I've been taking a sabbatical of sorts since my new baby was born, but luckily the residual income from my writing work keeps coming in -- that's the best part of being a work at home mom for me.
My biggest earners are still my pets website and my family/ home blog. Here's my breakdown of earnings for August 2011:
Adsense $634.21
Amazon $181.94
WA commissions $89.00
Demand residuals $88.84
cj.com $75.41
HG commission $50
NB commissions $49.90
Clickbank $41.26
C.Tracer commissions $20.00
RA commissions $11.60
Total $1,242.16
Just enough to pay for the kids' private school tuition and some extras for now, but I definitely have plans for increasing my income and hope to bring it back up to where I was before the eHow changes, this time relying on my own online properties.
I'll be posting more in the coming months as I get back on track with my writing and online marketing.
Showing posts with label work at home mom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work at home mom. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Protecting Your Work at Home Time & Space
The first objective is to set a schedule for your work hours. Determine what's practical, keeping in mind your ideal time of day (are you a morning bird or does your brain function best at night?) and family schedules. For my situation, it works best for me to work from 5:30-8 a.m. three days a week. I also get some additional work time on other mornings if I'm up early and the kids are sleeping, but three days out of the week, my husband is "on-call" for the kids in the early hours, supervises morning routines and gives them breakfast as I finish up my writing time.
Make sure family members (down to the little ones!) are aware of your planned writing/ working time. Conversely, be fully present for them when you aren't working, minimizing computer time when it's not productive, and your kids will be more respectful of your set work hours.
You'll find that even with a set schedule and plan, you'll need to make an effort almost daily to protect your work at home time and desk/ office area from intrusion, distraction and even your own laziness. To that end, remind family members as needed that you're working, and you'll be able to talk/ help in 10 minutes, an hour -- at your designated stop time. Do not answer the phone while you're doing your work. Do not check your email unless you need something specific for the task at hand.
Keep your work desk neat as a pin -- you will find yourself much more productive when you have a clean, ordered space that feels professional.
Avoiding distractions online -- unnecessary email checking, reading news or forums unrelated to your work at home daily tasks, and other time-wasting traps -- is crucial for your success. Keep yourself on track by writing a short list of items you need to accomplish at your next work session, after finishing the day's tasks and while everything is fresh in your mind.
I keep my daily tasks list in a notebook stored in my top desk drawer. Each morning, I take it out and keep it by my computer as I work, reminding me of what's next and giving me the satisfaction of checking off items I've accomplished.
How do you protect your work at home time and space to increase your writing income?
Monday, August 30, 2010
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?
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?
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Residual Income & New Baby
How do residual income and a new baby fit in the same post?
First, the baby news: my son, "Nicholas," was born December 6 and is a happy, healthy, sweet-tempered little man. He is adored by his older siblings and doted on by mom and dad: we're all in love.
Secondly, about the residual income: my November earnings, all from now-passive sources such as eHow, my eHow ebook, niche sites and affiliate marketing, were just shy of $3,000, even though I wrote little new content and spent much of my time resting and "nesting" before the baby's arrival. December will hopefully be in the same ballpark, even though I'm taking the month off.
As I sit in front of the fire snuggling my newborn, I am grateful for the residual income business model that's allowing me to take a month off from from writing (I had to sneak in this post, though) and just enjoy my family and the holidays.
It's been exactly two years since the December I realized the potential of residual income, through eHow and Site Build It!, and made goals that, when reached, would allow me to quit writing for hire and simply write and market as much or as little as I liked, for myself.
At the end of this year, as we prepare to embark on a new year, 2010, I challenge you to make goals for the coming 12 months that reflect where you are now and where you want to be at the end of the coming year. Contemplate spiritual and personal goals first, as they are most important, but don't neglect your plans for work and income. Building residual and passive income sources is a worthy endeavor, and I encourage you to include them in your plan.
Happy holidays and a blessed New Year to you and yours!
First, the baby news: my son, "Nicholas," was born December 6 and is a happy, healthy, sweet-tempered little man. He is adored by his older siblings and doted on by mom and dad: we're all in love.
Secondly, about the residual income: my November earnings, all from now-passive sources such as eHow, my eHow ebook, niche sites and affiliate marketing, were just shy of $3,000, even though I wrote little new content and spent much of my time resting and "nesting" before the baby's arrival. December will hopefully be in the same ballpark, even though I'm taking the month off.As I sit in front of the fire snuggling my newborn, I am grateful for the residual income business model that's allowing me to take a month off from from writing (I had to sneak in this post, though) and just enjoy my family and the holidays.
It's been exactly two years since the December I realized the potential of residual income, through eHow and Site Build It!, and made goals that, when reached, would allow me to quit writing for hire and simply write and market as much or as little as I liked, for myself.
At the end of this year, as we prepare to embark on a new year, 2010, I challenge you to make goals for the coming 12 months that reflect where you are now and where you want to be at the end of the coming year. Contemplate spiritual and personal goals first, as they are most important, but don't neglect your plans for work and income. Building residual and passive income sources is a worthy endeavor, and I encourage you to include them in your plan.
Happy holidays and a blessed New Year to you and yours!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
eHow Anniversary: 2 Years, 2.3 Million Views
Today marks the second anniversary of the date I first created an eHow profile, WriterGig, and clicked publish on my first eHow article. What an adventure it's been! What started out as a casual experiment introduced me to the very real concept of residual income and led to a complete shift in my business model and life as a work at home mom.My post Work from Home Writing eHow Articles was the first time I blogged about writing for eHow, about a month and a half after I started on the site. I had already seen the earnings potential and encouraged my fellow writers and work at home moms to give eHow a try. Needless to say, I'm glad I gave it a go.
Eight of the articles I wrote in late 2007 have earned over $100 each; several of those have more than $500 apiece accumulated thus far ... and continue to earn. Compare that to most of the writing freelancers do on a daily basis for one-time pay that's not always very good -- this is why I do virtually no conventional freelancing at this point: I've transitioned to writing primarily for "myself" and retaining rights, and the resulting revenue, to my work.
I have tried several revenue-sharing content sites and while each has its own merits, eHow remains my top site for residual earnings on a per-article basis. Its age, page rank, site layout and article/ ad format create a combination that is favorable to writers and allows me to spend more time writing and less time on promotion. The fact that I have received 2,369,954 page views to date is a testimony to eHow's ranking as a site (and of course, keyword research and basic search engine optimization on my part).
Last year, I attended weHow, the 2008 eHow User Event held in Santa Monica, CA and had a wonderful time, as well as received the Top Earner community award -- it was a thrill! This year, I won a place on the trip through the Passionate Project People contest for my "I Did This Project" on making window cornice boards. I was really excited about the trip this year, which was held in San Francisco this past week, but was unfortunately unable to attend due to the timing.
As part of my eHow adventure, in 2008 I wrote my eHow eBook, How to Earn Passive Income on eHow.com, in response to the many inquires I received from other writers and work at home moms who wanted to know how to succeed on eHow. It remains a strong seller to this day, further increasing my eHow-related income while giving others valuable information.
How has your experience been with eHow so far? If you're not on the site, why not? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Friday, July 3, 2009
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.
What are your summer goals?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
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.
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