Work at Home Moms Articles – WAHM Articles

Summer is a great time to make chicken salads. They are light, easy to make, and make a great addition to summer picnics and family barbecues. I like to keep extra frozen chicken fillets on hand for easy spur of the moment dinners like these. At Costco, you can buy a large package of individually frozen chicken fillets for a very reasonable price. You can just take out what you need for your recipe and leave the rest in the freezer.

Chicken Salad

5 c. cooked chicken, cubed
2 tbsp. salad oil
2 tbsp. orange juice
2 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp. salt
3 c. cooked rice
1 1/2 c. green grapes
1 1/2 c. sliced celery
1 (13 oz.) can pineapple tidbits
1 (11 oz.) can mandarin oranges, drained
1 c. slivered almonds
1 1/2 c. mayonnaise

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Spring is a time of renewal, and for many of us, a time for cleaning and organizing our homes. The melting of winter into spring is a great time to bring order to your abode after the inevitable chaos the hibernation season brings. But spring cleaning can be a daunting task, particularly if you tackle it alone. Simplify and speed your organizing day by enlisting your family to help. Don’t think your kids will participate? Make it a fun event and you’ll have volunteers you will enjoy spending the day with.

Like many organizing activities the key to success is to plan ahead. Pick a date you can dedicate the whole day to both the work and fun. Make certain you have the supplies you need, including handy snacks and drinks. Work in teams of 2 or 3 and then switch halfway through the day. Don’t forget to choose some up-tempo music to keep the energy levels up, and make certain each member of the family enjoys listening to their favourite CD during the day.

Most kids have four basic possessions – clothing, toys, books and school related papers. These items are forever changing and accumulating. The change of season is a great opportunity to sort through the excess taking up valuable space in your home. To keep your kids interest in check during your spring organizing day, give one or two of the following ideas a try.

Let’s begin with making room in the closets. Tell the kids you’re having a fashion show and let them try on all of their clothes (no, not all at once!). What doesn’t fit gets handed down to a sibling or packed into a box for donation. Sort what does fit into outfits and stack in drawers. Have your child make a list of new clothing needs for the next shopping excursion.

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“Our lives are one big puzzle and all of the puzzle pieces must fit together. If not, the picture of life is distorted and has little to no value.”

This quote is from a book called FaithLeaps: The Christian Mom’s Guide to Passion, Purpose and Profits. It was written by Alyssa Avant. This quote really made me think about how my life was a few years ago. I was in a job (or two) that I hated. I kept feeling like I just wasn’t in the right place, but I was scared to move on…scared to take that “Faith Leap”. I was finally forced into it. The company I was working for started to decline financially and they were laying people off left and right. It turns out that it was the best thing for me. I really wish that I would have read this book a couple of years ago. I honestly don’t think I would have spent 4 years of my life being miserable.

Have you ever felt led to make a career change? Do you feel like God is telling you that you should work from home to be with your kids? Maybe you are like me and He is telling you that you simply shouldn’t be in the job you are in. If so, I suggest you get the book “Faith Leaps”. It will help you decide what path you should take.

Get your copy of Faith Leaps: The Christian Mom’s Guide to Passion, Purpose and Profits in paperback here or in the Kindle version here.

Amy Royce has two children and has been married since 1995. She is an affiliate marketer and a Virtual Assistant. She enjoys helping others through the programs she markets and the tasks she performs as a VA.

Sales presentations can be daunting, and nothing is worse than an audience who is completely losing interest. If you can’t keep your audience motivated during your presentation you lose your chance to deliver a great impression about your company and what you do. In order to keep your audience on their toes, you have to make sure they remain involved in the presentation throughout, and the best way to do this is to ask them questions along the way.

Successful direct sales strategies every time- ask questions, don’t invite them

Many people have offered sales presentations in the past and tried the classic approach to audience interaction- asking members of the audience if they have any questions themselves. However, this type of approach too often results in awkward dead air and takes the confidence out of even the most expertly prepared messages. Turn the tables and ask the audience questions you’ve prepared instead, and you will be surprised to find audience participation and attention increase simply because you are asking for their input.

Direct Sales strategies that work- make your audience feel important

When you offer a sales presentation, your audience wants to know that they hold value in your eyes. After all, they are the ones taking time out of their day to listen to your ‘pitch’, so you need to make sure you prepare questions ahead of time that will require thought on their part for excellent (and useful) feedback. What you’re doing when you ask pertinent questions of your audience is passing on the message that you need their input and value their participation. When people feel needed and important, they are more likely to listen to your presentation eagerly and value what you represent more as well.

Your audience is a very valuable key to your success with a sales presentation. It doesn’t matter how expertly designed your sales presentation is, how detailed and to the point you are, if your audience can’t be bothered by what you are putting in front of them. You have to give your audience reason to pay attention, and asking them questions is a fabulous way to keep them perked up to your message the entire time you present. Not only will you get invaluable feedback your company can benefit from, but you will gain the respect of the people you present to by asking for their input all along.

Your presentation is your best direct sales and marketing strategy so make sure that it is the best it can be and you will surely reach your goals.

Deb Bixler provides direct sales training for consultants on how to increase cash flow at home by putting systems into place that create a consistent cash flow.

Work at home ideas are generously scattered throughout the world wide web, however, the main thing you need to do before you start looking is decide what you want to do. You have work at home jobs, (telecommuting), or a business of your own, so you need to do some thinking first.

For work at home jobs, you will work for someone else that pays you a set salary for the work that you do. For most telecommuting, you will of course need certain skill sets, as well as a well written, professional resume and cover letter.

However, for some jobs…there are waiting lists and it may take awhile to land the job you want. There are many home based job categories you can check into. The keys for finding a job online are patience, experience, basic search skills, and the willingness to put forth the effort and put in a hard day’s work for your pay. Search on job boards such as; careerbuilder, genuine jobs, and dice.com.

If you decide you want to run a business you need to decide what type of business you want to get into. You have direct sales or one of your own to consider. Direct sales businesses are ones that are owned by a company that you would be a representative for. If you choose to create a business of your own you could do coaching, you could be a virtual assistant, web designer, or perhaps, sell on eBay and Craigslist.

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Working out multiple times a week is a good way to stay fit, lose weight, and stay healthy. While that’s a challenge to do some weeks, during the summer is even more challenging. If your family is anything like mine you travel a few weekends a month. Our oldest son works so we’re only able to go once every three weeks, which makes our time away valuable. We usually leave Thursday early evening or Friday morning so working out is an even bigger challenge.

I have found a way to get a workout in no matter what time we leave and quite possibly no matter where we go. The solution… we go hiking or take family walks. While it may not be as hard of a workout as what you’d get at the gym, it’s still a workout. I look at it this way… it’s better than nothing. We like to go to the lake and the mountain so both places offer you the ability to take walks. Depending on how old your children are and where you go, you may be able to sneak in a walk with your spouse only which will be even nicer.

The important thing to remember when you’re trying to exercise regularly is it doesn’t matter where you go as long as you do what you can to get one in at least one or two times while you’re away. It doesn’t have to be a full blown workout if you can’t make it happen; a family walk will work just fine. You’ll find the family time will be nice and you’ll get the exercise in you need to stay on track with your fitness plan.

The Wordless Wednesday post I shared yesterday was the design my youngest son Josh created for a contest he’s participating in. If you missed the image, click here to view it.

Josh participated in the Wyoming Meth Project earlier this month. This project is designed to help children stay away from meth and the creations are displayed on a website to be viewed by children everywhere. Meth is a problem all over the world and when our children take a stand they have a chance to help others to stay away from it or get help.

There are many drawings on the site, but Josh’s video is the best (and I’m not just saying that because I’m his mom ). Josh created a sign that says Meth don’t do it and then he created an Easter egg that says the same thing. In his video he shares both of these with you and you can see these when you click here.

Josh would appreciate your vote for his design. You can vote through Facebook when you click here. You have the ability to vote once every 24 hours between now and April 25th.

Josh, your dad and I are so proud of you and we’re blessed to have you as a son. We’re proud that you chose to participate in this project to help raise awareness about Meth and that it’s not the right thing to do. Keep it up buddy!

As summer draws closer, I’m reminded of the vacations we have planned and the weekend camping trips to the mountain and the lake. I love these times with my family and I look forward to each one of them; mainly because I love being with my husband and my boys, but also because I enjoy time away from my business.

One of the hardest things I have found is leaving my business behind for a few days. I struggle with not marketing my business and the reason is because I’m worried I’ll miss something. Over the years I have learned a lot and one of the things I’ve learned is how to plan ahead so I can avoid the things that cause me the most fear.

I have found if I plan ahead I can still place my business in front of others even when I’m on the lake or in the trees. There are a number of ways to make this happen, but I certainly couldn’t make it happen if I didn’t plan ahead. That’s why I create my blog calendars ahead of time and plan early to get my client work done early. Without those two things I’d never be successful in the summer time when we go camping.

If you struggle with these types of things like I do, you need to try planning ahead. Create a Google calendar for your blog and create another one for your work. Create daily to-do lists and make sure you complete the items on the list each day. If you find you can’t make it happen, change things up and find ways to make it happen. Organize things, eliminate things that aren’t working, automate what you can, and hire a Virtual Assistant or Ghostwriter to help with tasks.

When you do what you can to organize your business and your life you’ll find things will go smoother, you’ll be able to truly take time off, and you’ll enjoy life. You’ll find you won’t stress in the days before your vacation and you’ll have the ability to take the time off and enjoy your family. It’s important to remember your family is the reason you work your business, but if you don’t work it the right way, taking time off won’t work and you’ll find working your business will be more stressful than it will be fun and enjoyable.

As yet another epidemic of hacked WordPress blogs is happening around the web this weekend, my inbox is filled with panicked emails with questions like, “Help! What can I do to make sure my blog is safe?!”

Here are two important steps you need to take right now to keep your WordPress blog secure:

If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it on YouTube:

Ready to discover step by step how to attract more traffic to your blog? Get access to a free video training right now at http://michelleshaeffer.com/driveblogtraffictraining

Michelle Shaeffer is a trainer and consultant, showing online business owners step by step to harness the power of technology and internet marketing to build successful businesses. She teaches her clients how to save hours and hours of frustration and shows them how to make their online presence work quickly to attract traffic, generate leads, and build authority.