My Life Monday: Where I’m At
January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
“Nell, what are some of the places you network?”
Networking is important to a telecommuter, freelancer, business owner….I’ve found it to be a vital part of my work at home career. You’ll not want to spend too much of your time hanging around forums, but if you do visit in moderation they can be powerful tools to your success.
The places I’ve networked have changed over the years as my career has grown and my needs have changed. I started out at places like wahm.com. I then added networking sites inside of ryze to my list, but since have dropped all my networking there.
I’ve been a member of SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com and am part of her private coaching folder within that forum. This forum is great for business owners. Mom Masterminds is one of the best resources of networking I’ve ever found. I’ve formed partnerships with members, found great VA’s and writers to use, networked with other people in my field and have the added benefit of the coaches and resources there.
And I’m always over at JustOnlineJobs.com - which is the forum I own and run. There are so many lovely members over there that always offer their all when somebody needs advice or help. I also know that some of the members there networked with other’s and that’s how they got work from home. In fact, a couple of the people that work with me do so because they joined the forum, networked with us, and we learned of their talents.
This is a tiny fraction of the awesome places online. But, I don’t want to overload you. Networking and learning at forums is important, but it’s also important not to get lost in them…and to make sure you’re joining quality forums that can offer you the type of networking and learning that’ll be good for your career/business.
Hey, if you like IM type networking then twitter might be your cup of tea, too. I network at twitter and enjoy the instant gratification of twitter. This is my page at twitter. If you join, add me to your list so we can follow each other.
Happy Monday!
p.s
If you don’t belong to my newsletter or my forum, then you likely don’t know about the new ebook I just opened up for sale today. It’s all about telecommuting and the first ebook I’ve created on this topic. You’re going to learn everything you’ll need to know and won’t be subjected to any fluff or unrealistic promises….the basics that’ll help you find and get jobs.
You can learn all the information about this ebook and it’s extra goodies at: http://www.telecommutinganswerlady.com/jobsearchanswers.html
My Life Monday: Working Weekends
December 31, 2007 | 2 Comments
This is a question I’ve been asked in the past and one I’ve seen asked of other work at home parents. Often the answer is yes.
For me the answer is usually yes and no. I don’t often do any hard core work. I don’t spend hours at a time working. I don’t slave away at my computer. The weekends are largely reserved for my family.
Having said that I will often check my email a few times during the weekend, maybe write up a blog post, or check on my work at home jobs forum. Tasks that don’t take a long time to get done, but yet still feed my need to busy my mind with work when the kids are sleeping.
What about you? Do you work on the weekends?
My Life Monday: Time of Day
December 18, 2007 | 4 Comments
When do you start your day? Do you roll out of bed around 9am, grab some coffee, stroll to the computer to check your email, and then take your time getting into your projects?
Or are you like me and start your day before the sun even rises? I would imagine if you’re a full time work-at-home mom, you start your day somewhere in the middle of those two scenarios.
I have a confession to make with you. I HATE, hate, absolutely HATE starting my day at 6:30am. I remember the mornings where I’d sleep in until my boys woke me up around 8:30am. I remember having plenty of time to get everybody fed, played with, and chores done before I started my work day.
So what changed? My oldest son started his therapy with the local school district. Now Monday-Thurs this work-at-home mom wakes up to the incessant beeping of the alarm clock before the sun or roosters rise. I then drag myself out of bed, wake up my peacefully sleeping children, rush breakfast down their throats, clean them up for the day, layer on all the warm clothing, rush out the door into the freezing cold air, and drive my oldest into school.
Honestly, really, I can’t stand this routine! It’s a routine that must be done at this time of our lives, but I so long for the days where we wake up naturally, have a slow easy morning, and ease into the day’s chores, work projects, and fun ahead.
What about you? When do you start your day?
My Life Monday: When It Snows…
December 10, 2007 | 4 Comments
As a work-at-home Mom, when it snows you’ll find me here….
What a wonderful life it’s as a working from home Mom!
My Life Monday: My VA History
December 4, 2007 | 3 Comments
Since we’ve talked a bit about Virtual Assistance last week, and I’ve got a winner for the How to Become a VA product, I’m going to share a bit about my history as a VA.
I began searching for telecommuting jobs a long while back. In that quest I located a few jobs & happily worked them. I had no rush to quit my job outside of the home & so the jobs I held at home, the income, the schedule… it was working for me just fine then.
But in 2003 I discovered my husband and I were pregnant with our first son. This was one of those unexpected blessings and therefore we weren’t in the least bit prepared for it. That’s when I started looking for more income from home. I looked for jobs, businesses, anything that would give me the money I needed to be home with my child.
In my search for more income I not only located an independent contracting position that provided extra income, and an affiliate marketing business that brought in some extra cash, but I also happened upon Virtual Assistance.
In late 2003 I took on and completed a quick database project with a business friend of mine. I discovered I really enjoyed this way of making money and found out the name for it was Virtual Assistance.
After research, learning, putting up a website, and networking I landed my first retainer client in 2004. My VA business was quick to grow, and grew faster than I thought it would. In fact, I had to start turning down work because I didn’t want my business taking over my family life.
That wasn’t easy to do since the money being offered was very nice…more than I’d ever made at home before, but my goal for being at home was to raise my son. Why do I tell you this? Because you’ll likely grow your VA business quickly due to the need, so you need to be prepared for that and have a plan of how you’ll handle it.
I really enjoyed the retainer clients I was able to secure too. Part of being a business owner is making your business the way you want it. For me that was retainer clients, as it provided more stability than project-by-project work.
I dabbled in VA work in the latter part of 2003, opened my doors officially in 2004, worked my business full time until 2006. At that time I quit the business in order to focus all of my time and efforts into teaching others how to find success at home.
I’ve dabbled in some I/C and VA projects here and there this year, for extra money and to help a business friend out, but my official VA doors have been closed since 2006.
So, why did I close my VA doors if it was going so well? Virtual Assistance is a great way to earn a living from home. And telecommuting is a good way and can be a great if you have the right job. The money can be good, the projects can be fun and stimulating, and the clients can be a pleasure to work with.
I was lucky to experience all of that, but my passion has always been helping others find success at home. So instead of making my service business/jobs my main source of income and my main priority I just slipped things around so that I’d spend most of my time helping others with my websites, newsletters, coaching, blog, products, and then do some project work here and there…I guess you might call that freelance work.
Next Monday I’ll share with you what I liked/disliked about the titles I’ve held as “telecommuter”, “virtual assistant”, “freelancer”.
Do you have comments or questions about this week’s My Life Monday? Just leave me a comment and I’ll answer your questions.
My Life Monday: Where I Work
November 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment
“Where is your home office located?”
I have a room in my home that houses my desk, computer, printer, phone (oh, and did I mention it houses the playroom too? lol) and I get some of my ‘serious heavy duty’ work done in that room.
My laptop gets a lot of work too. The purchase of my laptop was the best business purchase I’ve ever made, hands down. With two little kids under 3 years of age I sometimes have to work where I can.
So the laptop helps me grab a few minutes of work here and there when I can. Depending on the type of work you perform, a dedicated home office may be necessary, while some work will allow you the freedom to work on a laptop wherever you are.
I’ve found having both options depending on the work that needs to be done that day works best for me :–) I love having the freedom to work where and how I need to on any given day!
My Life Monday: Decision to Work from Home
November 12, 2007 | 3 Comments
“What made you decide to work from home?”
Most people probably think it was the birth of my first born son. And although he was the reason I took the big step into quitting my job and working from home, he isn’t the only reason.
You see, I began looking for a job (or way to work from home) long before I had my son. I began working part time from home before I had my son and really enjoyed it. I loved the freedom of working from home, but just didn’t have the courage to quit my job and do it full time.
I needed that extra push in order to take the chance. I had thought of “what if this work doesn’t provide steady income?” I couldn’t break out of that mindset until my son forced me to.
I’ve been working full time from home since 2004 & I haven’t looked back once. There have been ups and downs along the way…the downs were never so bad that the ups didn’t outweigh them though.
I don’t see my professional life changing … although I would like to take my business offline eventually and create a seminar (locally) teaching people about telecommuting, that is the most I see myself getting out in the “real world” with my career, though.
What about you? What made you decide to work from home? Leave me an answer in the comments below.
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