It's Monday and tomorrow is a new month

Well, is the first work day of the week and the last day of the month. Just the kind of day that has you sitting down and thinking about goals for the future. What are you goals for the month of August? Summer is almost over! The kids are going back to school or already back at school for most of us. I don't know about your area, but it's been hot and humid here. I feel like taking a nice cool shower twice a day!

Anyway - today was a day of planning and beginning some projects I've been putting off. It's also been a day for me to look at how I can be more efficient (i.e. - what can I outsource and to whom).

I hope your August is great!

By the way, if you want to earn an easy $5 ~ Go to http://www.momproductreviews.com/ and submit you thoughts on a product. They are looking for submissions on just about anything a mom has an opinion on - pregnancy products, infant products, older kid products, etc. I've already received my $5! It's super easy and doesn't even take very long. I'm sure if you've got a product you really like and give your honest opinion and thoughts on it - you'll be able to get $5 too!

Moms are not allowed to be sick

I'm sure you already know this, but there is no such thing as sick leave for moms. Moms are not allowed to be sick. Even when we are, the world still turns, dishes still need to be washed, pampers changed, the kids taken to school, meals prepared, and more. If dad is working, obviously he can't take the kids to school, so we must.

Today is one of those days. I've been battling a cold all week. Thankfully it isn't too bad. But I am a little less energetic, more prone to a headache, and dealing with a nose that's trying to escape. But, today is game day. My youngest daughter's softball games for the weekend got cancelled (yes!), but my oldest daughter has two games today and two games tomorrow. Unfortunately, I can just find a nice shady spot under a tree and lay on a mat during the games. I'm one of the coaches so I have to be out on the field in the sun. I better make sure to drink enough water while we're out there otherwise I'm going to be completely useless when we get home tonight.

We're just about to load up the car. The girls are all brushing their hair and helping to get their brother ready while I make this blog post ;) ~ then we're off to the field!

Man can kids be frustrating

Grrrr.....okay, just had to get that out. My daughter who is in 2nd grade is ALWAYS the last one off the table when it comes to homework. It's because she doesn't just sit and do it. She goes and plays with her brother. She goes and makes her a snack. She does everything else but her homework. Then when it's time to go to softball practice she's rushing. I told her today and if she's not done, she stays home. She said she needed help. She didn't want help, she wanted me to give her answers. When I didn't give them to her, she started crying. Of course, she's not getting anything done while she's crying. So finally I tell, her forget it, stay home.

Then she starts crying and saying she wants to come with us. I tell her, "No." She said she'll do her homework. I tell her we're leaving in 10 minutes (keep in mind she'd been crying and stuck on the same question for the last half hour and still have 3 questions to answer). Oh.....but now finally she's ready to listen and use her brain. She finishes the questions correctly in the 10 minutes then proceeds to go outside and help with the dogs without grumbling (which is usually another issue and struggle altogether). Ugghhhh ~ why couldn't she do that half an hour ago without all the crying and frustration!

I'm on a roll!

Wow - the ideas just keep on coming. Didn't I ask before why they always seem to come in spurts? I now have a "to do" list that's longer than it's ever been. It's full of things that I need to get done in order to see all these new ideas through. Boy does outsourcing work really, really help me actually get all of these projects done and done well.

I wrote an article and distributed it to article directories earlier this week. I have a couple more articles in the works that I will also distribute in the upcoming weeks. I finished the e-course I talked about a few posts back and a special report.

The e-course, I'm already promoting and getting a good response from. The special report has only been announced to previous customers so far. I will announce it to my list and to my website visitors next week.

Now I have a new site in the works. It's already up and functional. I'm just waiting on graphics and content adding. Then I'll be ready to announce and promote that as well. I'm looking at Sept. 1 as a date for that. The site is going to be about training for fastpitch softball (speed, agility, quickness, strength, injury prevention, etc). I've already got 4-5 trainers who have experience with training softball players ready to contribute so I'm excited about that! I think it's going to be fun and full of great information that my current customers/website visitors will be very interested in.

I have to say that all of this focused brainstorming and idea developing has really started once I joined List and Traffic ~ there just so much there that's thought provoking and written in a step by step style that's easy to understand. I love the real "how to" information there and I can't wait to continue to apply what I learn and see where it takes me. Plus it's so super affordable then when you actually get in there and see what it's about you know it's well worth it!

Yes! New E-Course Done

Thanks to Jimmy D. Browns' List and Traffic I was able to set up a 5-Day E-Course pretty quickly. It took me about 2 1/2 days, but that's because I'm not so quick at writing copy for opt-in pages and because I did everything myself (no outsourcing involved). I just took one of the lessons from List and Traffic, applied it, and voila - E-Course!

Like I said, it took me about 2 1/2 days.

Day 1 was brainstorming and choosing a topic. Then I worked on getting the content for the 5 days of the e-course.

Day 2 consisted of creating a list in my auto-responder, loading the messages, coming up with subject headings, forewards, and copy for the opt-in page. I also created the opt-in page on day 2.

Day 3 (not much work-not even half day really) was creating the opt-in form, the thank-you page, and getting links and opt-in forms on my site in appropriate places to promote the e-Course.

That was it. Can't wait to see how it works out, how many people sign up, and what they think of it.

Outsourcing - yes!

Well, actually I'm out-tasking en route to outsourcing if I like my resources. But I just sent two articles over to be polished up and written in true article form. I've also finished a special report with the help of an outsourcee. So I've got some cool things in the works that will hopefully pull in profits in the future. One thing I think I need to do more of are "list building" activities. I do some, but I haven't been making it a point to do these activities every week and that's something I need to start doing. Are you doing list building activities every week? Do you have a list?

All I know is that I'm not on overdrive to really make this whole online business thing work. I'm at the point where I am earning money, but not what I'd like. So I must really implement a solid plan to get to where I want to be. But of course, before I can do that, I have to have a solid goal of where I want to be. Can plan to get to a place if you're not sure where it is you want to go right?

Has this happened to you?

You take a minute to shoot off an e-mail and leave your 19 month old alone (but just 5 ft away) with a package of Cheerios and......



He even fled the scene! Time for a lesson on cleaning up.

*sigh* - it's Friday

My daughter's in a "club"

My oldest daughter (5th grade) came home after school one day and told me that she's in Mr. Morikawa's club (her teacher). Then she went on to explain that Mr. Morikawa wears glasses, so anyone in the class who wears glasses in is his "club." I was touched because my daughter seemed happy about that. It also meant something to me because I remember DH's sister coming home from school one day at about this age saying she didn't want to wear her glasses because she was teased by the teacher. Can you imagine?

I'm so glad my daughter's teacher makes it a point to help the kids feel more comfortable about wearing glasses. I think that's cool.

Why must creativity come in spurts?

I get to those points when I feel like no new ideas are popping into my head, then WAHM (no pun intended) they come all at once. Then I need to sit down and jot them all down so I don't lose them, prioritize them, and then work on them. Life would be so much easier if ideas came one at a time. Then you would be able to focus so much easier! LOL

Anyway - this is a good thing. I've actually got some ideas on articles which hasn't happened in a while. I've just been overthinking it too much feeling like I have to write a multiple page e-book all the time which is not the case. I'm finding that if I just jot my thoughts down, those thoughts are more than enough to eventually make up an article.

One resource that I've just recently looked into and love is Jimmy D. Brown's List and Traffic. Previously I discarded it because I thought it must be expensive - not sure where I got that idea from. Anyway, in my first day there, I found the resources quite thought provoking and helpful. I especially like the easy to understand, practical steps that are outlined for things like article writing, e-book writing, or writing messages for your newsletter. It was exactly what I needed to get my creative juices flowing again! I'm so looking forward to learning even more about applying the tips there to help my online profits grow!

Internet Business Manifesto

I don't even remember how I first heard about this, but I loved it. You can get it for free at http://www.strategicprofits.com/manifesto/

It's very thought provoking and think it's something all of us with online businesses should read. Once you go over that, there is also The Missing Chapter - you can get that at
http://www.strategicprofits.com/missingchapter/

I found them both to be quite interesting and after reading the missing chapter, I'm even more jazzed about my online business. It's the reminder or "kick in the butt" I needed to get the creative juices flowing again. It was a point to start at and then implement the things I learned from the Manifesto. It was a reminder that I really need a clear vision of what I want to become in my business.

Anyway - just thought I'd share because those two reports were great reading (and learning) material for me.

Working Early Today

Wow - I'm up before 7:00! I don't know if I'll be able to do this on a regular basis, but I'm up and working before the kids get up. I do like it, I just don't know if I'll be able to last through the day. Normally I'm ready to sleep by 9:00 - will I be even more wiped out by the time 9:00 rolls around tonight? I certainly enjoy working without interruptions. That's very cool. Maybe I'll do this just once a week. Even that would help productivity. The only thing is that I should probably layout the night before what it is I want to accomplish during the interrupted hours that I have. That's what sort of held me back this morning. I got up, I went to the computer, then just sat there. I had no idea what I could do besides check messages. I know I could have used the time better. So that's one thing I'll learn for next time. Plan ahead and be productive from the start. Part of the problem was that I hadn't planned on getting up early and having this uninterrupted time, it just sort of happened so that's why I didn't have a good plan. But next time I will and we'll go from there. Like I said, I'm just curious to see how wiped out I'll be tonight. Will I be able to stay up past 8:30?

Don't turn your back

As a mom - do you ever have the feeling that you can't turn your back? Not even for one second?

My girls start school tomorrow so we did most of our school supply shopping yesterday. All the school supplies were put on the dining room table. I told them to just leave everything alone for now. We'll separate everything later. I go to check e-mail. While going through my messages and check on a few other things online, I decide to take a bathroom break. I walk into the bathroom and what do I see on the counters? The anti-bacterial hand soap that the girls are supposed to take to school. Both are open (pump up instead of in the sealed down position) and one of them looks like they all tried it out to see if it smelled good. I was able to return the pumps to the down position. But as far as the soap that's already been "tested" - someone is going to school with a little less hand soap than everyone else.

What can I do to grow my business?

Hmm....I'm sitting here trying to think of ways I can grow my business. How can I increase Google AdSense earnings? But that only pays out once a month. What can I do to get paid more often?

I could start my affiliate program for my e-book. I don't know if I'm really ready for that yet. If I do that, then I need to be ready to train affiliates, I need to be able to give them the resources they need to be successful. I need to supply them with banners, links, and other images and tools. That's quite a big undertaking that I don't know if I'm ready for yet.

But what else can I do. I know that traffic at my softball site seems to have stopped increasing. Is it because of the season? Maybe this is just a slower time of year? Or what was I doing before that I'm not doing now? Maybe I need to start being more consistent with article marketing. I also need to look for other places to submit articles where they are going to be picked up by sites that have similar target audiences.

Maybe I need to look through my auto-responder series and see if I'm making too many offers or not enough. Hmmm....I know I want more from my online business and I know I can get more. I'm reminded every day of why I want to be able to earn more, but not necessarily have to constantly put in more hours. I just have to sit down and do some brainstorming and planning and see what I can come up with! Wish me luck.

Getting the Sliver

The Sliver is a phone available through Cingular wireless. DH and I are switching over from Nextel mostly because the reception through Cingular is much, much better where DH works. The second reason being that it will cost us less per month and that is nice considering that I am now at-home full time without that steady, secure, twice a month paycheck.

So, my new goal for business is to earn enough money so that, in two years, I'll be able to upgrade my phone to one of those that I can use to check my e-mail and browse the internet. One with a nice screen and the 1.0 MP camera too! I never wanted one of those because they were always so bulky and tough to type on, but phone have come quite a ways. I'm sure in two years, they'll be even better. Also by then, I'll need to be earning enough to pay for the additional data services to be able to do all those cool things, send text and picture messages, check e-mail, surf the internet, etc.

But for now, DH and I look forward to getting the sliver. It comes with a cable and memory card so that we can hold 100 songs on there. It is iTunes compatible, which we already have. Though the camera is only a VGA camera, this pictures come out pretty good for display on the phone. Some people don't care about the camera feature, but I like to carry pictures of my kids with me and that's an easy way to do it. So I like the camera feature!

We just placed our order last night, so I'm not sure when we'll get the phones, but I can't wait. It's also so nice that you can carry over your "old" cellular number to your new wireless service now days. It used to be such pain to have to give out a new number in the past.