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Scammers Make Me Mad.

By reading the title, you probably have figured out that I have gone around or two (or ten) with work at home scams. I am the mom of twelve, and staying home with my children is my top priority, but contributing to the family finances was also important.

I searched far and wide for a legitimate way to generate money from home, and fell victim to more than my share of scams. You know, after awhile, you get pretty darn sick of that game. I finally wised up, and took a look at what I was good at and decided to do my own thing. I could bake well, so I started my own business doing just that.

I ran my business for ten years,
but there was something missing.

You get to a stage where you try and figure out what you want to be when you grow up. I started the search, and let me tell you, it was pretty hard. That really is an understatement, it involved a lot of soul searching, prayers, and finding the right people to mentor me.  I took all the skills and personality tests to discover my strengths and talents, I read lots of books, listened to a ton of podcasts, took classes, and finally the results are in.

I am passionate about helping moms.

Many moms want the privilege of staying at home with their children, but I know that many times finances make that hard to do. I have facilitated Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” classes many times, and know that extra income is important in lots of households. Therein lies the dilemma, how to generate the income needed AND stay at home.

I discovered that one of my gifts is teaching, paired with the fact that I love communicating with people. In my search for the answer to what I wanted to be when I grew up, I decided to see if I could teach baking skills to other people who did not have experience baking. Then I got a scathingly brilliant idea. My friend Judy cringed at the thought of baking, but she is a great sport, and agreed to let me teach her how to bake, and even let me video the lessons. Check out the videos in our recipe section. We have a great time, and Judy is becoming famous for her baking. All her friends and neighbors are lining up to get on her good side (she is spreading great food and good cheer to those near and dear to her.)

I wanted more proof, so I decided to teach a class how to bake, and had great reviews, so now I am going to open my doors and finally start helping stay at home moms learn to generate income for their families, and be able to stay at home with their kids. I have been greatly blessed and I am excited that I can help some moms do what I have done.

I will be posting more information in the coming weeks, and so watch for more information about how I can help some other stay at home moms generate money for their families.

I know that l have been talking about the need most of us have to generate money, but today I just have to talk about the other side of the equation, the outgo. On August 17th, Dave Ramsey had a great piece on his show in the second hour.

He was referencing an article from Yahoo Finance called  “Millionaire Myth Busters”. He covered the seven myths, but followed that by doing some math for all of us to take note of.

He made the argument that even someone who makes minimum wage has the opportunity to retire wealthy. Yep, you read  that right, wealthy. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it. I don’t want to try and give the complete explanation of how you do that, he is the expert.

The short summary though is that through consistent savings of under fifty dollars invested your working lifetime of fifty years could make you a member of the millionaire club!

So, stay at home moms can really make the difference long term through frugal living and being disciplined about saving money. Hey, it is Friday, and that is a sweet way to start your weekend off right. Monday we can get back to working on the other side of the equation.

I highly recommend that you take a few minutes today to just go to the archives of his show on August 17, and listen to the second hour of the show. Simply go to the sixty minute marker and listen.

photo credit: srish

Family time.

What is your answer to that question? If you are anything like me, the answer is obvious. Stay at Home Moms have made the hard decision to sacrifice dollars for time. Your priority is to spend your hours dedicated to the care of your family.

That is a great choice, and in my opinion, is one you will never regret.  I decided to do that & now I have my older kids to use as a measure of the value of that decision.

I now have the information to verify that what I had felt all along was  best  for my family. That said, the truth of the matter is that finances do take a tole on all families. Money shortages can cause stress in any marriage, and therefore negatively affect your marriage.

I know for sure, it affected ours. Every time the car broke down, it either put us in debt, or was the cause for a seriously crabby mommy. This is not an ad for Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University”, but I have to tell you, that program is a true gift.

Even Dave Ramsey tells everyone that there are two sides of the equation, the income and the outgo.  We moms all know that there are just times when the income side of that equation is a problem we all face.

To fix the problem, so many of us start the search for  home jobs. We are all hoping to find that perfect way to earn from home.

That is where so many of us take on that challenge and become the victim of con artists. You know from many of my previous posts that I fell for more than my share of scams. What each of us wants is legitimate work from home.

I am going to  give you some sound advice when you are searching for a way to make money from home.

1. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
2. You probably can’t really make six figures while you sleep.
3. Trust your gut, it is amazingly intuitive.
4. If the sales presentation takes place at a hotel ballroom, run.

Let’s share some stories about things to avoid or scams we have run into.

As part of a “class” I am taking, I regularly check in on blogs that mom’s write. I have found a great variety of blogs that I try and follow and I am meeting lots of other great moms. One thing I am learning is that it’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph.

I ran across this great idea for encouragement, so I am sharing this with you to put in your tool kit. I found this on Faith & the Family. They encourage moms to recognize their successes and share them with others on Thursday of each week.

I have been really behind in writing my blog this week. I was getting frustrated with myself about that very thing, and then I ran across this post from Daniel Bean. It reminded me that sometimes we just have to be satisfied with the small successes we experience, rather than being discouraged by our lack of action. You can read her blog here.

http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/blog/doing_the_right_thing/

I decided to take the challenge and give myself credit for three successes this week, no matter how small.

1. I talked with the branding specialist I hired for my website about how to put up the sales page for the work at home mom business I developed. Hopefully as soon as I actually get that done, I will be on my way to launch my business and help other stay at home moms work from home, yeah.
2. I got all my kids headed off to school We have kids at all education levels  from eighth grade to law school. I even took pictures of their first day!
3. I am working on a program I bought called the blog internship, and I have been struggling to get all the exercises done, however, I keep plugging away at it, and I am learning A LOT.

Well, this post is not exactly about following the steps toward working from home, but wait, it sure is. In real life, we have to commit to recognizing our accomplishments, or we will face times when doubt can overcome us. I urge you to join in this type of fun activity to encourage you to keep moving forward.

Discover You

When our children are born, we all have the highest aspirations for them.  Let’s face it, we would do anything for our children. Unfortunately, we might be unable to provide one of the most important building blocks for our children’s  future.

It is so crucial to help identify the gifts and talents our children have been blessed with, yet many of us don’t even know how to do that for ourselves. Given that scenario, it would be like trying to teach someone to water ski, without ever having gone out in a boat.

The good news is that there are tools readily available to help us through that process. The DISC profile and “Strengths Finder” 2.0 by Tom Rath are two things that can point us in the right direction. You can purchase the book at any book store, and you need to actually purchase the book, because it gives you a unique code that can only be used once. The code gives you access to the test online, and the book explains the process, and the results.

The DISC profile is available online as well. One place I am sure offers it is http://www.mywiredstyle.com.My challenge for your weekend is to get the book, take the tests, and start the process of discovering you.

Understanding your passions is puzzling. Many people struggle with discovering our passions, yet it is what we most want and love to do. It will make the difference between working at a job or business that drains you, and one that absolutely energizes you.

Even more puzzling is the fact that most people ignore the fact that understanding what you were created to do is critical to your happiness. In the world of business and generating money, it is shoved to the bottom of the list of considerations.

This morning I watched a great video. I am including it  here for you to watch. It is a little long, but it emphasizes the reasons that understanding your passions is so important.  It is worth the investment of your time.

I will discuss this more tomorrow, see you then.

The Key to Success  Starts with You.

So many of us make the mistake to  fire up the computer and start searching for a great opportunity to solve all our work at home aspirations. Unfortunately, making that mistake can just start you off down the wrong path.

In the long run, it really will pay off to resist the urge to jump on any opportunity that is billed as the greatest way to make money since sliced bread. You need to take a look at yourself first. It is important to identify your passions. The key to success is building a business that you can enjoy and grow. Many people don’t take the time to find a good fit, and then wonder why they don’t make money. Let’s face it, if you are not excited about your product of business, why should you customer be.

Taking this inward look is extremely important, and may be one of the more difficult steps in creating an income while working from home. We have all heard the old saying “If Momma Ain’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy”. Well, loving your work is directly related to your passions.

I would suggest that you start by writing down at least twenty five things you like. Get a notebook and make it your idea book. Next, examine each of those things, and brainstorm possible ways to make money with them. If you like biking, could you blog about biking and eventually earn money selling products or promoting others products and getting affiliate commission on sales? If you love to sew, maybe you could make costumes for the areas theater groups.

Spend the time to really work on this step, no cheating here. Twenty five is the minimum number, fifty is better. When you have your list of likes, start asking family and friends to help you brainstorm.

Throughout our lives, we are constantly learning the steps of how to do a new task, be it a hobby, a job, a class, etc. Depending on what you are wanting to accomplish, there can be tons of steps, or just a few.

The goal of being a stay at home mom is one that involves many steps, and spans lots of years. To be sure it is a marathon, not just a stroll around the block. We all know that to be able to complete a marathon takes training, and there are many who train for years before ever attempting to run one. (I wonder if anyone has ever counted the steps required.)

One of the steps that I neglected as a stay at home mom, was realizing that I had to be actively working on ME to prepare myself to realize my goal of being a work at home mom. I was totally into my family, but the reality of the situation was that I was living in a blissful ignorance of not adequately preparing for the future. As a family, we could live within our means, stretch the budget, be frugal, I was great at that.

As a young mom, I was totally naive about the expenses we would encounter as our children grew. I figured out the part about the fact that they would eat more sure, but all the rest was more of a surprise. In my mind, I just assumed that as our family grew, so would my husbands income. To be sure, it did, but not in the same proportions as our expenses.

As those expenses became reality, I began to feel a very real pressure to do something to contribute financially.  So I began the search of a viable way to make money. I still desperately wanted to be a stay at home mom. Lets be real here, it was more than a want, it was a NEED. Childcare for my brood would have consumed all that I made.

The search began, and as time rolled on, I became more desperate. That is when I began to fall victim to scams. I have already covered all that in past blog posts, but my point here for you is that things would have been different if I only  had a plan from the beginning.

I am starting a series here for my blog, and my purpose is to help others avoid some of the mistakes I have made. I will try and  share a few of the things I learned along the way. We will begin with some baby steps, but you need to know that this is just the beginning of training for your stay at home mom marathon.

I am not suggesting that I have all the answers, that would be laughable. What I am saying is that simply by the time I have spent on this planet, I have run into a number of experts that have provided me with answers to my questions, and hopefully, I can refer to them, or at the very least recall my experiences.

I will close with a step that sounds very simple, but don’t be deceived, it is harder than it will appear. Decide today that you will carve out a half hour every day that you will dedicate to working on the plan that will be the foundation to your goal of being a work at home mom. This is really important, it will start training you to make time in your day to work on yourself and your business.

I would love your thoughts and comments. Please feel free to share your ideas and questions throughout this series.

You know, when you are first learning something it is hard. I doesn’t matter your age, because hopefully we are all in the lifelong learning mode. For me, all this computer stuff is a huge challenge. (I bet that is a big surprise to you if you have paid any attention to what I do here.)

I for one have decided that you should celebrate the little victories of life, and when you can do that, it helps improve your attitude tremendously. So, today I am celebrating that I was able to figure out how to add the Tungle.me and the Google Voice widgets to my website. Two minutes of work took me two days to figure out, but I DID IT! So, now you can make me feel great and feel free to call me and congratulate me, just kidding.

Well, actually when I think about it, not really kidding. You see, I have been working hard on getting everything ready to go so that I can announce the date of my first class. I am really getting close now. So, if you know of a stay at home mom who would like to earn some extra money, but knows her cherished career is being a stay at home mom, it is possible that this would be a good fit. I have thought a lot about moms who want to be stay at home moms, after all,thirty four years is a lot of time to think about that subject.  I ran my own corporate catering company for ten years, and while it was sort of a good fit, one thing I can tell you about working at home is that if you are working whether at home or somewhere else, at that time, your priority is your work. The catering took a lot of my weekday time.

One of the main things that I researched, was a work at home job for moms who just don’t want to be tied down to a schedule. In the creation of Dough Raising Mom, I decided to develop a business that would allow a mom to decide when she wants to work, schedule her own time, and still be able to generate the extra money she needs.

I want to share this entertaining and informative blog about social media, it provides good information. I hope you enjoy it.

WAHM Group News | LinkedIn.

Help me be me.

School is right around the corner, we are all busy getting the school supply lists, facing the task and expense of shopping for shoes and clothes etc. The start of the new school year brings a hustle of activity, the prospect of weekend sports, parent meetings and so much more. Our schedules get filled up from the very beginning. Homework looms on the horizon.

As a very seasoned parent, I have learned a lot late in the game, and some of those things are of the “if I had only known” category. We have spent a small fortune on education. All of our children attended Parochial schools through high school. Seven of our children have graduated from college, two have doctorate degrees, a third is working on his doctorate. With all that exposure to education, I have seen something that is sorely lacking in our schools. (Well, I have seen more than one thing, but those will be for another day).

We send our children off to kindergarten with new backpacks, and high hopes. What happens fairly quickly is that they begin the never ending process of assessments, (grades). Oh I know, there is a lot of debate about grades, we have experienced many different educational models, open classroom, block modules, and many more. We have watched walls in classrooms torn down, to be put back up later, and on and on. I don’t want to include any of those things in this discussion.

What I want to talk about is what I believe is missing is any model I have seen so far. When our children bring home a report card, the greatest emphasis often is placed on the lowest grade on the card. We get all concerned that little Tommy got a D in math, or science.

We promise ourselves that we will dedicate as many hours as it takes to get that grade up to at least a B. And then we begin to make Tommie’s  life miserable as he struggles to master concepts that are not in his set of strengths and talents. We begin to make him feel inadequate. And then he goes to school and gets more of the same from his teacher, just compounding the problem.

I am not suggesting we let  kids slide, but one brilliant principal we dealt with concerning our son who struggled mightily with school once told us “some kids need to know every general of the war, some just need to know there was a war”.

What I am suggesting is that we start focusing on what our children are innately good at. From the time they are very little, we need to truly nurture their strengths and talents. Forget comparing them to siblings and peers, each one of us has God given talents that are directly related to what He designed us to do on this earth.

Rather than damage their esteem by focusing on what they struggle with, focus on what they do well. Things that come easily to us are an indication of what our hearts dictate. Developing those talents, will lead our children to their Calling in life, which equates to a happy life and a career they love.

How many adults are still seeking “what they want to be when they grow up?” Don’t let that happen to your children. That help is still a missing piece of the puzzle in our schools, as much as I can tell.

I have discovered an amazing woman who has developed a wonderful program to help all of us through our process. Her name is Deb Ingino. Her website is called My Wired Style. Here is a link, but it is my affiliate link. http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/?af=1055510. Using that link is a blessing to my family, but not my purpose, so you can circumvent that link and just go to her website if you prefer.

We have spent tons on education, but all of my children have told me that they got absolutely no true help in their quest to to determine what they want to be when they grow up. I feel like an inadequate parent in regard to this, but better late than never.

I am using the tools Deb suggests, and hopefully, my children (and their parents), will find the answer to what God created us to be. Last Sunday our pastor addressed this topic in his sermon, leaving us with  the challenge to answer the question “Are you, the you, God created you to be?” I urge you to help your children be able to answer yes to that question.