youngmompreneur

I’m always inspired by female entrepreneurs, so I wanted to share about Amy Berman, owner of Vanilla Bakery.  Her website is www.vanillabakeshop.com . I first learned about her from watching Martha Stewart.  She was on there discussing her cupcakes during cupcake week.  I was inspired because she had a bake shop and she looked like a young woman.  I later learned that she was about 29 or so.  She quit her job working behind the scenes in the entertainment industry to open a bakery.

She said that she was inspired by her mother, who used to bake alot of delicious goodies for her family while she was growing up.  I love cakes and cupcakes, so I wanted to highlight this young woman entrepreneur.  I love reading about young women who pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship and express their creativity through their entrepreneurial pursuits. 

I must admit that I’m a bit excited about Sarah Palin being McCain’s running mate.  I guess it’s because I’m cheering for Alaska, a state that I resided in for a year and a half due to my husband’s military relocation.  I like her.  She’s a family woman, a smart woman, and appears to be quite competent in her position.  Now whether that will transfer over to being competent as a vice-president, I don’t know.  But, she would be the reason I voted for McCain, if I voted for him.  I also like that she is a Christian, and that she is pro-life. 

I’m glad for this shake up to the political scene.  It makes for an even more interesting election, and I’m excited to see what will come next.

There is a website, www.moneysavingmom.com , that is great for women who are interested in being the best homemakers that they can be, and also earn money from home.  I love this website because it encourages ways to save money also.  I have learned a lot from this website, along with many others.  The owner is Crystal Paine, and she is a work from home mom.  She shares inspirational stories and advice of what has and hasn’t worked for her, and has great tips to share.

 If you haven’t checked out the website, I encourage you to do so.  All work from home moms need encouragement from time to time, and this is a great website to visit to give you a boost.

Since I’m a mother and I’m pregnant, I absolutely love learning as much as I can about natural birth and parenting.  There is a great website on this topic at www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com .  The owner of the website uses Site Build It for her website and encourages mothers who want to work from home to use Site Build It to build a website and business.  I think that it’s very encouraging.

I encourage you to go to her website and visit her about me page.  There, she entails how she came about starting her website and how it’s been successful and allowed her to be a stay at home mom to her three children, even while she was divorced!  It’s inspiring reading, and I love the website, because I’m a fan of natural parenting.  But, it’s also another great avenue for mothers to build an online business about something that they are passionate about. So, check out the website when you have a chance.

I ventured in trying to sell an item on Ebay last week, and I admit that I didn’t really know much about how Ebay worked before trying it out.  I didn’t realize that you have to pay to post items to sell, pay to add more than one picture, pay when you actually sell, etc.  Then I thought, why don’t I just use Craigslist instead?  I went ahead and put the item on Ebay, and someone has responded, but, I think that in the future I’ll just try to sell stuff through Craigslist if possible.

 I know alot of people visit Craigslist, including me.  Actually, it’s the first place I go if I’m looking for something in particular that I want at a bargain price, and also to look for writing and other types of jobs.  I’ve had a lot of success with Craigslist as far as finding what I’m looking for, so I’m thinking I’ll just sell for free using Craigslist.  Maybe I’m being too cheap.  Is Ebay truly the best way to go, anyone?

Cash4books.net is a great way to earn some extra cash by selling unwanted books.  The website mainly accepts nonfiction books and textbooks.  I rummaged around for old college textbooks and submitted their ISBN numbers on the website, and they provided a price quote for me.  It was quick and easy.  The company even pays to have the books shipped to them, which is an added bonus.  So, I’m going to the post office tomorrow to ship the books.  As soon as the company receives the books, then they either send you a check or pay you through Paypal.  Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.

I had first heard of this website through another blog, but had been putting off trying it out for some time.  I’m glad that I took the time to do it, because I was able to earn some cash just for selling books that were sitting around collecting dust.

I was inspired to write about the work from home balance after reading  two posts, one at bookpublishing.today.com  and the other at sierraexotic.today.com.  Both posts talk about balancing working at home with being a stay at home mother.  I must admit that I have truly struggled with this.  Before becoming a work at home mother, I naively assumed that life would be a blissful day of completing writing assignments, and spending time with my son, and completing household chores.

Then reality set in. 

My son is 10 months old, so I try to work before he wakes up in the morning, which is rare, because I wake up usually upon hearing him cry to get out of his crib.  My most successful time to get work done is during his nap, which, on a good day, is two hours long.  Not exactly a lot of time to write.  But, I squeeze as much as I can within the time frame that his nap provides. 

After that, I squeeze in time to write while he plays in his playpen.  I have found that it is virtually impossible to get anything accomplished with him outside of his playpen.  When outside of his playpen he is usually caught trying to turn off mommy’s computer, getting into things that he shouldn’t, pulling on my clothes and eventually whining for attention.  He does good for about 30 minutes or so playing by himself, but then he’s ready for some different action.

 I’ve quickly realized that most work at home opportunities work well for stay at home moms who have school age children.  Trying to work with a toddler and an infant seems like a hopeless dream, if you don’t have a babysitter to watch them.  When working from home with small children, you basically have to have someone else watch the children at some point.  With alpineaccess and educateonline, you have to work in a noise free environment during your shift.  Which means I would have to find someone to babysit my kids while I’m working.  That’s not exactly what I’m looking for in an at home job.

For now, writing is the best work at home job for me during this season of my life.  I can write when I have the discipline enough to arise early, and throughout the day, whenever I carve out time.  I’m setting my schedule, and that’s what I need.  I would love to hear from work at home moms with small children, and know how they manage to balance working from home with caring for young children.

I love reading Romantic Homes magazine, and a few years ago, I read about a young female entrepreneur, Jenny Grumbles, who at the age of 24 opened her own store called Uptown Country Home.  She  graduated from college wanting to be a broadcast journalist, but realized that her true passion was decorating, painting, and gathering beautiful furniture for her store.

Her focus is on very feminine furniture, gifts, and stationery.  I have visited her website, and she has a lot of cute home decor to choose from.  I also love that she focuses a lot on the color pink, which has always been my favorite color.  She decorated her new home in mostly pink, and it is very delightful, romantic and whimsical.  If I lived on my own, I would want to decorate my home in a similar fashion.  I just thought I’d share about this young entrepreneur, because her story is inspiring.  I don’t know of many young women in their twenties who own and operate a cutesy store, and so I wanted to highlight her shop.  Feel free to check out her website, www.uptowncountryhome.net .

Hard work and diligence is key to achieving your goals, but I also believe that sometimes doors are closed because they simply are not right for you.  This process of being a work at home mom has opened my mind up to what I really enjoy doing, and what I don’t.  It’s so important to live your life with passion and purpose, truly enjoying what you are doing with your life each day.  The contributions that you make to the world should make you feel great inside.

I have been an educator for four years, but I’m realizing that the best way for me to educate is not necessarily in a classroom teaching academics, but teaching life skills online and through face to face mentoring.  A series of events yesterday and today opened my eyes up to what I truly enjoy, and now I can focus on how to align my passions with my everyday life.  I appreciate every open and closed door, because with each experience I learn more about myself and what I am truly meant to be doing.

Today I interviewed with an online educational company.  If hired, I would have the chance to tutor online from the comfort of my home.  This sounds like the best work at home opportunity so far for me.  It would be a better fit for me than alpineacess, and much better than tutoring at a learning center like I have been doing for the summer.  I have to pay for gas to get to and fro, and now I have the opportunity to tutor from home, thereby cutting gas costs. 

I really hope that I get it.  I should hear back in a few days.  If so, I won’t have to do alpineacess, because it’s not really the ideal situation for me.  I’d much prefer to teach online than in person, or in a classroom, anyday.