Work at Home

A little while back, I shared a few things I felt were helpful when talking about being a WAHM (work at home mom). Today, I'm back with a bit more to say on the subject; more specifcially, I'm here to talk a bit about how I, an ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill mom, goes about making WAH work for me.

Finding Time to Work

I don't know that I'm what you'd call a true work-at-home mom (WAHM); I do dabble in freelance writing from home, but I also hold a part-time office job. Plus I'm still kind of a newbie at this whole "I'll write, you pay" thing. But I have learned a thing or two about managing a home, an outside job, two preschoolers, a hubby and freelancing all at the same time.

Jessica has been writing a series about work-at-home-moms. She’s covered countless topics already, including finding jobs, setting up your website, and many other WAHM must-know tips and tricks. I love reading these articles, and I’ve been itching for my own shot at a WAHM guest post, to share the tips and tricks I learned along the way. So here we go: WAHM, Christa style!

When you truly decide to work from home, you’ll find that many opportunities abound online. However, working online can be scary at first, because you don’t really know who’s on the other side of that monitor. Are they a legit customer or someone trying to get just enough information from you to steal your identity — or worse? Well that mystery goes two ways.

First off, if you need to ask yourself how you can possibly handle multiple clients, congratulations! You’re on your way to a successful business. That business will not be a success, however, if you can't juggle those multiple clients. Thankfully, there is a somewhat simple solution: time management. Let's check out how you can manage your time (and those multiple clients!).

Prioritize

When you decide to work from home, you're in charge. So, of course, you want to avoid paying someone else to tell you how to run your own business. Instead, you should take charge and bootstrap your business from the floor up.

This sounds more difficult than it actually has to be. With a little thought and a lot of hard work, you can ensure that your business succeeds. Let's look at some ways to accomplish this.

Identify Your Strengths

The best thing about tax-time? The refund. Such a joyous time, don't you think? When you hear the word, doesn’t it make your little heart go pitter-pat in sheer delight? Regardless of whether overpaying your taxes so you get a big refund is a good idea, for most self-employed people they probably aren't going to have a refund. Let's look at some ways to minimize what you'll have to pay, or maybe even get you into that refund territory.

Deductions

I seemed to have checked out of life lately. I can drag myself to my computer, but then I just sit and look at the screen. Between estate attorneys and cattle, the only productive thing I’ve been able to accomplish in my office lately is changing my desktop background. So, what happened to me? I became complacent.

I defined my services, developed a stunning website (plus one), delved into the social networking scene, nabbed some fantastic clients, and then got a nail in my tire.

When you make the commitment to work at home, you are not only making a commitment to yourself, but also anyone who decides to do business with you. And, occasionally, you will come across a difficult client.

If that happens, take a deep breath and put everything into perspective. While it is important to always stay true to who you are, it's important to realize that you are a business and need to act in a professional manner.

Define Difficult

“If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard.”  Those immortal words were spoken by none other than my hero: Dorothy Gale.  We Kansas girls have to stick together and all that. 

What about you?  When you make the decision to work from home, how will you get the word out?  Even with the snazziest of websites, if no one ever sees it, how can it help you?  Sure, you can pay money to get the word out, or you can network.

Creating Your Network