Neglectful

Wow, so how long have I neglected this blog? For over a year, that's how long! Geez. Where did 2008 go? Well, I relocated my family cross-country and accepted a great job in DC where I get to work from home most of the time, and I started a relationship in addition to spending a great deal of the first several months back on the east coast reconnecting with old - and new - friends. So many of my online activities were neglected, but 2009 is already much different. In 2008, I just tried to keep up with all the changes. Now, I am actively working on reaching specific goals.

Believe me, 2008 taught me that if you don't have goals and daily, weekly, monthly actions to reach them, pretty much nothing will get done. It's easy to neglect what isn't defined. When defined, it's easy to get just little things done each day that at the end of a week or month amount to a lot! It's almost like progress creeps up and one day when you take the time to measure what's been accomplished from the beginning or even from just a week ago to now, you can be astounded. Take it from me, write down goals and then break them down into daily and weekly actions to reach them. Check out my article about Single Daily Actions for more on this. http://www.cherylsweb.com/articles/sdas02.html

Social Networking Does Work

There are lots of social networking sites, many of which are well-known for purely social interactions, e.g., friendships. However, these sites can be powerful promotional tools for your business as well. Check out the following social networking sites and consider the ways in which your business can be enhanced by membership. At the least, these sites provide what can be very important networking, potential partnerships or business/work for you. One specific way you can promote your business or services is, for example, on MySpace, you can send "bulletins." These bulletins are posted to all of your "friends" on the site (which with a business-oriented page, are customers or potential customers/clients). Sometimes, you can get some of those friends to repost your bulletin for you, thus spreading the word to their friends. Be careful not to send blatant advertisements, but useful information, to gain the trust and loyalty of your friends.

Check these out and spread the word that you are in business!

MySpace.com
Facebook.com
Friendster.com
Xanga.com
Ryze.com
Tribe.net
LinkedIn.com
Doostang.com
Bebo.com
hi5.com
Ning.com
Orkut.com
OpenSocial.com

Don't forget to check out my site for home business ideas - http://www.cherylsweb.com/

Can You Find Me A Work At Home Job?

Can You Find Me A Work At Home Job?

by Cheryl Williams Levey

I can't tell you how often someone has asked me this question or some iteration of it. I really have to bite my tongue and be careful with my response too. Like ANY job, and ESPECIALLY work from home jobs, you have to do some research and apply, apply, APPLY! You can't be half-assed about it. If you're looking for data entry or something like that, remember that literally thousands upon thousands of other people are applying for the same job too.

Because of that, I have the following advice for you.

Start your own business, .e.g., work for yourself. Don't worry with finding an outside job that lets you work from home. You can do that later - right now you need to generate some income. That's the primary issue, right? So start your own business, even if it is by your own name. Mine is - as a freelancer.

With your own business, niche yourself - specialize in something. Don't try to be a jack of all trades. I'm serious here. If you try to do everything one of two things will happen: (a) You will become overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough cash-flow to hire help to help you or (b) more likely... no one will hire you because they aren't sure you can do what THEY need you to do.

Sure you can serve many industries but it's better to focus on just one. For example, real estate, the science or tech sector, restaurants, health care.... There are hundreds of extremely viable industries in which to focus and you should focus NOT on the one you think has the most money but the one you CARE about.... an industry that is of interest to you OR the one you have background in.

For example, I worked outside the home for 18 years in the sci/tech sector. When I became a freelancer, people I knew from my past job were my first clients. And some of them still call on me - four years later. Additionally, I love music. Studied it in college. Wanted to be in the music industry. For the past eight years, my ex-husband and I have put on an annual rock music festival that has grown from a one-day event to a three-day blow your ears off jam :)

But back to the point, start your business and niche it in an industry you love. Then niche it some more. What do you want to do for your industry-specific clients? Websites? Design of brochures, newsletters, menus, ads, coupons? Health-related data entry or transcriptionist? Or do you want something less "officey" - do you want to become a real estate agent's assistant and help show homes? Or develop new menu items for restaurants? Or even grow fresh herbs and sell them to restaurants? Your imagination is the limit here so really focus on what would make you the happiest.

Of course, if you are relying on your background and previous contacts for work, your expertise and what you already know how to do will probably be what is expected of you.

There are some great resources for finding work from home and lots of ideas for starting your own business at my site http://www.cherylsweb.com. Check it out!

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Cherylsweb.com gives you a true-to-life look at being a work at home single mom - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Do you have what it takes to work from home? Find out here --> Visit http://www.cherylsweb.com.
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Tis the Season for Giving

But of course, you can donate all year round using this handy website -

http://www.donorschoose.org/homepage/main.html

There are all kinds of organizations and projects listed here, some that can be completely funded for very little money. Your donations are tax-deductible. Please keep this link in mind even after the holidays :)

Finding "Good" Information on whatever you want...

By entering "site:.edu [your subject]" (no quote marks) in Google, you can find information on just about anything you can imagine. (From ETR - http://www.earlytorise.com)

Websites ending in .edu are those of educational institutions and other sources of information that are, for the most part, trustworthy. Anyone can put anything on the web, but .edu sites tend to be those that are "real."

Knowing this one little thing can help out any information professional, whether a freelancer or not.

Whoooooosh!

Where did October go? I was reflecting on that last night... Life seems to zoom by at the speed of light lately anyway but October went especially fast. October is an active month anyway - the kids have a fall break and we traveled. I also traveled alone late in the month. Then of course there is lots going on at their school, fall field trips, clubs, after school activities and of course Halloween!

I personally also have a lot of projects going on, including the rock music festival I work on each year (this is my last one.... I am considering a blues festival next...) which is coming up next weekend. Lots of stuff to do for that, including lists of bands and ticket purchases and house guests. I am also working on some blues music related things (thus the travel) along with my regular freelance work and a couple other website ideas.

I guess the point of this blog is to point out that life goes in cycles. Some times are more relaxed than others, some busier than others, and some in between. Kinda like the Three Bears story, huh? All I know is that I don't think I could have done all I have done in October this year if I had a traditional job. Thank God for self-employment!

On Having a Supportive Partner

We all know what it's like to have our aspirations blown off as though we are silly or stupid. We've seen the eyes roll and heard the sighs of exasperation. We've probably been even told, by people close to us, that we're crazy for trying such-and-such or whatever. This happens particularly when we first decide to work for ourselves and are possibly contemplating leaving a "decent" job, but it can still happen after we've proven ourselves to be able to make a living for ourselves as well. One thing we need to survive the sometimes scary and overwhelming world of self-employment is at least one person who believes in us. This can be your spouse (but often is not) or another family member or a friend or even a business acquaintance. Encouragement means the world in the eyes of a work-at-home person who spends so much time isolated. All it takes sometimes is for someone to say "You're really good at what you do."

How To Take Off Work for the Summer

I write this near the end of August, realizing that the last time I posted here was in early July. Pretty pathetic, huh? I guess I could tell you how my absence from writing here is an example of the work from home, work for yourself lifestyle. I mean, the reason I haven't written is because I spent most of July traveling with my kids and most of August getting the kids started in school. I haven't really worked the online biz so much this summer. And that's kinda normal for me...summertime always seems to entice me to do pretty much anything except work! Being self-employed - and having an internet-based business - means I can work from anywhere (even from the beach watching my boys with their cousin (below), or not. This summer was more not than work. It's great to be my own boss! If you want that kind of decision making power for yourself, start your own business -- Check out cherylsweb.com for ideas and inspiration!

Independence

For my American readers, Happy Fourth of July! Today is the day the US celebrates its independence as a nation, but I also celebrate this day on a more personal level. I no longer am shackled to a job that calls the shots for me. I no longer have a long, frustrating commute. Do you work for people who do not respect or appreciate you? For too little pay? Do you dream of being free of their schedule and their goals? Do you resent having to ask permission to be off work because your kid is sick? Or even because you want the afternoon to take the kids swimming or something? Do you resent having to have your kids in camps and day care all summer because you are working? As you reflect on independence today, consider declaring your own independence. Think about how you might do that, what you might do to have that independence that I personally believe everyone should have. Too many people in this world work miserable jobs for miserable pay but never do anything to change their circumstances. Be different. Take action. Today. I did, and as a result of that, July 4th is only one of 365 days in a year that I have my own independence. You can do it too. Get ideas and inspiration at http://www.cherylsweb.com/.

Are we really entrepreneurs?

I still have a hard time referring to myself as an "entrepreneur." I mean, it sounds so not me. I'm just a mom who works from home, you know? The word entrepreneur conjures up these images of business men in suits and high-level deals and stuff like that to me. So there's a lesson in that. All us moms at home who are somehow managing to balance work and life - and using that terminology is wrong in itself because work is merely a PART of life - but we are the true pioneers and entrepreneurs, those of us who do it all, not just the business part.

And we do. In spite of the subtle push-off vibes we get from people who innocently ask "and what do you do?" to our response "I work from home." I find personally that that is about when I can just see the interest in me just fizzle in their eyes, like a light bulb dying out.

But for some reason I just can't quite bring myself to say "I'm an internet entrepreneur!" It just sounds so.... pompous or something. It ain't me. But then it is, because it is exactly what I do for a living, at least part of it. I tend to focus on one client and the work I do for them, and the client I focus on depends on who's asking me what I do.

However, maybe it's time to stand up and proclaim it. Maybe we all should. Stop shrinking from your greatness and from the things you do that are wonderful. Because you and I both know that we climb mountains every day and we should be proud of ourselves for hitting that summit time after time after time.