“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.

Every type of person struggles with money, but there are some people that wonder why they struggle when they have faith. Christians can struggle with money just as much as a none believer, but it’s harder for them to understand or they feel they need to be poor because that’s what God wants for them.

This is not the truth and Leroy Thompson shares that with us in his book, “Money Cometh! To the Body of Christ“. He shares numerous Bible verses that show us God wants us to have plenty of money so we can help others to share the Gospel with others. He also shares verses that are misinterpreted and that’s where others get confused about money.

God doesn’t want you to live in poverty and he doesn’t want you to be stressed because creditors continue to call asking for money. Leroy Thompson shows you how to sit at the “bill table” and come away with money left over after all of your bills are paid. He shows you that God has an account for you in Heaven that you have the rights to, but it won’t happen if you don’t follow his plan.

Tithing 10% of your income is important and it’s the only way you’ll be able to come away from the “bill table” with money in your pocket to share with others that are sharing the Gospel. Having faith and listening to God is what you must do and Leroy Thompson shows you how to do just that.

He also shows you how to hold onto your faith while you wait for your “Money Cometh“ to happen. That’s the hardest part for a Christian that’s trying to overcome debt and be on top. A lot of Christians give up when the money doesn’t come immediately, but you can’t do that. You must show God that you’re ready to have that money and that you’re not going to be foolish with it.

If you find you’re struggling with money or you find you want to get out of debt, but you don’t know how to make it happen so that “Money Cometh“ will come to you, you need to read this book. Through this book, God will lead you out of poverty and into prosperity. He’ll show you what you need to do with your money so you continue to climb out of debt and he’ll show you what to do after you reach that time and how to stay out of debt and continue to prosper and help others in God’s eyes.

If you’re ready to get out of debt and do what it takes to have prosperity and live a life that God has set for you, you need to get a copy of this book. Purchase your own copy of “Money Cometh! To the Body of Christ“ through this affiliate link.

Don’t Make Me Come Up There, by Kristen Welch is a book that any mother, or grandmother must own. It is a wonderful Christian Devotional on Parenting. When I came across this book a month or so ago, I was under the impression that my kids were the only ones in the world that do the things they do. I always thought I was doing a horrible job of parenting because I never see other kids doings those things. What reading this book helped me understand is that other kids do those things too….they just do it in their own homes!

The stories in this book had me laughing so hard. I honestly felt as if the author had put up video cameras in my home and was writing about my life, not hers! That feeling didn’t stop with the first story. I would have to say that at least 85% of this book resembled my life in some way!

I have suggested my mom and sister read this book. You should too!! You won’t be sorry you picked this book up, I know I wasn’t! You can find this book here for your Kindle or here in paperback.

This month’s book review is “The Work at Home Success Bible”, by Leslie Truex. This book, literally, tells you everything you need to know to Work at Home, but were afraid to ask! If you are like me, you have always dreamed of working from home and for that reason, this is the book you must read! I know it has helped me in numerous ways and it can help you too.

Leslie Truex talks about the struggles she has had working from home. She has come across the work at home scams that a lot of people encounter and she has found a way to be successful. In this book, she gives great advice on ways to avoid those scams and to help YOU be successful. She gives wonderful advice on talking with your current boss about the possibility of working from home, ways of knowing whether or not you will be able to afford it financially and how to balance your new business with your family life.

What I really liked about the book is how honest she is. She doesn’t paint a picture of working at home being all “picnics and ice cream”. You aren’t going to become a millionaire over night! You might get scammed once or twice. She tells you up front that it is hard work. If you want to be able to work from home, you have to actually put forth an effort. You have to shut off the TV and tell your friends not to call you during specific hours. You have to set up a schedule and be able to follow it to a tea. If you can’t do that, then working from home may not be for you, but if that is something you can do, that working from home can be a very rewarding choice.

If you have been thinking about working from home, then I highly suggest you pick up a copy of this book today. Read through it carefully and you will find out if making the transition from working outside the home to working at home is for you. You won’t be sorry you did.

Click here to purchase your own copy of this wonderful book through my affiliate link with Amazon.

I was recently handed a book to read. It was called “If You Really Want to be Successful, Get Connected!” This is a wonderful book written by Jo Lena Johnson and Donna Gamache. In this book are several interviews with business women and entrepreneurs. They give wonderful advice on how to run your business, things that worked for them and little “tidbits” of advice.

One of those “tidbits” of advice that really stuck with me was said by Anne Boody. She said “I try to focus and work on my guiding view; none of us knows what’s around the corner. Rather than fear it, dare to take the path!” That is wonderful advice. When you start your own business, there is always a fear of failure or uncertainty, but in order to be successful, you MUST take that path. If you don’t than all you will end up thinking is “What if…” Same goes for those of you already in a business for yourself. Things change and you have to be able to change right along with them in order to keep your business a success.

In this book, it tells potential or current business owners ways to keep their names in the public view, such as writing articles, or making blog posts. They give advice on choosing the right bank for your business and they share tips on how to make your business successful. It also stresses the importance of using the internet, having a good website for your business and using social networking sites to market your business.

One surprise I have for all of you is I was featured in this book. Jo Lena interviewed me while she was writing this book and asked me questions about gaining time and freedom while using a Virtual Assistant. Click here to view a copy of the pages I was included in from Jo Lena’s book. It was so exciting to be included in a print book. It gives me the ability to share with others that read Jo Lena’s book.

You will find this information and so much more in this book. I feel it is a MUST READ for anyone who is thinking of starting their own business as well as the ones who already have. Pick up your copy today.

Blessings,

I received the book “Work It, Girl!” by Lorraine Morris Cole and Pamela M McBride and I’ll tell you it’s been wonderful from the beginning. This book is perfect for the way the economy is right now. This book talks all about working outside the home. How to get a new job, finding a career, or working from home are all things you’ll read in this book.

One of the things that has stuck in my mind since I began reading this book is a quote that I read near the beginning of the book. The authors said, “Your success is whatever YOU want it to be and the very moment that you define success in your own terms, will be the very moment that you take your first step toward achieving it.”

There are several places in this book where the authors are discussing working outside the home, but if you think about it in terms of your own life as a Work at Home Mom you’ll see that it’s possible to relate what they’re talking about to your life as well. There are a number of things that are geared toward a job that could also be geared toward a business and vise versa.

Whether you’re looking for a job, wanting to change careers, or if you want to quit your job and work from home, this book is a must read. It will give you the confidence you need to pursue your dreams and make it happen. No matter if you work outside the home or you’re a work at home mom, this book is for you so make sure you “Work It, Girl!”

To purchase your copy, click on the button below.

Blessings,

I received the book Life Lessons by Dr. Daisy Sutherland at a very stressful time in my life. My son and I barely talk and I have been very worried about our relationship as well as the way he has been acting lately at school and in the general public. This book is a must read if you have a child or children of any age. She gives advice about younger children as well as teenagers that we all could use!

In this book, she gives examples of challenges that she has faced with her own children. Disciplining children has become some what of a touchy subject these days. There are groups that say you should spank your kids and groups that say you shouldn’t. She gives excellent advice on ways to alleviate the drama that we sometimes see from pre-teens and teenagers. I won’t go into detail on this, but I LOVED her advice on what to do about them slamming the doors in the house. You’ll have to read it to find out what it is!!

As I was reading Dr. Mommy’s Life Lessons, I felt so much better about my own parenting. It’s easy to get discouraged when your kids start to misbehave. Dr. Daisy’s book has given me confidence that I am, and will continue, to do a good job raising my kids. Sure, we will have rough patches, but we will get through it as a family and we will continue to love each other no matter what.

This is a must read for anyone that has kids at home. To purchase your copy, click on the banner below.

Blessings,

This week, Karri Flatla of the Alpha WAHM Blueprint stopped by to answer some of my questions about becoming an Alpha WAHM… and to explain what a work-at-home mom needs with a blueprint anyway. I think you’ll feel inspired by what Karri had to say, and hopefully you’ll start thinking about how having a blueprint can benefit your own work-at-home life too.

Please do remember to leave a comment at the end of the post. For one thing, I would really like to know what you think about this particular topic.

PLUS you’ll be entered in Karri’s Comment Contest and could be the lucky winner of her popular digital compilation 99 Tips & Aha Moments to Grow Your Online Business (Rocket Science Not Included.)

WAHM-Articles: How can having a “blueprint” help a work-at-home-mom? Is this different than a business plan?

Karri: The Alpha WAHM Blueprint is very different than a business plan, and in the book I recommend getting clear on your personal blueprint BEFORE you write a business plan. That said, if you’ve already written a business plan, or the one you have is outdated, this “blueprinting” process is still critical to your long term success as a business owner.

A business plan lays out the nuts and bolts of running and growing your business. It’s very “left brain” if you will. However, a blueprint forces you to dig deep and understand WHY you want to have a business and WHAT you want it to bring to your life (and the lives of your loved ones).

Without teasing apart the different aspects of your vision and purpose, even the best laid “plans” will fail to provide any real value to you as an entrepreneur who is bound to face difficult decisions along the way. You need a compass, not a to-do list!

So a business plan tells you what to do, and a blueprint tells you why you’re doing it in the first place (and if it’s even the right thing at all!).

WAHM-Articles: You call your book an “empowerment guide for work-at-home-moms.” Why do work-at-home moms need to feel empowered? What do you believe we are lacking?

Karri: We need empowerment more than ever now. Working moms today have very few role models that make any sense for the realities they face here and now. Modern moms who also have paying careers are expected to be and do EVERYTHING for their families. On the one hand, we’re supposed to keep a beautiful, perfectly groomed home, dedicate our full attention to our children no matter what our own needs are, and look fabulous doing it.

On the other hand, we’re educated, we’ve earned our own incomes prior to getting married and having children, and we know what it means to have something (a life) to call our own.

Experts tell us it’s about work-life balance. In Alpha WAHM Blueprint, I passionately disagree with this sentiment. In fact, I ask women to let the notion go completely. Instead, let’s shoot for something more meaningful—like a true integration of work, love, passion, family … all of it. The modern work-at-home mom wants synergy, not separation. She also wants to stop feeling like she has to be perfect and instead can just focus on what brings her the most meaning and joy. If that means the kids don’t get as many home cooked meals or mommy-made crafts, so what?

Kids—and their dads—want mom to be happy. That is all your family really needs. The media and societal norms have construed it to be more complicated than that, but it’s not.

WAHM-Articles: Karri, you managed to write this book while being a mom to two little boys and running a successful web marketing business. How do you keep yourself motivated to grow and develop your business?

Karri: I’m as human as anyone else on this journey. That means some days I feel like packing it all in and just baking some cookies for my kids. But then I remember why I started doing this in the first place (and that I don’t like working in the kitchen much!). I am doing this because I want—with all my heart and soul—a life designed by ME and my family, not “the boss” or some corporation’s idea of work-life balance.

This is why having a personal blueprint is so important. It provides you not only a sense of deep purpose and meaning, but it serves as a reminder when things aren’t looking so hot in your business. When you stay connected to the real you—to the truth you’re striving to live each day—very little can stop you from achieving your work-at-home dreams.

Thank you so much for visiting WAHM-Articles, Karri!

If you want to learn more about getting empowered and creating your own personal blueprint, you may want to check out Karri’s book, Alpha WAHM Blueprint.

Please remember to comment below to enter Karri’s Comment Contest. Do you think having a blueprint would benefit your business? Have something else to add? We’d love to hear from you!

]]> http://wahm-articles.com/blog/2010/04/the-alpha-wahm-on-wahm-articles/feed/ 1 http://wahm-articles.com/blog/2010/04/are-you-ready-to-be-an-alpha-wahm/ http://wahm-articles.com/blog/2010/04/are-you-ready-to-be-an-alpha-wahm/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:36:06 +0000 admin http://wahm-articles.com/blog/?p=1353

A few weeks ago, I read a book that has slowly been transforming the way I think about my life and business as a WAHM… for the “much” better. The book is the Alpha WAHM Blueprint: An Empowerment Guide for Work at Home Moms by Karri Flatla aka @alphawahm.

I have been making some big changes in my writing/virtual assistant business lately. My kids are another year older, and even though they like knowing I’m home, they don’t actually want to SEE me. So, it’s time to focus more on my business and bring to fruition many of the plans I started out with but never had time to develop.

Exciting!  But also a little bit scary… What I really wanted was for someone to come alongside me and help me figure out exactly what I wanted my business to look like.

What a perfect time to discover the Alpha WAHM Blueprint. This is a guidebook that walks you through all the steps of creating a business you love, that fits with your family and the lifestyle you desire.

What I appreciated most about Alpha WAHM is that Karri isn’t yet another “expert” telling you her secrets for success.  Instead, she vwalks you through the steps of discovering what YOU want and planning how you will achieve it.

To be honest, I initially wasn’t sure this book would appeal to me. For one thing, I’ve been running a business from home for over 10 years and have worked with some wonderful mentors over that time. I find most WAHM-focused products are for those just starting out or are too “fluffy” for my taste.

But since Karri recognizes that YOU are the expert, this book really is appropriate for work at home moms at any stage. And because we’re always changing and growing, this is a book I know I’ll return to again and again and always get something new out of it. It’s definitely something I want to keep nearby and review every few months, just to check that I’m staying true to myself.

Another concern I had before reading the Alpha WAHM Blueprint was that Karri’s kids are a lot younger than mine, and she writes from that perspective. I was skeptical as to what advice she could give to a mom with two teenagers in the house. But I was pleasantly surprised and gently reminded that all moms deal with similar issues, no matter what the ages of our children.

For the sake of full disclosure, I need to tell you that Karri did send me a complimentary copy and those are affiliate links in the post. However, I’m telling you about the book because I really think this is something that every work at home moms needs to read. Too many of us are trying to do things the way other people tell us we should, and missing out on the fulfillment we desire!

Are you ready to rock the WAHM world and become an Alpha WAHM? If you’re a mom who works from home, wishes she could work from home, or has been working from home even longer than I have, I highly recommend the Alpha WAHM Blueprint.  It will help you discover what you really want out of your WAHM life, and how you can achieve it – your way. Here’s the link again.

~ Denise

As a work at home mom who is also a Christian, the most difficult part of starting my Virtual Assistant business wasn’t writing a marketing plan, setting up my first website, or even finding my first client. It was figuring out what role my faith in God should play in my new business. The answer seems obvious – of course it comes first! The tricky part was learning exactly what that should look like…

That’s why I was so thrilled to discover the new book by Jill Hart and Diana Ennen, So  You Want to Be a Work at Home Mom: A Christian’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business. Diana’s Virtual Assistance books and Jill’s online community of Christian WAHMs had been very influential for me when I began working from home years ago. Together, Jill and Diana know everything there is to know about working from home, and they know how it all fits together with faith in God.

Every inch of starting a home business is covered in this wonderful book. Jill and Diana walk readers through choosing a business, setting it up, marketing a business, and even how to balance your family with your home business. And through it all runs the idea that for a Christian mom like me, faith in God needs to come first, in everything I do.

The information in these pages is priceless for any mom considering a work at home lifestyle. But what was most inspiring for me were the personal stories Jill and Diana share about their own work at home journeys, along with interviews with other successful business owners that are sprinkled throughout. It was encouraging to realize that these women I had admired for so long had once faced the same problems I had, and had asked the same questions.

And the most important question this book finally resolved for me, was the role my faith should play in my business. My faith in God is at the beginning, and in everything I do. Just what does that look like? Some days it’s frustrating. Some days it’s amazing. And there are days when I wonder if my hopes will ever be realized. Then I remember that God’s plans are much bigger than mine, and what He has in mind for me is greater than I could possibly imagine.

If you need encouragement in your own work at home journey, or want to know what it really takes to become a work at home mom, you will love the book, So  You Want to Be a Work at Home Mom. Visit http://SoYouWantToBeAWAHM.com to learn more about the book and order your copy!

~ Denise