I Want To Stay Home After Maternity Leave

I Want To Stay Home After Maternity Leave

I remember after having my first child the thought of having to go back to work was extremely overwhelming. I felt guilty and questioned why would I have children if I was not going to be around for the most important part of the little one’s life.

There is no right or wrong answer here, and choosing one over the other doesn’t make you a better or worse mother.

At the time all I could think about was if I was to stay at home how could we afford it, what would my husband think, what would I be giving up by not going back to work, what would people think of me and how do I get a break if some of my connections where broken by not returning to the work force.

I made sure that I talked to my husband about my above feelings and we worked through the planning, number crunching and soul searching to allow me to stay at home to look after my beautiful little man.

Here are some great tips that I used to help make it easier making a decision to not return to work.

1. Could We Afford It

The most difficult thing to overcome was how would the family be supported financially when prior to having a child we had two incomes coming into the household and overnight we went to one.

Both my husband and I sat down and work through what it would look like. We considered the costs that would occur by not going back to work and were quite surprised how much it would cost by returning to work. Here are some of the costs that you may think about if you where to return.

• Daycare
• Commuting Costs (tolls, gas, public transport
• Cost of lunches
• House cleaning costs if you don’t have the time
• Cost of work clothing if you need it
• Incidental spending costs

2. Could I Work From Home

I remember thinking back to when I was a child and always had a dream of having my own business. Both my husband and I discussed this and decided to investigate opportunities of starting a small home business of some sort as long as it didn’t interfere with bringing up the young one.

Their are so many opportunities available out there that with a little bit of research you may find something that might be ideal for you.

3. Could I Still Have A Social Life

I am a bit of a social bunny so that was a real concern to me. Life as a stay at home mum is rewarding in many different ways, but I always wondered how lonely it would be as I was accustomed to having constant access to social interaction. I investigated network opportunities to allow myself the time to have that social interaction. Starting my small business helped with that but also connecting to other mums going through the same thing really helped.

Now I meet regularly for coffee catch-ups and have even formed a fitness group with a bunch of mum’s that get together 3-4 days a week to keep in shape.

4: Ensure You Discuss Your Partner’s  Wishes 

It’s extremely important that you share how you feel with your partner. Open and honest communication will help him share his feelings and you and your partner will be able to make the decision together and support one another in whatever you both decide.

5: What Would Your Schedule Look Like

Consider the time lost driving to and from work. That time lost in sleep can be tough on a mum. I struggled with how I could manage everything as it is a big change with having a child and managing the needs of a family.

You need to consider how long are your work days? How long is your drive? If you do go back to work, how will you and your husband coordinate day care pickup and drop-off?

Consider your commute. Is it taking up time you could be spending with your family?

6: Your Happiness

The most important thing was that I was happy with the decision I wanted to make and stay home and not return back to work. Someone said to me “You will know what to do when the time comes to decide, you’ll know” and they where absolutely right.

Before you make a final decision, be sure to consider what will make you truly happy in the long run.

I now have 3 children and have been fortunate to be at home with all of them. I have been able to attend their sports days at school, their dance lessons after school, coffee mornings with friends all while supporting our income with running a small business from home. You to can achieve this.

    

How to balance your everyday life while building your Internet Business

How to balance your everyday life while building your Internet Business

How difficult is it to work at home when you have to juggle work and your family commitments to build an Internet business.

Have you ever been in the middle of writing a blog on the internet and your little one comes up to you and starts tugging on your shirt for some attention or trying to show you the new hairstyle of her dolly.

What about your partner challenging you at times about how much time you are sitting on the Internet surfing for ideas to drive traffic, building relationships with customers or optimizing your web page. I certainly can vouch for this having an Internet business of my own. Here are a couple of things that I have learnt to manage and help me balance the everyday life.

Every Sunday night I ensure that I plan my week ahead. This includes what fitness I am going to do, what my week looks like in my job, and what time is available to drive my Internet business. I input this all into my calendar on the internet and try extremely hard to deliver on it.

A key focus for my day is starting it when everyone else is still asleep. I find this to be the most productive time for me. I try to get 2 hours in before everyone wakes up. I have found that I am able to achieve at least 1-2 blogs, answer some emails, accept friends and followers on my social media pages or spend time writing an article and have some discussion on some forums. What I have also found that by committing to this I am working on building my Internet business daily which is critical to driving traffic to your sites.

How to balance your everyday life while building your Internet Business

Once everyone is awake I devote the time to my family. During this time we sit and chat about everything going on. I make it a promise to myself that I will enjoy those early hours with my wonderful wife and beautiful children.

I also take public transport to work 2 – 3 times a week and use this time to write blogs. That gives me an extra 2 hours a day to work on my Internet business. This also does not take time away from my family.

On my return from work I ensure I acknowledge everyone at home, sit down and have a quiet drink with my wife and catch up on the day. The children join in if they are around. I than try to get one hour in, prior to dinner to check emails and answer any questions through any forums that I am on. It is a habit and I believe it is vital to sit around the dinner table as a family unit as this is where you can really catch-up and create strong connections with your family. I love this time and at know point do a sacrifice it unless I have been called out for work purposes.

After dinner I take the time to put a couple more hours into my Internet business. This is where I would upload the blogs from what I wrote that day, maybe spend time building connections in forums, or loading up information on my website to share.

Come the weekend it is very easy to get consumed by the computer. I make sure in the weekend, on a least one day we do something as a family whether it going for a walk along the beach , playing a game or going out for breakfast or dinner.  I am always saying to myself: I choose to work at home on my Internet business for the long-term of the family but don’t use it as an excuse to miss out on quality time with my wife or children. Love them and cherish them.

It is absolutely critical you manage your time properly. Time management is very important where you have to multi task and where both tasks have the same importance. So make time and plan, You will reap the rewards of it!

    

Image courtesy of stockinages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Home Business: Your Dining Room Is As Good As the Boardroom

Home Business: Your Dining Room Is As Good As the Boardroom

Many people dream of escaping the boredom of their regular job and starting their own home business. However, it can be tough to know what steps to take to successfully start your own home business. This article contains tips and tricks that will help any aspiring home business owner.

Know your tax requirements. Federal taxes will still force you to pay for Social Security and Insurance, for you as well as any employees you may have on board. Since you are viewed as an employer, you can opt to pay more into your retirement or health care benefits if you wish.

Study your competition carefully. Understand their pricing and know where you fit in. Never say negative things about your competition. Have your ever noticed that malls are full of clothing stores that all manage to keep doing business? Competition brings out the best in different businesses and every business has its own unique nuances that draw different customers. Talk up your home business, your products’ features, and how they benefit your customers.

Have a home office or home office area for your home business. In order to be productive, you need to have a space that allows you to stay organized, finish your projects, and work on your bills. Everyone in your family needs to be aware that while you are working, the distractions must be kept to a minimum.

Whether your home business is selling a product or a service, use bundling to increase your profits. If you run a daycare, you could offer music lessons for a bundle price. Or if you are a pet-sitter, offer poop-scooping at a discount with dog-walking. People like to think they are getting something cheaper or free!

Just take the leap and go ahead and start a home business! Procrastination is going to get you nowhere. Neither is dreaming. All you have to do is figure out what you want to do and start. That’s the great thing about home businesses. You’re the one that makes all the decisions!

Try to include your friends and family in your home business both to save you money and build your relationships. For example, if you’re going on a business trip to give a seminar in another state, why not take a family member who can help you set up your equipment?

Ask your customers to provide you with statements about your product or home business. They can talk about their experience with you or what they think about their purchases. Place this information on your website; it is a great (and free!) way to advertise to others. Happy customers will be pleased to provide you with a review, so don’t hesitate to ask.

When starting a home business, select a product or service that you are interested in. If you are passionate about what you are doing, the likelihood of your business becoming a success is substantially increased. As a bonus, you will enjoy yourself everyday, and your new business will not seem like work.

Home Business: Your Dining Room Is As Good As the Boardroom

If there are certain areas of your home business in which you are unsure, get help from someone experienced in those fields. It may be necessary to hire people for copy writing or accounting if you are not comfortable with those skills. In the long run, the fees charged by these professionals will prove useful as your business succeeds.

Keep excellent records for your home business. Starting an entirely separate checking account for your business will help you keep track of your balance, expenditures and any patterns in income or loss. This is also a great way to avoid trouble in the future, should your business be audited at any point.

When running a home based business, it is very important to have a strong online presence. The great thing about the popularity of the internet, in relation to home businesses, is that you are not limited to selling in your immediate area. Intelligent use of the internet will allow your business to reach consumers all over the world.

Learn how to elevator pitch your home business. It’s important to be able to quickly describe and sell your business to someone when you only have a few seconds of time. Develop three to five sentences that are the essence of your home business brand, something that could be said in an elevator when you are going up five floors. You will find this pitch very useful as you go about your daily routine.

Celebrate your successes with your home business to keep yourself excited and engaged. You may have a long-term business plan you are working towards, but take the time to enjoy the small milestones along the way. Whether it is a target number of customers or a big sale, celebrating smaller successes is just as important as acknowledging bigger successes.

If you are running a home based business that involves sales, be sure you know and are comfortable with your product. You need to be able to answer questions from your clients quickly and correctly. Being knowledgeable and honest about your product will help clients to trust you, and result in repeat business.

A lot of people would like to begin working at their own home business instead of at their current job. Unfortunately, the process of starting can be difficult to some, so use the advice of this article and you will be on your way to starting your own home business.

    

Image courtesy of Ambro  / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Helping People Transition Into The Digital Economy

Helping People Transition Into The Digital Economy

The term “economy” appears to be a quite common term in most vocabularies. Lots of people make use of the term to grumble regarding their present economical situation, and a lot of folks complain specifically regarding their employment status.

Whether or not possessing a job that you don’t like, or perhaps not possessing a career at all, for all those in today’s world who desire change, the opportunity to live the lifestyle of one’s dreams has not been more plentiful than now. Knowing that abundance is just getting better as technological know-how advances, nevertheless, the real question is, are you prepared to cross over towards the digital economy?

Helping People Transition Into The Digital Economy

The traditional overall economy which so many people are moving from has become beat up, over-tired, and is also an “element from the past”. For many individuals that are getting control over their daily life to make their wishes is becoming a reality. Those people who are creating that switch and therefore are changing from the traditional and beaten-up economic system which we experienced living in are actually moving towards the digital economy which happens to be flourishing like no time before, while offering possibilities to anybody, no matter a college degree or practical experience.

You can find about three basic types of individuals on the planet which all of us are living in these days, employee, digital experts and web publishers.

Currently being an employee in 2013 is not a great situation to be in, and this positioning is only going to become worse for individuals within this group, in the future, as a greater portion of the world coverts to the methods of the booming digital economy. To begin with, large companies are going broke and individuals have been laid off. Second is that all the large organizations, as well as smaller businesses, are switching towards the digital economy. The very thought of self-checkouts never was an actuality till recently, now their everywhere.

Digital experts, this group are the initial class inside the digital economy, and these individuals are starting Internet businesses. The interesting component of becoming part of this group is you have enormous leverage. Once you understand a couple of new business concepts, it really is much easier to get started with a small business within the digital economy than it has ever been previously. Most digital pros that begin businesses and are prosperous are not born rich and didn’t invest thousands of dollars to have their company up and running and successful. Companies within the digital economy can usually began on a tight budget.

Web publishers, product or service entrepreneurs or designers who develop the products within our digital economy are part of this group. As a result of the Internet  they can expand at an amazing pace. These folks get increasingly more success, and increasingly more leverage. These individuals have a lot more financial flexibility, time flexibility and geographical flexibility. Individuals in this industry can work exactly where they really want, whenever they want, and how they really want, in most cases work only a few hours each day to produce and maintain a six, seven, or eight-figure residual income.

The freedom of one’s time, money, and Geographic’s are easily the most attractive element of becoming part of this group. The main element to blending towards the methods for and becoming a part of the digital economy should be to initially recognize the opportunity within the digital economy, then educate yourself on the ways of it, and merely put these methods to achieve in the digital economy into practice.

The key reason why it is important to change to our digital economic system is because the traditional economic system doesn’t have any freedom. There exists a great deal of competitiveness plus the companies within the traditional economy have been in a continuing fight of attempting to take over other companies clients just to pay the bills and gain a tiny amount of leverage. Due to the absence of leverage within the traditional economic climate, there is very little room for growth. Exchanging your time and energy for cash is not functioning in this tight economy.

    

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I Don’t Want To Go Back To Work After Maternity Leave

I Don’t Want To Go Back To Work After Maternity Leave

I remember after having my first child the thought of having to go back to work was extremely overwhelming. I felt guilty and questioned why would I have children if I was not going to be around for the most important part of the little one’s life.

There is no right or wrong answer here, and choosing one over the other doesn’t make you a better or worse mother.

At the time all I could think about was if I was to stay at home how could we afford it, what would my husband think, what would I be giving up by not going back to work, what would people think of me and how do I get a break if some of my connections where broken by not returning to the work force.

I made sure that I talked to my husband about my above feelings and we worked through the planning, number crunching and soul searching to allow me to stay at home to look after my beautiful little man.

Here are some great tips that I used to help make it easier making a decision to not return to work.

1. Could We Afford It

The most difficult thing to overcome was how would the family be supported financially when prior to having a child we had two incomes coming into the household and overnight we went to one.

Both my husband and I sat down and work through what it would look like. We considered the costs that would occur by not going back to work and were quite surprised how much it would cost by returning to work. Here are some of the costs that you may think about if you where to return.

• Daycare
• Commuting Costs (tolls, gas, public transport
• Cost of lunches
• House cleaning costs if you don’t have the time
• Cost of work clothing if you need it
• Incidental spending costs

2. Could I Work From Home

I remember thinking back to when I was a child and always had a dream of having my own business. Both my husband and I discussed this and decided to investigate opportunities of starting a small home business of some sort as long as it didn’t interfere with bringing up the young one.

Their are so many opportunities available out there that with a little bit of research you may find something that might be ideal for you.

3. Could I Still Have A Social Life

I am a bit of a social bunny so that was a real concern to me. Life as a stay at home mum is rewarding in many different ways, but I always wondered how lonely it would be as I was accustomed to having constant access to social interaction. I investigated network opportunities to allow myself the time to have that social interaction. Starting my small business helped with that but also connecting to other mums going through the same thing really helped.

Now I meet regularly for coffee catch-ups and have even formed a fitness group with a bunch of mum’s that get together 3-4 days a week to keep in shape.

4: Ensure You Discuss Your Partner’s  Wishes 

It’s extremely important that you share how you feel with your partner. Open and honest communication will help him share his feelings and you and your partner will be able to make the decision together and support one another in whatever you both decide.

5: What Would Your Schedule Look Like

Consider the time lost driving to and from work. That time lost in sleep can be tough on a mum. I struggled with how I could manage everything as it is a big change with having a child and managing the needs of a family.

You need to consider how long are your work days? How long is your drive? If you do go back to work, how will you and your husband coordinate day care pickup and drop-off?

Consider your commute. Is it taking up time you could be spending with your family?

6: Your Happiness

The most important thing was that I was happy with the decision I wanted to make and stay home and not return back to work. Someone said to me “You will know what to do when the time comes to decide, you’ll know” and they where absolutely right.

Before you make a final decision, be sure to consider what will make you truly happy in the long run.

I now have 3 children and have been fortunate to be at home with all of them. I have been able to attend their sports days at school, their dance lessons after school, coffee mornings with friends all while supporting our income with running a small business from home. You to can achieve this.