I don’t know why I ever thought this was a good idea.

I wrote the script for my video, found a place in my house that I didn’t hate the lighting, got the kids off to school and put my little one down for a nap. I had an hour and a half to shoot a five minute video. Should be no problem, right?

The first few shots, I fumbled my words. I forgot what I was saying or I would get distracted and start laughing. No big deal, right? After about five tries, I had the flow of the script down and I was ready. From there on out, the most ridiculous stuff began going wrong.

In one of the takes, my computer stopped recording to begin a backup. In another, I was nearly finished talking when the doorbell rang and a neighbor poked her head in to say hi. Not a big deal if it was just the background sound, but the front door happened to be right behind me, so she ended up in the video! In one take, my cell phone started ringing. I had it on vibrate, so it wasn’t too distracting, until it vibrated right off of the chair arm I was sitting next to and fell off onto to the floor, all of which showed up in the video. I couldn’t keep myself from laughing.

This is getting ridiculous.

The dryer buzzer went off during one take, my computer died during another, and I’m not kidding you, a bird flew directly into our window while I was recording another. It landed right outside of our window, completely stunned, and I couldn’t hide the reaction on my face. Finally, I tried one last time.

Towards the end of the recording, my baby screamed. She didn’t just start crying, she screamed as if maybe an alligator crawled into her crib and bit her leg off. Once I raced up the stairs (all of which was in the video) I realized there was no alligator. She had, in fact, thrown her blankie out onto the floor and wanted me to retrieve it. At that point, I gave up. I decided I would finish the video the next day when my husband was here to help with the myriad distractions that occured.

and that… was a bird hitting the window. Or a golf ball. Nope, definitely a bird. There he is.

I woke up the next morning (yesterday) with either a horrible cold or horrible allergies. My eyes were swollen and bloodshot, my nose bright red and runny, and my voice scratchy. I piled the makeup on and decided to do the video anyway. My husband very sweetly, took a look at me, gave me a hug, and told me that it probably wasn’t a good idea and maybe I should wait one more day.

Last night, I tried a new tactic. I divided up the script into powerpoint slides, and decided to do a screen shot video with my voice in the background. Though I used to have camtasia on my pc, I never purchased it for my mac. My 30 day trial is long gone, so I went in search of screen jelly, a free screen online screen capture utility. It’s gone! Screen Jelly no longer exists.

I did a little google searching and found Jing. I discovered this is a much easier way to record, but things still went wrong. Powerpoint “autosaved” in the middle of my screen capture. I turned that off and tried again. A reminder to sync my cloud account came up in the next. I was patient and persistant, and after several more takes I had my video.

I went to post the video to my new youtube channel. Some of you probably already know my mistake here. I didn’t at the time. Youtube does not accept the format that Jing produces. Much much more googling later, I discovered I was going to have to reshoot the video. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

Obviously I don’t know how to do lighting either. Lots of reflecting going on here…

I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Snagit and went back to work. One take and done. I’m sniffling all through the video, you can hear my husband coughing in the background. I wrote “that” when I should have written “who.” There is way to much text on the slides toward the end. I should have added pictures. I don’t CARE!! I’m so sick of saying “Hi, Friends, Welcome to Internet Mompreneur!”

Why am I telling you all of this? I want you to see what a hassle it can be to be a one man (one woman) operation. I don’t know how to edit videos. Someday I will probably learn, but for right now I don’t know how.

So many details like this make earning money from home difficult. I have so many limitations, from technical issues to simply not having enough time, and it’s frustrating. It’s also fun and exciting when things actually come together.

These are the reasons I’m starting InternetMompreneur.com. I want moms to have a place to go when they need to make a video for their website and aren’t sure what to do because their eyes are bloodshot and nose is running and they can’t be on camera. They can look and see that after they make a

So over this whole process…

Jing video, YouTube won’t accept swf videos, and not feel stupid that they didn’t already know that. I want them to have one place that they can find reliable information, rather than searching the internet for hours trying to determine which websites are still reliable and current.

The site isn’t quite ready to debut. Not all of the information is up there yet, but it will be soon. Then I will proudly show it off to the world, proud of it despite the mistakes. And hopefully, with the information and resources I provide, others will avoid some (not all, but some!) of the growing pains of learning to earn money from home.Now I’m going to try to pull screen shots from some of my videos to put images of the outtakes on this blog post. Let the process begin… again!

Take a look at this sweet site: HireMyMom.com.

If you’ve known me or read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I am passionate about supporting other moms. Not that I don’t like dads, I just really like moms. It’s just the way God made me. (That’s a common saying in our household. Whenever I ask my daughters things like “Why are you so messy?!” They respond with “It’s just the way God made me!” It’s tough to argue with that one.)

Because of that, I think this website is super cool. I love this quote from the U.S. Census Bureau on the front page:

FACT: Over 5.4 million mothers put their careers on hold to stay home with children*. That adds up to a lot of talented women with experience, education, skills and the motivation to find flexible work that can be done from their home office. (*Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

 Isn’t that the truth?! I know so many women who are extremely talented, extremely motivated, and extremely educated. Many of them have scored really cool jobs. Some of them have made the decision to stay home with their kids. A few of those still desire to earn money from their homes. That gives people like me, who often need help with tasks in their business, the opportunity to hire them.

There are two ways you can get huge benefits from HireMyMom.com. 

1. If you are a stay at home mom and want to earn extra money, you can join this site and post your skills online.

Like, if you have bowstaff skills, nunchuck skills. Or maybe something a little more useful like graphic design, writing, organizing, finding good travel deals… I could go on and on. You’ll be able to look through lists of people hiring for your speciality.

2. If you need help with something, you can browse through the lists of moms promoting their services. Maybe you’re like me, and need occasional logos made for websites, or need help monitoring social media sites. I hire women to create profiles for me at different social networking sites like cafemom.com, so I can later go in and comment to get my name out there.

Maybe you don’t own a business, but you need help with other things, like you need to find a great deal on inexpensive backpacks for your seven kids who are starting school soon. (If that’s you, then you really can hire MY MOM!) Or maybe you want to take a vacation and have a certain budget, but you need help finding deals. Perhaps you are writing a book, and need research done for you. (okay, all the examples that I can think of have to do with my mom’s business. I must have that on the brain!)

Do you fit into either of those two categories? If you do, go check out HireMyMom.com and check out opportunities or talent. Please leave a comment and let me know how you are using the site, I would love to hear from you!

 Here are some awesome testimonials from people who have used the site:

Let me give you one example. My mom is the most proficient internet searcher I’ve ever met. That may sound a little silly, because who isn’t now that google is so great? But she goes above and beyond. Give my mom something obscure to find on the internet, and not only can she find it, but she can find it 90% off with a special gift thrown in. Whether it’s facts I need for an article I’m writing, an authentic doorbell for their 1890′s built house, or trendy white shoes that will fit my kid’s uniform dress code, she can find it. (Trust me, it’s not easy to find shoes that are all white and cute!)

This skill is not as easy as it sounds. Even though search engines have revolutionized our world, they’ll never be perfect. Black hat marketers work around the clock to find ways to make money from current search algorithms, so you’ll find many pages that have absolutely no worth. Some of them are link farms, some of them articles that are completely irrelevant or unhelpful. No matter how much they try, search engines will never return perfect results for you all the time.

This week, I’ve been lazily looking for two things online. First, an authentic disco outfit to wear to the Shareasale party at Affiliate Summit. Two, decorations for my daughters’ bedroom. When I search for these things online, I get one of two results. I either get an article discussing disco outfits, or how to decorate a room, or pages of images of the same 4-6 products. These sites have done their work, they are likely affiliates or dropshippers of the same costumes, the same hot pink and zebra bedspreads. It takes me about 10 minutes of searching before I get annoyed and end up calling my mom for help. I have no doubt that within about 15 minutes, she’ll have found the perfect product.

Not only is she really good at searching for obscure products, but she loves it. It’s like a sport to her. Give her a challenge, and she won’t give up until it’s found. She knows popular shopping and research sites so well, so she knows if she’s more likely to find a product at overstock vs. ebay, or if zappos.com would be more likely to carry a product vs. an online boutique. She is great at determining whether resources are reputable, and she knows how to confirm the authenticity of “internet fact.”

My mom also wanted to make a little bit of extra money on the side. She’s not interested in starting her own multi million dollar business, she just wants some extra shopping money (which she always spends on her grandkids), and she wanted that money to come from something she enjoys doing.

While I’m writing this, it sounds obvious that this could be a marketable skill, but when I suggested that to my mom, she was shocked. Proficient online searching online, in her mind, is so simple that people would never be willing to pay for it. I begged to differ. A simple matter of placing ads on fiverr, elance, odesk and other similar sites quickly showed us that it genuinely is something people will pay for. I liken it to someone hiring a personal shopper.

We’re in the middle of setting up her new site, searchiest.com, to further market her abilities to keep things a little more organized. Let us know if you have an obscure product you need found

All this brings me to my point, I love hearing what people are passionate about, and if they have an interest in putting some work into because they want extra income, I really enjoy helping them come up with a way they can make that happen. I then enjoy helping them break that process down into manageable steps which will help them earn money from their hobbies.

I intended to give several examples of how I’ve done this, but this post became a little too long! I’ll continue to post other examples of times I’ve worked with individuals to get their businesses going in future posts. In the mean time, I’d love to hear from you.

Do you have a desire to earn extra money from home, but aren’t sure where to get started? Do you have something you love to do, but can’t see how it could possibly be turned into a marketable skill? Please let me help. Humor me and let me do what I enjoy doing! Send me an email, or leave a comment, and let’s start the conversation. Tell me a little about yourself, what your money making goals are, and what you enjoy doing, and let’s work together to see how you could start to earn extra money from home.

I can’t wait to hear from you!

Right?

Not so much.

Affiliate marketing really is work. It can be hard work too. Even though it may not result in enjoying cocktails on the beach after a few hours of work, it really does have huge benefits. You can read more about this in my next post about the benefits of Affiliate Marketing.

Affiliate marketing is a huge business piece on the Internet. It is a cooperative effort between merchants and an affiliate’s website. For many years now, affiliate marketing has proved to be a cost-efficient, measurable method of delivering long-term results. It has become famous for Internet sites who are trying to make some extra or additional income for their site. Every day, people get interested to affiliate marketing and want to make money out of it. But in many cases, these new affiliates do not fully understand the affiliate world and make costly mistakes.

In affiliate marketing, an affiliate is either compensated for every visitor, subscriber and/or paying customer provided through his efforts. The said compensation may be made based on a certain value for each visit. The most attractive aspect of affiliate marketing from the merchant’s viewpoint is that no payment is due to an affiliate until results are appreciated.

Publishers = Affiliates themselves.

Merchants = Those who provide the products for the affiliates. The merchant is any web site owner that wants or desires to take advantage of performance based marketing. The benefits to the merchant are many. The merchant maintains and operates the affiliate program (unless they hire an OPM) As an affiliate, I believe the best merchants are those who provide materials for their affiliates. I love when I come across a merchant who provides tweets and articles for me to use to promote their product or service. It makes my job so much easier, because they know their product much better than I do!

Affiliate Networks = Affiliate marketing is typically run by affiliate networks. The affiliate network acts as a third party between the merchant and the associated affiliates. The network provides the technology to deliver the merchants campaigns and offers. The affiliate network also collects commission fees from the merchant and then pays the affiliates which are part of the program.  It’s nice to have these, because I can find many merchants in one place. Typically though, merchants that work with affiliate networks already have lots and lots of affiliates, so the competition is higher. I like finding merchants who have not been discovered by other affiliates yet!

OPMs = Outsourced Program Managers. These companies provide an individual manager for each merchant who helps their affiliates get results. They are nice to have around. I have worked with OPMs that have a good feel for what works well with various sites, so  they automatically have suggestions for other merchants for me. This is such a helpful service!

For example, if the site has a user base of mainly stay-at-home mothers, then on-line job openings would be a good match for them. This group would also appreciate direct links to children’s products and informational sites. Merchandisers often provide targeted, best-seller items and personal support to their affiliate. They often offer sales promotions that will benefit the merchandiser as well as the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is a great situation for both the marketer and the affiliate. If they work together, they can be an advantage to both. It is easy and inexpensive way to start, and you can be up and running within a few days. But there is one thing to consider, it is how to get traffic and make your offer different than all others.

Darren is the author of 31 Days to a Better Blog. The title says it all. If you are starting out, learning to blog, this book is for you!

He has a series of other books that I am eager to dig through.

Guide to Your First Week of Blogging

The Blogger’s Guide to Online Marketing

Guide to Blogging for Your Business

BlogWise:How to Do More with Less

Each of these books has portions written by highly respected bloggers who earn their living from blogging. It’s a great place to start if you’re hoping to own an online business!

And I already know you’re a good mom. Otherwise you wouldn’t be seeking out this blog. You wouldn’t be trying to find ways to make money to help your family’s finances while retaining the ability to remain at home with your kids.

I cannot emphasize enough how strong and capable you are! Over and over I have heard from moms who “Just want to make a little extra money” for their family. Often those moms spend a huge amount of money to purchase a kit to buy into an mlm. They give one or two parties, don’t make enough to cover the initial expense, and put all of their marketing materials in the closet, never to be seen again. Argh! I want to sit these women down in front of the computer and say

“You are intelligent. You are creative. You have the ability to do so much more than just make a few extra dollars. You do not have to rely on someone else to be your upline. You don’t have to get downlines. You are capable of learning a new skill and marketing that skill to make money. Let me show you how.”

I’m not talking about those moms who find a product they are passionate about and use to sell their heart out. I know some (well, I know one mom) who has been super successful with an mlm. She loves it, and enjoys doing it. I’m talking about the moms who jump into it because they feel like they have no other options.

Why does it seem like moms have less confidence than others? I struggle with it like crazy. Just yesterday I was telling someone “I feel like such a bad mom. I’ve let my kids just do their own thing all week so I could work.” My six year old daughter asked me about it later. I told her I just sometimes feel like I’m a bad mom. She thought for a second and said “It’s just  you. No one else thinks that about you.” (I’m tempted to go off about how incredible and wise my six year old is, but I won’t)

So many of us become fearful that if we aren’t following in the footsteps of someone else, we won’t be successful in business. Or parenting for that matter. That’s why we buy so many parenting books. We tend to assume that someone else knows how to do things better than we do.

I for one, am done with that kind of thinking. I know I am driven, creative, strong, and talented. And I’m going to shout about it until you believe you are too.

Want to own your own business? Want to make extra money each month (while you’re at it, why don’t you plan on setting your sights on a LOT of extra money each month, instead of just a little?) Just do it. Write down your talents and figure out how you could charge for them. Or email them to me. I’ll figure out how you could charge for them

Can’t think of anything? Here’s some other ideas:

1. Learn WordPress and then talk about it to friends. Before long you’ll have a job setting up a simple WP site for someone. It’s SO much easier than you think. Just watch the videos from This Post and you’ll be an expert. (I know, the graphics are pretty cheesy, but the videos are awesome.)

2. Become an Affiliate Marketer. This is a little bit more difficult. Check out This Incredible Book to get started and finished in days.

3. Hit up Elance, Odesk, or Freelancer. Look around what other people are offering. List your skills. Start making money. When Dan lost his job I immediately signed up on there. I made $1000 in a week ghostwriting an e-book on one of those sites. Yes, there are thousands of people on there that offer services much more cheaply than you would, but if English is your first language, you will get preference.

4. Check out fiverr.com. What could you do for $5? Two gigs an hour is more than minimum wage!

5. You know how to tweet like a pro? Love being on Facebook? Spend some time reading about Social Media for Businesses (for example, sign up for my free course). Approach local businesses and offer to manage their social media for a fee. More often than not, they just don’t have the time to do it.

These are just the things that popped up as I’m writing. I have so many more ideas rolling around in this head of mine!

You do not have to rely on anyone else to earn money. You do not have to have an upline. You are capable of doing this on your own. Need more ideas? Stick around here long enough and I’ll pass more on!

(p.s. Don’t forget to claim any income on your taxes!)

Despite not being a computer person, like most other moms, I wanted to have a place to brag to the world about my spectacular children. I can’t recall exactly where I first learned wordpress would be a good platform, but I purchased my domain name, secured a great host (BlueHost, they’ve been the best of the best for me), and started blogging.

Before long, I realized that wordpress was the easiest way to run a website. I scoured the web for more information. I watched some of the most boring tutorials I’ve ever seen. But I learned. A lot.

As I learned, it was tough to weed out who was worth listening to and who didn’t know what they were talking about. Much of my learning came from trial and error.

Pretty soon I was making sites for my friends’ businesses. Keep in mind, I am NOT a computer person. WordPress made it easy.

The necessity was born when my husband lost his job. He was sent home with a check that would cover a quarter of our bills due. First, I cried. A lot. Then, I called my best friend and cried some more.

Then, came the invention.

We needed money, and quick

That night my husband and I “invented” a company out of thin air. We googled contracts and invoices. We registered online with the secretary of state. Then we hit the pavement.

We walked around a small business showcase, listening to pitches. We handed out business cards still warm from cranking through our home printer. People complained to us about websites that were hard to manage, or how they were held hostage by their designer. They explained they were paying hundreds a month for services they didn’t understand how to use.

We charged $500 a pop, and used their logos in the headers. This is FAR less than a designer would charge, but we’re not designers. The appeal for the business owners was the super low price. We sent the new site owners to the most useful tutorials, where they learned quickly to manage their own site. We worked with chiropractors, yoga studio owners, landscapers, fitness instructors, public speakers, and more. We stayed up late into the night, customizing the invoices and contracts from the internet. We made enough to survive the three months that my husband was out of a job.

All because I decided to learn WordPress.

Are you desperate for money? Are you a stay at home mom that would like to make a little bit of extra money for your family?

• Learn wordpress.Then talk about it.
• Watch for opportunities to bring it up in conversation,
• Tell people youcreate websites and you charge a third of what a typical designer would charge.
• When someone says “What do you do?” never answer with “Oh, I’m just a stay at home mom, but sometimes I build websites.” Instead, confidently respond with “I create easy to use websites for small businesses. The best part is that I get to do it while staying home with the kids.”

Before long someone will respond with “Really?! That’s awesome because I really need a website for my business!”  When you explain that you can create a site that they can manage, and that you charge a fraction of the price, AND that you can direct them to awesome video tutorials? You’ll have the sale in the bag. Let them pay you in installments if it’s easier for them. You will have people knocking down your door desperate for your offer.

There are thousands of ways to learn wordpress.

I’ve sought out an awesome tutorial that covers everything you could possibly know

It’s all in video format and organized into steps that will walk you through everything, from the very beginning to very advanced concepts. The videos are constantly updated when a change occurs in wordpress. You can watch them while your kids are in bed. During nap time. On your back porch while they play.

Best of all? I’m giving you backdoor access to the tutorials so you don’t have to pay anywhere near full price.

This is an affiliate link, this is part of the way I’m able to stay home with my kids. Thanks for helping me out. Believe me though, I would never exchange quality for a few bucks. I make sure that what I’m offering you is worth your money. If this is a stretch for you, please let me know, I’d still love to help.