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[L245]Legimate Work At Home

by Sheila Hull-Summers, She

With proper planning and good time management, work at home moms can achieve balance in their work, parenting and personal lives. That’s not to say it will always be smooth sailing. Kids get sick, computers crash, and spouses say things like “Oh didn’t I tell you, the boss invited us to his summer home this weekend” and it’s Thursday night. Some things are out of your control, and your attitude will determine how far off balance you become when life unexpectedly takes a wrong turn. Getting back on track, however, is much easier if you have a plan in place before those incidents occur.

Here are some tips for work at home moms to live by:

1. Create a schedule and stick to it whenever possible. Divide each day into blocks of work time, family time, and personal time. You determine how much of each is best for you. Do not work during family or personal time. Close the door to your office when you’re not scheduled to be there. It will help you resist the temptation to “make just one more call”.

2. Stay focused on one thing at a time. This will be a challenge to most work at home moms who tend to multitask, and why wouldn’t you when the laundry needs to be folded and the living room is screaming “vacuum me!” Keep in mind, however, that several studies have revealed that multitasking (carrying on several duties at one time) may in fact reduce our productivity, not increase it. Leave the dishes until family time and do them together. Who knows, maybe somebody will notice them first and toss them in the dishwasher while you finish up that proposal.

3. Prioritize your daily workload. If one task has a deadline and the other is open ended, start with the former. If you need to make several phone calls, or answer your email, try doing them first thing in the morning. You’re more likely to reach your party which then allows you to avoid having to wait for the return call or email several hours or days later.

4. Minimize distractions such as ringing phones and doorbells. If you’re no good at ignoring them, then turn off the ringer and post a sign on the door that says “Leave Deliveries on Doorstep Between 8 am and Noon” or “Work At Home Parent – Do Not Disturb!”

5. Take “should” out of your vocabulary. Make a conscious decision to do something because you want to or because of the benefit to you, your work or your family, not because you “should”. You can also say “no” if it doesn’t fit into your schedule or you don’t want to do it. Others will respect you and value your time if they see you value yourself first.

6. Hand over chores and obligations that you don’t have time for or just plain don’t like doing. If there’s nobody in your family or circle of friends to help, hire someone. The acquisition of more time will likely outweigh the expense.

7. Wear a watch or set a timer so you are aware of the transition between your work time, your family time, and your personal time. Try not to develop “just 10 more minutes” syndrome. Those ten minutes, usually spent working, can sabotage the rest of your day and make you and your family cranky.

Well, I’m not wasting this opportunity. Recently I was studying Chad Rissenan’s $9 Solution to online marketing and work at home business building. Chad recommends joining a forum called WAHM, but does not say what that acronym stands for.

As one who believes in following directions I didn’t question it, I just did it. After a while I started feeling like I had accidently walked into the ladies room and it finally hit me. WAHM is short for Work at Home Moms! I was completely embarrassed at first that I had introduced myself. The post had already been made and there was no turning back. I was a WAHM.

The beautiful part of it is that I was welcomed with opened arms! Sure there was a little ribbing and kidding but it was all in good fun. The nice ladies there said that I could be a Work at Home Man and it was all good. In fact, they said there were others like me but I didn’t see any mugs like mine in the forum.

The site/forum was founded by Cheryl Demas who started working at home in 1994. It is a byproduct of early postings in her transition from being a working-mom to work-at-home mom as she describes it in her welcome message.

7 Reasons Why WHAM Works

Reason #1: The site is there to help people and not sell them. Cheryl drives that point home on several places and makes it clear what the purpose of each message board is. There are places to sell and there are places not to.

Reason #2: Cheryl has a private forum for anyone who wants to speak with her directly. No one else can reply in that message board and she has an open "cyber door" policy.

Reason #3: Question of the Week - In this forum, Cheryl kicks it off with a question of the week and everyone chimes in with their 2 cents. There are light-hearted questions and serious topics. It really is interesting to hear responses in this board.

Reason #4: Business Advice & Business Topics - This forum is to offer assistance, not to sell things. There are tons of topics on just about anything from online marketing to where find business cards to how to set up a signature file.

Reason #5: Prayers and Good Thoughts Requests - Earlier in Reason # 1, I said that WAHM was there to help people and it is never more evident in this message board. Everyone at some point or another has need for prayer and guidance and this is the forum for it. People reach out here for prayer and support and they find an abundance of it.

Reason #6: Article Directory - There is a whole section on choosing a business and determining which business is a good fit for you. Examples of topics include:

*Working From Home - Have You Got What it Takes?

*Should I stay home go back to work or both?

* Ten Tips for Choosing the right Direct Sales Business.

* Home Business Ideas

*Work At Home Scams - Don’t Be a Victim

and several others.

Reason #7: Tons of Other Useful Links - There are just too many things to list but some notable examples are: Jane’s Advice (a Dear Abby type place), Recipes for WAHMs, WAHM Undercover (Scams Revealed), Business Opportunity Classified Ads, WAHM Cartoons, Find WAHMs Near You, and much more.

Why listen to me any longer? Go see for yourself what’s at WAHM.

http://www.wahm.com/

Article Source : Pg. 44

About Author

Both Sheila Hull-Summers & Nathan Gurley are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Sheila Hull-Summers has sinced written about articles on various topics from Modelling, Culture and Work From Home. Sheila Hull-SummersSheila Hull-Summers is a work at home mom and the owner of Sunrise Imports, an e-commerce site specializing in unique handcrafted gifts from Mexico, Central America and the United States.. Sheila Hull-Summers's top article generates over 673000 views. to your Favourites.

Nathan Gurley has sinced written about articles on various topics from Network Marketing, Entertainment Guide and Property Investment. Nathan BF Gurley is the owner of Gurley Residential Appraisal Services, LLC & is Editor of Work at Home Weblog. Please visit . Nathan Gurley's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.