End of an Era: Goodbye to the eHow WCP

"Rich people focus on opportunities,

Poor people focus on obstacles." 

-T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

 For many writers, the official end of eHow's Writers Compensation program (WCP) comes as a big disappointment, if not a total shock. Since the program closed to new articles a year ago, in April 2010, many predicted the eventual cessation of payments. 

Why End the WCP?

Demand Media, which went public in January, has been working to streamline their eHow.com property, minimize duplicate content, and since last spring has put all new articles through a competent editorial process. There are still many articles on the site, including content that pre-dates Demand's acquisition of eHow and some inferior WCP articles, that detract from rather than boost eHow's reputation. By stopping WCP payments and allowing users to remove their content, eHow is both cleaning up its site and perhaps making a business decision as to the profitability of various content.

Buyout Offers
As of May 5, 2011, the WCP is over and done with and no further earnings will accrue. However, Demand Media has made personalized offers to buy writer's content in order to keep it on eHow.com.

Writers still own their intellectual property -- the articles written and published on eHow -- but can no longer receive residual payments via the eHow platform. Thus, many will choose to accept Demand Media's buyout offer for their articles and leave them on the site, transferring ownership to Demand.

Some will decline the offer and instead delete their articles from eHow and move them to other content sites, personal blogs and self-run niche sites. Others have decided to leave their articles on eHow, hoping to profit at least for a little while longer from the secondary streams of income generated by their content: links to their related niche sites and the affiliate links allowed by the original WCP.

My mom accepted her offer of about $220 for three articles, sister #1 took $330+ for her dozen articles, and sister #2 declined $34 for 10 articles. I think they all made good decisions. In the end, much of their articles' value was that they were published on eHow.com. 

Regardless of whether they keep their articles on the site or not, writers who counted on the money they earned from eHow each month will need to find ways to replace that income as quickly as possible. Several writer/work at home mom (WAHM) friends have asked me what I'm going to do.

 My Plans
First, I am going to look at this not as an obstacle, but as an opportunity. The quote I shared at the beginning of this post is from a book my husband's sales team was required to read and discuss over the past few months. There are many excellent "wealth files" in it, and I thought this one was particularly fitting for those who write online to build residual income.

A positive outlook is important in order to move forward and to create success in other endeavors. I think of all that I learned from  my eHow.com articles, including valuable insight about profitable niches, and know that I can take this experience, knowledge gained through the surprising success of my "eHow experiment," and use it to build an even higher monthly residual income.

Practically speaking, I'll be concentrating my efforts on the following areas:

• My pets-theme niche site
• My home/family-theme niche site
• My three recipe-theme niche sites 
• Affiliate marketing

To build my residual income on these properties, I'll be

• Writing quality, original, helpful articles
• Locating and affiliate-linking to excellent products and resources
• Backlinking and using social media to increase traffic and SERP ranking of my content

(2/2/2016: For those looking back and wondering... yes, I took eHow's buyout offer. It was fair. It was significant. It was a win-win. And looking back, five years later, I know for certain what a great decision that was.)

That's my plan in a nutshell. What's yours?

Work at Home Jobs for Moms Part 1: Re-Selling Stuff

There are many work at home jobs for moms that require little to no overhead, do not involve finding people to sell under you or host selling parties, and can be enjoyable as well as profitable. As a work at home mom who makes in the neighborhood of $3,000 a month primarily from my computer, I have several years' experiences and many ventures from which to draw on in order to share this knowledge with you.

I've earned money selling items on eBay, reselling kids' clothes at consignment sales, grading English papers from home, mystery shopping, forum posting, writing articles for hire, freelance editing, writing content articles, blogging, publishing websites, ebook writing and affiliate marketing. Two things I don't do, and refuse to do, are "paid surveys" and any type of multilevel marketing, whether it's selling makeup or microfiber cloths or kids' educational toys or kitchen gadgets at home parties -- no thanks.

It's very, very hard to build a passive income from multilevel marketing -- the cards are stacked against you. Conversely, it's actually quite possible -- with hard effort and some skills -- to make a significant income from home with a job you will enjoy and hours you choose.

Since I currently earn the bulk of my income through online sources, I'll focus on those methods in the future posts in this series. However, I first want to note several great sources for side income, especially since these can be used to build capital for  funding and growing an online business.

Work at Home Jobs for Moms:  Reselling Used Stuff


You can buy and re-sell kids clothes, home goods, collectibles and the like while working from home. This works best if you have a good sorting and storage area, such as garage or basement space, that you can use just for this purpose. as you'd assume, the key is to buy things very cheaply and to resell them for more.

eBay Selling
Don't dismiss eBay auction selling as impossible, overcrowded or not worth the time. If you find good items to resell, you can make money -- possibly even lots of money-- every week through online auctions. When I was first a stay at home mom, I built up a small eBay business and earned a few hundred dollars on the site every month, sometimes more. I simply bought things for a little and sold them for more. For example, I found a new Calvin Klein duvet at a thrift store for $5 and resold it for $60. A lamp I paid $2 for sold for $20 plus shipping, and there were many items like this where I was able to turn a  few dollars into more. Some work at home moms make a full time income selling on eBay, and most got their start finding used things to re-sell.

Good sources for items to resell include yard sales, consignment stores, Craigslist, giveaway bags from friends and family, clothing salvage stores such as Gabriel Brothers and Rugged Warehouse, discount places like Ollie's and Big Lots, and your own attic and basement.

A friend and fellow blogger, Suzanne, has tons of advice, information and free resources on making money from home with eBay at her eBay Selling Coach blog. If you have an eye for things that would sell well, or would like to develop one, check it out. Suzanne discusses ebay niches, eBay success stories -- like a thrift store find of vintage sewing patterns for 76 cents that sold for $75 on eBay -- and she is all around the best eBay blogger I've ever read.

Kids' Seasonal Consignment Sales
I sell used children's clothing, toys and furniture at semi-annual sales held in my area and make about $200-$500 per season for what amounts to a few hours' work sorting, cleaning, tagging, and  delivering my items. The money lets me splurge on new things for my kids and have extra money to spend on their birthday and Christmas gifts. If you get serious about it, you can earn thousands of dollars per sale (assuming you're selling at a sizable sale in a good area).

ConsignmentMommies is a great website and offers some key advice on top-selling kids' items and how to maximize your consignment profits. When you can source items very cheaply and resell them for great used-item prices, you'll do well. They have an extensive listing of consignment sales by state, too.
(By the way, if you are looking for affordable kids' clothing and don't have local consignments sales, you can also swap kids' clothes online for free at Thred-Up.)

 Consignment Stores
Despite the recessionary economy of the past year, or perhaps in part because of it, one of the new businesses that opened up in my hometown was a consignment store in the town's main shopping center. They accept everything from home goods to furniture to ladies' clothing to kids' toys. While the store/ consignor split isn't the best (they keep 60% of the sale price) it is an easy way to make extra money, using the same sources listed above for re-selling on eBay. for me, the consignment store is the least favorable selling option and used mainly for heavy items, home goods that wouldn't do well on eBay, and kids' clothes only in between the seasonal sales.

There are many work at home jobs for moms, and I'll discuss more -- especially online ones -- in future posts. My favorite ways to earn money form my computer involve residual income and being paid over and over for the same work. But as you can see, reselling things can be a great way to get started earning money from home. 


Have you made money selling on eBay or via consignment? What's your best re-selling success story?

WAHM from eHow in the News

My friend Candace, who I met at the weHow 2008 event in Santa Monica, CA, is a fellow stay at home mom who uses eHow and her blog to earn extra money from home.

Recently, she was featured on the news in her hometown of Dallas. Here she is:

Isn't Candace poised? I am impressed with her calm confidence, not to mention very put-together look. Go Candace!

You can find her on eHow as CCrock and on Blogger at Smokin' Momma (as in smoking hot).

And here's a picture of us at weHow 2008:
Don't mind the guy in the middle, that's just Richard Rosenblatt, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of Demand Media, which owns eHow!

Lazy Summer Days

Just a quick post as I get ready to celebrate the Fourth of July with my family and friends. I hope all my work at home mom friends and fellow residual income entrepreneurs are having a great summer so far.

I've been taking the kids to the pool and to the park a few times a week, and my work schedule is on summer hours ... to tell the truth, I am looking forward to ramping things back up in September when the kids will be in school/ preschool three mornings a week and I'll be hanging out in the coffee shop with my laptop and an organized list of what I plan to accomplish this fall and winter.

Here's an overview of where I am these days:

• Google adsense earnings have increased for me almost each month and I have made payout two months in a row for the first time (May and June). This has encouraged me to increase my work on my various niche sites and blogs.
  
• Still writing eHow articles as time allows and I think of niche titles/ topics not already done to death on the site. Earnings are holding steady but not increasing dramatically.
  
• Experimenting with Squidoo, as I mentioned in my last update. I'm having a much harder time getting my Squidoo Lenses indexed by Google than I expected -- eHow has spoiled me.
  

My goal for the summer is to add a few niche site webpages each week, in addition to several content articles and some backlink building. I also need to monetize my nutrition website and add affiliate products to my niche sites.

What are your summer goals?

Avoiding Burnout as a WAHM

Burnout is something I've rarely experienced -- over the past few years as a work at home mom, I've always had more motivation, inspiration and creativity than I had time to write. The only trouble for me was finding the time to get everything done that I hoped to accomplish in a given day.

Motivation was always easy to come by -- most of the time, we really needed my income to help make ends meet. So even when I found writing eHow articles tedious, seeing my daily earnings increase every week was enough reason for me to keep at it. This success inspired me to write my ebook guide, which has also been more successful than I had imagined, and I was rewarded by my readers' feedback.

Over the past couple months' I've experienced something different -- only slightly less time for writing, but much less motivation for writing, especially content articles, even on topics I previously enjoyed.

More enjoyable writing projects, such as my niche sites and blogs, haven't been immune to my little "burnout" interlude. It's been a month since I posted on this blog -- and for that I apologize! I am blessed to have so many faithful readers, and I really appreciate your comments on my previous post about the death of my aunt -- thank you.

I think my burnout was triggered by my decision to enter a contest for Demand Studios writers, in which the top writer wins a MacBook computer. On top of my other projects, I started writing several DS revenue share articles each day, on their titles, including topics that needed excessive research. I wasn't enjoying the writing process, and since I honestly don't need a new computer right now, the motivation didn't keep me going long.

After taking a break for a couple weeks (and boy do I love residual income, the money keeps coming in even when I'm not working!) I am back on top of my game, catching up with blogs, creating a new niche site, and outlining my next ebook. I'm thankful that I'm my own boss -- I might have been fired otherwise. I'm only half joking.

My plan for avoiding burnout in the future:

• Have a variety of projects going at the same time. If one is causing stress, put it on the back burner (groan) for a few days, but keep going with the rest.
• Write several blog posts in advance for each blog so in times of creative-less stupor, keeping the blog current is a cinch.
  
• Stay inspired by making new goals when you've reached current ones. I met my original income goal some time ago, and knowing that I'm not at my ideal income yet is a good reminder for what I'm working to accomplish.
  
• Get out and have fun. Sometimes as work at home moms, we're so busy with work, house, kids and spouses to have a date night or solo afternoon on the town. Do it at least a couple times a month -- it's so important.
  

Have you experienced burnout? How did you get over it?

Burnout photo by Henry S.

Death ... and Life

I've been away from my blog longer than usual, as I was out of town for funeral services after my aunt died suddenly earlier this month. She was only 50, and she was murdered. She leaves behind a grieving husband (they were married 24 years) and nine children, ages 6 to 20. I loved my aunt and I am heartbroken for her family and deeply saddened for our extended family, who will dearly miss the love and joy she brought to our family.

It hardly seems real that she is gone. I suppose death, when unexpected, is like that: it happens so quickly with such finality that the mind has trouble catching up with what happened. It's been a couple weeks now since I got the phone call that my Aunt Renee was dead, but my shock has only just begun to lessen, even as raw sadness takes its place.

My Aunt Renee's untimely death has really impressed a few things on me, and I wanted to share two of those thoughts with you, my fellow work at home moms, freelance writers and online entrepreneurs. I hope it doesn't seem callous to talk about things of a practical nature when someone has just died. But the reality is, life keeps moving.

Make a "love drawer" for your family.
Like many moms, my Aunt Renee paid the bills and managed the finances for her family. She took care of collecting rents from their rental properties and making sure mortgages were paid. Basically, she did it all. In my family, I manage our online bill paying, debt reduction plan, and also earn an income that is primarily online. I have a system, but it's all in my head -- nothing is written down. Renee was the same way, and her sudden death leaves her devastated husband with the task of figuring out what bills are due when on top of everything else. Dave Ramsey encourages his listeners to make a "Love Drawer" for the spouse or family members you leave behind. In it should be your will, final instructions, insurance policy information, and everything your spouse needs to carry on should something happen to you. I need to do this, like, yesterday. In addition to all the bill paying, I have a couple PayPal accounts where residual earnings would keep on arriving, and affiliates who would still need to be be paid for their sales if I died .... point is, I need everything spelled out in writing, and I also want to take the time to go over it with my husband.

Be there for your children.
As work at home moms, we're always there for our children, right? I mean, we're here practically 24/7, they wake up to us being there and see us during the day or after school, and we tuck them in at night. But let me share with you ... my Aunt Renee had an amazing ability of truly being present for her children. I want to be like that, too. Her untimely death made me take notice; her lovely life gave me the inspiration. Too many times I'm staring at a computer screen while the kids ask me questions. I am making a huge effort to get my writing done in the wee hours of the morning or after they are in bed, so I can really be there for them during these young years of their lives. My aunt Renee was a work at home mom, too, first as a daycare owner in Alaska and then as a therapist and horsewoman in TN. Still, she put her kids first. I will, too.

My Aunt Renee loved life -- she brought fun wherever she went. She loved my uncle, she loved being a mom, and she loved her farm. She will be missed terribly, even as we remember her with joy in our sorrow.

Twitter: Networking tips for WAHMs

Do you Twitter? Are you an avid user, or have you signed up but never really "gotten" it? I'm kind of in the middle. At first I didn't really understand the concept, but after a few months it kind of clicked. I find it's a great resource as well as a very good way to promote your work and build an audience.

On Twitter, I get ideas for my articles and blog posts, as well as participate in conversations on a variety of topics and current events. And there's also the social aspect of peeking into eachothers' lives -- I especially like to see what's going on with other work at home moms.

Like any social networking tool, it's very important to actually be part of your Twitter community, in a give-take sort of way, and not simply use it to self-promote. That won't work, anyway, as your followers will drop off like dead flies. I saw one Twitterer whose whole page of recent updates was a documentation of recent activity on certain websites. There were no responses to other Twitter friends or even chatty Tweets. Unfollow.

Here are some thoughts and resources I've gathered about Twitter, from my experience as well as from Twitter pros.

Twitter People
If you've just signed up for Twitter, your Tweets wil echo as you send them out to an empty Twittoshphere. You need an audience -- followers -- and you need to find people to follow to receive incoming Tweets.

You can start with your email contact list, but that will likely only produce a few good matches. Next step is social networking. Check out your favorite blogs -- many will have "Follow Me on Twitter" graphics or Tweet feeds. Definitely follow anyone whose blog interests you.

Write a few Tweets right away so people will follow you back -- post a intro Tweet, link to your blog, ask your followers a question. This gives readers an idea of your Twitter personality.

Find out who your new Twitter friends are following, and look for profiles that interest you. Follow them, and you'll likely be followed in return. You can usually find a bunch of writers by checking a freelancer's profile, and Mommy Twitterers by checking out other Twitter Moms' lists.

Twitter Tips

• Don't fire off a series of Twitters one after another; this creates a whole section of Tweets from you on your follower's page and can be annoying. Unless related, space out your Tweets.
• Respond to Twitter peeps who ask questions; this helps to build Twitter relationships.
• Write at least two helpful, fun or chatty Tweets for every one update linking to your work.
• Tweets should be useful, funny, informative or catchy.
  
• Check out PC Mag's Twitter Tips for Newbies to get the scoop on RT (retweeting) and other Twitter functions.
• If you're past the newbie stage, read these 35 Twitter Tips gems.
  

Twitter Tools
Okay, this is for those of you who are ready to take Twitter to the next level. Apparently, there are all kinds of tools you can use to be a more effective Twitterer. (And if you're not there yet, don't worry--just enjoy it and leave the gizmos for later.)

I'll refer this section over to the pros, as I don't have the experience to give you a in-depth rundown. Read

12 Twitter Stream Aggregators To Make You Smarter

to learn about Twitter tools you never knew you needed.


Twitter for WAHMs

Once you build your Twitter community, you can use Twitter to offer freelance writing services, promote new blog posts you write or websites you build, sell design services or whatever else you do as a WAHM.

You can get tips from other work-at-home moms balancing kids and computers, diapers and deadlines ... or just enjoy knowing there are many others out there just like you.

Twitter is a great way to network with a large number of people and find a smaller number with whom you will connect more closely, in professional working relationships as well as friendships.


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Are you on Twitter? Follow me and I'll return the follow. And while you're here, share some twitter advice -- I'm still learning the ropes!

New Residual Income Blog & Future of my WAHM Blog

I've decided to re-focus my WAHM blog to all things WAHM, from getting out of debt, entertaining preschoolers, and balancing work and home, to freelance tips, work at home ideas and resources to help other WAHMs and online writers.

To better focus on passive and residual income topics, I've created another blog, ResidualIncomeWeb.com. I am really excited about the blog, as it will better allow me to share what I know and what I learn in the future on the subject.

I hope you'll take a look -- I've got four posts up, and began the blog by sharing my journey to working for long-term residual income rather than for wages or a flat fee per content article or freelance piece. If you subscribe to the blog, you'll see new content as soon as it's posted.

Meanwhile, I'd love your input on My WAHM Blog. What do you like to see, and what would you like me to write about? What do you look for when visiting the blog?

Recession Survival through Income Diversification

While discussing the economy and how to survive job layoffs, a reporter asked me what advice I would give to someone anticipating financial storm clouds. I replied,

Diversify income as quickly as possible. If money is coming from only one source, you're too exposed. Have several sources of income, a side job, a product you sell, something else that brings in money other than your 9-to-5.

As a freelance writer/ online marketer, this is true for me as well. Writing just for one client, for those who ghostwrite or write for a byline, can be risky. I saw this firsthand in the past year when friends of mine on the WAHMs Who Write Forum were let go from Demand Studios, Writers Research Group and other large companies. Suddenly they had no work or very little, and their families were counting on their income.

My income comes mainly from the following, in no particular order:

• eHow ebook
• eHow articles
• Affiliate sales, primarily Amazon, HostGator, CommissionJunction, SiteBuiltIt!
• Adsense, especially on my home & garden blog & pets site
• Private clients (two are editing gigs, one is writing)
  
• HubPages
• Bukisa & InfoBarrel

Having income from a multitude of sources is my basic business model as a freelance writer and WAHM. I would be bored with just one avenue, but it's also a hedge against income loss as I could bring any one of these income sources up to a higher level if my primary sources dropped or dried up.

How do you diversify your income sources?

Tips on WAHM Success in the New Year

It's a new year, traditionally a time to start fresh, make goals and set out to achieve what eluded us in the previous year. My big goal, which admittedly is a several-years goal, is to build up a full-time residual income through content articles, niche websites, and eventually a print book, before I turn 30.

For 2009, I would like to double my average 2008 monthly residual income by the end of the year. It's a big project for me, especially since my life is filled with three lovely children who are not yet in school, and I have a very limited amount of time to write each day. Only by setting realistic daily agendas will I have any hope of accomplishing what I've set out to do.

Tip: Break down your yearly resolutions into monthly, weekly and daily goals. Write them down and refer to them at the start of each day.

For example, one of my goals for the new year is to add to my existing niche sites as well as create several new ones to diversify my residual income. But with such an open-ended goal, it's important to give myself actionable daily and weekly tasks to ensure I ultimately reach that goal.

Today, my task for this goal was to add a new page, based on one related keyword phrase, to my pets-themed website. I did it first thing this morning, before turning to the editing work I do for one of my few remaining clients (I let almost all of my clients go after reaching my residual income goals. But this one is a friend's father, and I still do occasional editing or proofreading jobs for him).

Another one of my goals is to add a new eHow article each day. I have many drafts, so finding ideas isn't my struggle, but I am behind on writing and mean to catch up this week. It's just that since earnings have been down on eHow since the site changes, writing my own niche sites has kind of become more my focus in the past couple months.

For efficiency, I use the Motivated Moms Full Size Planner, which really helps me stay on track with my weak spot: home organization and cleaning. On the same planner, I note daily writing tasks and miscellaneous appointments. By referring to this at the start of each day, I can stay on task and plan the day effectively.

The most important ingredient to my success in the writing and income sector of my life (as well as my sanity!) is to schedule in at least two hours a day in which I can write uninterrupted while the children sleep. For me, this is 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. And it means I have to get to bed early to function well.

Tip: Find the best hours to work while your children are sleeping or at school and take full advantage of this time.

If you are a night owl, you may do best in the evening after the kids are in bed. Personally, I can't write late at night. I am completely ineffective after about 9 pm. But if this is your best time -- do it then. Turn off the TV, ignore distractions, and accomplish your goals.

Get Organized, Moms!

If lack of time is keeping you from reaching your income goals or starting projects you know will prove to be lucrative, it's time to get organized. We all have the same number of hours -- you just need to stop wasting time and make sure you accomplish the important things.

How many times have you wasted an hour or two online and then realized you didn't get even one new article written? I know it's happened to me. Yeah, you have to reply to blog comments and check out your friends' articles ... but first things first. Break down your goals into daily to-do lists and add them to your planner. If you're a WAHM, your planner should be chock full of things -- daily chores, menu plans, appointments, kids activities, writing deadlines and the like.

I used the Motivated Moms system for the last few months of 2008 and just purchased the 2009 version to keep me on track for the new year. It rocks!

Here's a sample page of my Motivated Moms 2009 Full Size Planner: (click image to enlarge):


It's basically the Fly Lady house cleaning system broken down into daily checklists, with my self-added writing goals and daily appointments all in one place. If you have trouble balancing it all, resort to this simple checklist system. It rotates your chores for you, incorporating daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal tasks all in one simple planner system.

I'll be relying on my Motivated Moms planner to make sure I keep up with my writing goals for the year and stay on top of the house. I love writing, but I don't love housework. Knowing what I have to do each day simplifies things.

What's your favorite organizational tool or tip?

Diversify Income Streams to Survive a Recession

As many who have recently been laid off or lost their job can attest, depending on a single source of income can be quite risky, especially if the job is in a non-essential sector or one likely to suffer during a recession. Some sectors are more recession-proof than others, for certain, and those will fare far better. But there is ultimately less security when one depends on a single company or other entity for income, rather than drawing income from a variety of means.

I am not necessarily advocating that every 9-to-5 worker open an entrepreneurial side business, but increasing one's diversification of income can certainly improve your ability to weather the tough economic times we are suddenly hearing so much about--and for many of us, actually experiencing in our own families, jobs and investments.

For the work at home mom (WAHM) or other freelancer, entrepreneur or online adventurer, this can mean a variety of things.

• Writers may diversify by increasing the number and variety of writing clients, actively seeking new clients to replace those with less work. Never rely solely on just one or two big clients.
  
• Residual income builders should add multiple income streams to their sites and content articles, such as affiliate programs, ad words, paid advertisements, information products, referral links and e-newsletters.
• Webmasters should diversify their niche site topics. Even as advertising in some sectors plummets, it rises in others. Anticipate these changes and consider niche topics likely to be in demand despite -- or because of -- a poor economy.
• eBay Sellers should also diversify what they sell to anticipate sluggish consumer spending. People still have some money; find out what they are spending it on and make some money doing it. Check out the knowledgeable eBay Coach for advice.
  

Whatever your area of expertise, and no matter what you do for income as a work at home mom (or dad, or anyone else) increase your sources of income during the coming year. Anticipate, rather than react, to what's going on in the economy and how that will affect what you do. Did you know there were many who made money during the Great Depression?

How do you plan to increase your income, despite a poor economic outlook for 2009?

The Groundhog and the Hen

I enjoyed Aesop's fables as a young girl. The message of each short story was somewhat subtle, yet evident, even to a child such as myself. Fables generally portray animals with human characteristics in order to communicate a message, often called the "moral of the story."

This fable attempts to articulate something that has been impressed upon me lately as I watch my babies grow. As much as my family needs my income and I enjoy my work, I must never lose sight of what is most important.

The Groundhog and the Hen

The Groundhog loved being a mom to her baby groundhogs. She spent time cuddling at night and frolicking with them during the day. Sometimes Groundhog wasted time that could have been better spent readying the burrow for winter, just playing with her young.

The Hen, conversely, was busy and responsible. Not a moment was wasted when there was work at hand. If her chicks chirped at her to come play, she told them she was busy finding beetles for them. She made sure they would have more than she did as a chick, and that the other chickens wouldn't look down on her family. Thus she didn't allow their childlike antics distract her from providing for her brood.

One day, Groundhog saw the hen busy working while her children played nearby. "Hen, don't you want to play with your chicks now-- they are so much fun while they are young!" she said with an encouraging smile.

"Groundhog, I for one don't know how you can sleep in your barren burrow at night knowing winter's a-coming and you could've spent more time building a better nest. The children will wait, and I must work to give them a better life."

The groundhog's babies grew up, as did the hen's. Groundhog's young moved into burrows nearby and frequently were seen chattering with their older mother during the day. They took time from their jobs to be with her, just because it was fun.

The hen's children, though, were busy with their new lives, some in faraway places and some nearby. They saw their mother occasionally, but there wasn't time to be wasted. After all, they had important responsibilities now and much to accomplish.

When it comes to children, time is the most precious investment.

Free Affiliate Masters eBook Giveaway

Are you interested in affiliate marketing as a way to increase your online income? Would you like to build a passive income stream by selling other people's products online?

Affiliate sales have boosted my residual income over the past few months as people click my Amazon, Implix and Site Build It links and make purchases. I posted some of these links almost a year ago, and many more recently, but am always pleasantly surprised when a sale is made.

I am currently reading the Affiliate Masters Course, which I received as a SiteBuildIt owner. Would you like to have a copy? This eBook is really an eCourse, as it is over 100 pages long (but an easy read with lots of space and pictures!) chock full of helpful information.

Sinply drop me a note at eireitaliaATgmail.com and I will email you your copy.

I'll also post when I am finished reading the book and let you know my thoughts and the highlights.

WRG Hiring Freelance Business Writers

Writers' Research Group is hiring freelance business writers. If you're just breaking in to the writing world, this could be a great start. If you're a WAHM (work at home mom) with business/ career experience, this might be a good niche.

The Chance to Make Money Blogging?

Make Money Blogging: A Golden Opportunity?

Intrigued by a recent post at the WAHM forum, I applied to train for an editor position with a new network of blogging channels, spearheaded by a husband and wife team with an established internet marketing business.

The concept is that each editor will oversee between 10-100 blogs, as part of a team. Editors are responsible for managing their particular channel, but generally hire out to freelancers for blog posts and wouldn't be writing all the content (or any, if she didn't want to) herself.

Since I know that you can indeed make money blogging (see my previous post, "Does Blogging Make Money?") and because I would much prefer a long-term, performance-based income structure over simple paid posting, I am very excited about the possibilities ahead. I had a good feeling about this from the start, and I still do.

However, not everyone saw this opportunity the same way that I did. Another blogger, Dana, was also chosen for an editor position with this new gig. However, she didn't think the offer was as rosy as I did, and left the project. She started a post on the WAHM forum, "A Questionable Gig" to warn other writers about the pitfalls she saw in the blogging opportunity. Dana also discusses the topic in more detail on her writer's blog.

This recent debate brought back memories of my eHow experiment. Back in October, many on the WAHM forum were annoyed by Rich from eHow, who posted several times looking for writers. Many were skeptical, since eHow's criteria is so vague about payment. I'm sure many envisioned earning only pennies for their articles. I decided just to try eHow, with a few articles, and see what happened. Well, my articles have been so successful (one has earned over $100 to date) that I foresee replacing my current main gig simply with the passive income at eHow.

But I digress. My point is, sometimes you just have to make a leap of faith, try something out and evaluate it over time to know how it will work.

There are different criteria each freelance writer uses to determine what projects to look for and what opportunities to accept. We each have our own scam radar, and for each of us, it's a little different. In the end, we all rely on a little gut instinct. I did, in this case, and I am truly confident that I'll be reporting back periodically that my gut was right.

What are your thoughts? Do you make money blogging? I'd love to hear from you ...

The Family Budget: Making it Work

I confess, I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to money. I like to have a neat family budget, with all bills, spending categories and income sources duly noted. I allocate the money, my husband looks it over, and together, we try to stick to our family budget each month. Oh, I wasn't always this way. In fact, I'm still paying off the credit card debt we incurred before we read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book.

I look back in annoyance with my old ways of handling money and the cavalier way we added so much unnecessary debt to our lives, but I try not to dwell on it. Following Dave Ramsey's suggestion, we now make a spending plan each month, a “zero-based” budget. The amount going out has to equal the amount coming in, with a net of zero. Yes, you still save money and even invest (when debt-free) but that is part of the family budget and counts as outgo.

As a work at home mom (WAHM), a careful budget is especially important because I want to make sure the time I'm spending earning an income is going to good use. Knowing how precious my time is, wasting money on things we don't need bugs me more now than when I had an office job and no kids.

So how do you make a family budget friendly enough for a skeptical spouse and reluctant teenagers? Start by getting your spouse on the same page so you can tackle the rest of the family as a team. Make some time each week to discuss finances with your husband. Try these resources together:

*My Total Money Makeover

*Financial Peace University

*The Envelope System

With your spouse, plan out a family budget you both can live with. Allocate the set bills first, as that is easy to do (your monthly housing and debt payments should be consistent, and use the average for fluctuating electric bills and the like). Next, your disposable income. Include:

• Food (estimate $100 per person per month to start)

• Transportation (gas & oil, tolls, bus fares)

• Clothing, shoes

• Tuition, dues, subscriptions

• Household (cleaning products, repairs)

• Extra money (gifts, personal, etc.)

If you find your outgo exceeds your income, you need to Earn Extra Money. Also check out How to Save Money and Get Out of Debt.

If you have older children, it's time to get your teens on board. It's essential that you be open with them and ask them to pull together as a teem to make the family budget work. Older teens with jobs may need to pay for their own gas and clothes and even contribute something to the grocery budget, especially if you and your spouse are trying to pay off debt and get finances in order. Younger teens and children can help with extra chores if parents will be working overtime or from home to increase income.

What successes--or pitfalls--have you experienced with a family budget at your house?

Personal Finance as a Work at Home Mom

Many personal finance sites tend to focus on one end of the money equation: how you spend and save it. But in my blog, I'm focusing mostly on the other end of the equation, earning money. Specifically, I write about earning money as a stay at home mom and the unique challenges this situation presents.

When looking at a tight budget, there are two things you can do to improve the wiggle room and find money for underfunded categories (whether it be your blow money or your debt reduction).

1. Make more money.

2. Spend less money.

Really, it is that simple. You can do one or the other, or both, but those are your only options. (a huge inheritance just isn't practical for most people, and not something you can control in any case... well, let's just not go there.)

There comes a point for many people when it is easier to do the first than the second, and this is certainly true in my case. With two mortgage payments,a home equity loan payment, student loans and more, much of our monthly income is eaten up by set bills that we can't change (unless our house finally sells, but that's another post for another day).

We are very frugal with our so-called disposable income. We buy natural food in bulk, bake our own bread, plant a garden, drive old paid-for vehicles, shop at thrift stores whenever possible, and don't have TV, cable, or other entertainment extras.

To supplement my husband's income and pay for my children's Atrium class, among other things, I spend part of my day working from home, as an English grader and a freelance writer. There are many other ways to earn extra money. Here are a couple short articles with ideas for you:

How to Earn Extra Money & How to Earn Extra Money at Home on a Computer.

Making Money with Affiliate Programs

Some people make a living marketing other peoples' stuff online. One is the author of The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online, a book that purports to show you how it is done. I don't have $75 for the book, so I am learning as I go.

I am now an affiliate for Amazon.com, eBay.com, Half.com and The Coupon Clippers. I've started posting the links on my blog, forum signatures, and articles I write for other websites.

I earn about $20 a month from Amazon, without much promotion at all. Most of my purchases are made through some plain text links on another site (not this blog).

For me, becoming an affiliate marketer allows me another opportunity to earn passive income, my new hobby. I spend a few minutes creating text links, add them to my articles or posts, and leave them alone. I log in to my Amazon Associates account a few times a week to check on the progress and am pleasantly surprised when a sale shows up.

However, I haven't made more than $5 on any one item and was slightly jealous to see that many Amazon Associates have had commissions of $100 or more on a single item. One associate mentioned selling a $1,000+ watch and earning a large commission for it. That would be nice, but for now I am content to build up my traffic and hope my referral links get the clicks.

I'll let you know how my progress goes, so keep an eye on my blog for an update.