Work From Home Mums Blog – Resources, Return To Work Advice, Online Business Ideas

BiziMums is a fabulous new website that is set up specifically to help mothers start their very own online business. There are no catches, hooks or scams … just loads of creative ideas for new business opportuntities, and loads of advice about the cheapest way to set them up.

All the suppliers BiziMums uses themselves are revealed for other mothers to confidently use also.

The hardest part about starting an online business today is not knowing who is scamming you, and of course the expense.

The driving force behind BiziMums came from the internet marketing experience gained through establishing and operating Hire My Mum. This is where it became very clear that mothers all over the world were looking for the very same thing … ‘a genuine online job or business’, that would give them the freedom to raise their children and contribute to the household finances. BiziMums is designed to deliver a genuine and realistic opportunity for mothers to setup their own online business.

BiziMums has set a goal to help 100 mothers start an online business in 2009 … Will you be one of them?

Technorati Tags: BiziMums, business ideas, mother start online business, online business

Readers Question: I am a stay at home mum and I am keen to earn some extra income but I am not comfortable putting my daughter into childcare. I would love some assistance with work from home options. I have read about online surveys, mystery shoppers, but which ones are scams and can you earn a decent income. What are the other options?

Answer: This is a great question because I have come to learn, since starting Hire My Mum, that mothers all over the world are looking for the same thing, a genuine work from home job or business. There are many many opportunities out there, some are scams but I strongly believe in the age old rule … if it is too good to be true then, it is too good to be true!

If you ask one of these people promoting personal development products, telling you that your annual income will become your monthly income, ask them if they are making their annual income every month, they ‘always’ reply well, no, but I know someone who is … These systems rely on people who are keen to change their lives, and become motivated very quickly by the idea of a better financial life. After all we all want that don’t we?

Needless to say I have trialled a lot of systems just to see for myself if they are a scam or not … more often than not they are a scam. But things like surveys and mystery shoppers are quite genuine, however I never personally made any money out of them, surveys usually have a minimum withdrawal amount and interchange commission with reward points etc so it ends up being quite hard to earn much money if any.

The typing ads or filling in forms is my favourite scam, because not only do you wear the cost of the Google ads you are typing you also pay them for the privilege of doing so ??? *scratches head*. Also if you don’t know anything about Google Adwords and pay per click advertising then it can cost you a lot more money than you ever planned. It is much like playing the pokies, addictive and expensive. Please note those scams have nothing to do with Google other than the scammers using Google as their vehicle.

Finding a work from home job is hard work, I know! I made a business out of doing that. But they are out there and the key to success is flexibility. You are not always going to find the ideal job, but if you are prepared to do outbound or inbound telesales, internet researching etc, then there are jobs that will enable you to work from home, or even during school hours. Increasingly there are more services like mine that help mothers find work from home jobs on the internet, or you can approach local businesses directly and let them know you are available.

As I mentioned above the main thing mothers all over the world have been looking for is a genuine work from home job or business. This was the driving force for me to build and launch my new online business, called BiziMums. It has been set up to help mothers find a unique business idea, and set up an online business of her own. When I had the idea for Hire My Mum, it cost me a total of $123.00 to get started, so I want to show other women how to start an online business that is creative, fun and most importantly rewarding. My goal is to help 100 mothers start an online business in 2009.

There are plenty of people offering business ideas or systems, but you have to pay before you even get to see what you might be getting into. So it is up to you to use your best judgment when assessing opportunities, and trusting the women you have seen around you who are already running successful online businesses like Mumzone, copy their systems and you will be on the right track.

PS: There is no quick way to cash … even online marketers that launch a new product and rakes in 1.5 million in 2 hours (and they happen all the time) have been slogging at their business for many years to get to that stage. If it is too good to be true, then it is.

Warm regards
Leigh

Provided By Mum Zone – Resources for Mums www.mumszone.com.au

Technorati Tags: BiziMums, Google Adsense, market research, mystery shopper, online surveys, online typing jobs, scams

Readers Question: I am a work at home mum and I run my own business. I have 2 kids which are my priority of course, but I’m finding it increasingly difficult to keep on top of my growing business workload. I am finding I stay up later and later trying to get everything done so I don’t get enough sleep which isn’t good at all – it is affecting my health and I’m really struggling with keeping on top of things – there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Do you have any advice for time management techniques or other ideas on how to successfully juggle a family and run a business from home? I would love to be able to employ someone to help with my business but it’s just not at that stage yet financially. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Answer:

I think it is our nature as women and mothers to do everything ourselves … I am a big culprit of this, and with a 2 year old at home and an 8 year old at school I do find myself in your shoes, often. Fortunately I really love what I have created for myself and my family so I don’t mind working harder than if I had “a real job … LOL”.

The biggest lesson I have learnt as a small business owner is that I cannot grow my business if I am too busy doing things that are not productive. So the obvious time management tips come to mind:

1. Have a clean and clear work environment – if you spend half of your day looking for things you are wasting your own time,

2. This also goes for your email, set up folders for things like access codes, receipts and important follow up – so you aren’t digging through hundreds of messages to find something you need.

3. Make a list ‘before you go to bed’ of what you want to complete the next day – by making the list before you go to bed you will sleep better because your brain will not be worrying about what you might have forgotten to do.

4. Have a business plan – I am a big fan of the one page business plan because you will read it over and over.

Tips for the kids, first of all you need to deal with your own mother guilt, a video is not a bad thing if you have something really important to do. I try to set up activities throughout the week like painting, play doh etc. things that I don’t bring out everyday, so the interest factor is always there. Child minding, well I am lucky that my mother-in-law wants to look after B2 one day per week, it gives him a break, and me too. If you have someone; family, friend, neighbour who can help you out for one day or half a day per week to free you up a little, then don’t be afraid to ask them to help you. You might be surprised who is willing to help.

Now I don’t want to sound like supermum, because I am not, for me housework is the thing that gets a low priority – it gets done eventually but I don’t worry about dishes on the sink. So that takes a bit of pressure off, I don’t know what your personal situation is like but think about any areas where you apply unnecessary pressure on yourself.

And finally, there are now some very good online job boards that help mothers to find work from home jobs. The upside of these for small business owners like us is that you can get some one to do a single task for a single price, such as bookkeeping once a month for $70.00 or 2 hours per week for $25 per hour, maybe you need to free yourself from writing newsletters. I have a lady who helps me to look for work from home jobs for 2 hours per week at an hourly rate, at first I felt I couldn’t afford it but now I can’t do without her. Actually my new projects would never have gotten started without her taking that workload off me. You don’t have to spend a fortune to find someone to help you. My experience has been that plenty of mothers are happy with a couple of hours per week as they still want the flexibility of being at home. You could try my company Hire My Mum; we have nearly 900 people waiting for jobs like this, or try the new Home Workforce and CareerMums.

Good luck and thanks for this great question.

Leigh

Provided By Mum Zone – Resources for Mums www.mumszone.com.au

Technorati Tags: hire my mum, increasing work load, managing family and work, mumzone