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I’m on Day 10 of my work at home project, the Thirty Day Challenge. I have identified one niche for internet marketing and am now writing three articles for it. I need another niche and fast! With our move to Canada one week away, just keeping up with the challenge is proving to be a challenge in itself. However, I have managed to join a team so I’m trudging along. Perhaps, as for others, it will be more like the Sixty Day Challenge for me.

So far, I have learned how to do market research on possible niche topics using Freewordtracker, Google and Google Trends. The techniques that Ed Dale and his colleagues teach are so simple but unintuitive that they’re so cool! And then Mike Stenhouse and Mike Mindel put these together in an amazing tool — Wordtracker GTrends.

The “golden nuggets” technique is used to “mine” for the ideal niche — one that has a lot of demand but little competition. You’ll have to go through the challenge yourself to fully appreciate what I’m talking about.

I got a bit sidetracked because I had misunderstood the bit about measuring the amount competition for a particular niche. Fortunately, I found some clarification in the Thirty Day Challenge forums, so I think I’m back on track to finding one more niche.

Just got an E-mail today from Ed saying that the Thirty Day Challenge has just produced another millionaire. Now that’s encouraging!

Watch out for my next article: How to avoid work at home scams, part 3. In case you missed the earlier installments, here are the links:

How to avoid work at home scams, Part 1: Do your research

How to avoid work at home scams, Part 2: Use only legitimate job leads

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I’ve spent hours online looking for legitimate sources of work at home job leads. You know what? I was disappointed. Thousands of websites promise work at home jobs and home business ideas, but most of them make me suspicious. They make promises but show no accountability. Some sites didn’t even have an “About” page! Or it was buried too deep under all the advertisements!

I looked for websites that checked out job leads before posting them. Sites that charge a fee to access the job listings did not even make this claim. Unless they said so, I assumed that they did not screen the job leads.

So after days or research, I only came up with three websites that I feel confident enough to share with other aspiring work at home individuals:

WAHM
This is one of the oldest and best-known work at home websites. I’ve been lurking in the forums for quite a while even while I was still employed. The wahm.com forums are great for getting first-hand information from other Moms (mostly but also a few Dads) who work at home. If you’re interested in direct selling with a particular company, for instance, you’ll get lots of feedback from those who are already doing it. The site also has loads of information on freelancing, telecommuting and other ways to work at home. Plus, I got the best anti-scam advice on the wahm.com forums.

The job listings site says: “We try to screen jobs here, but we get fooled too. So do your homework, come to the boards, ask questions, be careful.” Fair enough and pretty much common sense.

Wahm.com was recently bought by a large company but original owner Cheryl is supposed to still be active on the site. Hopefully this arrangement will keep wahm.com as one of the most trustworthy resources about working at home.

Rat Race Rebellion
This site has a list of “work at home job leads screened and handpicked”. I checked out a few of the listings and they do look legitimate, having come from established job sites or known employers.

If you remember from my previous post, Rat Race Rebellion has that wonderful video showing how they investigate a job lead using free resources on the Internet. It’s quick but thorough and the website owners are upfront about who they are, what they do and how they do it.

Work at Home No Scams

This site has a “list of free and legit work from home opportunities that have been screened as scamfree to the best of our ability”. The list is pretty short, but I think that’s fine as long as they have, indeed, been screened.

I found the site more difficult to navigate than the first two. The “About” page was a bit difficult to find and the author has another website that also lists jobs, so it can be confusing.

Please note that, even though these sites claim to screen their job listings, you should still exercise due caution and do your own research.

Do let me know if you get a work at home job or business idea from these sites

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I’m down to my last few days in the office. On February 1, I will officially be unemployed, a stay-at-home Mom, and hopefully, still earning money. Am I ready?

I’m trying to get ready. Here’s what I’ve been doing:

I’m tying lose ends in the office.

My Supervisor has just left for an assignment in another country, but I do still have some important deliverables before I go. And just today our officer-in-charge gave me a new project! I am completing these assignments, clearing out my cubicle (thanks to “Getting Things Done”), and organizing all the electronic files that I need to turn over to my successor. I’ve also begun giving away some of my beloved books to my officemates: two books on color harmony to Med, our graphic designer, and a book on completing a research project to Vincent, who is planning to go to graduate school. I have also touched base with Human Resources to make sure I complete all clearance requirements.

I’m completing my certification as a childbirth educator.

One of my income streams will be my part-time work as a childbirth educator. To prepare for this, I’ve been studying with Childbirth International to become certified. Between juggling my full-time job and family, the certification program has taken me almost three years to complete, but now I’m on the homestretch. I only have a few more requirements to complete. Once certified, I can organize childbirth preparation classes with the proper credentials.

I’m cramming to learn how to earn money through blogging.

This blog (and others still in the pipeline) is my other income stream. I know that blogs don’t make significant amounts of money right away – and some never do – but I’m willing to wait. I enjoy writing and sharing ideas with others so much that I would do it even if I didn’t make any money. But since I will be investing time and energy into it, then I might as well earn something. I’ve been reading a lot of blogs and websites about blogging, listing down topics for this blog, writing posts, and researching other WAH blogs.

I’m learning to become more productive.

Let’s face it; it isn’t easy to work at home, especially if one has a family and little children underfoot. One needs to be organized and productive. I just finished reading Getting Things Done (GTD) and have started applying it in the office. As a result, my Email Inbox and desk in-tray are empty and I have cleared half of my desk. I’m also trying out this free online tool for GTD. However, I still haven’t figured out how to apply GTD at home. When I’m at home, I am so preoccupied with the house chores, my kids and my husband that I forget to collect, record and review my Next Actions. Apparently, blogger Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has improved on GTD principles. Today, I broke my rule of not spending on this blog and bought Leo’s productivity book, Zen to Done: The Simple Productivity E-book (which you can purchase for $9.50 by clicking the button on the right sidebar). Watch out for my review of Leo’s book very soon. I also plan to join the Flylady’s online group. Many women swear by the Flylady’s approach to having an organized, clean and uncluttered household and a happy housewife. Who could resist?

I’m networking with other WAHMs.

The one thing that I will surely miss after I leave employment is the daily interaction with colleagues, many of whom have become my friends. I don’t like feeling alone, so I’ve started looking for and joining groups of WAHMs in Facebook and looking at WAHM’s blogs in Stumble Upon. I’ve left comments in a couple of blogs and signed up for membership in WAHM.com. Aside from getting moral support from other WAHMs, I hope to discover more tips and tools that I can use and share with my blog readers.

I’m updating my resume.

I don’t expect to be applying for office jobs, but a resume is essential if I decide to apply for telecommuting jobs or offer my services as a consultant. Besides, I would like an accurate and updated record of my accomplishments while I did work in an office. After working full-time for 19 years, I deserve nothing less.

I’m learning about frugal living and personal finance.

I don’t have romantic notions about making easy money quickly while working at home or as a childbirth educator. I know it will probably take several months before I make any real money. In the meantime, it is a good exercise to live frugally, even if I still had a steady income. I’m tired of the pressures of consumerism and would like to live well below my means, invest, make money work for me, give more to charity, and have the resources for the things that really matter.

Am I doing everything I could to prepare myself for WAHM-hood? Am I forgetting something? What else would you do if you were preparing to work at home?

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My Life Shift is for anyone who wants to work at home — whether to take care of kids, escape the corporate rat race, pursue an art or craft, or any other reason. By documenting my own transition from office employee to work at home Mom, I hope to motivate other people to do the same and share whatever tools, tips and resources I discover along the way.

While researching my options for working at home, I discovered many scams for those looking for home businesses. I assure you that all the resources I share in this blog are those that I myself have tried. I will never promote a product or home business that I do not personally know to be a legitimate way to earn money at home. I believe in getting honest pay for honest work. You will not find any get-rich-quick schemes here.

I am a wife and mother of three ages 13, 7 and 1. After 19 years of employment, I now feel ready to stay home, become my own boss, and be a mother first and income earner second.

I have a degree in communication and completed the academic requirements and comprehensive exam for a master’s degree in communication research. Alas, I was busy having babies and didn’t complete my MA. I have 19 years of experience in strategic communication, advocacy, media relations and project management. I have worked in government information, children’s television, and UNICEF. I am also a Childbirth Educator. For two years, I wrote a monthly column in Good Housekeeping Philippines about work-life balance.

Here I am in my (former) UNICEF office with Anton, my youngest child, before he got his first haircut. It took me three children to finally realize my dream to stay home….

Alexis Rodrigo

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