Ahhhhh, Yes--Getting Back to Normal!

Well, the kids have been home for a little over 48 hours and all is good...

As I sit here to type this, My 12 and 11 year old sons are here in the living room (where I am) and they are using their Dad's old keyboards--on LOUD! Each keyboard is playing a different pre-programmed song--along with each boy adding their keystrokes and sound effects to it as they try to "out play" each other, my toddler is whining/crying because he wants a turn on the keyboard, 2 of the dogs are wrestling/playing just 2 feet away from me, 3 cats have taken turns walking/crawling over me and my keyboard, my daughter just snuck in the front door and ran past me as she is hiding from her younger brother who is still running around outside looking for her, my husband was cooking chicken outside on the grill but just walked in saying the grill ran out of propane and the chicken is only 1/4 of the way cooked, and I just finished giving my toddler a bath because he decided to play in the toilet...am I forgetting anything? Oh yes--I'm so glad the kids are home and things are back to "normal"! :)

WAHM's, Too Busy To Market? Here Are 3 Tips

by Debbie LaChusa

One of the biggest challenges work at home mom's face is time management. Finding the time to get it all done, with the demands of business and family, can be a big challenge.

This is especially true when it comes to marketing. In fact, marketing is usually the first thing to get put on the back burner, when a work at home mom gets busy.

Is Lack of Time Making it Difficult to Market Your WAHM Business?

After all, if you're swamped with sales and clients, marketing isn't usually your top priority, right?

Well, actually, marketing should always be your top priority. It belongs right up there with servicing your clients.

Because if there are two things that will make your business successful for the long run, it's happy satisfied clients (they buy more and they refer their friends) AND a marketing system that continuously fills your business with new prospects.

So how do you stay on track with your marketing, when you get bogged down with running your business and tending to the needs of your family?

Here are 3 Tips to Help You Stay On Track With Your Marketing

Tip #1: Make sure you have a Marketing Plan.

When you have a marketing plan, you don't have to re-invent the wheel every time you need to implement a new marketing activity. All of the "heavy lifting" is done when you create your plan. This makes implementation much more efficient.

Tip #2: Create a Marketing Calendar

In my 10stepmarketing System, we create a marketing calendar where we map out all of our marketing activities for the year. This calendar becomes the roadmap for the year and is an easy way to stay on top of the marketing you've committed to. It effectively becomes your marketing "to do" list.

Tip #3 : Schedule Time for Marketing Activities

Schedule time in your calendar, day-timer or PDA for all of your marketing activities, just like you schedule time to meet clients, pay bills, and pick up your kids from school.

By scheduling time, you make your marketing a priority and eventually doing your marketing activities will become a part of the way you do business.

Consistent Marketing Equals a Successful WAHM Business

Has your busy schedule as a work at home mom made it difficult to stay on track with your marketing? If so, it's only a matter of time before your lack of marketing starts to have a negative impact on your business.

Take some time this week to create a marketing calendar. Then schedule time for your marketing activities, just like you schedule time for everything else in your business and family life.

Abide by that schedule and I think you'll be amazed at how easy it is to stay on track. By the way, you can use this system to better organize your family duties as well!

© Copyright 2007 Debbie LaChusa
Debbie LaChusa feels blessed to be a work at home mom who gets to spend time with her family, do work she loves and earn a great living. She founded 10stepmarketing and 6FigureWorkAtHomeMom to help other working moms do the same. To see a free "Tribute to Work At Home Moms" video and register for free WAHM tips, visit http://www.6FigureWorkAtHomeMom.com.

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They are HOME!!! :)

I am so grateful the kids arrived back home safe and sound--Thank you Lord! They were all safe during the week and all 3 of them said they had a fabulous time! The most difficult thing was all 3 of them needed to take turns as they were telling me about all the things they did during the week--things they ate, awards they won, games they played, songs they sang, swimming in the pool, the condition of the bathrooms they used, etc.

I could not sleep when they were gone! I slept maybe 3 or 4 hours at night and it usually wasn't consecutive either. I'd sleep for an hour or an hour and a half, wake up and be awake for 2 hours, then go back to sleep and so on. Last night was the first night in the last week that I actually slept!!! My stomach was also in knots all week, in addition to the few days prior to them leaving. It's all better now that they're home though!

Ok, now that they are all home, time to unpack their stuff and start on the marathon of laundry that awaits me!

Wordless Wednesday 7/18/07

LOL, he can make the silliest faces sometimes!

To see other Wordless Wednesday participants, click on Wordless Wednesday

One Legged Cardinal!

My only hobby is to feed the birds/wildlife outside, and I just love it! I really do enjoy all the visitors we get that frequent our birdfeeders.

We have a few different male cardinals that come to the feeders, and I just love their vibrant red color. The most male cardinals we've ever seen at once was in our yard...3 of them...it was just beautiful!

One bird that comes quite regularly is a male cardinal that only has one leg! I don't know what happened to him or when, but it is quite amazing that he does so well for only having one leg! I think things like this one-legged bird are really fascinating to watch. I also think it is impressive that they can still thrive and function as they go out all day long to find food, water, shelter, etc.

I missed them BEFORE they even left!

Well, 3 of my babies went off to church camp this morning! :( :( :(

It is the first time for my one and only daughter...in fact this is only the 3rd time she has slept somewhere else other than home...once at a friend's house and once at our friend's house when I had our youngest baby, and now...camp...for 5 days and 4 nights!

This is the third year for my 2 middle boys...they really enjoy going, although when they leave, it is always a "bittersweet" feeling. This is most likely their last year too since one boy is moving up and next year will qualify to be in the "youth group" at church, which will mean he'll only be able to attend the "teen week" and no longer the "junior week". And my other boy will more than likely not go since his older brother won't be there (they are 1 year apart and are more like twins than anything!).

So, I'm glad all 3 of them have this opportunity to go, but it is has been tearing me up and just killing me inside! My stomach has been miserable for the last week as I approached this time and now it is doing loopy loops at 100 mph! It is about a 3 hour ride to get there and is in a different state, so those two things don't help make this any easier on me LOL. ;)

It is just myself, my 6 year old, and 17 month old at home (with no car :( ) and my eldest 16 1/2 year old is working full-time hours this summer. I have a lot to do in my house...cleaning, organizing, etc., but this feels so incredibly strange!

Oddly enough, I almost cannot stand the quietness!!!

So, my 6 year old & 17 month old and I got busy right after the kids left and made them some cards with special drawings for each of them and quickly got them in the mailbox for today's mail. Hopefully, the kids will get these pictures/notes by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

We have this ongoing joke in our home...my 11 and 12 year old have a dog they've had for almost a year. His name is Barney and he is a dachshund/basset hound mix and he is a pain in the "you know what"! Well, lucky me, I'm in charge of this demon dog stupid mutt stubborn thing called "a dog" until they get back. He is the most high-maintenance dog I've ever had and truly is a pain in the neck...most everyone agrees as we verbalize this on a daily basis!

Well, as a joke (because my middle son at camp needs to laugh or else he'll do more crying), I wrote him a "Ransom Note" for his dog, LOL. They'll all get a kick out of it LOL. I've included our pictures, drawings, and Ransom note below for your viewing pleasure! (CLICK ON BELOW PICTURE FOR A CLOSE UP)

Here are our "nice" notes to the kids:

Annual Rocket Launch

Last night was our annual rocket launch at our church. The weather was absolutely perfect, thank you Lord!

The winners are decided by random choice...the person in charge of the rocket launch is very fair about it and makes sure the winners are not the same ones year after year. :) He hides a special color ribbon inside some of the rockets, and when each rocket is launched, the ribbons pop out and if it is the right color, that child has won.

This year they let the girls participate, as this event is usually only for the boys. My daughter won 2nd place and my 2nd youngest son won 3rd place! Here are pictures of my children with their rockets (unfortunately one is very blurry, but I cannot take another picture of him until he returns home from camp!):