Work at Home Moms Articles – WAHM Articles

What would your day be like if you could write better blog posts in half the time?

Does it take you an hour (or longer) to write a blog post?

Do you sit down to write and end up frustrated at how much time you’re putting into your blog?

Blogging doesn’t have to be that way.

You can blog well in less time if you know how to approach it and have a few of these strategies in your bag of tricks.

1. Be Yourself & Write What You Know
Trying to blog like someone else usually just causes frustration. Not only will it take you longer, but it will destroy your own creativity and voice if you try to fit yourself into someone else’s mold. It’s okay to “sound” like you!

Part of being you is writing what you know. If you’re blogging about a topic you know little or nothing about, expect it to take a while since you’ll have to research everything thoroughly before you publish. If you pick a topic that you know about you’ll find it much easier to write quality content quickly.

2. Let Go of Perfection
That crazy impulse that drives you to proofread and edit your post for the 37th time… you have to get control of it. Stop at the 36th proofreading run, okay?

It’ll save amazing amounts of time if you accept now that at some point you’re probably going to accidentally publish a typo, say something you need to edit later, or even change your mind about a stance you’ve taken. You don’t have to get it all right all the time. The world will not end if your blog isn’t perfect, I promise.

3. Practice Short & Be Flexible
Some posts might hit 1,000 words because the topic demands it and some posts will necessarily take more time and research than others. But not every post needs to be that long. Sometimes short and sweet can get your point across best. Practice writing shorter posts.

This will also free you to jump in and write a blog post when you’ve got the inspiration and a few minutes, instead of waiting until you’ve got an hour or two blocked off for blogging.

Allow yourself room to try different post lengths and styles.

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When you’re writing articles it’s important to read through them several times before you submit them to the article directories or post them on websites. You never know what you’ll find when you do, so it’s best to take a little bit of time and read through them.

One of the biggest things you might run across with your articles is repeating. As you’re writing you may forget what you’ve said earlier or you may think you need to explain something in more detail. In both instances you may repeat yourself, whether it’s with the same words or with others that mean the same thing.

When you read through your articles at least once you’ll know if you’ve repeated yourself or not. You’ll also see if you have any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or things that don’t make sense. When you do this small, but important step you’ll find your articles will be used more and you’ll gain more traffic to your site.

After you’ve written your articles, you must submit them to article directories, but it’s also a good idea to submit them to other websites as well. This will help you increase the traffic to your site.

The best thing to do to get your articles submitted to other sites is to use one of these two tips.

One way to get your articles published on other websites is to contact the website owner and ask them if they’d be interested in posting your article. Sometimes these people will post them on their blog and give you credit for the post. Another way they may list your article is if they have an article they’ll place it in their. While this is still an article directory, it’s different because they control who posts the articles and they post what they want and who they want.

Another way to have your articles posted on websites is to become a guest blogger. You need to be careful when you do these posts because some owners require original posts only. When you ask to be a guest blogger you need to make sure you choose websites that meet the needs of your target market. There is no point in posting your articles on sites that aren’t geared to your market.

When you use these two tips with your article marketing you’ll be able to increase your traffic even more than you would if you only submitted your articles to article directories. The more traffic you have to your site the better chance you’ll have of growing your business and reaching your goals.

Whether you’re just starting out in your business or you’ve been working it for a time now, it’s important to know what your “why” is at all times. Your why is the reason you work your business. You don’t work it, just to work it. You work it because of something in your life like your children or because you need a new car or want to buy a new home.

No matter what it is, you need to define your why. Once you have it in place, it’s important to regularly think about the why and make sure it’s still in line with what’s going on in your life. Things change and that needs to change as well. If you reach your why you need to change it to something else so you have the ability to continue working your business with something to look forward too.

Although it may look like your why is a goal, really it’s different in a lot of ways. The perfect example of this would be if your goal is to have enough money to take your family to Hawaii for vacation. To write your goals around your why, you’d want to say your main goal is to increase your income. You’d need to set a specific amount such as $1000 or $1500 a month or whatever it is that would allow you to save the money you need and still have enough to pay the bills.

It’s important to have your why in place and it’s also important to have a visual picture of it printed and in a location where you’ll see it regularly. When you can see it on a daily basis you’ll remember what it is and why you are working your business. Once you reach your why you need to do some thinking and come up with a different one. When you continually have a why in place you’ll always know what you’re working for and you’ll have the need and desire to make it happen.

Please make sure you share your why with us in the comments below. Also tell us why you work so hard every day to reach that why.

Is it really that time of year again? Time goes by so fast, especially if you’ve been relatively busy with your home business within the past year.

There are so many things to remember when preparing your tax returns, as well as knowing exactly what is considered taxable. Let’s take a quick look at what may be taxable in your work at home situation.

Here are just a few that I’ve listed below:

1. Monthly Internet bill. I know this is the number one item on my list since I work at home and I have to use the Internet to make my income.

2. Monthly hosting bill if you own your own domain name. This is another important write off for your business, especially if you own several domains/websites and your hosting bill is considerably high.

3. Monthly phone bill. If you own a business and you use your phone to run your business, then yes, you need to write off your phone bill.

4. Business transportation mileage. If you use your automobile for business, such as home parties, this is another important taxable write off. Fuel prices has went up considerably. You need to keep careful track of all your transportation expenses (including gas receipts), and file anything and everything that you can.

5. Advertising expenses. Some people pay for advertising for promotion purposes and some do not. If you do pay for advertising, then you need to file these expenses on your taxes. Depending on the type of advertising, it may or may not be taxable, but it’s always safe to file all expenses.

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As a busy mother and grandmother, I am always looking for ways to prepare delicious meals for my family…for those busy nights when I don’t have hours to spend in the kitchen. To solve that problem, I like to make casserole dishes and freeze them for future meals.

When I make these 3 recipes, I make all of them in one day. You can freeze them in your baking dishes, however I like to go to the dollar store and purchase disposable foil baking pans. I can usually get them 3 for $1.00. I let them completely cool and then properly wrap them for freezing. They will keep in your freezer for up to 6 months.

Cheesy Chicken Casserole

1 lb. Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 cup milk
1/2 cup salad dressing
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
2 cups peas, cooked and drained
8 oz. noodles, cooked and drained
1 tablespoon chives, chopped

Heat Velveeta cheese, milk and salad dressing over low heat. Stir until cheese sauce is smooth and creamy. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Pour into casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Chicken and Rice Casserole

2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 small box of instant white rice
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package onion soup mix
1/4 dry bread crumbs

Put one can of soup in bottom of casserole dish, cover with rice. Place chicken breasts on top of rice, sprinkle with onion soup mix, top with second can of soup. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Place back into the oven for an additional 15 minutes.

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January can be a difficult time of year for some. If you over spent during the Christmas season or you used credit cards to pay for your Christmas gifts, you may find yourself stressed about how you’re going to pay for everything. When this happens, it’s important to find a way to eliminate the stress and pay for the bills as they come in.

The best way to do this is to live frugally for a time. Depending on how much you need to save, you may need to do this for a few months or you may need to adopt the frugal living lifestyle. There are a number of ways to make to do this and a few of them are listed below.

Going out to eat is a habit we’ve all become a custom to and it can cost a lot more money than it would if you were to make your meals at home. Depending on where you live and the place you go, you could spend $30 to $60 or more on your meal. When you go to the store to make your purchases you will spend $5 to $15 on a meal depending on what you prepare. That’s a huge savings each time and that savings could go to pay the bills.

Another way to save money and live more frugally is to use price matching and couponing. Depending on the store you go to and the coupons you use, you could save as little as $5, but you could save a substantial amount which could total $50 or more each time you go. $50 could buy a tank of gas or pay your electric bill, so the savings with this option could be tremendous.

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If you own an online business, you need to provide an About Us page. Unfortunately, many sites neglect to give this page the attention it needs and deserves. Many people do not realize the importance of an effective About Us page.

Your About Us page has the distinct purpose of letting people get to know your company, which will help build the foundation of trust and respect that is needed for a successful online business. For certain businesses, the About Us page can also be used for recruiting new employees, sales reps, etc.

So, take some time, look over your About Us page and see if it utilizes any or all of the ten features listed below.

1. Company History – Give a brief history of your company and how you got started. Explain how long you’ve been in business, the purpose of your business and your experience. This is also a good place to add your mission statement.

2. Focus on Benefits – Be sure to focus on the benefits your company will provide the customer. Your potential customers want to know what you can do for them, not how you do it.

3. Introduce Yourself and Crew – Be sure to give your name and the names of those who work with and/or for you. You would be surprised at how many About Us pages I have read that contain no names whatsoever! Give a very brief background on yourself and your workers so your visitors can get to know them.

4. Special Skills and Accomplishments – Highlighting any special skills you have or accomplishments can help to build your credibility and separate you from your competitors. If your company is a green company be sure to highlight that as well. Let people know what your company stands for and against.

5. Toot Your Horn – Provide testimonials, awards and names of notable clients. Don’t be afraid to let people know exactly how accomplished you and your company are. This will also help build credibility and trust.

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In my personal opinion, far too many of us believe that we are fat, ugly, or worthless. I have decided that I needed to share my own struggles with body image and self esteem. This isn’t an easy thing for me to do. I am a very private person, but I feel like if I share this, then I can overcome them. I need to overcome them not only for me, but for my family.

I am 4’11” tall and I weigh right around 120 pounds. I will start out by saying that I don’t think I am fat, but I feel like there are parts of my body that could look better. I started feeling this way very recently…within the last 3 years or so. It got to the point that I hated looking at myself in the mirror. This whole scenario might sound familiar to some reading this. I started working out regularly about a year ago. While I physically felt better, I still had those negative thoughts about my body. Everyone around me would tell me how great I looked, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I still saw the same “problem areas”.

Another thing that I have been struggling with is my facial appearances. I am 35 years old but I feel like my forehead shows a different age. I have wrinkles and sometimes people think that I am angry all the time because the area between my eyes (just above my nose) is always wrinkled up like I had just had a major argument with someone. I actually had a friend of mine tell me, during a night out, that I need to be happier and that I needed to stop glaring all the time. I told her that I was having a really good time until she said that. That really hurt me. My self esteem went to almost nothing at that point.

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The first week of January is over and we’re well on our way to completing the second week. It’s been wonderful so far and I just know it’s going to get better. This time of year is always hard because you set goals and you’re always on the look out for ways to reach them.

Now that’s not to say you shouldn’t set goals because you most certain should, but you need to watch how you go about working them. Over doing it is NOT the way to go. It only makes things worse and that’s not what you need in a time like this. It’s important to create a to-do list and follow it. When you create a to-do list you’ll know what to do and the stress won’t be nearly as bad.

One of the hardest things for me has to do with the length of my to-do list. I keep reminding myself that I don’t need to put everything on my to-do list on Monday. All it does is stress me out and that’s not necessary. I’m teaching myself to put the items for that day only on the to-do list. Once the next day comes around it’s time to add the things I didn’t accomplish from the prior day and add the new stuff for the current day.

I’m learning, one step at a time that it’s important to be organized and to stay on task, but it’s also important to be confident in my goals and what I’m wanting out of them. Each day when I achieve my goals, I feel wonderful and that’s the best feeling.

You can have all of this too. All you need to do is set goals, work to accomplish them, and celebrate when you do. It’s the best!!
To Your Success,