Work at Home Moms Articles – WAHM Articles

We’re in the last quarter of 2012. I have no idea where the year has gone, but I know we’re in the home stretch for the goals we set at the beginning of the year. The next three months will determine if we reach them or not.

I’ve had years where I’ve set goals and I didn’t reach them, but I’ve also had years where I set goals and I achieved them. Let me tell you, I’d much rather reach them then not, so I’m going to take the last three months of the year to really focus and do what needs to be done so I make sure I reach them.

It’s not time to set new goals for 2013, but don’t think they aren’t on my mind. I’ve been thinking of ways I can take WAHM-Articles to the next level. At this point I haven’t quite figured it out, but I believe by the time I’m ready to set goals for the New Year I’ll have it.

I’m going to keep doing my to-do list each day and I’m going to make sure I have my year end goals in front of me at all times. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I reach them so I can finish 2012 on a positive note. So what are you going to do to make sure you reach your final goals for the year?

Today is Tuesday’s Thoughts and I’ve been thinking about summer vacations lately. Summer is officially here and that’s a great time to take a vacation and a lot of business owners do. Some business owners take the entire summer off to be with their children while others wish they had that ability, but they need to continue to make money, so they can’t afford to take the time off.

One thing some business owners don’t think about is planning. If you work with a Virtual Assistant (http://www.virtualfreedom4you.com) and a Ghostwriter (http://ghostwritertotherescue.com) before summer starts, you can plan to have everything completed and still have your business working and growing for you while you take the summer off to be with your children.

The planning part is what most people don’t think about and maybe it’s because there is a lot that goes into planning to take three months off. It might take a month or two or maybe even more time than that, but if you decide what you’re going to do and how long it will take you to accomplish it, you can make it happen and then have the time you need to be with your children.

Now of course, it all depends on the type of business you run as to if you can make this happen or not, but if you have multiple streams of income, you might be ok to let the one that won’t grow on its own sit on the back burner. Direct sales type companies are one of the ones that won’t grow themselves and so those are the ones you’d definitely need multiple streams of income to put that one aside.

Even though summer has officially started, it’s not too late to start planning and maybe you can take the last month of summer off to enjoy your children before they start school again. Whatever you do, don’t think you can’t make it happen, because if you plan and work hard, you can make anything happen.

Corrie

Is it possible your negativity can cause problems in your business? I’m not sure if it will for sure, but I can tell you it can cause problems in your personal life. When you’re negative it gets to a point where people don’t want to be around you at all. They’ll stop coming to your home, calling you on the phone, and depending on what you are to them, they may block you from on Facebook and other places. It’s not worth it!

Being negative can cause health problems and that’s not good. It’s not worth it to be sick all the time or cause yourself to need surgery to repair what you’ve done. Is it worth it? I think not.

When you’re a business owner and you’re negative all the time people won’t want to purchase from you. They want someone that’s positive and willing to do what it takes without complaining. They want someone who they know what complain about everything they say and they want someone who won’t have something bad to say whenever a comment is made.

The thing I hate the worst about someone that’s negative is when they carry on and on and on about things. You may see it on Facebook or Twitter and it seems like it happens every day and sometimes multiple times a day. When your customers or potential customers see those types of posts they’ll remember that when they run across a need for what you offer. If I see those types of posts I won’t use that persons business when I need something.

When you think about it, the negative thoughts you post can have a HUGE effect on your business and your personal life and to me that’s not worth it in any way. I’d rather keep those negative thoughts to myself or share them offline with a friend or family member. How do you feel about people that are negative all the time? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

There are times in our lives when we just don’t understand things. It may be the way people act, the way they feel, or the words they speak. No matter how hard we try we just don’t understand. When this happens, what do you do about it? It depends on the situation, but more than likely you won’t understand unless the person you’re trying to understand shares it with you and then even when they do share you still may not understand. So you may not be able to do anything at all for them.

What do you do if you find yourself in this situation? There isn’t much you can do except have compassion and understanding for this person. Make sure they know you’re there for them in any way you can and then make sure you are there for them. Don’t say you’ll be there and then back out of your end of the deal. Be a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen with. While this person may never say a word to you, just the thought of you being there for them may be what they need to get through it.

Just remember when you have a loved one that won’t say anything to you even though you know they need to, when you’re there for them they’ll feel at ease and so will you. They’ll know you’re there for them no matter what and who knows, it might just get them through it.

Has there ever been a time in your business where you thought about giving up something or change what you offer? How many times have you thought about that only to get a new client or customer that wants you to perform the task or they want to purchase what you were thinking about giving up?

This has happened to me on numerous occasions. While it’s hard to do, you must think about the thing you want to give up. You need to see if that one thing is worth it and you need to consider the one client and if it’s worth doing to task or the product. Once that decision is made you’ll know exactly what you need to do.

This may be a tough decision to make, but there are times it’s not worth it to have the tasks or products on your website. It’s more important to focus your time on the things that will work and provide the most income for you. When you decide what these tasks or products are, you’ll know it’s important to get rid of the ones that don’t do that for you.

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,

Today is Tuesday’s Thoughts and the thing that keeps coming to my mind is social networking. Social networking is one of the best ways to grow your business. It gives you the ability build trust with your market. You do this through the posts you make. I’ve been using social networking for a long time now and one thing that frustrates me the most is negative posts.

Your posts can be your blog, articles you’ve written, and personal posts you make. One thing you need to do is be careful about the things you post. You don’t want to do a lot of complaining, bad mouthing others, or negative posts. People don’t want to listen to your dirty laundry and they don’t really care to hear how you feel about the things others do that irritate you.

When you continually make these types of posts you’ll lose followers and trust with others. It won’t take long before they get tired of reading your posts and stop following you because of them. It’s not worth it when you’re trying to grow a business so the best thing to do is to always stay positive and post things your followers want to read.

Today is the last day of summer break for my boys. I’ll tell you I’m happy about it, but my boys have mixed feelings about it. While they’re not ready for the summer to be over, I think they’re both getting bored and are ready to get started.

My oldest is a 10th grader this year and my youngest is a 7th grader. I just don’t know where the time has gone. It seems like it was just yesterday that they were born. LOL Growth is going to happen no matter how hard I try to stop it, so I must let it run its course.

Since school is starting that means a routine will be established again and I think after 2 ½ months it’s about time we get it back. Routines are good because they help you to accomplish things. You’ll also find when you have a routine in place you’ll work more efficiently and you’ll be able to get more done in a certain amount of time. You’ll also find when the kids are studying or are in school you’ll be able to work in the peace and quite and things will come to your mind that wouldn’t have otherwise.

While I’m not ready for the warm weather to go away, I am glad that school is starting. No matter if my boys are ready or not, I certainly am. LOL

We went camping over the weekend and that gave me a chance to do a lot of thinking. I thought about my business, money, and many other things. I guess that’s what happens when you have a lot of free time on your hands. While I brought my computer to the mountain with us, I didn’t have internet. That’s not a bad thing though, if you think about it though.

One of the things I thought a lot about was money. You see we want to do a lot of camping between now and the end of the summer season and one of the only ways that will happen is if I save money at the grocery store. I know I can’t be the only one needing to save money. I know I can’t be the only one that wants to save money so things will be a little easier at the end of the month.

I have been couponing for six weeks now and I’ve saved more than $370 due to coupons and price matching. While it does take a little time to make it happen, it’s worth it in the long run. When I can look at my husband and say, yes we can go camping this weekend because we do have the money thanks to the savings we had the pay period before.

There are a ton of different websites out there that offer help and support for those that are just starting out with couponing. It’s really pretty easy to do and I just know if you put your mind to it you can do it too. Why not save your family a little money each week or month and give them the ability to do something special or a trip they’ve always wanted to go on. You can make it happen when you use coupons and price matching.

The year is almost half over and I just can’t believe it. Summer is almost here and school is almost over. Where did the time go? My oldest will be a sophomore in just 24 short days and my youngest will be in 7th grade in the same amount of time. Again I ask, where did the time go?

The time we have with our children is short and as time goes along it becomes shorter and shorter because they feel they don’t need us as much. They are busy doing school related activities, sports, and hanging with their friends. When this happens you may find they are home for dinner and breakfast but that’s about it. While it’s sad to see this happen, it’s also exciting at the same time because you have the ability to watch them grow and change.

Whether you’re a work at home mom or you work outside the home and run a home business on the side, it’s important to find a way to spend time with your children. Outsource tasks to a Virtual Assistant so you have more time with the family, work your time wisely, and don’t take on more than you can handle in one day. This will help you spend that quality time you crave with your family.