Work At Home Moms

The Top 10 Reasons Moms Choose to Work from Home
by Liz Folger


1. Big savings on daycare costs

2. No more bosses giving you the stink eye for not working due to kid issues

3. No commuting

4. Savings on lunches out and work clothes

5. More flexibility

6. The ability to start a business doing something you love

7. Make as much or as little money as you want

8. To be able to say "I own my own business"

9. Kids can learn how a business works

10. To be in control of your own destiny


1. Big Savings On Daycare Costs

According to the Children's Defense Fund and Runzheimer International parents are paying an average of $250 to $1,250 monthly for daycare. A mother who is making about $20,000 a year will probably find that she is really only bringing home only $5000 a year once all the additional costs of her working are figured in. Some moms are actually loosing money each month by working outside the home.

2. No More Bosses Giving You the Stink Eye For Not Working Due To Kid Issues

There's nothing worse when your daycare provider tells you that your kid is sick and they can't watch them because of it. So there you go, having to take time off work as your boss and coworkers resent you and your chances of promotion becomes slimmer and slimmer because you can't be counted on all the time.

3. No Commuting

No more commuting when you work from home. No long drives, bad traffic, added expenses for car upkeep (car upkeep costs about $250 a month on average). You can simply wake up in the morning and walk a few feet to your home office.

4. Savings on Lunches Out and Work Clothes

Between eating out and buying uniforms or clothes for work (even if you don't have to wear a uniform) you are looking at paying about $145 a month. Nice thing about working at home and being your own boss is you can decide what you want to wear to work.

5. More Flexibility

There are field trips to go on, sport programs to get the kids to, exercise classes, family that needs extra care at times that goes on in a moms life. Working at home offers the flexibility that is needed to do all these small things that add up and make a huge difference in everyone's life - including your own.

6. The Ability To Start A Business Doing Something You Love

The ability to be a work-at-home mom is the best gift you could ever give yourself, for so many reasons. The big one though is being able to create a home business around something you really like and enjoy doing. You shouldn't have to hate your job or the way you make money. This is the perfect opportunity to finally put your interests and talents to good use, and make money from them.

7. Make As Much or As Little Money as You Want

Being the owner of your own business you can decide if you can work full or part time. This can depend a lot on the age of your children and how much you can dedicate to your business.

8. To Be Able To Say "I Own My Own Business"

When you can say, "I own my own business" this is very empowering. As something Emeril might say, "It definitely kicks the self-confidence level up a notch or two."

9. Kids Can Learn How a Business Works

Your kids can learn first hand how a business runs. There will have no problem answering any questions like, "So what does your mommy do." Kids become very proud of their work-at-home moms. They love the fact their moms are there for them, and that it makes mom happy to make money doing something she loves.

10. To Be In Control Of Your Own Destiny

Work at something you love to do, have the flexibility to work around your families schedule, wear what you want to work and becoming the person you are supposed to be. These are all ways that you can have control of your own destiny.

About The Author:
Liz Folger is the founder of http://www.bizymoms.com. Bizymoms.com is the leading online resource for work-from-home ideas. The site offers home-based business start-up kits, online classes, e-books, chats and enthusiastic support for moms who want to have it all - a family and a career. Visit http://www.bizymoms.com for more information.

Building Multiple Income Streams

Building Multiple Income Streams
Copyright © Thomas Seifert

One of the fastest growing trends of marketing online are Affiliate programs. You associate yourself with an existing company and receive commissions for any sales that you generate. It's a smart way to setup multiple streams of income for yourself. They can be setup for little investment on your part, a great way to start a business on the Internet with a small budget.

Most online entrepreneurs work part time, have limited time and may mainly be devoted to marketing a single product or network marketing program. If you are in this situation and need to increase your monthly income, your solution may be use of one or several Affiliate programs. Even full time marketers know the power of these programs, may be involved in a number of them and know of their powerful income potential.

Most of the programs supply you with personalized web sites, banners, sales material and other marketing help. If you have your own web site you can easily place a banner, button or text link to the company sales site or your personalized site that they supplied. The main reason these programs are becoming popular is that everything is made up for you already. All you must do is to signup as an Affiliate, add the link to your website and you are off and running. In many cases your personalized website is already set up with meta tags and can be registered at the major search engines very easily.

With a personalized Affiliate website you can also use the URL in ads, newsletters, free-for-all link pages, etc. This will result in more traffic and sales. In addition, you can advertise the Affiliate program and use your own website to create even more traffic. This gives your primary products and services more exposure.

You don't need a large budget to create these additional income streams. Many of the Affiliate programs are free. Most programs pay you a set percentage of total sales. What also makes these programs ideal is that they take care of the ordering process, credit card processing, shipment and customer service. Most will also notify you immediately by email when a sale is made under your ID. All you need to do is get potential buyers to your website.


About the Author
About the author: To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home, visit: http://www.webhomebizpro.com or send an Email: tom@webhomebizpro.com

Ready To Work Full-Time From Home?

Are you ready to work full time from home?
Copyright © 2006 Suzanne Morrison

It’s now almost two years since I started dabbling on the internet, trying to make money online. At that time it was a bit of an experiment, kind of like a hobby - something that I did partly for the enjoyment and partly in the hope that I would make enough money to leave my day job.

Now, 20 months later my hobby has turned in to a business and it is generating enough income from for me to happily go part time at work.

Should I decide to do this I’ll be taking the huge step from working on my business in my spare time to earn some extra money, to working half the week for myself. I will then be depending on the money from my own business to pay my mortgage and bills.

If I manage to achieve the same success working from home during the day as I have over the last year working a few hours here and there in my spare time I’ll be well on my way to becoming a full time home business entrepreneur.

I know this sounds fantastic, but what if something goes wrong? If I eventually work full time for myself I’ll be giving up a regular full time salary, not to mention company pension, sick pay and bonuses. For this reason I decided to ask myself a few questions. I’ve put together a list of 5 questions that you need to ask yourself before you leave your day job

1. Do you have a financial cushion? Before you give up your full time or part time job, make sure you have some money in the bank in case something goes wrong. Preferably you should make sure that you have no credit card debts or loans and have at least 3 months salary in the bank just to allow you to get back on your feet if the worst happens.

2. Are you making enough money? Sounds obvious, but remember to add up your current outgoings to see if your online income will cover everything. Remember to take into account tax payments and allow for the fact that you’ll no longer receive paid holidays, health insurance, sick pay and a company pension. If you have a big purchase coming up in the near future, such as a new house, you may want to postpone your full time online career until you’ve secured your mortgage.

3. Are your income streams diverse enough? Are you making all your money from one source? If you’re currently making all your money selling similar items on Ebay or earning an income from a small number of affiliate programs or making money from a single program such as Google Adsense, you could be putting yourself at risk. What if the market for the products you are selling disappears? The affiliate programs you are promoting shuts down? You need to take a close look at the sources of your income. Ideally your income should be coming from numerous sources e.g. selling your own products, promoting different affiliate programs, using multiple websites in different niches.

4. Do you have a business plan? Since you are considering taking such a big step you need to have a business plan. This should include a description of your company and the products and services you provide, the analysis of your market, strategy and implementation along with a financial plan.

5. How will you cope with working alone? If you enjoy working with other people every day, it’s likely that you may find the transition to working alone quite difficult. You should consider possible strategies to cope with this change. For example you may want to make sure that part of your business involves working with other people, perhaps providing a service locally or consulting. You could fill the vacuum of not meeting people at work by joining a club or taking a part time training course. Making an effort to stay in touch and meet up with friends and former colleagues regularly will also help.

If you consider all these factors before quitting your day job, this should give you the best chance possible of becoming a successful full time internet marketer.

About The Author:
Suzanne Morrison is the webmaster and owner of Internet Business Ideas - the website that teaches you how to start your own internet business.

Online Paid Surveys

Why Online Paid Surveys Work?
by Rob Mellor

Hundreds of web surfers these days are subscribing to paid survey websites. Many of these are also making a few handy dollars every week or month. Paid Survey is now a big business and is getting bigger every day. So why would a company pay these dollars to the web surfers? Obvious they are getting money from somewhere. Paid Survey website owners are certainly not doing charity. So then by which way do these site owners pay their staff, pay the site members and still make a handsome profit. Lets try to demystify the mystery, which surrounds this business.

Paid Survey sites are primarily of two types - 1. Paid Survey site database 2. The actual Paid Survey site

The first type in itself does not conduct surveys. They are merely directories of the Paid Survey sites. Most of them would have links which when clicked, takes user to the actual paid survey pages of a different site. They make money by two ways; first is they get paid for keeping the reference and links to the actual Paid Survey site owners and secondly some of them charge a registration fee to access their directories. Hence if you are paying to register to these directories, remember that they are not going to pay you anything. They would simply help you to find and navigate to the actual Paid Survey sites. Ideally, if you are a new Pair Survey worker then you should start with searching Paid Survey sites on your own through one of the search engines or register at a free Paid Survey site directory.

The actual Paid Survey sites host surveys on various topics. They could be conducting survey on some newly launched product or an advertising promotion. Most of the times the surveys are carried out for some manufacturing or service company. They often want to know their customer preferences and behavior. The Paid Survey site does the job for them and gets paid in return. Some site owners also help the consumer companies in analyzing the data and generate statistical reports. Some of the returns they pass on to the survey takers. Some dubious survey site owners pass on their member contact information to other companies. These companies then send mail promoting their products. This is one of the channel by which spam reaches your mailbox. Well known Paid Survey sites also make money by advertising others products or services. Quiet a few Paid Survey sites, this days charge a small registration fee for the new members joining the site to take surveys. This too adds to their revenues.

All the above ensures that both the Paid Survey Directory sites and the actual Paid Survey sites thrive on the Wonderland of Internet.

About the author:
Rob owns a blog and website helping people choose between paid surveys companies. Please visit the blog for more information on online paid surveys

Avoid Work At Home Scams

Avoid Work at Home Scams
by Claudine Williams

Be choosy when applying for work-at home jobs. As you probably know, there are plenty of scams out there. The following are some guidelines you should use when deciding on whether to apply to certain work at home jobs. I hope this article empowers you.

Don't pay

You shouldn't have to pay to work. Some sites offer you a list of work-at-home jobs for a fee. There is so much free information available on the web that you should not have to pay. You are looking for work because you need money. Limit your spending! There are jobs that require you to buy specialized equipment, such as a foot pedal to take transcription or a headphone for a phone. Some work-at-home jobs require you to have a high speed connection instead of a dial-up connection. These are legitimate requests, and if you buy these products or services you should be confident that you will make enough money to cover the cost of doing business and make a profit.

Be Careful of Working for Individuals

There are good people out there who need extra help and would be interested in hiring you. But it's best to avoid working for individuals you have met on the Internet. The main concern is that to legally work in the United States, you will need to report your income to the IRS. An individual who hires you will ask for your social security number and other personal information for income tax purposes. A dishonest person would have the perfect opportunity to steal your identity and your money. Legitimate companies will ask you to fill out a form, for example, a W-9 form, for taxes. I've filled out W-9 forms from bona fide companies and have had no problem. I've also had an individual ask me to e-mail my social security number without a W-9 form. That raised a red flag, and I'm glad that I refused to work for him. I didn't give him my social security number. I'm not saying that you should never work for individuals, just be extra careful if you are new to consulting or working from home.

Be Wary of Jobs that Tout Easy Money

Working from home is rarely easy money. It's work. Your work can be enjoyable, but all of your financial problems will not be solved in a week. Be wary of any company or individuals, claiming that you can get easy money quickly.

Don't Wire Money

Never wire money to the company. It's too easy to lose your money or get caught up in a scam. If the company asks you to wire money to any other company or individual, don't do it. Be safe. Don't be sorry.

Research the Company

Always check the company's standing with the Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.org). Not all scam-jobs are listed with the Better Business Bureau, but the organization may have received reports from others who were victimized.

You should also check out the company with the Rip Off Report (http://www.ripoffreport.com/default.asp). You can search through thousands of reports to find out if the company that you would like to work for is listed. You can also file a report if you are scammed.


About the Author
Claudine Williams is a freelance business writer. Find free work at home job leads and business advice on her website http://www.KissDebtGoodbye.com.

Building A Home Based Business

Building A Home Based Business Is A Marathon, Not A Sprint
by Kirk Bannerman

Over the last several years, in the course of helping thousands of people start up home based businesses, I have seen the same thing over and over again.

Once a person makes the decision to start a home based business it's usually a time of high enthusiasm along with high, and frequently unrealistic, expectations. As time marches on, the enthusiasm begins to wane if they are not making as much money as they had hoped as quickly as they wished. Often it's only after a few weeks or months that I see people start to become discouraged and, with that, their energy level declines and they start slacking off on the work that is actually required to develop a successful home based business.

It is a known fact that a majority of the people that undertake a work at home business do not achieve real success. There are several reasons for this, but I am firmly convinced that one of the primary reasons is that these people get frustrated and do not allow themselves sufficient time to become successful.

In the early going, one of the most difficult things about developing a new home based business is dealing with the emotional roller coaster that can result from the highs (successes) and lows (temporary setbacks) you are almost certain to experience. Once you have done the research and decided on a particular home based business opportunity, you really need to focus on persistence and realize that any real business will not just automatically become successful in a matter of days or weeks. You should be prepared to give it your best sustained effort for a minimum of 6 to 12 months in order to begin to build a solid business base and start to realize some good income.

Highs and lows were something that I began to notice when I first started a home based business. I have many years of top level management experience in "traditional" corporations and have experienced lots of business cycles (corporate "ups and downs"), but the natural "ups and downs" that occur in a home business (particularly in the early stages) can be brutal from an emotional standpoint if you don't prepare yourself in advance for the fact that it is a basic law of nature...it will be a rocky road until you have spent enough time and effort to build your business to a level that sort of smoothes out the peaks and valleys.

The impact of the highs and lows you will probably experience in developing your home based business is amplified by the fact that you are now in business on your own. You are the boss and get to make all the decisions, but you are also on your own in dealing with the frustrations that will occur along the way while you are developing your business.

When working at home a person can, at times, experience a feeling of isolation which is probably brought on by the lack of interaction of a work force environment.

There can also be periods of doubt in the early going...gee, did I pick a viable business opportunity?...am I doing the right things to develop my business?...when will I start making a profit?, and so on.

You are most likely going to experience the "two steps forward and one step backward" syndrome and the ever-looming temptation to become discouraged. However, keep in mind that as long as you have more steps going forward than backward, you will eventually get ahead! Simple, but often overlooked.

Relatively minor setbacks can seem huge in the early stages of developing a work at home business and can really contribute to some noticeable "mood swings". For example, if you are just starting out and you have four customers/clients and you happen to lose one...that's a 25% drop! However, if you fast-forward in time to the point where you have hundreds of customers/clients and you lose one...that's just a mere fraction of 1%! Exactly the same event, just at a different point in time.

Hang in there and just keep on keepin' on. If you have chosen a viable home business opportunity (one that has been around for awhile and in which some other people are having success) you will achieve success, but it takes time and there will be ups and downs along the way. Remember the old saying..."it takes a long time to become an overnight success".

About The Author:
Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

Discipline In Your Home Business

It's All About Discipline
by Susan Carroll

Having your own internet marketing business means being able to enforce some self discipline.

While many people think that time management is the only form of discipline you must enforce on yourself when you have your own home business, it isn't. There are at least 7 aspects in your life you must learn to adjust and today we're going to look at them.

Time Management - Learn to use your time effectively. You must identify "weak spots" - the things in your business that suck a lot of your time and energy but produce very small results. For most, email and the amount of time spent reading and responding eats up their most valuable time. For others, proof reading their site and making sure they catch every typo is their downfall.

If you are spending some of your most creative and productive time on "weak spots", you need to redo your schedule and give your most creative and productive time to the areas of your business that earn you the most.

Eating - Having a healthy diet will give you more energy to work your business. It's easy to fall victim to caffeine, sugar and "junk food" while spending hours at your computer but all of these things are actually draining your energy in addition to the damage they're doing to your overall health.

To maintain your health and boost your energy level, adopt some healthy eating habits. Just because the refrigerator is only a few steps away doesn't mean you should visit it frequently. Likewise, just because the computer is close to your dinner table, you shouldn't be eating your meals staring at your monitor.

Maintaining a proper diet and separating food from work is an important part of having a successful life and business.

Exercise - A good exercise program can boost your energy and improve your attitude. It's a well known fact that exercise improves muscle tone and it also helps reduce stress.

Exercising your mind is a good thing but don't forget about your body. No matter what your physical limitations, you need to exercise on a regular basis and typing on your keyboard doesn't count.

Walk, jog, play tennis or whatever it is you do, do it on a regular basis to keep your mind and body at their peak performance level.

Remember Your Family - When working from home it's easy to devote all your time to your business but this is a big mistake if you have a family and they're not involved in your business.

Your doing your business to make your family life better, right? Well don't neglect your family or you might not have one when your business starts doing well.

Having your family involved in your internet marketing business is a great benefit that most don't enjoy. And if you happen to be one of those with a wonderful family who's not involved in your business, remember to spend quality time with them - frequently!

Take Time For Yourself - You are not your business. You are a person who enjoys doing some things that may not relate to your business and these things are important.

Although you may have built your business around the one thing you enjoy the most, you have other interests that you need to spend time on to maintain your mental health. Maybe you enjoy reading or watching certain TV shows. Maybe you enjoy playing games or participating in some sports. No matter what your other interests, you need to devote some of your quality time to them.

Don't put your other interests on hold or in a time slot where you can't enjoy them. These interests make you who you are and allow you to relieve tension. Do them when you can enjoy them and get the full benefit of their usefulness.

Grow Your Business - You should be spending at least 50% of your time either developing new products or expanding your business in some way.

Think of your business like a garden. You plant the seeds and nurture the seedlings until they become grown and produce results. Then you must maintain your garden by weeding, feeding and watering it.

But no matter how well you maintain that garden, you will still lose some plants over time and the results of your labor will decrease. To keep the results high and to get an increase, you must keep planting.

This is how your business is. You work hard to get a customer base and you must maintain it. But if you don't constantly work to get new products and to grow your customer base, the results of your labor will go down.

Have Fun - What's the point of anything if you can't enjoy it? Sure, you want to make money with your business but if you don't enjoy doing it then it's the same as having a "job" and you aren't getting one of the biggest advantages of being your own boss.

Having fun with your own business means different things to different people. Maybe you want to set up a "fun" site that doesn't make money but allows you to share your creative side. Maybe you want to spend some of your earnings on something for yourself, your family or you business even though you don't really need it. Maybe you want to take some time off and be with your family or friends. It's your business, you're in charge and you can do any of these things when you want.

Don't abuse this wonderful privilege but do take advantage of it. Allot a set amount of time or money to do those things that make having your business fun.

To be a healthy, successful internet marketer you must take control of your life and be able to impose and enforce some discipline to these 7 areas.


About The Author:
Susan Carroll owner of http://www.friendswhocare.us has formed a global community of online business people through her weekly newsletter.

Susan has a free membership site to help those doing internet marketing. It's available at: http://www.friendswhocare.us/join.htm

Hard Work!

Hard Work - A Dirty Concept
by Rachel Gawith

As I sit here in front of the fire and TV at 8.30pm on a Wednesday evening, many would be mistaken for thinking that working from home is easy. But then that is before you take into account my daily routine:

I get up at around 7.45am and feed the cats and sheep, make myself a cup of tea and then by 8.30am I am sat in front of my computer collecting my emails and responding to the numerous enquiries for more information on my MLM business.

Then after an hour I start my daily traffic exchange surfing, forum posting, yahoo group blasting and so on....This daily routine of promotion and advertising takes me until around lunch time. The afternoon is then taken up following up prospects, updating my websites and checking and responding to further emails. I usually finish for the day at around 6pm, although I always leave the computer on and check my emails again before turning in for the night.

I work longer hours now that I work full time from home on my MLM business than I did when I worked a normal day job. Then I started at 9am, leaving the house at around 8.40am, I had an hour for lunch and a couple of breaks through the day and finished at 5.15am, being back by 5.30pm. Now I start at 8.30am and finish at 6pm with the odd trip downstairs to make a cup of tea and half an hour for lunch.

Of course I wouldn't and don't think I could go back to working for someone else and doing a 'usual' 9 til 5 job but why do people think working from home is easy. And why are so many people scared of putting in some good old fashioned hard work to make their homebased business a success.

Working from home, whether you are in a MLM program, an affiliate program or running your own website, selling your own product, promotion, getting sales and following up prospects all takes time and effort. You must put in the time and effort needed to get your business off the ground, you must do the promotion required to get those sales, you must follow up with your customers, update your website and answer emails and so on.

Anyone who joins an affiliate program, becomes a distributor for a MLM company or starts their own home based business must be prepared to work at it, and usually work much harder than you would going to the office each day and working for someone else.

If you are afraid of a little hard work, then do not attempt to start you own home based business because the bottom line is you will fail. If hard work is a dirty concept to you, stick to working for someone else.

If you are prepared to put in the hard slog and really work at it, then you will find working from home very rewarding and in the long run, be it one, two or three years down the line, you will be successful. And your success will be proportional to the hard work you put in at the beginning.

Stick at it....you will succeed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
(c)2005 Rachel Gawith Rachel runs her own homebased business website at Computerincome.net which recommends a couple of excellent online businesses and promotional tools. Subscribe to Rachel's free weekly newsletter FreeDailyCash for more tips and information on working from home and get FREE advertising.