Maternity Leave for WAHMs

January 24th, 2012 Genesis

I’m expecting my third son in about 5 weeks and with time speeding by, the issue of maternity leave has come up a few times. Originally, my plan was to simply pass my work on to a team of writers that I work with, during the time immediately before the birth. Since we’re planning a natural birth, it’s not very easy to plan for . . . my first two kids were 3 and 2 weeks late, so there’s no guarantee this little guy will show up on time!

My original plan has gone down the drain, thanks to a drastic increase in work recently. The main issue is that I’m not really working freelance for a bunch of people these days, I’m managing a writing team and writing for a specific company as a contractor. It’s not exactly full-time (I am paid by the project), but it does take up a LOT of my time and there is simply too much work on a daily basis to pass it all off to others.

The solution? I have no idea. How do other WAHMs manage maternity leave? I have to admit, as the main breadwinner in the family, I can’t really afford to take more than a week or two off, but even that seems pretty difficult at this point. Suggestions would be welcome!

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And the Winner is . . .

January 19th, 2012 Genesis

We have two winners today, who will receive their own copy of Heidi Garcia’s 5 Steps to Becoming a Wedding Florist! Drum roll, please . . . .

3 – Ellen

5 – Jami

Congrats, ladies, you’ll be hearing from Heidi shortly!

If you didn’t win and still want to check the course out, you can get it yourself here.

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Staying Productive at Home

January 16th, 2012 Genesis

This morning, I’m working from my living room. My 6 year old is playing Wii beside me and the nearly 5 year old is busy building Lego garages for his Hot Wheels. It’s anything but quiet and peaceful and in about 6 weeks, we’ll be adding a newborn baby to the mix. So, the big question is, how do you stay productive amidst the craziness when working at home?

I don’t claim to have all the answers, so please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments!

1. Have a to do list. It is SO easy to get off track when you are constantly distracted by kids, husband or laundry, so having a list of what you need to get done is essential. I usually divide mine into “Must Do” and “Should Do” so I know what is priority. Also, making this list at night or in the early morning before the distractions start is a good idea if you don’t want to miss something.

2. Ignore the housework. I have a lot of help in this area, because my husband is usually home during the day and he takes care of the basics like washing dishes, sweeping and mopping. However, when he’s not around, I’ll do a quick cleanup in the morning and then leave the rest until night. The reason? You can literally clean the house all day long if you have kids messing it up constantly. Alternatively, teach your toddler to pick up after himself.

3. Plan ahead. If you know you’ll be taking a kid to soccer practice or doing a grocery run, plan for it the night before. Lay out the clothes/uniforms required, pack any items that will need to be taken and even put them in the car if possible. It’s also a good idea to have snacks prepared every morning so you can simply direct kids to the fridge instead of getting up from your desk to make something every time they get hungry. (I’ve even contemplated packing lunches for my homeschooled munchkins, to make lunchtime quick and easy!)

Your turn, what are your favorite home productivity tips?

Don’t forget to enter our contest to win one of two copies of Heidi Garcia’s 5 Steps to Becoming a Wedding Florist course!

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5 Steps to Becoming a Wedding Florist Review

January 11th, 2012 Genesis

I recently had a chance to review Heidi Garcia’s course, 5 Steps to Becoming a Wedding Florist and while I did an interview with Heidi on Monday, I thought I would also do a quick review of the course for those of you interested in this type of career.

First, 5 Steps to Becoming a Wedding Florist is specifically about weddings, but truthfully, I can see it being handy for any kind of event where a florist is needed, so you could use it in a range of business ideas. I’m not a floral type, but some ideas that come to mind include birthday parties, restaurants and conventions, among others. It’s the type of business that could easily expand.

That being said, the course is very well written and laid out. Heidi IS a florist for weddings, so she knows what she’s talking about and it shows. I’m sure we’ve all had experiences where we read a book on a business idea and it’s very obvious that the information was simply gleaned from the internet . . . that is not the case with this course. Heidi lays out the steps to becoming a florist and includes a lot of personal advice. Her tips and tricks alone make the book worth purchasing (except don’t yet, because she’s giving away two copies for free!).

In the course, Heidi shares how to get venues to work with you, tricks for ensuring you don’t mess up a big order and how she personally handles her orders, including timelines for ordering flowers and doing the arrangements, right down to tips for delivery (deliver to the bridal party first so any changes can be made in time).

The only downside to the course is the price. It’s $100, which places it a bit above your average ebook. However, you can easily build an entire career from this one course alone, so I don’t think it’s an unreasonable price at all. As Heidi points out, you can and will earn this back in your first order, since weddings tend to be fairly big events.

If you haven’t entered the giveaway to get this course, pop over to the giveaway post and leave a comment!

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Heidi Garcia: Mompreneur Interview and Giveaway!

January 9th, 2012 Genesis

This contest is closed, thanks!

Today we have Heidi Garcia joining us. Heidi is a work at home mom who does floral arrangements for weddings . . . something I suspect many of you would be interested in learning more about. Not only is Heidi answering some of our questions today in an interview, she is also giving away 2 copies of her course, 5 Steps to Becoming a Wedding Florist. Read on for more details.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your business? I run my own wedding florist business. I work with brides and wedding venues to provide floral designs and other decor. I do everything from the brides bouquet to centerpieces on the tables and even rent chuppah’s (that I’ve DIY’ed) and hang paper lanterns! I love working with brides and getting to be an important part of such a special day in their lives! I’ve always been a creative person (DIY fanatic!) and flowers are such a fun thing to work with. :)

2. How did you get started? I started just helping out in a flower shop and a few years down the road was on the opposite coast running a floral event business. I was miserable though! My son was always in daycare, we wanted another baby and I was tired of working my rear off for an underapprecitive boss and too little pay. So I started my own business! I was amazed how well it was working out!!! We’re big belivers in living for the day and making the most out of the precious life we do have and my husband decided that he really wanted to spend some time laying on a tropical beach. That was his new life plan! ;) So, I researched many areas and we settled on the Florida Keys. I’ve had to basically start from square 1 again, but we’re building up relationships and booking weddings! Not to mention having our kids by our side 100% of the time and doing all the fun things like an island life provides!

3. What mistakes did you make starting out? What did you learn from them? I think being afraid to reach out to people because I felt like my business was so “new” and “small” was my biggest mistake. I have been AMAZED (and have even shared a recent case on my blog) at how many times I’ve found that the “top dogs” in the industry don’t put much focus/effort on such simple things as prompt follow up, friendly customer service, and such. Learning to be confident and put yourself out there is hard, but staying true to yourself and fundamental details (honesty, kindness, willingness to help) really puts your business above the rest!

4. How long have you been working from home? I have been working from home for a little over 3 years now.

5. What are your tricks for balancing family, work and life in general? It is hard! While I do show my kids that mommy has to work and they need to learn to be respectful of my time (keeping quiet during phone calls, playing nicely while I need to be on the computer, asking daddy for help while I’m in my design room working with the flowers…) I also take FREQUENT play breaks! Not only does that keep my babies happy, it refreshes my spirit too! We also make sure to take time each day of “no work”. We’ll head out to the beach or some activity, no phones/email/social media just pure family time and it’s so important for all of us!

6. How many children do you have? How old are they? We have been blessed with two amazing children!!! My husband and I had our son when I was only 17 and he is now a 7 year old rock star! I think the future holds big things for this little guy. Six years later (after almost two years of desperatly trying) we were blessed with our little girl! She just turned 1 and is quite the firecracker!

7. When do you usually work? It is so easy to stay glued to the computer and just work, work, work! I try to do as much as I can while the kids are asleep (wake up early, nap time, after bed time) but I also set a few blocks each day (depending on my workload) that I’m working. Weekends are busy as far as wedding set ups, but we don’t plan any work other than the set ups so that we can head out and enjoy the day as soon as we’re done.

8. What’s the best part of being an entrepreneur? And the worst? I think the best parts would be scheduling your own time (I plan vacations and trips around my workload, no weddings on the books? Let’s go somewhere!), being there for your kids (we homeschool, which I LOVE, and I’m so happy that I’ve never had to drop my baby off at a daycare a day in her life!), working super hard means just that much more money in your pocket (as opposed to more money in a company’s pocket and the same paycheck for you) and there’s a special feeling that comes from running your own business and being “the” boss! The worst I think would have to be taxes (it’s never fun to have to write that money away) and knowing that it’s all up to you to have money in the bank. When you live for so long dependent on that paycheck that shows up without fail every week/month it’s a hard switch in mentality sometimes that it’s no longer that way.

9. What are your plans for the future of your business? Really expanding in the Keys and getting everything to the point of the “well oiled machine” that I had in the market we were in before we moved is the big push for this year. I’m working on signing partnerships with quite a few event planners and venues which will be super fantastic! I can’t wait for everything this year has in store!

10. What advice would you give new mompreneurs? Just go for it! Who says you can’t? I really, really believe that this is something everyone can do, which is exactly why I wrote this eCourse! I feel SO insanely blessed every single day that I get to do this that I feel living any other way is just crazy! Get an idea, surround your self with others that are doing the same type of thing and stay inspired! There’s no reason you can’t succeed! (And seriously, in this day and age with Google, you can learn to do ANYTHING! ;) Hehe!)

Catch up with Heidi on her website or on Facebook, but don’t forget to enter right here for a chance to win one of two copies of her 5 Steps to Becoming a Wedding Florist! This isn’t just another course written by someone with a big idea . . . Heidi actually does this for a living and you will find plenty of personal tips and hints throughout the course. It’s far more than just a quick guide to getting a business going, it also shows you how to be successful at it and avoid many of the mistakes beginners might make.

How to Enter

To enter, just leave a comment on how your life would change if you won the course! Nice and simple. The giveaway will close on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at midnight Eastern, so be sure to get your entry in. Winners will be chosen via random.org.

Additional entries (leave a comment for each one):

1. Tweet this post – 1 entry

2. Like Heidi’s page on Facebook – 1 entry

3. Blog about this giveaway – 1 entry

4. Post this giveaway on Facebook – 1 entry

5. All of the above – 1 entry

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