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

I received an email from a friend today about how the technology that we have so easily become accustomed to can actually lead to our own detriment.

Here is the content of that email;

This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic
technology.

GPS
Someone had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their
car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and
specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a
garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently
mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked
and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the
garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house.
The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time
the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to
clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty
the house of its contents.

MOBILE PHONE
I never thought of this…….
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile
phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell
phone, credit card, wallet… Etc…was stolen.

20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pa y phone telling him
what had happened, hubby says ‘I received your text asking about our Pin
number and I’ve replied a little while ago.’

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money
was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to
text ‘hubby’ in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20
minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson:
Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact
list.
Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc…
And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts,
CONFIRM by calling back.
Also, when you’re being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be
sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don’t
reach them, be very careful about going places to meet ‘family and friends’
who text you.

So what do you think, are we complacent and do we rely on our technology too much. I know it gave me something to think about.

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 have returned back to work part time, but ideally I would love to work from home for myself or for a company that allows a work from home arrangement. Why is it so hard to find employers in Australia that are that flexible?? If I am wrong please enlighten me!

Answer:

We are very fortunate in Australia to have a strong telecommuting community (people who work form home), many of these people have self made jobs and many are also work from home mums like me. There are of course still some old school employers that feel if they can’t see you, you’re not working.

The point of working from home is the lifestyle it affords you. So it should not matter if you swim in the pool with your kids during the day or go out with friends for coffee, if you sit down after the kids are in bed and begin your days “real” work ; ) But for some that just doesn’t compute and they can’t let their workers telecommute.

Now don’t get me wrong, some people really can’t work from home, my husband for one. He yaks my ear off, makes endless cups of coffee, does loads of washing and sometime even cooks dinner … this is sounding quite good for me, but not his boss. Being organised is important and making sure you and your family know you really are at work when you are working at home.

Finding these types of jobs is not easy, and there are businesses like mine, that help mums find jobs they can truly do from home or maybe during school hours. The area I find very exciting at the moment is now commonly referred to as ‘future jobs’. These are jobs that we will do in the future but don’t formally have now, some already in limited but growing amounts, jobs like; professional forum moderators, professional ‘content specific’ bloggers, and directors/managers of community content etc. In addition, roles like copy writing, people who write the content for brochures, sales letter, websites etc, are increasing exponentially as small businesses are discovering the need for well written content on their home made websites that have suddenly begun to grow.

Other areas on the increase for home based workers is call centre operators from home, this can be outbound sales work which is a little difficult if you have young children that scream whenever you sit down to talk on the phone. The upside is a lot of roles, certainly on Hire My Mum, are now inbound calls. Many companies have discovered overseas call centres have not worked how they hoped, this has meant this type of work is coming back to our shores. The fact it was overseas has highlighted to business already that the operator can be based anywhere.

I personally work a few shifts per week as a forum moderator for a famous UK chef website in addition to my businesses, this is great work, we have UK and Australian moderators that enable the company to moderator 24/7, and it means that I can attend to B2 when he is hungry, tired or wants to play.

There are many roles out there, finding them is hard, convincing old school employers is difficult and being flexible is important but they are out there.

These are some companies that help mums find work from home jobs;

• Hire My Mum
• Forum-Moderators.com
• Your Part Time Workforce
• CareerMums

Sorry this is so long, it is a bit of a passion finding these illusive jobs. Hope it helps.

Leigh

Provided By MumZone – Resources for Mums www.mumzone.com.au

Technorati Tags: flexible work arrangements, work from home

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Readers Question: I want to return to work but don’t understand the childcare rebate… does it cut my weekly childcare cost straight away or will it give me a bigger tax return?

Answer: Wow this is a great question and it is no wonder you don’t understand it … what a mine field?

Well the basic answer is; both is ‘probably’ correct, depending on whether you qualify for the two payments that are available. The two types of payments are Child Care Benefit CCB and Child Care Tax Rebate CCTR. CCB is available to low income earners, your approved child care provide will reduce your payments based on your eligibility, meaning you will pay less than their advertised rates. You actually pay less up front.

CCTR is an additional amount you can claim if eligible, in a lump sum when you do your tax return annually, or now available in quarterly payments and adjusted in the final quarter after the ATO and Family Assistance Office have assessed your entitlement. This amount is 50% of your out of pocket expenses to a maximum of $7500 per year. This does not reduce your up front payments.

An example is; your provider reduces your fee by $20.00 per day and you pay $30.00 per day, that is CCB applied to your situation, you can then claim 50% of the $30.00 per ‘days of attendance’ that you physically paid, in your tax return or quarterly payment. That is CCTR applied to your situation. (*Not based on any actual fees.)

The Family Assistance Office website has full details about eligibility levels, go to these links to see if you are eligible:
Family Assist.gov CCB or Family Assist.gov CCTR

I hope this helps.

Leigh

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

Technorati Tags: child care, return to work