Stay at Home Moms and Losing Workforce Marketability

Does Business Really Care?

I've been a stay at home/work at home mom for 8 years now. If  I was re-entering the job market today I'm not sure what I would be eligible for. I have a bachelors degree, but does anyone care? I have run my own home daycare, but again does anyone care? If I were to go and look for a job today, would the wage I could earn be enough to even pay daycare expenses? What is a girl to do? I could go back to school and add a Masters Degree to that Bachelors degree... But still would anyone care? In this tough economy, re-entering the job market is hard to navigate. Employers are looking for highly qualified, experienced employees. Those who have been out of the workforce for very long are going to have a tough time getting noticed. The resume stay at home mom is able to create lacks enough recent relevant experience to be noticed.

Are You Relevant? 

In a recent MSNBC article about how stay at home moms can improve their chances when they go back to the workforce, they say "Don't expect the job market to respect, validate or reward your decision to stay home with children." and they also say, "Part-time and flex-time jobs unfortunately remain elusive for anyone at any stage in their careers.".  Couple that with the growing unemployment rate, and it's easy to see how many jobs out there will be snapped up by those with recent relevant experience, regardless of how impressive your resume was before leaving the workforce. In other words, staying home made you lose your workforce marketability.

Those who have only been out of the work force for 2-3 year have a better chance at getting a job than those who have been out for closer to 10 years. The economy isn't your grandmothers economy. Back in the day, a one income houshold was enough to support the family. Though womens equal rights gave us many great things , the one thing it took away form us was a true ability to choose. The market became dependent on a two income family decades ago, those who try to stay at home are swimming against a very powerful current.

What Is The Answer?
So what is the answer? Many moms are looking to make an income from home on line. But even that can be tough. The key to making an income online is the ability to use the internet in a smart and successful way. Most people who try to make money online fail. Why? Because they lack the know-how to make it work for them. Do you know how to successfully navigate the in's and out's of the internet? It's not like an add in your local newspaper. It isn't as simple as putting up a website and raking in the money. Do you understand keyword marketing and how that effects your overall success? Do you know how to utilize social media for your benefit, without being a spammer? Do you know how to effectively use pay per click without breaking the bank? These, and countless other methods, are what someone who is serious about building a business online needs to know. This is the way business is done these days. The little guy is in the mix with the big guy. Big corporations spend millions of dollars every year trying to master the internet, especially social media. If you don't understand how that effects anything, just scroll to the bottom of this blog and click the Socialnomics video produced by Eric Qualmann. It will open your eyes to the reality of how business has changed.

What Do You Want To Do About It?
Here is my question to you. Are you serious about building a business? Think of  why you want to work from home. Is it more money, more time, or to be with your kids? Focus on that. Now ask yourself if that goal is worth spending the time to learn how to use the internet to maximize your business success. If  making your goals a reality is worth the effort it will take to be successful, then find the training, find the mentoring, learn how to use it, and work hard to make your business successful. Don't waste life hoping your big break will come, make it happen.

If you need training, click on my link "Improve my home business success" and hear how we can help.

The Quickest Home Based Business to Start: Top 3 Startups and How To Profit Fast

This is one of my newest articles. This form of marketing is called article marketing and it is very effective. This is only one of the more than 50 different methods of marketing my program offers. We can teach you how to make your business really succeed.


The quickest home based business to start isn't necessarily the one that will make you money right away. You want to know how to start earning fast. Here are some of the most popular fast start businesses online and how you can make them profit quick.

1. Become an Affiliate. An affiliate is someone who earns commissions by sending customers to a venders website from a personal website. Commissions are earned either per click, per sale, or per lead. The problem is if you don't know how to drive enough people to your site, you wont earn any commissions. You may be in the quickest home based business to start, but you are far from earning very much income from it. You will need to learn the techniques the pros use if you want to make this a profitable business.
2. Become an Independent Distributor, or Consumer Direct Marketor. Many companies like Internet CEO moms, Herbalife, and MonaVie are in a multilevel marketing (MLM) structure. Representatives earn commissions based on the volume of products sold. To make an income in this business you have to sign up hundreds of people to be under you in multiple levels. For example to make $2000 a month with Internet CEO moms, you will have to sign up over 165 people who promise to continue to spend a minimum of $50-60 per month. You may be in the quickest home based business to start, but unless you know this many people who want to signup right away, you wont be earning very fast.
3. Start a Blog. A blog is free to start and can be started immediately. A blog has an option of monetizing. This means that companies will place adds in your blog, and when someone clicks on that add, and buys a product, you will earn a commission. This is somewhat like being an affiliate, but with less commission. You will need to generate a massive amount of traffic to your blog to earn much money. If you don't know how to do this, you may be in business fast, but you aren't making any money fast.  

The quickest home based business to start won't be the most profitable unless you learn how to drive business your direction. A website sitting out there by itself will be seen about as much as a raft floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. So how do you effectively drive traffic to your site without spending a fortune? Here are the top three tools the pros use to drive a massive amount of traffic to their site.

Top 3 Traffic Driving Tools  

1. Keyword research. This is the main tool used by the pros. If you want to drive traffic, you will need to understand how to use keyword research to find what your customers are searching for online and then position yourself to be found. Google Wordtracker is a fantastic tool to start using for this.
2. Video Marketing. Everything is about videos on line these days. Youtube is the #2 search engine online. If you want to be noticed you will need to do videos related to your keyword research.
3. Social Media. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites are major information centers. However, you will need to understand how to keep the balance. It's much like going to a party. No one likes the person who just keeps trying to sell their business. An appropriate mix of social talk and business is acceptable and can very effectively drive traffic to your site. 

Next, to learn more about the quickest home based businesses to start, how you can make any business profit fast, and the top ways to drive traffic to your website visit http://www.kariday.com/.

I am a member of the worlds largest internet marketing and mentoring program. As a business owner I show people how to create complete financial freedom leveraging the power of the internet. As a Work at Home Mom, I have a passion for showing moms and dads how they can be set free from the 9-5 job. To find out more about how you can automate your income online, please visit http://www.set-free1.com/.

Carving Out Time In My Day Week #2

"A simple and powerful practice; identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines." Timothy Ferriss

This is week #2 in my attempt to carve out some time in my day. Last week was all about writing down what I do and when I do it. This week is about analyzing, organizing, and setting goals. I have categorized the time I spent in certain activities and identified time waste. I have set goals and reorganized to optimize the time I have to spend.

Ok, so here it is.

Task #1 Categorize Into My Three Time Priorities.
#1 Time with God
#2 Time with Family
#3 Time for my Business

When I did this I discovered that by categorizing what I was doing, I could identify more easily the things that I was spending too much time in... I won't tell you how long I was on Facebook one night. It is really important to me to spend time each day studying the bible and praying, but it tends to be one of the first things to go when I'm busy. When I categorized my activities I saw that I wasn't spending my time as well as I could be. So in week two I will...

Task #2 Identify and Edit wasted time,
I have identified my time waste and edited what doesn't contribute to my weekly goals. Goodbye Facebook *sniff*--ok, lets not get crazy or anything! For example, I found that I wasn't focused enough on my priorities when I was working and time was wasted just trying to figure out what I needed to do rather than just getting it done. Can anyone relate?

Task #3 Set Specific Goals
By setting specific achievable goals this week I hope to change the way I spend my work time. When I have goals that I want to accomplish it's like having a target. I know what I'm doing and I don't have to worry that I'm neglecting something. Also, by becoming more effective during the short amount of time I have to work I will get more done and then be able to spend less time at it, leaving more time for my other priorities.

Task #4 Set Specific Time For Doing Each Of My Goals This Week
Now I can put it all together. I will write down exactly what I am going to work on and when I will work on it. For example: one of my goals is to write 4 new articles for Ezine Articles this week. Since I know this is my target, I can prioritize it by writing it in my work schedule at exactly the time-slot I want to work on it. For example: "1pm-write article for ezine" Now when I go to work at that time I know exactly what I need to do and I won't get distracted by e-mail, twitter, or Facebook.

I have categorized my priorities, eliminated wasted time, set goals to achieve this week, and set a specific time to work on achieving them through the week. This is already shaping up to be a busy week with my business. It is growing fast and I need my time to be efficient now more than ever.

What about you? What tricks do you use to keep yourself on target? If you have any suggestions of what I can do different or what works for you I would love to hear them.

You Know Your Life is Too Busy as a Mom, When…

1. After waking up late, you look in the mirror and decide that yesterday’s leftover eyeliner and mascara looks “just fine” for today.
2. You convince yourself that “third day” hair looks freshly washed if it’s in a ponytail.
3. You decide: “Cheerios for dinner really isn’t that bad… hey, it’s good enough for breakfast!”
4. While showering you forget weather or not you have already shampooed your hair.
5. After getting out of the shower you realize you have only shaved one leg.
6. The “homemade cookies” you promised to bake for your son’s school has a distinctive “Keebler” taste.
7. While running out the door to take your child to school you forget the baby in the house.
8. You throw your shirt in the dryer to “iron” out the wrinkles.
9. You go to the bathroom just to have a little alone time.
10. Your to-do list is so long it’s indexed.
11. After ordering drive thru for dinner, you pay for your meal, and then drive off without actually picking it up. 20 minutes later you realize you forgot.
12. Realizing your favorite pants didn’t go through the wash, you choose to just spray them with Fabreez and go.
    
    If you have seen yourself in any of these, you need to get a handle on your time! Some of these came from my girlfriend, one very funny one came from her niece, and I’ll admit most of them came from things I’ve actually done. Moms are busy people. Check out my post-titled “Carving Out Time In My Day Week 1” to see how I am trying to combat this problem in my own life.
    Got any more to add to this list? I’d love to hear them!
    

It Is Time To Redefine The 9-5 Job

Today I read an article in CNN Money that job satisfaction has hit a 22 year low. Only 45 % of Americans are satisfied and 25% don't think they will still be in the same job a year from now. Even though we have made strides in equality and compensation, fulfillment still remains in a steep decline. Why is this? I believe that people are realizing that there is more to life than going to a job where someone else is making a profit, while leaving kids in daycare, feeling guilty about taking time off for vacation, your child's school event, or even if you are sick. We have run into a wall in our society. The recession has hit us all hard. Prices are up, satisfaction is down, and the boiling point is hitting. People want something different. It's time to redefine the 9-5 job. So what can we do? Is there a solution for the average family?

Fortunately there is a fantastic solution. The Internet has made this not only possible, but very profitable. Today we are a global market place not just for the Fortune 500, but for the average home based business owner. With so many opportunities on-line, there has never been a better time to start a home-based business. With a little training and mentoring anyone can master the Internet and use it to create significant income. From moms who blog, to people who start an on-line store, people everywhere are learning how to profit in today's market place. No longer are we dependent on just what the market in our area is doing, we now can leverage the Internet to create a whole new marketplace for ourselves. According to the latest statistics there are 1,733,993,741 people who are on line everyday. EVERYDAY! North America only counts for about 250,000+ people. Europe is double, and Asia overshadows us more than 3 to 1. We have become a global marketplace and it has never been easier for the average person to benefit from the changes in business.

How many people would have loved to have invested in Microsoft before they became big? Well, this is like that. Right now if you have ever dreamed of being your own boss, staying home with your kids, being an entrepreneur, or just earning more money, don't waste anymore time. This is the industrial revolution for the 21 century. It's all on line.

To learn more about how I profit in today's market and have redefined my own 9-5 job Go to I want to be set free .

Carving Out Time In My Day Week 1

Many of us want to change our life this year. I happen to be one of them. Some of you may want to start a business, get in shape, learn something new and challenging, change some habits, or simply have more time. I want to carve out more time to dedicate to my rapidly growing home business. As a Work At Home Mom, I am a busy person. Trying to work around toddlers, preschoolers, and school aged kids all day leaves little time for a clear thought let alone quality time to dedicate to a business. But I am determined to organize my business and my life well. I don’t want to squander my success, but I refuse to let my kids become neglected in the midst of it. My family and my faith are priority number one. Financing my children’s private Christian education, and the goal of setting my family free from the bonds of a 9-5 job are some of my compelling reasons to kill ineffective time in my life.

Life is so hectic for most of us moms that we forget that just wanting a change isn’t good enough. We need to have a plan. It’s a New Year and time to start over again. Right now, here at the beginning, we can choose what we want to accomplish and then choose to do what it takes to make it a reality in our life. The other option is to choose to do nothing. I choose new goals, new dreams, and new accomplishments for 2010. You have the choice. It’s that simple.

So how can we make it happen? One thing that we all have in common is the need for more time in our day. But how do we squeeze out more time in the same 24 hours? I am going to start by using a schedule. For the first week, I will write down everything I do and how much time it takes me to do it. On week two, I will have a pretty good idea of how much time I really spend wisely and how much time I waste. I will edit the waste, keeping in only the things that are productive and help me accomplish my goals and dreams this year. I will then use that to create for myself a real time schedule of activities. At the beginning of each week I will set my weekly goals, then schedule in the time each day to work on the completion of those goals. Hopefully some of it will become automatic after the first month. I will post a new blog each week about my progress to show you what really worked and what really didn’t.

For my purpose I am categorizing many of my activities into three categories: Spiritual, Family, and Business. I am doing this to see how much time I spend on each of these core categories in my daily life. This will enable me to adjust in areas where I am spending too much or too little time.

Together we can accomplish whatever we choose is important enough. Join me in making 2010 the year of success, organization, and realized goals and dreams.

If any of you have some great ideas for time saving tips, I welcome your ideas.