One of the first jobs people often think of when they want to work at home is customer service. There are some great companies that hire people for such positions from home, and it’s work most people can do. But that doesn’t make it easy.

There are many reasons why customer service may not be the right work at home job for you. Then again, it could be perfect. So I thought I would take a look at the realities and fantasies of this job.

Fantasy:
A highly flexible schedule where you can work the hours you select.

Reality:
There’s a degree of truth to the fantasy, but it’s not as flexible as many people would hope. Companies typically want you to either set up a schedule with them for each week, or sign up for hours as they come available. You are expected to work the hours you agree to.

The trouble can come in when there’s a low call volume at the times you agreed to work. Work at home customer service positions generally pay on talk time, not on the hours you agreed to work. But you are still expected to be available. This can be really tough when the calls just aren’t there. Read the rest of this entry »

I read over on eMoms about a new site that helps guest bloggers find blogs for their posts. It’s called Guest Blogger. I like how the concept looks. I signed up this and one other of my blogs to give it a whirl.

The service is very new. I counted 8 blogs in the Business category. But I think it has a lot of potential, especially as the word gets out.

Why would you guest blog or allow a guest to post?

Guest posting is a great way to build a reputation for your blog. You’re being exposed to an entirely new audience.

Having a guest blogger means that you are getting new information for your visitors, a perspective different from your own. A good guest blogger will provide tremendous value to your blog.

If you’re going to write a guest post, make the effort and do a really great job. This will be the first impression most of the readers will have of you, and you want them to subscribe to your blog. Get creative. Don’t just blast out an article sharing information everyone knows. Come up with something that will stand out.

[tags]guest blogging,guest blogger[/tags]

1. Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone
2. Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories. ~John Wilmot
3. There comes a time when a woman needs to stop thinking about her looks and focus her energies on raising her children. This time comes at the moment of conception. A child needs a role model, not a supermodel. ~Astrid Alauda, on the “hot mom” trend
4. Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert Fulghum
5. If you have never been hated by your child you have never been a parent. ~Bette Davis
6. Children are a great comfort in your old age – and they help you reach it faster, too. ~Lionel Kauffman
7. If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. ~Abigail Van Buren
8. Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy. ~Robert A. Heinlein
9. Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. ~Roger Lewin
10. Sing out loud in the car even, or especially, if it embarrasses your children. ~Marilyn Penland
11. If your children spend most of their time in other people’s houses, you’re lucky; if they all congregate at your house, you’re blessed. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966
12. There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~Chinese Proverb
13. When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out. ~Erma Bombeck

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Being a parent can mean finding a balance between getting too much information and not enough. There’s just quite a bit of information out there.

But knowing where to find the right parenting resources is still very useful. Sometimes you really need that advice.

Talk About Parenting is run by Shirlee Smith. In addition to her website, she has a cable TV talk show and runs parent training workshops.

I haven’t been to any of her workshops, but as my daughter’s preschool requires, I have been to parenting classes, so I know that these things can be very much worthwhile, especially if they are on a topic that you aren’t having the success you would like to have.

[tags]wordless wednesday[/tags]

You may have noticed I vanished for a few days. Didn’t post on any of my sites all weekend. Well, I’m back now.

I took the kids on a trip to Sacramento to see my grandmother in the hospital. As things turned out, the kids weren’t able to see her because she had a stroke a couple days before we arrived, and children under 12 weren’t allowed. The stroke was on top of her breaking her hip a few weeks ago, plus a heart attack.

It was wonderful yet difficult to see her. I’m very glad I went.

The kids had a great time. Pretty much the entire family decided to go, so they got to play with a lot of cousins. Just imagine a crowd of six children, all age 6 or less. They had a blast.

Gage had a rough time of it, though. He was the youngest by about a year and a half, and he just doesn’t like to travel yet. Picture a 45 minute tantrum because he didn’t want to nap in an unfamiliar room.

Yes, I’m still exhausted.

But the kids got to do all kinds of fun things. The fair was in town, and while I dealt with that tantrum, my cousins decided to take all the other kids to the fair, so Ariel had a blast. Then we went to Fairytale Town the next day. Add in just tons of family time, and the trip was quite a success on many levels.

With my recent post on the paid posting scam, I thought it was time to go over the signs of a scam. I’ve discussed this before, but some things are worth repeating.

The most obvious way to spot a scam is that it is simply too good to be true. It will offer spectacular results for little or no effort. It’s all guaranteed, honest!

A common way to get caught by this is when the price is set absurdly low. If the price for what you are getting is too low, often the scammer is counting on the deal to get past your guard. All too often people will go ahead and risk “just” $10, even though risking such small amounts adds up quickly if you get scammed out of it.

If you don’t understand how you will earn, it is probably a scam. One of the most common home business scams is where you get paid for recruiting rather than selling. If the money you pay to join an opportunity goes to paying the business and those above you, it’s probably little more than a pyramid scheme. You do not want to get involved in these, as the FTC can take your earnings when the scheme is shut down. Just not worth the trouble. Read the rest of this entry »

Working at home means finding time to work mixed in with enjoying being with my kids. It’s an interesting balance sometimes, but very, very doable and ever changing.

Keep in mind, my kids are 5 and 2, so keeping them busy is pretty challenging and limited by their capabilities. And for those interested, take a look at the ebook on Keeping the Kids Busy I offer for subscribing to my newsletter.

1. Send them outside! I get more peace and quiet from this than anything else.
2. Baking with them. The trick to things like this is that once I’ve done this with them, they’re generally happier about playing on their own, not to mention the fun treat that is then available. We don’t do it very often, but they’re happy when I say it’s time.
3. Haul out the craft supplies. Crafts work best for my daughter, as she’s old enough to enjoy doing things either on her own or with me.
4. Haul out the art supplies. My son loves painting most of all.
5. Computer time. This one is generally limited. My daughter loves playing age appropriate online games. My son loves Google Earth or watching family pictures go by on the screen saver.
6. Science projects. I think my kids’ favorite so far was the Slime. We kept it sealed in a plastic container for months, and it lasted well until my son decided it needed more water….
7. Homework. We don’t really have homework as such to deal with yet. My daughter starts kindergarten next year. But that doesn’t mean we can’t tell her it’s time to practice her letters or numbers.
8. Chores. Both my kids help empty the dishwasher. They know which dishes they are allowed to help put away. Getting them to clean up their toys is more difficult, but possible.
9. Have friends over. When I really want to get some work done, I’ve found that having a friend over for my kids to play with really helps. When they need something, there’s more work involved then, but for much of the time, they’re so busy playing with each other they don’t mind me working.
10. Off to the park! This is especially effective for gaining a long nap from my 2 year old after.
11. Get them involved. My kids aren’t too interested in what I’m working on most of the time, but when they are, I encourage it.
12. Limited television watching. Honestly, I’m not that big a fan of setting the kids in front of the television for too long, perhaps because mine don’t just settle in and watch. They keep wanting snacks, want to tell me about the show, etc. For getting actual work done I’ve found this one not terribly effective for me. But I hear it works for some parents.
13. Get Daddy (or Mommy, for the Dads out there) to play with the kids.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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[tags]wordless wednesday[/tags]

It’s been a long time since I updated this. No sponsored post either, just what I’m thinking about since yesterday’s post on the paid blogging scam.

Things with PayPerPost have been going well. I don’t take a lot of opportunities, but I average about $300/month with them across all my blogs. I could do a lot more if I weren’t so picky about what I blog about. The range of topics is still great, and sometimes I learn about really interesting websites.

I do a little bit of blogging with Blogsvertise. I don’t get a lot of work for them, and I often choose not to do what they do send because it isn’t relevant enough. Pay is on the low side, but not unreasonable. Read the rest of this entry »