Who ya Gonna Call? Stress Busters!

OK, that was a hideously corny title. Forgive me… but here is a helpful piece on stress busting for WAHM’s. If you have any thoughts please comment!

Stress Busters

By: K C Groves

We are living in a world where stress abounds. How do we deal with it? And we do get to deal with it. Small amounts of stress can work for us. Deadlines can motivate us to get the jobs done instead of procrastinating. So there are times that stress can be beneficial. However, stress that is brought on by being in traffic too long, having a boss that is abusive or lack of money to pay bills is stress that can be more than we can take and, could even be a killer. So how can we make sure that kind of stress has a minimal impact in our lives? There are many stress busters that one can employ. However, I am only going to touch on a few.

1. Get adequate rest. Sometimes that is all you need and it costs only a little bit of time well spent. Our bodies are less stressed and can better handle any problem that comes along.

2. Our planet is about 70%+ water. So are we. And we lose lots of water each day. So drink up.

3. Get an aquarium or tabletop fountain. It’s amazing how soothing falling water can be.

4. Take time for yourself. That is not being selfish. You’re showing appreciation for the life that you have. You will be less stressed and this will also benefit those around you as well.

5. Provide a tranquil environment at home or have someplace where you can go and find serenity. Exciting times have their place and you will also find that having quiet time can be beneficial as well.

6. Consider taking supplements. Our food supply may be abundant, however, the nutrition we need may not be in the food. I’ve heard statistics that we would have to eat 42 bowls of spinach grown today to match the nutrition in 1 bowl of spinach grown in the 1950’s.

7. Take a walk or exercise. I was reading recently that moving helps you to change your mood by making you more positive.

8. Get a full body massage. You will love it.

9. Get Adequate Rest.  The bedroom must be a peaceful place to sleep. Researchers have suggested that there be no TV in the room, that the room be dark if you are a day sleeper and that it be a quiet, tranquil environment. How many hours do you sleep at night? Seven hours or less? Some of the research is indicating that most people should get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. For yourself you may feel that 7 hours works great. Or, you may find you need more than 7 hours. If you suspect that you should be getting a different amount of sleep than previously, try experimenting for a week to get the number of hours that might work. Take note of how you feel when you get up. Is it a good day? Do you accomplish your goals for each of those days? And how do you feel at the end of the day? If there is satisfaction and a normal degree of fatigue, maybe you have found the number of hours that will work best. Should we be concerned about sleep? Research would appear to show that we deal with emotional issues when we sleep. And if we don’t get enough sleep, those issues may not get resolved. Also, when we reach deep sleep, our bodies do most of the repairs at that time. A determining factor for the number of hours of sleep that an individual requires may depend on their level of health. If a person is experiencing poorer health, they may require more sleep than 7-8 hours.

Please keep in mind that everyone’s physiology will be a little different. In other words, everyone’s general body functions are basically the same but can have variations from other people’s. Some people’s bodies function better than others. And if your body function is good, you are going to feel less stressed. Getting adequate sleep can take stress from our bodies. This is one way we can reduce the stress in our lives. And all it costs is a little bit of our time. 

 K C Groves

DISCLAIMER: This article is issued with the understanding that while every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained within is accurate, the author will not accept any responsibility for any loss or otherwise, as a consequence of using any of the information that has been presented. The opinions are those of the author who has researched the information and lives by these principles and techniques as well. Users are urged to seek medical advice before embarking upon or changing a course of medication or fitness program or before making extreme changes in their life style. K C Groves is a 67 year young widow, mother and daughter of parents in their 90’s. For over 15 years she was involved in the health field promoting and using supplements. Six of those years were working with products specifically designed for cancer patients and diabetics. Her interests are writing, reading, self improvement, playing games, becoming very business savvy, building web sites and spiritual growth. Stress Reducers-http://tinyurl.com/fountainz, Tabletop Fountains and Ebooks

Down Time Makes Things Look Up

Im a firm believer in down time. I mean it. Im not saying that so I can take five and watch General Hospital either. (Although I occassionally do that).

If your serious about working at home then you have to schedule a little down time in your day. The time you sleep during the night doesnt count, either. If you dont stop and smell the roses every once in a while you will literally stroke out.

Little story for you:

Back in April my husband was working out of town. I was home alone with six children and a new puppy. My car broke down, I had two late pay checks and rent was over due.

My first instinct was to go into work overload. I worked day and night. 16 hours a day for three days straight. On my sons 8th birthday I was up at 5 am to work before jetting to town to pick up his bouncy house and cake. Headed home to set things up and wait for guests. I was about 3 miles from my house, driving with 4 children in the car and thats all I remember.

I passed out. Driving.

I woke up in the hospital about 24 hours later.

I had a nervous breakdown and never saw it coming.

I kept telling myself, you can do this, just keep going, keep going. When in fact I needed to stop.

I spent two days in the hospital.

Now, I make downtime no matter what. I cant afford another two days in the hospital.

My down time usually comes in the form of stopping for about an hour after the kids get off the bus and discussing their day. Ill start working again and then about an hour before bed time Ill stop. Socialize with thr fam and spend at least thirty minutes reading or watching tv.

It works.

Also I make sure to take at least one day off a week. I cant stress the importance of that day off. It helps keep the husband and kids from having a nervous breakdown along with me.

Schedule a little down time. Its the most important time on the daily planner.

Recommended Reading

Check out these articles in your spare time for lots of great idea on making money with minimal effort:

8 Ways to Make Money Without Working

How to Make Extra Money During Christmas

4 Ways to Earn Extra Money Without Leaving Your Living Room

Telecommuting Tips for the Week

Some helpful tips for this week come in the form of job leads and an article about the future of Telecommuting.

I have two data entry job leads.
1. Convergys- this is a data entry system with a sophisticated website. It is informative and has many answers tot he mo st asked questions.

2.Service800- another data entry. They require that you have some experience. Both require DSL or two phone lines and a computer.

The third tidbit is an article I found in Entrprentuer magazine; Solo but Not Alone. It tell of the big boom in working at home and how some people are more productive in a stable, structured environment but still want to work at home. These people are congregating in Co-work spaces all over the country to do thier job with other like minded folks.  Cool, huh?

October Solutions

How many of us made New Years resolutions that are now defunct? Stagnating in your mind somewhere between loosing weight and reorganizing the bedroom closet are those goals you had for your home business. Autumn is most often a busy season for entreprenuers and being organized and in controll has a direct result on the money you bring in. It isnt to late to take rotten resolutions and turn them into September solutions with a few tips from Mother Nature.

Begin with your home office or work space. What happens in your yard and the world around you each year in the Autumn? Old scenery changes and new colors take its place. Your suroundings are different which spurns new thought, new ideas and new creativity. Go through your deask or workspace and clear out all the clutter. Throw away the note pads, crumpled paper and nubby pencils. Gather all your post-it notes, highlighters, pens and pencils and put them in a convenient spot. Move your desk a little to the left and add a new rug. Put a big bouquet of Mums and Black Eyed Susans on the side table and keep a little pumpkin spice candle burning near by. Its Fall! Enjoy the season and revel in all it brings, mind- body and soul.

Reorganize your goals next. Give yourself a good hour to go over all the goals you had planned to reach this year  and determine how far you are from reaching them. Some you may have made some progress toward and others may not seem so important anymore because of life changes and environmental circumstances. Decide which are still relevant and worth your time then rearrange them  by which you are closest to obtaining and which still need considerable work. Make note of any new contacts or ideas you have to progress yourself forward.

Harvest time isnt just a prelude to the cold months of winter but a respite from the frantic heat of summer. Take this time to rejuvenate. Put your priorities back in order and get ready to take the long winter months by storm.

 

Here is a great article on Fung Shui Fall Organizing tips from Care2.com.

Working at home with Family Issues

One thing that many newly appointed work -at- homer’s do not take into consideration is what I like to call the “qualm quandry”. The qualm quandry is the never ending battle to stay working and keep on top of your game when your family is fighting against you, either purposely or not.

In the time that I have had this blog and the blog that preceded it, Managed Mayhem, I have had several catastrophes. I mean biggies. So I come from expereince. My m other died of lung cancer, my home flooded, I had someone I considered a close friend whom I had helped out repeatedly turn on me and try to ruin my career, I had marriage issues, teenage son issues and my father sied of lung cancer. I have had a breast lump issue that continues to haunt me and a tumor in my stomach. Is that enough? I have more if not.

The point is that during all this, I still needed to eat. My children still needed shoes and I had to keep the lights on.

What to do? Ah the “qualm quandry”. There is a way out of it. And its the only way.

Follow these tips to make through to the other side- ALIVE!

PRIVACY!

You must have privacy to work at home. Thats one of the biggest mistakes Ive ever made in my work at home career. I would work in the living room and in the kitchen. “After all-” Id say to myself, “I work at home to be around my kids and family. So why not be around them!”

But then someone would need a drink, someone would need a kiss, a fight would need refereed, hubby would need attention, a funny commercial would come on, the dishwasher would over flow, and then SHAZAM! the day would be gone and so would the work that I never got to do in the first place.

It is imperative to have privacy. Besides the reasons above, when tragedy strikes or qualms arise, there has to be a place where the entreprenuer can go to feel safe and at ease and able to think clearly for even just a few moments.

Seperation

Being able to seperate your home life from your work life is extremely hard when their all held within the same four walls. But again, it is imperative. When you go into work, you have to shut the door to your personal life just as you would if you were at an office, a restuarant or a department store job. Do your job. Concentrate on it and shut out the rest. This not only helps you to get your work done but eases your mind from the constant diatribe of of problems that race through when times are tough.

These are only a few of the things that have helped me in my quest to work from home. I hope that they help you as well.

Life at my house

My oldest and my youngest. Life is good.
Also, my four youngest and our latest addition to the family- King. A Freecycle find. Thanks Melanie!

Top Five Education Affiliate Offers

Now more than ever before people are turning to the Internet for the answers to their educational questions. What once took hours of research to find out can now be discovered in minuets. Every topic imaginable is made available. Niche websites that offer hard to find and rare classes and syllabus choices are in a good position to make a large amount of money. Education websites garner thousands of visitors a month and that translates into big bucks. If your looking for a way to cash in on the many hits your educational web site is getting check below for the top five educational affiliate offers.

Vienova
www.vienova.com

Vienova offers superior online education services to customers all over the world at competitive rates. They have one-on-one online tuitions for a assortment of subjects like Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English. They also have test prep courses achievement tests like the GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, SAT and IELTS. Affiliates earn $50 for every student registering for a monthly package.

Excom Education
www.excom.com

Excom has an IT Program that offers instructor-lead technical classes. They guarantee their graduates to obtain a job within four months of completing all modules. Affiliates earn $10 per lead, which is paid monthly by check, wire or paypal. There is a minimum payout of $100.

Training Link Education
www.traininglink-education.com

Training Link Education is a top Internet provider of accredited correspondence courses and distance learning programs. They pride themselves on their ability to provide accredited, recognized education for those who cannot access it otherwise. Affiliates earn five to ten percent commission on sales. They pay monthly by paypal with a $100 minimum payout available.

Forex Business School

http://www.forexfff.com

FOREX Business School is an Internet learning service dedicated to educating currency traders and helping them achieve success by giving them the specialized knowledge and understanding necessary to be successful. They pay a 5 percent commission per sale. It is paid monthly by paypal after a $50 payment threshold is obtained.

Be A Better Writer
www.beawriteraffiliates.comrm

They sell ebooks on how to write better term papers, reports and letters. The traffic you send them will have instant access to complete downloadable chapters and hundreds of writing tips, activities and exercises. Earn 15% commission on all sales of Be a Writer (316 pages/$16.95). Be a Better Writer (286 pages/$16.95). 2-book bundle ($33.90) . Monthly payments are made through Paypal with a $25 minimum.

Understanding Audio Book Affiliate Programs

Understanding Audio Book Affiliate Programs

 

They key to understanding audio book affiliate programs is to understand the terminology used. Misinterpretation of one word in a paragraph can lead to a misunderstanding of the entire idea. Understanding audio book affiliate programs is easy and fun once you gain that basic knowledge.

 

An audio book is a book that is recorded on tape or CD. People who have trouble reading due to eye problems or blindness use them. Avid travelers and people on the go also use them.

 

Audio book affiliates are people who promote merchants audio books on their websites. Audio book affiliate websites are usually full of informational content or entertaining by nature. They enter into an agreement with the merchant to place a affiliate link on their website in exchange for a fee.

 

Merchants are those who offer an audio book for sale and will allow an affiliate a cash amount for each sale generated from the affiliates website.

 

Sometimes a merchant will require certain policies to be followed by the audio book affiliate. These requirements and rules should be reviewed carefully before deciding on an audio affiliate program. Some of these requirements may be to receive a certain amount of visitors a month, to have a Google page rank of a certain number or to own your own domain name. Go over and make sure that you can accommodate each rule. If not, it may cause your commission checks to be delayed or even stopped.

 

Audio book affiliates are most successful when the audio book they choose is closely related to the content of their website. Choosing to promote an audio book that is about house training a dog on a website dedicated to health and beauty secrets is not going to sell. Careful consideration and comparisons can be a great investment in your success as an audio book affiliate.

 

Another big help is to utilize the tools provided by the audio book affiliate program. Many will make available exceptional marketing tools like banners, buttons and other codes. They may also provide some sales and commission reports that make it easy to track your progress.

 

 

Ten Tips for Setting Family Ground Rules for Your Home-Based Business

One big challenge of running a business out of your home is balancing work and family. If you’re serious about succeeding, then it’s up to you to set up ground rules for your family to abide by.

Here are 10 tips for setting the ground rules that will allow you to run a successful home-based business and keep a happy home.

Establish a routine and stick with it. Families, and especially children, thrive on routines. If you set up specific times for both work and family, you’ll be more productive.

Carve out a workspace. Establishing a bona fide home office sets clear boundaries for family members. Keeping your work confined to your office will keep your business from intruding on your personal life. It will also protect important business information from falling prey to children’s spills, negligence, or well-inteneded but inappropriate participation.

Keep separate quarters. If possible, locate your office in a detached section of your home: garage, attic, furnished basement, or another location away from the main house. At the very least, make sure you have an office door that can be closed to give you some privacy.

Soundproof your office. Do what you can to keep your office quiet. Make sure that the family noises from the houses — dog barking, kids yelling — don’t distract you or intrude on your business phone calls.

Schedule quality family time. Make sure your children and significant other are an integral part of your daily routine. Set up sacred rituals — bedtime, family dinner together — and devote yourself entirely to your family during these times.

Explain flex time. One of the great perks of running a home-based business is it allows you a certain amount of flexible work hours. You can run midday errands and attend the occasional school function in the middle of the day. But explain to your family members that you may not always be in a position to be with them during the workday, that projects and clients might be the priority at a particular time in the day. Otherwise you risk disappointing them when you can’t make it to a school function or take care of a family issue.

Hire help. Hiring a housekeeper or a nanny to take up some of the slack can allow you to focus on your business and be more productive. Consider this part of the cost of doing business effectively.

Assign household chores. Negotiate ahead of time what chores need to be done and by whom. Let your family members know that you are depending on them to help you out, and that you expect and appreciate their help in making your business a success.

Establish telephone protocol. If possible, establish separate work and family phone lines and email addresses. It is also important to teach your children and your spouse that, if they happen to pick up your work phone, they should answer it professionally. They should identify the business and take a detailed message so you can return the call.

Create signals. Create a signal that makes it clear when you do not want to be disturbed. This could be something as simple as closing your office door when you are hard at work or even holding up a “Do Not Disturb” sign when on the phone.

From: www.allbusiness.com

Gossimer 2009 New Business Contest.

Im very excited to enter a contest to win free domain registration, free web hosting for 1-year, and a full web design and promotion package provided by Christie Graphic Design (http://www.hchristie.com/) to independent businesses. This is especially good timing for me. I have just this year started a new work at home business consulting firm. I have done this type of work for free for many years and have dedicated a portion of the business strictly to charity work and to educate the underpriveledged in this horrible economy.

I cant begin to tell you what an impact it would make, not only to me, but to my community and the many people struggling to find work in this economic crisis.

Internet presence is a big factor in the success of a start up business and to have a perfect set up handed to you is an amazing opportunity that I would not squallor.

Wish me luck!

The Habits of the Highly Successful

What is a habit anyway?

Dictionary.com says it is “an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary”.

Hmmm… its easy to see how this could be helpful as well as harmful.
Ever wonder what habits really, really successful telecommuters engage in? Read on.

Remember when you were one of those unlucky souls running the rat race? Think back waaaaayyyy before you started your glamorous telecommuting career to when you got up every morning and went to work for someone else. The car radio concert and the commute to work, morning chit chat in the break room with a cup of coffee and then a quick check in on the days agenda – that all seems like prework tedium but in actuality its an important part of the process. Sometime, telecommuters lose thier rhythm – or cant find it to begin with- because of the lack of prework tedium. Its important to develop a prework routine to get yourself ready- mind and body- for your telecommuters work day. Play that morning radio show while sipping a cup of coffee at the kitchen table, checking out the days To-Do list. Set yourself up to work just like any other person. Routine is important.

Another important habit to be successful while working at home is to train your family and friends. This one is a big challenge for me because I have a large family and several community commitments. I am sometimes interrupted in the middle of a work day to solve a family issue or to make changes or addendum’s to community projects. It is really important to make sure everyone that knows you is clear on when they can call and when you will be able to be of assistance. Have voice mail or an answering machine to catch calls when you cant.

Have a work area that is designated only for that purpose. Be it the kitchen table or your bedroom closet- as long as you do your work there it is your office. Treat it as such.

Make sure that you behave during your workday as you would at any other workplace. Dont watch those Magnum PI re-runs (even though Tom Selleck is EXTREMELY hard to ignore), don’t indulge in the 3 martini lunch (very often) and dont do housework (oddly, that isn’t a problem for me).

The real key to successfully working at home is to be able to manage your home life with your work life since they have magically become one. Avoid things that you know distract you and focus on developing good work habits. Set yourself deadlines and stick to them. You can do it! Be your own boss, its the toughest job you’ll ever have.

The Pros and Cons of working at home

This article list some really great pros and cons of working out of your home?

Personally, I like working at home because I am here all day and the worst part about working at home is that Im here ALL DAY.

Oh wait…