Work From Home? Does anyone else ...

[KristinW]

Hi ladies. I was just wondering how many of you work from your home and how you are doing. What have you tried to be successful? What have been your blunders? Any tips, besides keep going, are welcome. I'm new to it and trying to do well. I'd love to surprise my husband and give him a retirement...long story there, but we don't have one and he's 43, me 33. I'm trying to do this right. I think I have the right approach but ... well, just want to get going real good. I've advertised in a local bargain newspaper for the next two months. That should help. I do seem to be doing better locally rather than online. Thanks in advance for your suggestions ... no ads please, I'm trying to make this one work ... and I believe in it.

[amcbride]

I have an outside job but am currently building a home based business.It is going okay considering the amount of time I have to devote to it.I plan to use it to replace my present income and I am sure I'll be able to do it.

[TeresaR]

I work from home as an artist and a freelance writer (children's literature). Marketing and networking are my toughest hurdles to jump, but I find lots of inspiration and info at various sites designed to help work-from-home parents; some of my favorites are:

ParentPreneurClub

Idea Cafe

En-Parent

Home-Based Working Moms

Now I just need to go into my own real (non-cyber) community and get my name out there!

Teresa

[Robin whittington]

I'm a 40 year old SAHM of three, ages 8,7,& 4.
I work from home and love it! I like helping people and seeing my efforts help families and the world around us. The company I work with has a great compensation plan, a new car program, and travel benefits that can include the family. We even have a benefits package available.
I have found that the best way to grow is through sharing. I have done the newspaper, flyers and internet but most of mine comes from word of mouth and belonging to a few groups I enjoy. I try to share everywhere I go when there is a need and I can help fill it. I am always listening. I believe in what I do and that makes it easier for me to share. I'm always open to new ideas.

[gwtw-mom]

I have been a work at home mom for almost three years now. Right after the birth of my first son, me boss offered to let me work from home before I could make the pitch to him! I worked for the company for about 2 years and then my boss left and a new boss came in. He did NOT like my set up so I eventually had to leave that position because 1. I was pregnant with my second child and 2. He wanted me to put the kids in day care and work in the office.

I found another job off the Internet. Yes, there are legitimate jobs out there and no, I don't assemble products in my spare time or sell door to door. I am a transcriptionist. It's wonderful. I was worried about how my schedule would work with a newborn and a potty training 2 1/2 year old, but so far things are going great.

You said you were looking for blunders as well as tips. My biggest advice is don't take on more than you can handle. That seems like petty advice, but I found myself offering to do things (volunteering, things like that) on top of working. You have to remember that you are a WAHM and that means you need to treat the workday just like someone who doesn't go to work in the pj's

I am so glad to find other WAMS out there!!

gwtw-mom

[stitcher45]

I am a SAH Grandmother. I have 2 grandaughters who live with me and keep me pretty busy in the summer but when they are in school I realy like to find something I could do to bring in extra money. For many years I taught early elem. and loved it - then I got hurt and had to go on disability. That was 16 years ago and I have watched my husband work 2 or 3 jobs at once in order to make up for the loss of my income. He is 61 and after the doctor warned him he is headed for using a wheelchair because of his bad back - he had to quit all extra jobs and concentrate on his main one. It is wonderful to have him home more but it sure cut into our finances.


Does anyone have any good ideas for a way to get started - where to look for oportunities? I do a lot of crafting and in the past I have sold my things through my sister's Christmas boutique - then she closed it down a few years ago. I have never tried the craft show thing but have thought about it. Does anyone do that or sell their crafts - art?

I admire all of you for wanting to get a retirement fund started as early as you can. We didn't and now we are going to suffer the conciquience. You are a great bunch. Give yourselves a round of appaulse.

[TeresaR]

Selling your crafts is a wonderful way to earn extra income; many people have built successful businesses of it! Since you've sold through your sister's store, you're probably already familiar with some of the business aspects, which is great. I suggest that you look at one of Barbara Brabec's books on how to run a crafting business. She writes very informative books on that subject in an easy to read and understand style. The book I have is Handmade for Profit, but she has several others which may be more pertinent to you.

Best of luck!

Teresa

[Crafty Amanda]

Important Notice from the Administrator

I just read through this thead, and as far as I can tell it has not stayed on topic. I purposely did NOT include a Work at Home Parents section, because THIS is what these topics always turn into. A classified ad place for people to ask for info and others to send it.

This thread was set up by Kristin in an effort to get people to network and help each other as a support for other work at home parents, NOT as a place to solicit your home business or to fish for new prospects.

If the thread does not turn around and become a productive place to discuss strategies for working at home (support, networking, marketing ideas for your business, keeping up on the house, etc) then the thread will be CLOSED.

I feel very strongly about this. There will be no more asking for info on work at home businesses, nor will there be anymore soliciting. I am deleting the posts that are unrelated to this topic or that do not present any significant information or questions.

Thanks for your understanding. If you are confused about our Anti-Spam Policies please visit this link (everyone agreed to these policies when they clicked the "Agree" button upon registration of these forums) http://www.thefamilycorner.com/services/spam.shtml

[Crafty Amanda]

Some other very good resources for work at home parents, and for those looking for work at home businesses that are legit, aare the following sites that I personally recommend and endorse:

Moms Network Exchange
http://www.momsnetwork.com

Moms Network has been around for many years. They have a great discussion list of a few hundred wahm's. That's where I started and got many ideas from. This site is run by Cyndi Webb. She also offers web hosting and low cost advertising for wahm's. I have worked with Cyndi for many years and she is wonderful.

WAHM.com
http://www.wahm.com

This site has an awesome section called "WAHM Undercover". The owner of the site, Cheryl Demas, author of "The Work-At-Home Mom's Guide to Home Business: Stay at Home and Make Money With Wahm.com", signs up for potential work at home opportunities and then exposes them as scams or delivers a good report if they are legit. This site has also been around for many years. I have met Cheryl in person and she is a fabulous person to know!

Bizy Moms
http://www.bizymoms.com

This site is owned and operated by Liz Folger, author of The Stay-At-Home Mom's Guide to Making Money from Home: Choosing the Business That's Right for You Using the Skills and Interests You Already Have. On her site you will find tons of eBooks on all different topics, a different one for each work at home business opportunity, all written by other wahm's. And Sandy, there are some there on running a craft business as well! To go straight to the ebooks, click here.

I'm also including some excellent WAHM related articles that are included on this site:

Moms Are Big Target For Work-at-Home Scams
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/archives/wahm/9.shtml

How To Legitimately Make Money Stuffing Envelopes
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...stuffing.shtml

The Truth About Making Money Overnight
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...ingmoney.shtml

Working at Home: 10 Ways to Be More Productive
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...oductive.shtml

Making The Transition From Working Outside To Inside The Home
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/parenting/wahm/3.shtml

How To Start Your Own Virtual Assistant Business
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...ssistant.shtml

Are You Crazy? You Can't Make Money Doing That!
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...hm/crazy.shtml

Is A Web Design Business For You?
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...b_design.shtml

The Skinny On What To Charge
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/parenting/wahm/5.shtml

Bake Yourself Some Dough This Christmas
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...ay_money.shtml

Make Money This Holiday Season; Don't Just Spend It
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...day_cash.shtml

Decluttering Your Home Office
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...eclutter.shtml

How To Make Money From Your Competition
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/parenting/wahm/10.shtml

Make Money Finding Typos
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...freading.shtml

SANDY -->
Secrets To Making Money With Crafts
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/paren...business.shtml

The Benefits of Creating A Business Plan
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/parenting/wahm/7.shtml

How to Get Your Husband to Back Your Business
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/archives/wahm/6.shtml

Networking Your Way To Business Success
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...ump.cgi?ID=440

Networking for Referrals
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...ump.cgi?ID=296

People Don't Plan To Fail, They Just Fail To Plan
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...ump.cgi?ID=295

Why Network?
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...ump.cgi?ID=441

You Can Do It - Start Your Own Business
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...ump.cgi?ID=298

I hope some of these are helpful to all of you. Remember, let's keep this thread on topic. NO discussions of recruitment into your downline and no giving out email addresses asking for more information.

Thanks for your understanding

[TeresaR]

Amanda,

Thanks for the list of WAH articles at your site! I haven't read some of those yet, so it's a good chance to catch up.

I, too, really enjoy Cyndi Webb's site (and newsletters, etc). Cheryl Demas is the WAH expert at IdeaCafe (which I'd mentioned), and Liz Folger has a bunch of articles there too. There is an amazing amount of resources on the Internet; I have learned so much from all those sites.

Teresa