Work at Home Moms Articles – WAHM Articles

This week, I felt very excited to interview our new top author, Rachel Paxton. Rachel is the owner of Creative Homemaking, LLC .

WAHM-Articles: Hi Rachel! Welcome to the WAHM Articles Blog. Can you tell us about your business?

Rachel Paxton: Creative Homemaking, LLC, evolved from a print newsletter I started publishing back in 1996. I started writing the newsletter when my husband and I were having a tough time financially, and we needed to find a way to live within our means. The intent of the newsletter was to provide families with creative money-saving tips and hints that we were using in our own lives. My first web site CreativeHomemaking.com went online shortly thereafter, and I started Crafty-Moms.com and Christian-Parent.com during the next couple of years. I also currently publish a weekly online newsletter to almost 40,000 loyal subscribers.

WA: How does your business help women?

Rachel: My web sites target women of all ages and women of a variety of income brackets. I think even women with higher incomes are looking for creative, inexpensive ways to improve their lives, whether it be through cooking, organizing, crafting, or parenting.

WA: You were a technical editor for 10 years. How did you go from being a technical editor to working at home?

Rachel: At the beginning of my marriage I worked out of necessity. I was a single mom for a number of years, and after I got married I worked to help put my husband through college. I started my newsletter as a hobby right after we got married, but it wasn’t until almost ten years later that my web sites really took off so that I could work at home and be a stay-at-home mom. Thankfully, that was the same year my twin boys were born.

WA: In your author’s bio you wrote that this year you are starting homeschool preschool. How do you balance teaching your child with running a home business?

Rachel: My boys are turning three this month, so they are almost ready for preschool. Preschool is going to be our great “homeschooling experiment” to test the homeschooling waters. At this point my web sites don’t require a lot my time. I do all of my article writing while my boys are asleep. Of course after they stop napping it may be harder, but when they get older I hope to get them involved in their own activities so we can all work at the same time.

WA: Many of your articles are about crafts and decorating projects for the home. Have you always enjoyed making crafts?

Rachel: It’s funny, I’ve never considered myself a “crafty” person. Several years ago, however, I became addicted to scrapbooking. You’ll find my Crafty-Moms.com web site is full of my personal scrapbooking layouts. I do enjoy doing crafts with my kids…it is a great family activity.

WA: You’re also the author of What’s for Dinner?, and e-cookbook with more than 250 quick, easy dinner ideas. How did you come up with 250 easy dinner ideas?

Rachel: I can’t take credit for all of the dinner ideas.

Many of the recipes are from my newsletter readers and visitors to my web site. When I first started CreativeHomemaking.com I ran many contests to find the best recipes. They all ended up in the What’s for Dinner? cookbook. It’s actually been a big hit, and has sold much better than I ever expected.

WA: How has writing and submitting articles helped you develop your business?

Rachel: People are surprised to find out that I don’t spend a dime on advertising my web site. The #1 way I advertise my web site is by writing articles, lots and lots of articles. I think I’ve written about 200 articles to date, on everything from cooking and cleaning to home decorating, gardening, and parenting.

WA: Where do you get ideas for the articles you write?

Rachel: I get all of my ideas from everyday life. It is definitely the best inspiration. When I find myself marveling in something I’ve discovered, accomplished, or created it almost always ends up in an article.

WA: Rachel, thank you for taking the time to come by and chat with me today!

You can learn more about Rachel and Creative Homemaking by visiting her site at http://www.creativehomemaking.com Rachel is also the top author at WAHM Articles, and you can read her WAHM Articles here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Author Interviews, WAHM Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.