Online Support Groups and Work at Home Opportunities
Work at Home: You Don’t Have to Do it Alone
Photo by Dano
It’s been five months since I left my office job to become a stay at home and work at home Mom. Since then I’ve become a freelance writer and an Internet marketer. I only experienced significant milestones in my work at home opportunities recently when I joined an online group of other online Mompreneurs, Mom Masterminds.
Benefits of Joining an Online Mastermind Group
At first, I hesitated joining Mom Masterminds because of the monthly subscription fee. I figure I would give it three months and, if I didn’t at least earn back the monthly fee, then I would unsubscribe. I’m glad that I finally decided to invest in my own education and networking with other work at home Moms. Here are the results I’ve had after two weeks of being a Mom Masterminds member:
- the number of my clients has increased significantly
- I have made more than the monthly membership fee
- I now have my very first niche site (more on that on another blog post)
10 Work at Home Productivity Boosters You May Never Have Thought Of
Photo by Paul Keleher
How to Get More Work Done in Less Time
Work at home moms have limited time and energy in which to do our work. We often have to squeeze our work time during nap and bedtimes, or when all the children have gone to school. And even then we still have household chores and other family responsibilities to contend with. Therefore, we need to maximize our productivity. Not only do we need to get as much work done as we can. We also have to do as much HIGH-QUALITY work as we can during the limited time that we do work.
Try these 10 tips to rev up your productivity:
1. TV diet - Watching TV puts the brain in a passive mode and hampers creative thought. TV also tends to make women feel inadequate, probably as a result of seeing all those impossibly thin women. Watch TV in moderation for entertainment, but keep your brain in tip-top shape by limiting the amount of time you do it. One hour a day is more than enough. No, it doesn’t count as research!
2. Exercise – Getting your muscles moving and fresh oxygen circulating in your body will help keep your mind alert and active. Exercise is good for both your body and your brain. Adequate exercise also helps us sleep better at night. More on that later.
3. Sunshine – Scientists have made us afraid of sunshine but the truth is, we need a little of it every day. Lack of exposure to daylight is one of the causes of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a form of depression that commonly occurs in winter when people do not get any sunshine at all. Lack of sunshine depresses our emotions and zaps our energy, which in turn can limit our productivity. So as much as weather permits, get at least 10 minutes of sunshine a day — wear sunscreen of course.
4. Nature – Nature has a natural order and beauty that is beyond our human capacity to conceive of. If you need inspiration or a brilliant idea about anything, look to nature for answers. Contemplate a flower, the sky or even something you cannot see, such as the wind or the sound of birds.
5. Prayer – Prayer or, if you’re not a believer, meditation enables the brain to quiet down and focus. It helps improve our ability to concentrate, which is essential to our productivity. Prayer and/or meditation also calms our emotions, leaving our minds free to think and create.
6. Distraction – Sometimes the solution to our problem unfolds when we’re preoccupied with something totally unrelated. If you find yourself stuck or blocked, take a 15-minute break and do something else. Read a magazine, bake a cake, play tag with the kids — anything to get your mind off your work. When you get back to it, you’ll be surprised with the fresh insights you have.
7. Caffeine – Caffeine stimulates the brain and keeps us alert. If you’re feeling sluggish, a little caffeine may be all you need to jump-start your productivity. The important word here is “a little”. Getting addicted to caffeine will hamper your productivity in the long run. Why? Because it makes you dependent on an external thing to get any work done.
8. Sleep - Lack of sleep turns our brains into mush. The sleep-deprived brain requires much more time and energy to focus, concentrate and generate new ideas. In addition, lack of sleep makes us crabby — not the ideal state to be in when we want maximum productivity. So if you’ve been sleep deprived make time to sleep longer or take a power nap while your children nap. Staying up all night to work will back-fire on you eventually.
9. Free association – Sometimes our brain edits itself too rigorously, making it near impossible to think effectively and creatively. Quiet your inner editor by doing free association exercises. Begin by writing down a word and then the next word that pops into your brain, and then the next, and so on and so forth. Or go through the alphabet and list down the first word you think of when you get to each letter. Take note of the first words that come to you; don’t try to think only of words that relate to your current work or problem.
10. Routine – Work at home Moms usually squeeze work into those odd hours of the day when we have “free” time. However, try to have some set time periods — around the same time every day — when you do the same type of work. I’m talking about consistency rather than rigidity. Doing the same type of work at about the same time every day trains our brains to be warmed up and ready to go at predictable periods of the day.
The best way to keep our productivity up is to take care of our bodies and work with the natural rhythms of our minds. Forcing our bodies and brains to work to the point of or beyond exhaustion will harm the quantity and quality of our work rather than enhance it. Take good care of yourself and you’ll produce high-quality work in less time.
Related article:
20 Productivity Tips for Work at Home Moms with Young Children
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Filed under Productivity | Tags: home business, home office productivity, productivity tips, work at home mom, work at home mom productivity | Comments (2)
Stumble It!10 Top Tips For Creating Your Freelance Writer Online Portfolio
Photo by Peasap
How to Create a Top-Notch Freelance Writer Online Portfolio
One of the first pieces of advice I received from other work at home Moms when I told them about my venture into freelance writing was to put up an online portfolio.
I knew it made sense. Who isn’t on the web nowadays? And what better way to showcase one’s work, attract possible clients, and generate assignments than an effective website?
Although I was sold on the idea, it took me at least a week before I finally sat down and began creating my freelance writer online portfolio. I was clueless about how to begin. However, I knew that it had to be done, so I began by registering a domain. That was easy because I decided to use my own name instead of a business name (which I would have had to register with the government first).
Actually writing the content of my website took another few days. I read Internet articles about the topic. I looked at other freelance writers’ online portfolios. After a few days, I started writing the pages for my website. I scanned samples of my work and uploaded them. I signed up for a free contact form to give my readers a way to contact me without splattering my email address on the Internet.
Since then, I have revised my website almost a dozen times! Every day, I learn something new about marketing my services and I use it to tweak my website. My first draft was stiff, plain and a bit lifeless. I felt embarrassed about selling myself and worried that the copy was too hard-sell. I still make changes every day so it’s a work in progress.
If you’re planning to put up your own online portfolio, here in no particular order are some of the best advice I’ve gathered these past few weeks (of course, whether I’ve applied all of them to my own portfolio is another matter):
1. Pay for web hosting.
Resist the temptation to get a free or dirt-cheap online portfolio. The lay-outs are usually terrible and you have limited control over the content. Besides, having your own website shows that you are a professional who is serious about this freelancing business. Isn’t www.yourname.com more impessive than www.freewebsite.com/yourname?
2. Know whom you are targeting.
Identify your niche and focus on it. Something I’ve learned from Shelancers is that those who specialize can charge more than generalists can. Decide on the type of client you want to work for, or the specific assignments you want to do, and build your website around those. Your niche will also help determine which samples you will post.
3. Enable the reader to contact you from every page of the website.
The action you want from your reader is for them to hire you. To do that, the first step is for them to contact you with details of their requirements or expressing a desire to explore the possibility of working with you. Make sure you have a contact page and a link to it on every page of your website. Some freelancers include a telephone number. Think about whether you’re comfortable with this.
4. Showcase your most effective work.
Sure, one of your articles may have been a literary masterpiece, but what impact did it have for your client? What goal did you help them achieve? Was it effective aside from being a good read? Therefore, it is necessary to…
5. Explain your work.
Include a brief background about each work sample: What were its objectives? What results did it generate? Why are you proud of it? How did it help your client?
6. Follow basic principles of sound design.
Although you’re not a designer your website should still be uncluttered, easy to read, with plenty of white space, and easy to navigate. If you’re clueless about setting up your own website, then consider paying for the services of a web designer and web master.
7. Consider how you will get potential clients to your website.
Will it be a “passive” website that people find out about because you gave them the link? Or will it be the type of website that will rank high on search engines allowing potential clients to find you? The latter is better in terms of generating job leads, but will require SEO work. Ultimately, the answer is really up to you.
8. Be clear and assertive about promoting your strengths.
Your website should market your services, so don’t be shy about it! Clearly state how your clients could benefit from your services.
9. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.
In all likelihood, you will never meet your prospective client face to face, so let them know you as a flesh-and-blood person. Post a flattering photograph of yourself (I’m guilty of not doing this; I don’t have a nice enough picture yet). Place a link to your personal blog.
10. Make sure your portfolio shows you in the best light
I almost didn’t include this because it’s common sense. Make sure your website doesn’t have typos, grammatical errors, distorted graphics, non-working links, and other elements that will portray you as unprofessional and careless.
Your online portfolio is more than your business card on the web. It is your Internet persona, your head hunter, your link to prospective clients. Make sure it works hard for you.
Related links:
Build a Killer Online Portfolio in 9 Easy Steps.
How to Create an Online Writing Portfolio in 2 Days
How to Build a Portfolio That Gets You The Job
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Filed under Home business ideas, Productivity, Resources | Tags: freelance writer, home business, online portfolio, professional advice, stay at home mom, work at home mom | Comments (4)Why I love-hate my Swiffer vacuum: a review
by norasun
Stay at home Moms spend a lot of time doing housekeeping so we’re always on the lookout for the latest gadgets that will make our lives easier.
I bought the Swiffer Vacuum after reading dozens of reviews, many of them saying that it’s really good for picking up Cheerios from the floor. And which toddler’s home isn’t always littered with Cheerios? After one month of using it daily, I’ve come to the conclusion that I love-hate my Swiffer vacuum.
10 reasons I love my Swiffer Vacuum:
1. It’s really easy to use. Even my 7-year-old daughter can use it.
2. It’s fun to use. The two girls sometimes argue over who gets to clean the floor.
3. It looks nice and sleek.
4. It’s light enough to carry up or down the stairs on one hand while balancing the toddler on my hip with the other hand.
5. It does pick up Cheerios easily, as well as crumbs, dust balls, spilled cornmeal and whatever small, dry stuff kids and hubbies can track inside the house.
6. I bought it for $11 less in Canadian Tire than it sells in the regular grocery stores.
7. It vacuums and dry-wipes the floor at the same time.
8. It swivels and can get into small spots.
9. Even though its juice has nearly run out and it’s about to go dead, it can still pick up dust balls.
10. It gets more dirt in less time and with less effort than I could with a broom and dust pan.
10 reasons I hate my Swiffer Vacuum:
1. It takes forever to charge: 24 hours before first use and 16 hours thereafter, and then….
2. … it stays charged for only about 10 minutes — not quite long enough for me to clean the entire house.
3. The disposable refill pads are wasteful. You have to toss it after one use. Why couldn’t they have made washable pads? I’ve decided to make my own washable pads to do my share to save the environment.
4. The filter needs to be replaced every 6 months. Why couldn’t they have made washable filters?
5. You need to drain the power before recharging, which forces me to clean the floor for 10 minutes even when I only wanted to clean around the high chair for 2 minutes.
6. It’s not inexpensive enough to buy another one so I can clean the entire house every day.
7. You can’t use it to wet-mop the floor. You’ll have to buy another Swiffer product for that. Ugh.
8. It doesn’t work on carpets or rugs. You’ll have to buy another Swiffer product for that. Uggghh.
9. It can’t pick up larger, sticky items, like pitted dates.
10. Like any other vacuum, it’s noisy.
So would I recommend the Swiffer vacuum? That depends. If you need to sweep the floor every day and can spare around $37, then go for it. However, if you haven’t been having any problems using your broom and dust pan, then you probably won’t miss anything.
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Filed under Housekeeping, Productivity | Tags: house cleaning, Housekeeping, stay at home, swiffer, swiffer vacuum, swiffer vacuum review | Comment (0)Can I make $10 in 30 days?
Photo by peasap
I’ve joined the 30 Day Challenge! This is a FREE online training program on internet marketing. Ed Dale and his colleagues are teaching us the basics of internet marketing and the goal is to make at least $10 in 30 days! Ed is a casual and occasionally funny guy who seems to know what he’s talking about. I don’t know why the program is free — so far, Ed hasn’t tried selling anything to me yet (or maybe it’s in one of the Emails I deleted without reading!).
I’m only on Day 4, but I have already learned so many things. I have made a list of seven possible topics for a niche and will soon be doing market research on each of those topics. It’s very exciting! Continue reading »
