I think one of the hardest things for me with this pregnancy has been rescheduling my work times to cope with the fact that sometimes I just get more tired.

At that I’m lucky. If I worked outside the home I’d just have to cope or call in sick. I do love my flexibility in work times!

This past weekend’s trip was one of those occasions where I had to think about what I wanted to do not only by, well, what I wanted to do, but also what I was really up for doing. Combine attending BlogWorld Expo with being 5 months pregnant and dealing with severe hip pain, and you really do start to think of excuses to just sit down.

Which makes it really hard to network until you get to a table full of people you can talk to. But it’s really good for attending sessions.

I was just glad to only be 5 months along. Another month or two, and I very much doubt I would have risked it. I came too close to losing my son late in my previous pregnancy to take chances.

Of course everyone has their own priorities. You just have to look at the controversy surrounding what Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin did. I’m not using that as a criteria for whether or not I think she’s qualified, but she certainly opened up a big debate on what mothers should be doing so late in a pregnancy. I wouldn’t have. She did. It turned out all right for her.

And that’s enough politics for now. I just found the discussion on motherhood that opened up interesting.

As with so many things in life, it comes down to your own tolerance levels. Those of us who chose to stay at home to raise our children have different priorities than the ones who choose to work outside the home. And different from those who work outside the home out of sheer necessity.

What I don’t do and I don’t recommend doing, is letting pregnancy take complete control of your life… unless you’re on bedrest or something. There are times to push your limits and times to take it easy.

As for me, I’m trying hard to get a lot of things done. I have serious goals to consider, such as building my income to be prepared in case this miserable economy does in my husband’s nice, new job. It might.

But I’ve been taking advantage and sleeping in as much as my son will allow. Changing how much and at what time of day I read other blogs so that I can get work of my own done. And trying to get my husband to understand that walking a lot build up hip pain much faster than it builds up endurance, which he thinks I should be trying. I don’t think he understands that it’s not a muscle issue.

I know these next few months will bring more changes to how I work, and after baby girl comes around, it will change more yet. Little rascal will no doubt make life interesting in yet another new way.

They always do.

Many people who want to work from home are just about desperate for a way to do so. This is a big part of why so many scams thrive. People look for quick and easy and forget about keeping it realistic. They throw their money at anything that promises to be easy and cheap.

But surely there are some real ways to earn money from home that don’t cost a fortune to get started. Right?

Of course there are. You just can’t count on earning anything very quickly.

1. Work at home jobs.

These had better be free to start. Well, you might need a bit of your own equipment, such as a good noise canceling headset if you want to do customer service, but the employer shouldn’t be charging you.

Finding the legitimate work at home jobs is possible, but challenging.

Take data entry, for example. Many people look for data entry jobs to do from home, but most of what you will find will be people claiming that pay per click affiliate marketing and other opportunities are data entry, when in fact they are not. These people may be flat out scamming you or they may be “merely” pretending that a home business opportunity is a job.

Real jobs aren’t going to sell you an ebook telling you all about how to get started. You apply just as you would for any other job. The competition will probably be stiff, and it’s common to search for a number of months before you land a good, regular job. But if you have the qualifications and you’re persistent, working at home in a job is entirely possible.

2. Blogging.

This one’s hot right now, and yes you can start for either free or cheap. I’m talking under $20 for the first month cheap. Somewhere in the vicinity of $10 for the first year of a domain name, and $10 or thereabouts for each month of hosting. Wordpress, a popular blogging platform is free and easy to install.

If you’re going cheap, the startup time may well drive you up the wall. There’s a lot of competition out there. Getting your name out is tough. But if you comment a lot on relevant blogs with quality, relevant comments, you can start building your traffic for free.

Same for posting on forums. Or using Twitter. Or other kinds of social networking. Doing nothing but talking about your business makes people lose interest in anything you have to say very quickly.

You just can’t expect instant results. They’re incredibly unlikely.

My suggestion for this is to keep plugging away and to read the successful blogs in your niche. You do not want to copy them as such, but see what they’re doing that people like. Keep your own spin on things and don’t be just another blogger in your niche.

Also look at how money can be earned. Google’s AdSense program is incredibly easy to use, but you can earn more if you get good with affiliate programs. It’s more stuff to learn and you can shorten the learning curve if you are willing to pay for a good resource on making a living from blogging.

Blogs such as Sparkplugging can also be wonderful resources.

3. Freelancing.

Have a skill that you can do from home already? There’s a reason why freelancing is so popular. It’s a way to keep up your skills in your industry while being self employed.

There are a variety of sites to help you find jobs. Guru and eLance are two of the big names. You can also post on Craigslist to offer your services.

As a freelancer these days, you almost definitely need your own website. This is a chance for you to show off your skills and to get some attention. You can blog if you like, but a plain website may serve better if you don’t want to take the time to update regularly. A blog can be very distracting from your paid work, or it can bring more paid work in. It depends on what works for you.

There are many more ways you can earn a living from home and not spend a ton of money. Just be prepared to work at it and understand that if you choose a home business things will very probably go faster if you can invest more in it. But there are ways to go more slowly and spend less money if that’s how your budget is going. That’s a reality for many.

But if you can reinvest in your business you will probably grow it much faster. Once you have your cheap start, consider investing in educational products that will help you to grow your business as well as in advertising. You can make the expenses pay off quite nicely if you know what you’re doing and are willing to take a chance.

Running a home business is often frustrating. You can feel like you aren’t getting anywhere for months on end. Is it time to give up?

Honestly, that depends on how hard you’ve tried to work on your current opportunity. Have you really given it a fair shot?

So much of the frustration of running a home business comes from focusing on the wrong things. You don’t spend enough time learning. You don’t try new marketing techniques. You maybe don’t even work hard enough on your business.

Mistake #1: Passion is everything.

Don’t get me wrong. Passion for your business is key. But it won’t build your business all on it’s own.

What kind of people are interested in what you’re offering? How are you reaching them? Are the things that make you love your business the same as what makes them love your products?

Be passionate about your business. But not so passionate that you don’t use your common sense. There are some things that make a business attractive to customers. If you don’t know what that is, find out. You want your customers to be passionate about what they get from you.

Mistake #2: Giving your business too little time.

There’s one big problem with all the possibilities for home businesses out there. It’s too easy to be attracted to too many opportunities. This is what leads to opportunity hopping and to starting too many businesses for you to handle.

Joining the latest and greatest opportunity out there can sound like a lot of fun. If you know a lot of people are doing the same thing, the energy you get from them can be incredible. It can feel like you’re all building toward a great future.

The trouble comes when you do it again and again, never giving yourself the time to really build something good out of a particular opportunity.

The other side of this is when you try to promote too many businesses. While having more than one stream of income is commonly recommended, don’t start with that right away. Learn to run one business, and build up some success with that before you overload yourself. You’ll be doing yourself and your overall business a huge favor.

Mistake #3: Thinking you already have the answers.

One of the most important things to do when you want your home business to succeed is to find out how others are working their business. You may have some brilliant ideas of your own. Try them. But also find out what others are doing and try similar things.

There’s tons of free information out there. There’s also plenty that you can buy to save yourself the research time. Take the time to find out who has the skills you wish you had, and if they write about it. If so, read their blog, website, buy their book, whatever.

Don’t take just anyone’s word for what works. There’s a lot of lousy information out there. Many of the people who give free advice or even sell ebooks have little or no more knowledge than you do. Be a little careful of who you trust.

Mistake #4: Fail to track your efforts.

It really pays off to know what’s working for you. It won’t be exactly the same as what works for others.

You need to know which ads are working for you on which sites and publications.

You need to know what you can do that will bring a short term burst of traffic, and what you can do for longer term results.

You need to know what you can work on efficiently versus what you should consider hiring out to a virtual assistant.

You need to know what just drains your passion versus what builds it up.

There are many more mistakes you can make with a home business, but these are some of the ones that can drag you down quickly. Work hard, focus on getting one business right. Overnight successes rarely are; they just look that way to outsiders.

For most people, the answer to this question is “YES! Obviously!” Having one parent stay at home can be quite the sacrifice for the entire family.

Despite the popular myth, many stay at home moms do not have husbands whose jobs pay extremely well. Many live on an extremely tight budget. And while sometimes staying at home costs less by the time you consider expenses such as daycare versus what the second income is bringing in, it’s all going to feel like a sacrifice.

And it probably is one.

Despite the potential to save money in certain circumstances, many families really do bring in less with one parent at home. You can’t forget the risk of having a single income, either. One income can be lost very easily in troubled economic times. There goes the insurance. There goes the security.

Being a stay at home mom can also mean a lot of pressure to do things with your kids. You probably aren’t “just” staying at home, after all. Being there for the kids means tons of time to put them into activities. These generally cost money, sometimes a lot of money, depending on the activity chosen.

The lost income is why so many stay at home moms are so good at finding bargains. They have to be. It’s find a cheap way or do without.

There’s more than just the obvious income loss, however. Stay at home moms often lose more to the loss of retirement income and missed promotions in their chosen fields when/if they do return to work. The effects can impact your entire life.

Fortunately, stay at home moms may also be able to supplement their family’s income from home. Some do rather more than supplement it, in fact, by running home businesses. It’s not the solution for every family, and there are risks as well as flat out scams to be avoided.

The great part about working at home is that it can cut back on the money you lose. Depending on what you do, it can take care of the entire problem or even improve your overall financial situation. It’s something to be considered.

The decision to work at home shouldn’t be a light one, however. You need to understand what it is you want from being a stay at home mom, and do your best to not lose that part.

Then you have to figure out what will work best for your particular needs and interests. There’s no one right answer.

Some people may be able to freelance or telecommute in within the fields they are already established in. Others will start a completely unrelated business. There are many more options available to work at home than there once were.

What matters most is that you keep your priorities in order. You should be focused on doing what you and your family needs most, not on following the crowd or the hype. Doing things your own way can be very satisfying.

No matter what kind of work you do from home, sometimes you’re going to have to figure out how to explain it to someone who just doesn’t get it.

This can be challenging even if you have a work at home job rather than a business. I had quite a time explaining that yes, my work as a medical transcriptionist was real work to my mother-in-law back when I did that. The idea that one could get paid for working at home in something other than daycare or direct sales was hard for her to accept somehow.

She gets it now though, even though I’m in a business that she doesn’t really understand. But I earn decent money, and that goes a long way toward reassuring questioning family members.

Home businesses can be pretty difficult to explain, even when they’re fairly traditional sorts. Go into blogging or affiliate marketing, however, and explanations get more difficult to give. Not because the work itself is so odd, but because many people just can’t wrap their minds around the concept of earning money online. The things they see online just exist, or they assume it takes a bigger business to run them.

One way to explain is to compare what you do to more common jobs. Blogging is, after all, a sort of writing. Affiliate sales can be compared to earning commissions as a salesperson, except you aren’t an employee.

Then there’s the issue of getting people to respect what you do. Some see your flexible schedule as meaning you can do as you please anytime. The fact that you need to get your work done and have a schedule on which you prefer to do it goes right over many people’s heads.

Of course, when you feel like building a little envy, you just have to mention some of the perks. Little things like saving gas mean a lot these days. Flexible hours can bring about the envy of any working parent and many people who don’t have kids. Add in your delight in whatever you do, and you may drive some questioners complete nuts.

Explain how low home business costs can be and you’ll probably have people asking how they can do the same. They’ll probably never do anything with whatever you tell them, but many will ask.

Don’t expect that no one will understand what you do. Some will, and they won’t all be in their own businesses. Having your own home business makes it easier to understand how others could earn a living from home, but it’s not an absolute requirement.

Talking to people about what you do can be a great way of bringing new people to your site. Many people are all too happy to say they know the person who runs a particular business, especially if it’s in an area they’re interested in themselves. Finding the right way to address the topic of what you do can help you to build your business.