Get Local. Shop Local. Support Local.

Pick 3. Spend 50. Save Your Local Economy.

Driving down small towns and looking at local shops with empty store fronts is such a sad thing. I think of that business owners hopes and dreams gone. How can we make a difference and make a change?

Stacey, from HullaBaloo Maternity and InfantWear, just blogged about a project called the 5/30 project. I have included a link to the project and to her blogpost about it below. Essentially it's saying you have the power to choose where your dollars are spent and to think about this carefully.

You can buy your maternity clothes from Kohl'ls or Target, but I bought my entire maternity collection from a small independent awesome shop in Royal Oak called HullaBaloo Maternity and InfantWear. She carefully hand-selects only the unique - from the teeny-tiniest layette to whimsical tees, funky crib bedding to rugged strollers.

She is also supports local artisans who make wonderful and special gift items. One such artisan is Anna Banana who has special events at HullaBaloo where you can get your baby or children's hand and footprints pressed into clay. Then you can choose your glaze and pick it up in the store 4-6 weeks later. This has been a huge hit for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Christmas!

What 3 independent businesses would you miss if they disappeared? If half of the employed population spent $50 a month locally that would bring in 42.6 billion dollars in revenue for the local economy.

SOURCES:
http://hullabaloomaternity.blogspot.com/2009/07/support-local-shop-local-530-project.html
http://www.the350project.net/home.html
http://www.the350project.net/media.html

At Work At Home - Design Ideas for your Home Workplace Book

At Work At Home - Design Ideas for Your Home Workplace by Neal Zimmerman

Anyone who has ever thought about making a home office or has a home office and they want to be inspired to freshen it up or maybe move it to another whole area of your house needs this book! "Over 50 million Americans, the place the call work is home. While many home workers and telecommuters sit at a desk and computer, many other work in artist's studios, sewing rooms, aerobics classrooms, even in tree houses."

This is an amazing book! I knew once I started looking through this book the author had to be an architect with his dedication to the details, the information, and the gorgeous color photos. It is a fresh take on home work spaces looks at a wide range of designs to suit some unique employment needs, from a day-care center to a dance studio. 300 color photos. 50 drawings.

"Whatever the work and whatever the space, successful workplaces share three basic features: They balance work life and home life, they're well planned and well organized, and they have a personal spirit about them that stimulates their owners to doe their best work."

His chapter titles and headings include: first steps, know your needs, choose your location, create the right environment, shared spaces, niche spaces, dedicated to work, adding on, a place of your own, and going public. I have checked out this book more than once and it has now move to my "I need to Buy" list and that is a very select list for me. I love books and reading books - but to get me to buy a book I need to have checked it out at the library at least 3 times and still want for it more.

This is a gorgeous and stunning book filled with beautiful photographs with every possible idea and scenario for your home office. I am moving soon to a new house and I am soo inspired by this book to design my new home office. I am going to library right now to renew it while I am waiting for my next Barnes and Noble coupon to come in my e-mail so I can buy it!


SOURCE: http://www.atworkathome.com/

Get Inspired & spend an hour at your local bookstore

I love Books, I love Libraries, I love Bookstores !

Spend an hour or two at your local bookstore checking out books and magazines about your speciality or industry. I always have a notepad and pen in my purse. Check out the latest publications on your industry and see if you can get inpsired by something you read there.

Maybe you will see a new angle, product, or opportunity you haven't thought of before. It's also great to get out of the home office and be around the energy of other people and places. Don't just go through the motions and do the same thing over and over. Get out there and get inspired by something new today.

The best businesses are the ones that keep moving forward, learning new things, and adapting to the world and its changing needs.

WAHM - Work at Home Mom? Sometimes you just need to get out of your home office !

WAHM? Work at Home Mom? Sometimes you just need to get out of the home office. Usually, I work late at night when my husband and kids are in bed from 10:00pm to 2:00am 4 nights a week. I coordinate my work and business stuff with home stuff. So, I will work on updating my web-site for 45 minutes and then take a 15 minute break (ha!) to go switch over the laundry or another domestic duty.

Today, I have been at the local Starbucks coffee shop using there wi-fi away from the house from 10:00am to 5:00pm. I started with my favorite Starbucks drink a Mocha Breve and have been flying. There are just too many distractions at home and kids that find me and need me and only me for something! I love my kids and I love my husband, but they can survive without me and mysteriously those things that they only needed me for they either figure out or dad helps them. Amazing!

So, I understand being a work at home mom and it means taking care of the house and the kids and everything else. However, sometimes you need to get out of your home office and interact with adult people and feed yourself, and have a coffee, and even use the bathroom by yourself!

So, look at your calendar in the next 30 days and schedule yourself a workday outside of the home office at your local coffeehouse and see what you can get accomplished without your household needs and distractions!

Essential Tool for your Desk = a Stressball

One of my most essential tools at my desk is a stress ball. I couldn't find one last night and I was trying to get some work done on deadline for a client and apparently I was getting a little crabby.

Somehow when I went for a bathroom break a stressball mysteriously appeared on my keyboard. Hum ? A hint from the troops?

I love having a ball to squeeze while I am thinking and trying to figure things out or squeeze when my son and his 4 friends are playing Rock Band in the next room or the baby toddler is coming into my home office for the 10th time to play with me 'cause no one is playing with him.

Yup - get yourself a stress ball to squeeze in times of need !

Mom Entrepreneur? Work at Home? How to Manage Your Business Time

Do you Work at Home? Are you a WAHM, Mom Entrepreneur, or Mompreneur?

I try and work on my business at least 4 hours a day. I set a timer and work for 45 minutes and then take 15 minutes to do a household related task like throw in a load of laundry, run up and make all the beds, clean one bathroom, wash the kitchen floor.

I have tried to do just business for hours, but the household stuff is screaming at me. I am mom first before I am a mom entrepreneur. I don't believe my family, laundry, and dinner should suffer because I have a business. It's about priorities and family has to come before business.

So, I have found that setting a timer is important - you can get a digital kitchen timer from all the dollar stores - I have two. One is for the 45 minutes of work time and the other I clip onto myself when I am doing my 15 minute household task.

Try it ! Pick a work task like checking all e-mail boxes and doing a few tweets on Twitter for 45 minutes and then do a household task for 15 minutes, then come back and do Blog posts for 45 minutes and then do a household task for 15 minutes, then come back and work on things to grow your business like press releases, posting articles to ezines, working on a proposal for a potential client for 45 minutes, then do a household task for 15 minutes.

See how good you will feel about coordinating your at home business time with your home and its responsibilities - the dishes, laundry, and dirty floors do not magically disappear because you have a business !

Working Mother

"The phrase ' Working Mother ' is redundant."
- Jane Sellman