Busy Weekend Ahead

Whew - this weekend is going to be a busy one and we're already preparing for it.

Tomorrow starts of with a softball game for my two youngest daughters in the morning. At noon time, my oldest daughter has her game. After that, we have enough time to go home and take care of the dogs. Then we'll pack everything up, including the dogs, for the pitbull bash on Sunday.

On Saturday night, we have a meeting at my Mother-in-Law's house with a family member who also happens to be a genealogist. So we'll get to learn a bit more about DH's family history and tree which is a special treat for us.

We'll probably spend the night at MIL's house and head to the pitbull bash the next morning from there. We are taking 2-3 dogs, 2 poster boards with pictures of our dogs, brochures, business cards, and shirts with us. It should be a lot of fun. I just hope we don't forget anything. We'll probably leave the house by 7am that morning and the event doesn't end until 5pm.

That's our weekend. Looking forward to it, but I know it'll be busy without much time at all for rest. Wish me luck!

Hectic but Good

Things have been quite hectic here. Between business, and coaching softball, and being a mom, and growing a baby - things get crazy and I'm tired!

Anyway - in my last post I talked about how I was excited about business and so far, things are going well with that new affiliate program I am a part of. Then today, I saw an e-mail from someone who listened in to my Fastpitch Talk Radio show. He thought it was intriguing and was interested in sponsorship opportunities!!!

Then this morning I was invited to join another affiliate program which is for a great product and offers me recurring income!!!! That's something that's been lacking in the affiliate products that fit my market. Recurring income is not very common. However, I now have 3 different affiliate programs which I am very comfortable recommending and all 3 have potential recurring affiliate income.

Now I just need to put my mind to it and develop my promotional strategy for each one and make the most of my chance to get some recurring commissions in all three.

Maybe I really can reach my income goal one day...

Excited About Business

For the first time in a while I am very excited about business! It's because of a re-launched softball website that offers great products that will fit in nicely with my market, yet does not overstep what I offer. So I am involved with the affiliate program for this new site and I think it's going to be PERFECT for my business!

For any of you who are into softball or know others that are, you have to refer them to this new Softball Performance website - just give them this link: www.allaboutfastpitch.com/performance.html

Anyway - I think the products there are awesome. I'll be getting a few and will definitely be recommending them to my customers and visitors.

Why Working At Night is Great

I did some work last night and it was so great. It was so easy to focus because when it's 9-10pm here in Hawaii, it's the wee hours of the morning in the rest of the country. This means that there are very few people online and on message boards so I don't get distracted. When I try to work in the morning or during the day, the rest of the country is in full swing and message boards are hopping! So it's very easy to get side tracked with forums and with e-mails coming in. At night, there are very few e-mails and virtually none are urgent or important, so that atmosphere allows me to really concentrate at the task at hand. Not only that, the house is quiet because the kids are asleep. The only bad part is that it's also DH's and my "couple time" without the kids. So, either we miss out on that, OR I stay up later and do work after everything else for the day is done (including couple time;)). We'll see how it goes, but I think I'm going to try to get a few nights of work in each week and see how that works out.

It's Monday and I'm Feeling Lazy

Well, it's the start of the new week. The kids are on break and I'm feeling quite lazy. I did do some work over the weekend which I don't normally do, so I don't feel so bad about not doing a lot today. Besides, I really don't like doing a lot with the kids home. I'll probably do most of my work in the evening when DH is home too.

Things are going well with business although I really think I could step it up if I really wanted to. I think I'll be on track with that in a few weeks. Right now there's just quite a bit going on in life in general and I don't want to add stress by making work a big deal.

So, I'm still working, but it's not a major, high stress thing right now. :)

I Hate When I Do That

Tonight I got on the computer just to check on a few things, not to stay on for long. So my son came up to me telling me that he wanted to go to sleep. He asked me to go lie down with him. Since I wasn't really all that busy on the computer and just wanted to finish up a few things, I told him, "Just a minute. I'll be right there."

Well, usually if he's fussy, he'll sit there and nag and I'll, of course, have to give up what I'm doing to tend to him, but tonight, he just went and waited. When I got off the computer, I realized how quiet it was. I looked over to my son's bed and there he was, sleeping. He sweetly and patiently went to lay down and fell asleep waiting for me. Oh, I wish I could take that back. I wish I got off the computer and just went with him. I hate it that he fell asleep waiting for me and as far as he knows, I never came like I said I would. :(

That's why I'm on the computer right now, as he sleeps, so that I can get a bunch of work out of the way and can spend more time with him tomorrow during the day. I don't think I'll do any work at all tomorrow, just cruise with my son.

Smashed Finger = Slow Typer

I'm so sorry - I've been out of commission a little. I smashed my finger on Monday (got caught between a softball and a bat). My daughter was tossing me balls to bunt and one came up toward my face. At the last minute I decided to put my hand up to stop the ball - wrong move! She wasn't even tossing them hard or fast, but impact on my finger tip was painful! It got all bruised and swollen. I could feel my pulse in that finger tip for the next two days.

Needless to say, my typing has slowed down quite a bit. I have only been typing when absolutely necessary and because it takes so long I am only half as productive as I usually am. I know - it's still faster than the woman sitting at her computer typing with one hand while feeding an infant, but it's been so long since I've had to do that that I feel like a turtle.

Anyway - the finger is getting better and I think I should be back up to speed by the end of next week if not sooner.

It's a New Week!

So this week for business my focus is trying to find a way to weave my new report into the website. Find places where it fits in and recommend it there. I've also revamped some things on the site, so I will also be putting out a "What's New" e-mail for my subscribers to send out in the beginning of February. Overall, I'm quite happy with the way January has gone. Now to build on in February!

Hope you have a lovely week. Can you believe that January is almost over??? Gosh, didn't the year just start?

Business Off to a Good Start in 2007

Yes! Traffic is up. I was a little worried because it was quite dismal toward the end of the year. I believe that's just part of the "cycle" since there's not nearly as much softball going on in the winter as there is in other parts of the year.

Anyway - I'm happy to say that traffic is up, mailing list sign-ups are up, info product sales are up, and Google earnings are up too!

Hopefully, I can continue to build through the spring which is probably the busiest time of year! How is 2007 going for you so far?

16 Reports Sold

Yes! Within about 4 hours of release, I've already sold 16 reports! WooHoo!

Like I said, I'm not charging much, but I'm just glad the sales are rolling in. I know it won't be like this every day. The reason today is so great is because I sent the announcement out to my mailing list which is probably where most of my sales will come from.

Now I just have to find a way to weave links to the report into my website and also into my autoresponder series so that newer visitors/members will be tempted to buy too.

WooHoo - New Report Done!

Yes! I'm finally putting out another info product of my own. It's been a long time since I've done this, so I'm excited. What a way to kick on the New Year. This report is not going to make me rich. It's just a short $23 pager that isn't going to break anyone's pocketbook, but will, hopefully generate a nice little additional flow of income.

Doing the product wasn't so hard this time because it's basically a compilation of information from surveys that I've distributed, HOWEVER, getting the sales page and the fulfillment page, and the autoresponder set-up did take some time. I just hope I did everything right so that the process flows like I think it will.

Anyway - this product is set to launch on Monday, January 15th. So we'll see how it goes. I know it's a holiday, but it's these "not-so-big" holidays that seem to be good days for me. I guess people are home, but don't have any big holiday plans, so they are on the web instead!

Wish me luck!

Almost Got a Job

Since I was laid off in June, I was eligible to receive unemployment benefits. However, as part of unemployment you have to make job contacts every week. Before, it was just one a week. Recently it's been raised to 3 per week. My benefits are almost expired so I won't have to really keep up my job search, but, coincidentally, I actually got a call from a company that I had contacted and sent a resume to.

This surprised me because I've never gotten a job or even a response when I submitted resumes in the past. Any job I've had was through a staffing agency. Anyway - this company called and basically said they had my resume and that they were not calling regarding the position I applied for (client services rep), but for another management position.

I asked them to tell me about their company and was actually kind of interested in the type of work it entailed and the business the company did. I agreed to come in for a face to face interview just to kind of learn more about what the company and the position was all about.

The management I talked to did say they had some reservations (my schedule being one due to softball commitments) and my ability to be mean I think was another. I'd be supervising warehouse staff (mostly guys) so the big boss guy was trying to figure out if I could be mean if necessary and keep these guys in line.

After the interview I went back and forth between wanting to take on the position and not wanting to go back to work. This company is the biggest in the state for what they do. What an opportunity it would be to be in a management position there. Plus, I told them what I'd need compensation wise for it to be "worth it" for me after child care. But did I really want to give up the flexibility I have as a SAHM/WAHM - being able to do whatever it is my kids need when the need it? Not having to make arrangements or coordinate with other people to get my kids to where they need to be. I ended up deciding I wouldn't worry about it unless they call me back. I mean, why stress when there's no need?

Well, yesterday the lady that was in the interview called me back. She said they were still looking things over, but the big boss guy was out, so they'd call me today. My husband and I thought they probably wouldn't bother to call and let me know that unless they were really thinking about offering me the position - even though they did say that what I asked for compensation was higher than what they normally pay. Though the big boss guy said he didn't mind paying it if the value was right. In other words, if I was worth it to him. I know I would be. But anyway - turns out, I didn't get a call today. So no need to stress. No need to make a tough decision. I'll take it as a sign that I'm just supposed to get on the ball with my own business and be there for my kids and my family!