Business Plans Can Be Helpful
Business plans may be overkill in certain situations where your plan is to build a small business to supplement your family income. But, if you find yourself wanting to take it to the next step a business plan can help to raise funds from family, friends, banks, or angel investors. More importantly, the process of putting together a business plan truly helps clear out the cobwebs and fantasies by forcing you to piece together a sensible plan for how you’re going to succeed in your business despite the many obstacles, which you’ll have to contemplate while writing your plan AND include in your plan.
Is Working from Home Really Possible?
Submitted by: Barbara Murtaugh
I never thought of myself as a stay-at-home mom. I liked the direction my career was going and always thought that I would work outside the home, even after my children were born. And that’s exactly what happened . . . until my son Sean was 3 years old. That’s when little sister Melissa joined her big brother Sean.
After the birth of Melissa, my husband and I decided that with the stress of both of us working full time, never spending any time with our children, and the rising cost of daycare, it was time for me to come home. The question was, “Is working from home really a viable option?” Would it be possible for me to be a stay-at-home mom to my children, and have an income from a job that I enjoy and that is beneficial to our family, both personally and financially?
On-Demand Hiring Will Continue to Flourish
If the names Guru.com and Elance.com are unfamiliar to you then listen up. These are two of many sites that connect businesses in need of help with businesses that provide the type of help needed. Of course, many of these businesses are one-person companies like some of us. Called “on-demand hiring” by some, this method of hiring and paying for help only when needed was made viable with the rise of the internet. Finding qualified help is as easy as buying a book on Amazon.com now.
Two sites I recommend you visit whether you’re on the buy-side or the sell-side are Guru.com and Elance.com. 
They’ve both been operating for years and have enough critical mass (i.e. a lot of people buying and selling) to make it worthwhile to join. If you’ve been looking for extra income without the hassle of a “job” then visit these sites and explore the various types of skill sets that are marketable by the hour on these sites. Everything from administrative assistance, typing, or writing to strategic consulting, business plan writing, and telemarketing is being sought and offered.
How to Setup an Affiliate Link That Looks Normal
Ready to become a WAHM Geek?
Have you ever hovered over a banner ad or link only to shy away from clicking on it because the link looked like code written by some pimply faced hacker?
Chances are the link was a tracking link used to record where you were when you clicked. This is how affiliate programs are tracked so the right people get credit for sending traffic and paid.
Here are two examples of typical affiliate links:
https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=68188&c=ib&aff=18667&ev=af7a1c01e8
or like this if they’re trying their best to not scare you out of clicking :
They’ll work if and when people click on them, but there is a cleaner, more effective, approach.
Here’s how you can setup affiliate links that should help your overall results:
- Log into your Web host manager (cpanel in my case) and create a new FOLDER and name it ‘more’ (or whatever you prefer). Note: You can set this folder up in your root directory (public_html) or in any subfolder.
- Next open the new “more” FOLDER and create an HTML FILE named “info1001″ or anything you like. You should keep it generic and keep in mind that you may want to create many more links in the future.
This has created a single blank page in the ‘more’ folder. This will result in a link that looks like this when someone scrolls over it:
http://www.yoursite.com/more/info1001.html
Now you have the good looking link ready… but if you want the link to work you will have to insert a little code onto the HTML page you created, which is inside of the new folder.
Here’s the code:
(REPLACE the generic info in all caps with YOUR information.)
—————————————————————
<html>
<head>
<title>YOUR PAGE TITLE</title>
<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>
</head>
<body>
<p>
Redirecting, please wait. If you’re not redirected within a couple of seconds,
click here:<br />
<a href=”http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>PRODUCT NAME</a>
——————————————————–
Change “YOUR PAGE TITLE” (whatever you want it to be)
Change “YOUR AFFILIATE URL” to the affiliate url given to you from vendor for the item or page (must be precise and complete)
Change “PRODUCT NAME” to your affiliate product name (can be anything)
——————————————
Yes, it takes about 10-15 minutes, but once it’s setup you can reuse it everywhere you want to market that program, product, or service using the easy-to-remember URL you created from scratch.
If this doesn’t work for you try this site:
http://www.forfreedom.ws/affiliate-marketing-for-dummies/how-to-hide-affiliate-links-25/
(NO… that is NOT an affiliate link! Really!)
Our First Advertiser!
A big thank you to Matisse and Jacks for taking the plunge and becoming an advertiser on a Mom Ad Network I joined just a couple of days ago!
They offer healthy, nutritious, natural and junk-free, bake-at-home snacks. No doubt they’re scrumptious!
I’d link to them, but it’s better if you click one of their ads (over that way —>>>) so they know we love them for supporting Moms and WAHMs!
Great Ad Network for Owners of Niche Websites
I came across this ad network a couple of days ago and am impressed by how easy it is to get setup and in position to accept banner ads from larger advertisers without lifting a finger. What’s really nice is my Google ads will keep running up until the time I, or a community I’m connected with, get an advertisers to place an ad in the preset ad spot. Only upside.
Larger advertisers have a tough time reaching niches that are perfect for their products. That’s because most niches are made of small- and medium-sized websites and it’s very efficient for them to establish manage individual relationships with each of them.
This ad network solve this problem by letting Website publishers combine ad inventory through a social network-style matching system to “roll-up” their ad space into highly targeted packages that advertisers can buy across. By grouping your ad space together with a community of sites like yours, you give advertisers a way to find your site and other relevant publishers (with similar audiences) that they might not otherwise have discovered. More importantly, these advertisers can easily establish campaigns across all of these smaller sites encouraging them to do so.
The ad network is Adroll and I encourage you to check it out starting with the short video clip below. I’d also appreciate if you would check out 3 communities I’ve setup for moms and WAHMs.
The Mother Hood – Momz – WAHMs
Bloom Your Blog
Unless you blog to avoid having to spend money on therapy then you probably want more readers then you currently have. I’m no pro so I’ve been surfing around looking at other successful blogs and trying to grab some ideas.
I found some great info over at the Internet Marketing Sweetie Blog by Alice Seba. I’d summarize here, but she did such a nice job cutting to the chase it would be just as fast to give her blog a quick visit. How to Get Blog Traffic – 11 Steps to Growing Readership
You’ll also find some invaluable advise on affiliate marketing that can go a long way towards making your addiction to blogging pay for itself or perhaps even some extra gas money (albeit not much).
Blog on!
Top 10 Reasons Women Start a Home Business
This article was contributed by: Bizy Moms (Bizy Moms is a world leader serving work at home moms by helping them to be independent via starting and managing their own businesses.)
It’s a big decision to stay home with your family, rather than continue in a traditional job outside the home. But did you know that there are many choices if you decide to do so?The first step before starting a work from home business is to forget about the business all together. Don’t think about what kind of business you want or what you want from it or anything like that. Next, write down your life. What have you accomplished in your lifetime so far? What things have you not done that you thought you would have done by now. What things would you like to accomplish or do in the years to come?
Look at your answers and write down goals for yourself. What would you like to achieve and by when would you like to achieve them. What will it take to achieve these goals? Are you in a position now that you will be able to achieve your goals? If not, why not?
These answers and goals should be your motivation for whatever you decide to do. So now you hopefully know what you want out of life!
Getting what you want in life usually involves knowing what you want first. If you get what you want before you even know you wanted it, consider yourself lucky, and don’t throw it away before you realize its value.
There are several advantages to working from your home including flexible working hours, low overhead, and more available time to work while other people are commuting to their jobs. Obviously the appeal of one or more of these can be more than enough for many of us to give working from home a try.
And who knows, maybe a few minutes, hours, or days later, you’ll land a big sale or be rewarded for your efforts like never before. And then you’ll be reminded that, YES! You are doing the right thing! That the “crazy” idea of starting your own home-based business was actually the BEST decision you’ve ever made.
Here are the Top 10 reasons for moms to start a home business
1- Save on Day Care costs
2 – No commuting
3 – More flexibility
4 – Spend more time with your family
5 – Save on office attire and lunches
6 – Helps you to do something you like
7 – To be able to say ‘I own a business’
8 – You don’t have to execute your boss’s ideas
9 – Satisfied with your own achievements
10 – Your time is invested for your betterment
As you can see the benefits are numerous. Take some time today to see if starting a home business is the right choice for you. List the costs of commuting and working outside of your home. List the perks to being home for your children everyday, list the “downers” too. Also make a list of the space, equipment and skills you already possess that will aid you in starting a home based business. And finally, make a list of the possible businesses you could start with the equipment and skill set you just listed. Writing down your thoughts and assets is a great way to see the whole picture as it pertains to you and your family. You may be very surprised where your lists lead you. Give it a try!
The Best Thing About Running Your Own Business
Perhaps the best thing about running your own business is the effect it might have on how your children view how things work in this world. I recently received an email from a WAHM that was moving and will help drive this point home. It’s not all about money.
Nicole Pauling is a “muralist” and she paints murals in York PA and the surrounding area. Her business, Artistic Expression Murals, brightens up rooms, swimming pools (one of only two in the U.S.!), offices, businesses, and windows. Nicole is a mom and entrepreneur and like most of us stays very busy day-to-day.
One day her 5 year old daughter, Katrina, came home with a box of rocks and asked her to sell them for her so that she could buy food for those who needed it. Nicole said, “Honey, no one will buy plain rocks.” Katrina replied, “That’s ok. Then I’ll paint them.” And that’s what she did. Since then she has collected almost $150 and 300 food items to donate locally in York, PA!
Read that again!
This little girl had learned that if you want to raise money for something that you can do so by creating something and selling it to people who wanted what you created. She also has learned that the oft-heard “that won’t work” shouldn’t deter you from trying! When Nicole said no one would buy plain rocks, she didn’t take it as a reason to give up, but rather as a reason to think of what she had to do to make it work! She painted them!!
This lil’ entrepreneur and world-changer has raised hundreds of dollars to buy food for people who can’t afford to feed themselves enough. She’s a shining star that can teach all of us some lessons.
For more information about this lil’ superstar check out this article in their local newspaper, The York Daily Record: Kindergarten girl paints rocks to feed the hungry
In the Business of Saving Children’s Lives
Kristin Salgado, a registered ER nurse and mother of three, developed an instructional DVD that shows the basic steps of proper CPR and Heimlich maneuvers for children. With the help of a local production company (Tommy Rosa film productions). Together they’ve come up with a fantastic video, that’s informative, educational and is up to date with the latest CPR techniques. As a mom Kristin knows how hectic things can be every day. Not too many parents have free time to go out and get certified in CPR, nor does this DVD certify you , but it does offer a very good “crash course”.