Social Networking Sites and Networking

Have you considered the benefits and drawbacks to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace for networking? There are a couple of huge considerations when registering with a social networking site when looking for work... one is reputation. If you want to be taken seriously, as a professional and mature adult, it's not recommended that you post party picts on your account or talk trash. In today's world, employers do look you up, taking your name to an Internet search can provide information even more revealing than past employment history and a written letters of recommendation.

The positives to social networking sites are probably even more obvious. You can hook up with old college roommates, high school friends, sorority sisters and the like making the world suddenly smaller, possibly finding jobs through word of mouth. You may also find it easier to make new connections and/or promote a business you've already started.

Basically remember that anything you say or share online is basically public property... it can come back to haunt you later. It can be found, read, viewed and judged.

Let Your Organizational Skills Make You Some Dough

Have you ever considered working as closet designer? Maybe you could chose a better name for it, but if you're an organized mom... someone who takes pride in utilizing closet space, underbed space, shelving and the like, you might be a real asset to someone like me... who um, can't make it work!

There is a market for this type of strength, I guarantee you. Most of us aren't all that skilled or efficient when it comes to utilizing the space we have on our homes. If you think about the shape of most closets, they are narrow and high, not deep and wide like we dream of. Most aren't built to be all that functional outside of hanging blouses and dresses.

Then there's our children's rooms, with piles of toys, books, dolls, and little bits of everything thrown in for good measure. What makes matters worse is we're supposed to be teaching our children how to be self-sufficient and put things away, but darn if I know where to tell them to put it all.

Can you sense my frustration? I'm guessing there is a true demand for someone who has answers. Could that person be you?

Running a Day Car Center From Home... Things to Consider

Running a home-based day care center (or babysitting) from home is the answer for many moms wishing to stay home with their own children, but just as with any other career choice, it's not the right fit for everyone.

There's a certain personality type perfect for this type of work... that type starts with incredible patience, love and an easy going spirit and ends with responsibility, maturity, and the willingness to sacrifice your every attention to these children you're being entrusted to care for.

You'll also want to consider whether or not you have the 8-10 hours to dedicate to childcare... this might mean you're stuck at home. If you have an agreement with the parent allowing you to run errands with their child in tow, you'll have more freedoms, but your responsibilities for that child have just increased dramatically.

Exploring your state's licensing requirements is another important step you'll need to take. Find out what types of safety and health checkpoints you'll need to pass before qualifying.

Finally, my suggestion would be to talk to friends who've been there, done that. If they have experience in the child care industry, they may be able to provide valuable insights that will not only help you make the decision of whether or not this is the business for you, but also in helping you get set-up for success.

More Exciting Squidoo News... (At Least For Me)

Some wonderful soul went to one of my Squidoo lenses, followed an Amazon affiliate link and purchased a Playstation along with about 5 other items, giving me a nice commission of $24! All from one sale! I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find this yesterday as I went to check my stats.

When this happens it really drives me to dedicating more time to Squidoo. I'd like to add more lenses, but not more than I have time to maintain. Truth is, a neglected lens is no better a money maker than a neglected blog. They just do better if you give them a little TLC on a regular basis. With a blog you should really post a few times a week, with a Squidoo lens, you really need to tweak your site a few times a month. It keeps you're rank high in the Squidoo directory and provides you with more opportunities for revenue.

Ok... just wanted to share! If you'd like to play with Squidoo just to see what you can do... check out the Squidoo button in my right hand sidebar (or the image below). It's really easy to get started, costs you nothing and can be a lot of fun!

Create your own Squidoo Lens!

Comparing Web Hosting Services

If you're looking for a web hosting service and not sure where to start, visit WebHostGeeks.com for a quick overview of service providers.

Home businesses often require a professional, dependable, and user friendly website. At the same time, most of us aren't able to invest a large sum of money into our business... especially when we're just getting started. Fortunately reliable hosting services, some even with free domains, are available at affordable prices. If you'd like to find the one right for you, check out WebHostGeek.com.

If you're into the green... meaning the environment, visit green web hosting where you'll find the top 10 green web hosting sites. Green web will show you which sites have the reputation for using alternative/renewable resources. Consider giving your business to someone who recycles and plants trees over one who has their head in the sand. After all it feels good to be part of the solution, or at least supporting someone who is!

Most of us currently have or will have a business website at one time or another... whether it's part of a business opportunity you've subscribed to, or your own business you're trying to build from the ground up. I would also be willing to guess that the average mom wishing to work from home has little idea about who to trust with her web hosting service. I like this particular site as it offers top 10 hosting overall, as well as several other pages ranking individual host services... for example, if you're primary concern is receiving a free domain name, you'll be able to find the top 10 hosts offering this as part of their package.

Hope you'll head over and check things out before making any decisions about who to give that credit card number to. It's always best to get things right the first time!

My Latest Squidoo Earnings

Last week I received a paypal transfer from Squidoo in the amount of $21, which isn't the best I've ever done, but not the worst either. I made a pledge to keep everyone posted on how my lenses were doing, so thought I'd better share!

I'm working on launching a few new lenses this week and will try and spend more time editing the lenses I already have. The more frequently you edit a lens either by adding to it or making any type of changes, the more rank you have. It you leave it idle for too long it can slip low into the Squidoo ranking system and you won't make as much money. This is especially true for any Google Adsense revenue sharing. You are paid from that pool based on how your lens ranks overall.

If you haven't started your own lens, follow the Squidoo button in the right sidebar and get started now! It's free and a great time killer. lol It's also a great way to entertain yourself. One of my goofiest lenses is Sock Monkey Central, which was created out of boredom and a slight confusion as to what the fascination with this toy was. lol

To read more about Squidoo, follow the Squidoo label below!

Payday Loans When Money is Tight?

Are payday loans a good idea? I'd say generally no, but if you find yourself in a financial bind and can't feed your kids or pay your bills on time, I'd say it's a better solution that allowing yourself to suffer the negative consequences stress will cause to your health and the toll a negative report will have on your credit rating.

Using a payday loan means you can borrow against your future paycheck. Maybe you won't be paid until next Tuesday, but you've spent every penny from your paycheck from last week. That's a scary place for any mom to be. If you can't borrow from your family, don't have money in savings, and have no other avenues to cover the needs of your family before that next paycheck hits your checking account, don't suffer needlessly.

Yellow Leaf Financial will get you through until your next paycheck arrives. Be sure to be frugal with the money you are lent, as you don't want to fall even further behind in the coming weeks. I wouldn't use this avenue as a quick fix on a regular basis, but when the washing machine breaks down or your furnace dies, you may find yourself in a rough place financially speaking.

In order to qualify for a payday loan you're required to be employed full-time, have a checking account or savings account, a telephone number and your take home pay after taxes must be no less than $800 monthly, after taxes. Not hard qualifications to meet. Of course if you're self-employed, this service won't apply, but you may have a friend struggling who could use a little grace.

Once again, I would never promote this as an option except for those in dire need. It's good to have a lifeline when you've nowhere to turn and Yellow Leaf Financial will gladly throw you that rope.

Has Paid Blogging Taking A Dive?

Like thousands of other bloggers, I make a few dollars each month taking paid blogging jobs. It's been the perfect avenue for this stay-at-home mom (homebound mom) to earn a little spending money without making any investment whatsoever. I'm all about that! Whats more, it's simple, straightforward, and it's all yours... your blog, your schedule, your words and your style.

I've noticed over the last couple of months that it's getting harder and harder for this somewhat seasoned blogger to find work. Granted, I've not been posting as regularly as I used to, but I've been a bit surprised to find virtually no work more often than not. There were months not so long ago where I was averaging a few hundred a month, now I'm lucky to hit $100 which tells me either the economy is in fact impacting our earning potential or I'm just falling off the wagon after going too many weeks without daily posting! lol Might even be a little of both. Actually, I'm sure that's the case.

One of my blogs is all about my journey homeschooling, which officially ended this week. My kids are in a brick and mortar school for the first time in their young lives. Homeschooling is a wonderful fit for many families, but wasn't working for us. So, what should I do with my homeschooling blog? I really don't know. The thing about blogging is you have to be willing to let your blogs transform along with your changing life... that is especially true if you have a niche blog and you suddenly find yourself not a part of that world anymore. It's really hard to write about something that you're not actually doing or interested in.

This blog is about working from home and about my life as a work-from-home mom and yet next fall, once my daughter starts first grade, I'll probably look for work outside the home, meaning this blog will likely go stagnant... not that I won't be blogging, but not about this topic. If and when that happens, I'll be sure to place a permanent link from this blog to my new site which will be about working moms with young children. I'll leave this blog up and running though, so women (and men) can benefit from all the posts I've made over the last couple years.

So, what have your experiences with blogging looked like? Have you noticed your earnings are down? Maybe you don't monetize your blogs at all. Maybe you wonder what I'm even talking about? lol Check out the left sidebar for previous posts on paid blogging if I've sparked your curiosity. :o)

Security Alerts, Viruses, and Worms Oh My!

All thanks to a few simple Internet searches for work-from-home information. Yes... it can be dangerous looking for opportunities for home-based income even when you haven't provided personal information or made an investment. Simply traveling to the wrong site can apparently be the end of your computer if you're not properly protected. Apparently, we weren't.

Tuesday evening I was looking for content to share here on Mommy Space which took me to several sites designed for moms looking to make a few dollars from home. Did I find legitimate work opportunities? No, but what I did leave with were a variety of security alerts followed by a never ending number of pop-ups. Nice. Apparently Norton isn't enough to combat whatever it is I found.

Being the computer wizard that I'm not, I'm still trying to figure out how to remove the Viruses and Worms from my computer without losing anything or jeopardizing the health of my hard drive. There are a variety of free downloads available, but how do you know who to trust? What's more, it appears virtually impossible to download any of these free virus removers to the infected computer. I'll have to download to a flash drive on my laptop (have no idea how to do that btw), then load that to the desktop and hope it will take care of everything. Or... we could just reinstall Windows. My husband was wanting to do that anyway, but of course that will be like starting brand new, which has its advantages and disadvantages.

In any case, I don't know how beneficial my sharing this with my readers will be, considering I have no clue which site shared these unwelcome bugs with me, but would like to remind everyone that there are a lot of crooked, nasty, scumbags on the web who have nothing better to do than reek havoc on our lives and our home-businesses. The laptop I'm using now will only be in my possession for 3 weeks, so if my desktop isn't repaired before then, I'll be unable to make one red cent from home, unless I find something to do offline. Not cool. Happy New Year to me. Blah!