, dream big with me.  Wait for it… Wait for it… You better sit down for this announcement.

A laptop computer. Yup, that’s it! That’s one thing that I want.  The cat is out of the bag. Now you know that I’m living on the wild side!

We’re a two PC family right now and both desktops work mostly, fairly, sorta, kinda well. (Note occasional need to direct naughty words toward said computers).  However if I had a new PC laptop that is loaded with the perfect software programs that would allow me to fully to harness and support my creative juices—one that is not prone to crashing when I need it most, life would indeed be grand.

So what’s my action plan to acquire said laptop?

Curbing expenditures is the main methodology I am employing in order to place me closer to reaching this goal.  For a host of irrelevant reasons, increasing income at this season in my life isn’t something I desire to do.

There are a number of areas where I can temporary cease or cut back on spending. I have been entertaining some home improvements such as replacing the flooring in my castle and adding a fence surrounding my property – neither of which are needs at this point. Also we enjoy dining out; it won’t be terribly difficult to cut back on that practice as well. I can tuck some coinage away until I can go pick out a smokin’ new laptop.

My grandfather frequently reiterated the importance of paying for items with cash and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And that is exactly what I’m planning to do.

That said … anyone have any recommendations for a laptop?

Sparkplugging is continuing our tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

When I first started working at home online, there was no Paypal or eBay. The word “spam” hadn’t been used yet. Blogs and YouTube had yet to be conceived. Internet marketing was about bulk mailing (spam), pop ups, and adding your URL to search engines (pre-SEO). If I was still operating under the old rules and ignoring new tools, my business would be dead and gone. Keeping your business up-to-date with the latest resources and know-how is as important as marketing and other aspects of running your business.

Keeping on top of trends you need to know about is easy. Personally I love books. In fact, I recently wrote a post here about how Leaders are Readers sharing my belief that books are a significant part of personal success. I have piles and piles of books on my desk and bed side table. They range from marketing books (The Wuffle Factor and Secrets of Social Media), book promotion (The Frugal Book Promoter), and success (Go Put Your Strengths To Work) books just to name a few. That doesn’t include the magazines such as Working Mother, Home Business, and Writers Digest.

But books and magazines aren’t the only methods to gaining the knowledge you need to stay on top in the WAHM world. Blogs and news feeds offer lots of great tips, tools and news. I love Lifehacker and WebWorkerDaily for sharing new Google Hacks and other great tools to streamline my work. I follow several WAHM and telecommuting blogs as well. And Google Alerts lets me know when topics I want to know about are posted in other places I may not find otherwise.

Seminars are another great way to gain additional skills to increase your credibility and marketability. Community centers and colleges offer a host of low cost adult education course that can help you manage your money, learn Excel or other computer programs, learn to speak in public and much more. If you don’t want to leave the house, odds are you can find similar seminars offered through the phone (teleseminars) or online (webinars).

Finally, your network is a wonderful place to find new information and learn new skills. I can’t tell you how many great resources I have found by networking with other WAHMs. Its how I found Sparkplugging!

However you do it, learning should be a daily part of your working routine. Whether its checking out the technology through a blog feed or gaining confidence by reading a motivational book or learning great software hacks through a course,  the more you learn and implement, the more you’ll earn.

Forced Registration

Sites use this tactic to get visitor’s contact information before letting them see the good stuff. While its true that building a list is an important part of a profitable online business, forcing visitors to give their information is counter intuitive to the idea of  “opt in”. Sure they give their information, but they did it to see the next page, not to continue to get emails from you. Many visitors (myself included) often simply leave a page if I have to give my email before seeing the content. Without knowing what the site has in store, how does a person know if they want email.

The reality is many people get annoyed when content is held for ransom. Instead put the list sign up form on your information page where visitors can sign up after they see your great content. If you’re going to lead with a registration page, at the very least give an option not register and yet still be able to access the information. Better to have a visitor and not get the email, than to turn a visitor away annoyed…and still not have the email.

Difficult Site Navigation

I’m sometimes surprised at how hard it can be navigate some websites. The links are hard to find or don’t make sense. One problem is poor planning of the site. Another issue is that I think some people forget that search engines index many pages of a site, so visitors may enter the site from a page other than the home page. No matter what page a visitors enters the site on, they need to be able to get to all other pages of the site. One way to really help visitors out is to have a clear navigation on each page. Even better have a site map. It makes it easy for visitors to find what they want, and search engines love them.

No or Hard to Find Contact Information

I was at a blog this morning and wanted to contact the owner about interviewing her for my podcast. There were two sources of navigation along the top, none of which said “contact”. I looked along the sidebar and the footer. No contact link. I clicked on the “About” page and found a contact form. So the information was there, but it took time to find it. Some you may be saying it should be obvious to look on the About page. But if you want to make money online, don’t make your visitors have to work to get what they want on your site. Not all visitors are willing to take the time to search your site especially when there are millions of other sites offering the same information and who have the contact info displayed on every page.

I think some people hide their contact information because they don’t want to be inundated with questions from visitors. But those visitors have money and a little contact can convince them to stay with you instead of moving on to the next site. Also potential customers are not the only ones who use the contact information.  I have had media contact me through my website for interviews that have led to great  PR.

When I first started Work-At-Home Success in 1998, there weren’t very many other work-at-home websites on the net. In fact, I can only think of one other. I could get away with a hard to use site. But today there are thousands of sites and more coming online everyday. People are looking for information…information they can trust. So having a site that is easy to enter and use is crucial. And because people need to know there is a real person behind the scenes, making it easy for them to provide feedback, ask questions, and yes, even complain, is also important.

Sparkplugging is continuing our tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Following Your Gut

This is very timely for me.  Recently my gut took me on quite a journey.  Below is the Reader’s Digest version.

I had an overwhelming urge to contact a fellow WAHM about one of her websites.  I asked her if she had ever considered selling it, because if so, I would be interested in discussing the possibly ownership of it.  I had never approached anyone about such a transaction like that but my gut kept telling me to ask.

Turns out the owner actually had considered it but didn’t take any action on it.  She went on to say that she had actually at one point considered that I would be a good candidate to take it over.  I did what I thought was much research, sought counsel from a confidant and began the negotiation.  A short time later I was the new owner.

However it didn’t take very long before I started to feel an overwhelming sense of buyer’s remorse.  Again I sought counsel about the situation. At first I thought it was just fears of taking on something new and challenging.  We’ve all felt that way at one time or another, haven’t we?

But my gut kept telling me to HALT. Then I was reminded of a nugget someone once told me and that was to never make a decision if you’re HALT – Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired.  So I did a quick inventory. I wasn’t hungry; had nothing to be angry over; I’m alone but that doesn’t make me lonely; and as for tired, well I have Idiopathic Hypersomnia, so I’m always tired, but that was the norm.  Still my gut kept telling me that I had made the wrong decision.

That was hard for me to accept because it seemed so serendipitous that I contacted the WAHM out of the blue and the transaction went very smoothly. Yet when I took an honest look at the situation, I had to admit that I was in way over my head.  My current knowledge, skills and abilities did not come close to that of what would be required to successfully pull off the new venture.

I ended up finding a new home, a very good home for the site and got out from under it and I’m back headed in a forward direction, no longer stuck in the quagmire.

What Went Wrong:  I definitely thought I took all the necessary precautions to thoroughly investigate whether or not there was water in the pool before I jumped in.  I had the peace that I require before making any major decisions and it all fell together well.  The flaw is that I did not ask enough questions as to what would be required.  Had I done so, I would have realized early on that it wasn’t a good match.

What Went Right: I followed my gut by listening to the not so gentle nudges I was feeling that something was awry.  I also followed my instincts and got out before too much time or money was wasted.  We salvaged this misfit, and now the previous owner, the new owner and I are all delighted in the results.

Speaking of results – as a result of this crazy gut journey, something wonderful developed.  Actually it’s still in the development process, but I assure you it’s a good fit and it likely would not have come to fruition had I not had the little experience as described above.  Stay tuned … I’ll let you in on it soon.