Two Blog Posts in One Day. What am I a Nerd?

Yeah. Pretty much. First and foremost, I'm not writing about working from home tonight. Sorry, kids. I just needed to write because I think that's something nerds do when they have no friends to talk to. Might as well write to some random, anonymous strangers on the internet right?

I'm having a bad night. Just in a bad place for some reason. For those who don't know, divorce sucks. It's probably one of the suckiest things you'll ever go through in life. And that's why I'll never get married again. Ever.

Oh I'm not swearing off men. Not by a long shot. When this is all said and done, I'll go back to dating like I wasn't coming off of a 6 year withdrawal. But I'll never marry a man again. I'll never put myself in a situation to be hurt this badly again.

My mom and my brother are watching that comedy, “What to Expect When You're Expecting” and although it has a lot of comedians in it that I like, I'm having to sit with headphones in my ears and my back turned to the TV. Why? Because I can't handle anything talking about couples and families and new babies right now. That's how much divorce sucks.

My baby girl is just over a year old. Which means that just over a year ago, I was in a hospital room with my husband giving birth to our little angel. Before her first birthday, mommy and daddy were done. I'm not ok with that. In fact, I'm not ok with anything right now.

I've never had to feel this way before. Whenever I'd get out of one relationship, I'd run to nearest man-in-uniform (I had a thing for those types) to fix my broken ego. I wouldn't spend nights alone like a nerd. Like I am tonight.

But getting over a marriage is a bit more complicated than getting over a “relationship.” It hurts a lot. A whole lot. So I sit alone, avoiding anything that even hints at what I don't have anymore.

I must be some kind of pathetic. How do I let a man hurt me and yet somehow I'm the only one crying when I finally walk away. Whatever. I hate divorce, I wish I could have this over with by tomorrow, but I have to wait until the time is right – when everything is ready and in place. I hate feelings. Feelings are for girls. I need a beer.

Goodnight, internet. Don't be surprised if I delete this post tomorrow. I'll probably be embarrassed about it by then.

Where do I go from Here?

Alright, so I take back what I said about most people on Squidoo make money being kind of spammy. I ran into a few good folks who actually write some really nice stuff and are kind enough to disclose just how well they've been earning on their work.

Here's the drawback, these nice people have written hundreds of lenses. Yeah, I'm talking like 500 lenses plus. So does that mean if you want to produce quality work you have to do so in huge quantities to make a living? If that's the case, it's going to be a while before I get a payday. Like I said before, I only had 150 articles on eHow and that was over a year's time.

So do I stick with Squidoo and keep doing what I'm doing in the hopes that once I have a few hundred lenses under my belt I'll be doing well or do I move onto other ventures? I've got a lot to think about.

The problem I see is that I've got three kids at home, two of which are under five years old and are with me twenty-four hours a day. I only get to write while the baby is napping, so I don't have the time to pump out tons of lenses. Not to mention the fact that it takes me an eternity to write a lens because I'm such a perfectionist.

A friend of mine said that I would earn more money using my own Amazon modules, the trouble is that I don't know how to put my own modules in a lens. It always just comes out as a bunch of broken code. So I really need help figuring that one out.

The friend that made the suggestion is one of the good writers on Squidoo. Her name is Virginia and she writes very cool, informative lenses on really unique topics. I like her work. I think I'm going to focus on making people like her my Squidoo role models and forget about the spammy morons bragging about how to make cash by shoving affiliate links down your throat.

Virginia has an awesome lens about how much money she makes on Squidoo and how she does it. It's definitely worth a read, check it out here. But as I said before, she has way more lenses than I think I could ever produce on such limited time.

I think I'll take some time to look into other work at home possibilities. Another writer friend of mine, Lee Mellott, wrote a book called Work From Home Jobs: 101+ Real Companies That Pay! I'm going to pick up a copy tonight and see if anything stands out.

Until I find a better idea though, I'm going to keep working on Squidoo. Whether or not I'll ever see any cash from that work is still up in the air. I guess only time will tell.

Shameless Self Promotion

Lately I've been reading a lot of Squidoo lenses by people who are actually successful at it. I'm both inspired and perplexed by them. One thing I did notice amongst the big dogs was that they didn't write the way that I do. That got me thinking “man, I'm going about it all wrong.”

Squidoo is different than eHow used to be. Back in my eHow days I wrote about health and beauty, you know, the kinds of things you'd read about in a Cosmo magazine or something. Chick stuff. The articles were informative, like how to diminish fine lines and give yourself a home facial. From what I can tell with Squidoo however, successful lenses are less about information and more about selling you something. I don't know how I feel about that.

I look at it like this, if I wanted to be a sales person, I'd go apply for a job at the mall or sell used cars or something. I really like writing. I like researching a topic, trying out ideas and sharing how well they work with my readers. I like being informative, creative and helpful. I don't like being pushy. I don't like conning someone into thinking they're about to get help when really it's just a site full of spammy product links. It's not my style.

So here's my question. Can I make money on Squidoo by writing quality content or do I have to shamelessly self promote all of my affiliate programs on helpless readers? From what I can tell, most people who make good money on Squidoo do just that. I mean, I'm not hating on them for doing it, you've got to bring home the bacon some how you know? I just didn't necessarily want to do it that way.

I caved and made a lens full of shameless self promotion for my Zazzle store. On the other hand, I did provide good quality information in between the sales links. I'm not proud of it though. I like my other lenses better, the ones where I could just write about what I love. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like those types of lenses will make me any money.

I don't know. I've got to re-evaluate my approach to Squidoo. I can stay true to my writer instincts and produce good, magazine quality content or I can turn into the Sham-Wow guy and write a bunch of lenses in a voice that screams at you to buy my crap.

Thoughts? Anyone? Eva's pulling at my jeans as if she has some wise input for me. It's too bad I don't speak or understand baby language. Thanks anyway, cupcake.

Birthday Party Fun, Getting Over the Cold and Gaining Squidoo Traffic!

Needless to say, I had a pretty busy weekend. My younger two kiddos went to their dad's on Friday night and I spent most of it resting and trying to get over my cold. Saturday morning, I felt better so mom and I worked on getting the house clean for the Batman party we were having for Adrien on Sunday.

In between house work, I spent a little time researching ways to increase traffic to my Squidoo lenses. I read a few great articles on the subject and decided to give some of the ideas a go. They weren't that hard to set up and they've already made a decent difference in traffic.

I started by opening a stumble upon account. I stumbled and “liked” several pages and then “liked” a couple of my lenses. ;)

Then, I registered with a few Squidoo directories that allow you to submit your lenses along with a brief description. I look at it like this, even if the directories don't bring me traffic directly, the indirect effect of having more back-links will certainly help with the Google status of my lenses. Does that make sense?

Here are the services I'm currently using for lens promotion. It should be noted that one of these is a referral link, which means that if you sign up too, I'll get a little bonus. I've put an asterisk by it so you'd know which one it is. 

StumbleUpon

Love Blinks * 

LensRoll

RedGage

Kingdom of Squidoo

Obviously, I would also suggest promoting your lenses on your own social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Anyway, so that's what I worked on Saturday. Then on Sunday, I celebrated Adrien's 4^th birthday here at home with a bunch of friends and family. It went great and he and his brother and sister had a wonderful time! I'm very blessed to have the greatest people ever in my life. I've got to run for now, I'm working on a lens about Pin-up Girl Hairstyles. I'll share it with you in tomorrow's post. Later!

The Only Crappy Thing about School Season...

We're all sick! And we seem to stay sick all year long, I think. *Ugh*.

Being sick when you're a mom sucks. No seriously, it's the worst thing ever. Why? Because you still have to take care of everyone else and no one is going to take care of you. You're not allowed a sick day off of work. There's no calling in to the boss so you can stay home and get some rest. No. Instead, you load up on a bunch of cold medicine and orange juice, pull yourself together the best you can and take care of your little ones, which nine times out of ten are also sick whenever you are.

So yeah... my work from home ventures are on hold for the rest of this week. I've got to get myself and these babies well again before Adrien's birthday party this Sunday. I may do some light lens/blog promotion or something but I'm not going to kill myself trying to write everyday while I'm battling this cold and wiping little noses. *Shakes head* Nope.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to lay in bed with Adrien and watch Bubble Guppies. Ethan's at school (he's the only one not sick as of yet), baby Eva's taking a nap and Adrien and I are in our PJs watching cartoons and drinking juice. Yeah... that's pretty much the plan for the day. Catch up with you ladies when this mess is over.

Hard Work Pays Off...Even if It Does So Slowly.

I had a good day today. Starting to feel more optimistic. I think I'll blame the sappy, emo mood of my last post on PMS. Yeah, that was it...

Anyway, so as you may recall, my first project was to revamp my Zazzle store. I added a ton of new products, tweaked the store description a bit and drew a cute little banner image. Guess what? Sales are up! I've increased my sales by like 80%. Score! The lesson here is to always go back and revisit old projects, even if you didn't consider them very successful to begin with. A few minor tweaks could make a huge difference in profit.

I also wrote a really cool new Squidoo lens about vintage pin-up girl makeup. I have to say, I had fun writing that one. I've always been very fond of retro fashion and beauty. When I was a teenager, I had one wall in my room full of rock posters and clippings from Guitar World magazine, one wall dedicated to Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, and one wall with framed print-outs of Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth. An odd combination I know, but I was a strange little girl. ;)

I love all things vintage so much, that if I had the time and the money I'd dress like one of those rockabilly chicks everyday. Unfortunately, being a mother of three small children means little to no time for complicated hair and makeup routines and a very tiny allowance for fashion. My everyday wear consists of a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, usually with something funny written on it. I have a thing for t-shirt humor. Anyway, it's a long cry from pin-up vixen. Guess I'll have to try that look out when my kids are grown. I'll be the cougar in the red lipstick and hot pants.

Well it's about time for me to hit the hay. Tomorrow's going to be busy. I've got more writing/promoting to do plus I have to go pick up a birthday gift for my son, Adrien. He'll be turning 4 on the 25^th. I'm so excited!

D-Day is Nearing and I'm all Torn Up

I've been gone a few days because I've been getting some things ready for when the kids and I get out on our own. You see, I'm not technically divorced yet, the kids and I moved in with my folks about four months ago. I haven't gone through with the divorce already because I had some major ducks to get in a row first. Then, my SUV broke down and that cost a lot of money and time to fix, so that was a huge setback to my plans. Luckily it will finally be done on Friday, after spending a whopping three weeks in the shop!

Mom says that we'll go back to my lawyer soon, right after I tie up these last few loose ends. This week, I went to the eye doctor to get new glasses while I still have eye insurance. Next week I'm going to the dentist to get some work done before I lose dental insurance. We've also been looking for a place for us to live once the divorce is through.

That's really been the main reason for me stalling for this long is because Ethan goes to a special education school in Montgomery County. My parents live in Elmore County. So obviously, I've got to have a place to live in Montgomery before the divorce goes through. I don't want Ethan to get kicked out of his school, because there is no special education school in any of the surrounding counties.

I've been looking into food stamps and figuring out if we qualify and how to go about getting them. I hate the idea of being on food stamps, but honestly, when we first get out on our own, I won't be able to get by without them. Hopefully, I won't need the help for long. I'm busting my ass trying to get a real career going from home right now. But the sad fact is, I've got to swallow my pride and take the help at first, because it's going to be real hard on us financially.

All these preparations for D-day has brought on a bit of depression on my end too. My marriage is about to be officially over and I'm feeling kind of down about it.

When I left, I told him that I wouldn't come home unless he got counseling for the compulsive lying, infidelity and intimate neglect. That if he would show me he was serious that I would go back to marriage counseling with him again and we could work on things. But after everything that's happened, I needed to know he was serious this time. Well, needless to say he wouldn't go. In fact, he never even shed a tear over me. He never acted like he missed me at all after I left. He never said he loved me and wanted me to come home.

Some days I feel so lonely. Why am I so easy to say goodbye to? Why am I so easy to forget? For what it's worth, I loved him. If I didn't, I wouldn't have stayed as long as I did. I wouldn't have waited around like a sad little puppy begging for any scrap of attention he was willing to give.

I've been listening to that Bruno Mars song, “Grenade.” Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I feel right now. I would have died for him. I picked him over other guys because he had my heart from the day I met him. He was so cute, so shy, so sweet. His eyes seemed so deep and honest. When he looked at me it was like he was looking at my soul, and damn did it make me weak in the knees. I felt safe in his arms. I trusted him to not hurt me. But that trust didn't last long, yet it took me an eternity to finally let go.

When I'm feeling this down about losing him, losing my family, I have to remind myself just how bad things had really gotten in the end. I was so depressed, I could barely function. I didn't want to wake up in the morning. I was used up to the point that there was hardly anything left.

Since I've been back home with my parents, I've grown stronger. My smile is coming back. I'm being a better mother to my kids. I have things to look forward to now. My future isn't full of more tears, hurt and rejection. I can have the kind of life I want. Most importantly, I can be happy again.

I know deep down in my heart that going through this divorce is best for the kids. They weren't in a healthy environment back home, with Mommy and Daddy always fighting.

It's just hard. I mean, logically I know that this is for the best. I know that things are going to get better for us. But my heart is still broken, and it's a lot harder to reason with a broken heart than a sound mind.

So I just keep going forward, trying like hell not to look back, not to hesitate. I pray for strength everyday. I hug my babies and try to focus on how much better they're doing now since we've been gone. I think about the future and I work as hard as I can. I can't look back. I can't stop now.

He still crosses my mind a thousand times a day. The thought of him makes my foot hover over the break. That's pathetic. It's too late now. I have to do this. I have to move past him and on with my life. So bring on the divorce, I've got to get this over with before my niave heart does something stupid. It has a history of that, you know?

Playing the Waiting Game

So the Squidoo thing is slow. Painfully slow. Some days it's really hard to stay motivated to work for no pay. Especially, when you've got kids to support. So why the hell do I keep doing it? Because I've been through this before. I've played the revenue share waiting game before, and I know that it will eventually pay off.

Here's a little back-story on me. I first got into writing in 2009. I was selling Avon at the time and it wasn't working out well. So in an effort to gain more Avon customers and bring people to my online Avon store, I wrote a couple of articles about Avon skincare and cosmetics on a site called eHow.

eHow used to allow pretty much anyone to submit articles, and if they were successful, you'd earn a cut of the ad revenue. They called it the “Writer's Compensation Program.” I wasn't looking to be a writer, I just wanted to get the word out about my Avon store. A few months went by and I wasn't getting any additional Avon business, so I went back to eHow to check the stats on my articles to see if anyone was even reading them. To my surprise, I had earned like $20 on those two articles. As I sat at my desk, a cartoonish light bulb formed above my head and I said to myself “this is what I should be doing.”

I wrote a total of 150 articles for eHow and made anywhere from $400-600 a month. I had a ton of readers, nice first-page Google results and my articles had steadily increasing earning each month. My income was growing and I was headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, just as I was getting started, the WCP was discontinued. Bummer right?

I was pregnant with Eva when this happened, so I thought it was probably for the best because I wasn't going to have time to work from home once she's born anyway.

Fast forward to today and here I am starting all over again, this time with Squidoo. And let me tell you, those first couple of months are grueling! Honestly, if it wasn't for my experience with eHow in the past, I'd probably want to give up right now.

But I don't. I carry on holding tightly to the faith that in the end, this will pay off. It's like driving in a thick fog. I can't see the road in front of me, but I've traveled this road before and I know if I keep pushing the gas and holding the wheel straight, I'll eventually get there.

I've got to go write some more lenses. I'm having trouble coming up with topics, though. On the plus side, some Giant Squids liked my latest lens about lip plumpers. So maybe I should write something else beauty related? I don't know. I'm watching America's Next Top Model with my mom right now and I'm feeling no inspiration at all. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better and pull off a good one. ;)

Being the New Kid at Internet High

Starting from the bottom isn't easy. It takes a ton of work, an ungodly amount of time and a supernatural level of patience. If you're working from home, odds are, you're doing something online. Conducting business on the web is like trying to win a popularity contest at the world's largest high school. As the new kid at school, you'll go unnoticed by the “in-crowd” and most everyone else for that matter. No one will ever see your work, buy your products or give you any kind of praise if you don't figure out how to stand out and get noticed.

I'm a great example of this. As of right now, I'm nobody. If you're taking the time to read my blog, you're in a small minority, and I thank you for your support. ;) But behind the scenes, I'm working hard to get the word out. In addition to working on my blog, my store and my lenses, I'm also networking.

Here's the thing about networking. Please don't waste your time spamming everyone with desperate cries for attention to whatever it is you're selling. Of course you want to share your work and gain traffic, but the biggest area you should focus on is building relationships with the other kids in school. Nobody cares how cool you are if you have no friends, right?

Start by reading and commenting on other people's blogs. Be generous with praise and really take the time to get to know the others out there who are just trying to make a living like you. Pay close attention to the “in-crowd”, the big-time bloggers and social media gurus who are successful. You can learn a lot from those who have gone before you. Befriend them, write to them, follow them, whatever. But most importantly, learn from them and apply that knowledge to your own projects.

The more good connections you make online, the more you'll get noticed. So in addition to your work this week, take some time to network and begin creating an identity for yourself online. The more you give to the online community, the more you'll get in return. Now get out there and network like a boss! No seriously, do it. You'll thank me later.

And the New Project Is... Squidoo!

Last week, while I was working on overhauling my Zazzle store, I was also researching a potential new work-from-home venue, Squidoo. Thanks to the advice of some fellow writer friends of mine, I decided to give it a try.

If you're not familiar with Squidoo, read up on it here. In a nutshell, it's a place to write articles (called lenses) about whatever topic you're interested in. Squidoo will pay you a cut of the ad revenue/affiliate sales that your lens brings in.

If you're good at writing, and knowledgeable about a variety of things, then Squidoo might be right up your alley. As for me, I'm starting out writing about health and beauty topics. Not just because they are of interest to me, but also because before I got married I was a certified medical assistant, and at one point I was an Avon beauty consultant. So naturally, health and beauty are my strongest areas.

I've made two lenses so far. My first was about exercises to make your booty bigger and the second was about the new fashion trend, fajas. Let me know what you think.
 

Is there any real money to be made with Squidoo? Only time will tell. But if you need some convincing, check out this article by a woman who makes some pretty serious money with Squidoo. Her article was the thing that made me go ahead and give Squidoo a chance.

As with most revenue share gigs, it may take a while for this Squidoo thing to take off for me. But I'll keep you all updated on my progress and share my experience writing for Squidoo as I go. Wish me luck!

Where to Find the Time to Work

Well I'm back in the saddle again today. Ethan made a full recovery and is his usual, happy little self. Adrien and Eva are spending the weekend with their dad and I've been trying to use today to catch up on work.

Which brings me to today's topic – finding the time to work from home. I know that everyone's schedule is different. Some of you have a job outside of home in addition to taking care of your children. Others may have school and sports obligations. You may not be able to use my routine, but that's OK. Take an objective look at your own schedule and find time that works best for you.

My typical day goes something like this. I wake up around 6:30 in the morning to get Ethan dressed and ready for school. Eva usually wakes up around that time as well, so I get her out of bed, fix her a bottle and let her watch a Baby Einstein movie while I dress Ethan.

After Ethan leaves for school, I fix breakfast for Eva and Adrien. We eat and then we all get dressed and ready for the day. I spend the morning playing with them and getting in some good quality time together. Eva lays down for a nap around 9:30-10:00.

While Eva's sleeping, Adrien and I exercise together and then he sits down with a cup of juice and watches cartoons while I pull out the laptop to work. I work until Eva wakes up and then the kids and I eat lunch together.

After lunch, I take the kids to their room to play and I bring my laptop back there with them. They play while I get in a little more time to work. When I'm finished, I join in their play until snack time.
We have snack and then have “afternoon cleanup” where I turn on some dance music and the kids help me pick up all the toys, vacuum the floor, etc. After that, we all load up in the truck to go pick up Ethan from school. Sometimes, we leave a little early if we have to stop by the store or something.
When we get back around 3:00, I lay Eva down for her afternoon nap and I spend a little time with Ethan and Adrien. At 4:20, I start dinner.

Dinner is served at 5:00 with bath time following shortly thereafter. Eva's the first to bed at around 7:00 pm. At that time, Ethan is usually playing quietly in his room and Adrien gets some time at the computer to play games. By 8:00 the boys are in bed and I get ready for bed myself. I try to take a little time to check my mail, facebook, twitter, etc before bed. Sometimes though, I'm just too tired and I go to bed as well.

I do a lot of my work on the weekends when the younger two are with their father. That's also when I try to do most of the errand running and what not.

As you can see, my schedule is pretty loose, with plenty of wiggle room. That's just how it works best for me. This week, I encourage you to try to find some time for starting a few projects of your own. I've just recently started my latest project that I plan on sharing with you tomorrow. :o)

Good luck, mammas! If I can do it, you can do it with me.