A guest post from Leslie Truex of Work at Home Success, my guest for tomorrow night’s Hot Seminar Series. Leslie is The Pajama Mama and loves to inspire moms to pursue their work at home dreams.

When I began my work-at-home quest, I didn’t really know what to do or where to look.

The Internet was no where the resource it is today so my search was limited to magazines and being prospected by direct sales people in the work-at-home section of the book store. Like many people I looked for what could make good money fast.

The result is I wasted time…years… on scams and schemes that cost me money.

Today I work at home earning money from multiple streams of income. What’s the difference? Today I do what I love. It sounds pie-in-the-sky I know, but the reality is that if you want to work at home, you can’t start by looking for the quick buck. You have to start with you.

I receive email everyday asking “What is the best and fastest way to work at home?” and my answer is always the same:

What do you know how or love to do? Here’s the reality about working at home: Do what you love, invest time and possibly a few bucks, and the money will come.

That is why I’m excited to be participating in Kelly’s Summer Seminar Series on the topic of turning hobbies into money.

Taking advantage of what you already know or love to do is the fastest way to make money online. You don’t need to know how to write a book or create a product.

You just need to love your idea enough to do the research, learn what you need to do, make a plan and implement your plan on a consistent basis.

Will you be rich tomorrow? No. Will you be rich ever? Maybe.

There are certainly many very successful online entrepreneurs who have turned their interests into riches. But even better, you can make a living doing something that you enjoy or are passionate about. Gardening, cooking, antiques, reading, collecting, advocacy, and many more ideas are making money for lots of people right now.

Why not you?

I’m going to indulge myself by participating in my own meme on my own blog. I hope you don’t mind.

Why do I love working at home? Oh let me count the ways.

Max. Maximus is the sweetest chubbalicious twenty-two pound baby boy ever. When you get him out of his crib, he rewards you by patting you firmly (bam-bam style) on the arm or back.

Brody. The Brodmaster has more charm than any baby I’ve ever seen. He’s the quickest with a smile and the one most likely to giggle. He instigates smiles in others and squeals in glee when he gets them.

Piper. Piperlicious is so delicious! She likes it when you take your time and let her set the tone. When she was smaller she was one of the last to really smile - but when she did it was like the sun bursting forth in the morning sky.

Willow. Munchkin McBugface. (Her mom gave her that nickname - I won’t take credit for it!) The tiniest at birth and still the littlest of the bunch - that doesn’t hold her back. She’s the boss of the toybox - at least until the others learn some defensive measures.

I’ve been sleeping afternoons and taking care of these snuggle bugs at night so mom and dad can get some sleep since they came home from the hospital right before Christmas. At first, my son came to help and they kept us hopping pretty steady all through the night. Back in May we bumped Sean over to the dayshift because they’re sleeping a lot more at night and I found I could handle things on my own.

It’s been a blast the whole time but this past month or so has been magical. Each one wakes up once during the night and I get to pick them up, all sleepy and snuggly and give them a bottle then put them back to sleep. Usually they don’t even bother cracking open an eye.

Sometimes one or another will wake up more often and be a little more needy - and that’s ok. That’s what I’m here for - to meet needs!

Soon enough they’ll start making it through the night and I’ll find myself out of a job as night manager on Quad Watch. But until then - I’m treasuring each night.

Working at Home Makes This Possible

A friend told me yesterday that she is amazed at how I have been able to put my life on hold to be there for my niece’s family. I understand what she’s saying - but I haven’t put my life on hold at all. THIS is my life.

Yes, I’m sleeping at odd times - but my business is motoring along at a great pace despite working fewer hours.

This is the beauty of being your own boss, setting your own schedule and creating a business that runs without you much of the time.

Show me Your Who and Why!

Why do you love working at home? Let’s start a second leg to the Why I love to Work at Home Meme. Grab this meme image, write a post to share your why (with pics of your who!) on your blog and link back to this post so that we can all see

I’ll draw a few winners at random from all those who participate this week and give them each a $50 gift certificate to Mom’s Talk Biz.

When I launched Work at Home Moms Talk Radio in November of 2003, I had never heard the word ‘podcasting’ before in my life. WAHM Talk Radio was born as an on demand internet radio show. This means I uploaded an Mp3 to the website and put up a small windows media player on my website so that visitors could listen or download.

My learning curve was gigantic! I had no idea how to make put audio up on the web, no clue how to record a telephone conversation, no experience with editing audio files, etc.

Wobbly First Steps

If you have been around me long enough to listen to those first shows - I apologize I had more enthusiasm than skill and I was using all the wrong tools.

I figured things out eventually. I acquired better tools which made a big difference. I grew in experience and produced better sounding programs.

It wasn’t long before some of my friends started to ask me for help in creating their own internet radio shows. I was glad to help too. It was fun to share with others what I worked so hard to learn.

Eleven months after my first show, I read a blog post about podcasting and quickly set WAHM Talk Radio up with an RSS feed. It’s been four and a half years now and I still love doing my weekly show.

I know that the radio show/podcast is the main reason I’ve experienced as much success as I have and I continue to be enthusiastic about seeing other work at home moms and entrepreneurs get involved.

Every WAHM Can Benefit from Podcasting

I really believe that. One way or another, a work at home mom doing business on the internet can use podcasting to:

• Establish expertise
• Reach new potential clients
• Improve customers relationships
• Share information in a new medium
• Market themselves creatively
• Develop partnerships
• Be found in more places

I’ve had some great conversations with internet marketers who have a strong interest in the concept of podcasting but feel stalled as to how to get things rolling and fear that they would not have enough to say to keep a podcast going in the long term. If you would add yourself to this group, I would like to encourage you to check out my upcoming learning course being offered through our new SparkplugU.

There are actually two courses being offered. The first is all about developing your plan for a new podcast or developing a plan to improve on you already have. As a group we are going to work through our ideas, goals and vision for our own podcast. By the end of four sessions, you will have a plan to move ahead with.

The second course will get into the nitty gritty of podcast recording, editing and publishing. This is for the DIY podcaster.

Quit Yer Dollygagging

I’ve been behind the times on a few things in my business. I waited too long to start affiliate marketing. I waited too long to start my own mailing list. I’m darned glad I was ahead of the times in the realm of podcasting because it helped me to make up for what was lost in those other areas.

If you’re worried that you’re ‘too late’ to jump into podcasting, put that thought out of your mind. Podcasting isn’t the shiny new apple that it was a couple of years ago so you may not hear as many people talking about how it’s the next big thing - but that shouldn’t be taken to mean that podcasting is ’so last year’ because it isn’t.

Podcasting is here to stay. Listenership is growing day by day with the number of portable listening devices being sold. Every people group is out there looking for audio to download for their iPods and they are thrilled when they find niche content just for them.

If you know in your gut you should be podcasting - take my class and let’s get it rolling

Another Work at Home Moms Profile for you to be inspired by.  This week I’m introducing you to the endearing Vera Raposo of Small Business Branding.

Vera, when did you first decide to look for a way to work from home?

I really was in a place of working every single day of my life, I basically got 3 days off per year due to retail  store hours and owning my own business meant being a slave to it. My day often started around 8am, and lasted until 10pm, especially at Christmas these hours were often extended and owning 5 store locations, I had just had enough after 12 years.

How did you sort through your ideas for a work at home business?

I initially came across Alice Seba, and started generating ideas there. I wrote down everything that I was most interested in and decided that scrapbooking would be it for me. I love scrapbooking and everything about it. I love to write and share my stories in my albums so I know my children will have things to look at in the future as they grow up. Scrapbooking seemed like a nice fit for me, so I went for it.

Where did you look for inspiration?

Initially only knowing Alice and her site, I’d often check out internetbasedmoms.com then as time went on I joined Mom Masterminds where I started knowing very little, at this point I think I had only ever created 7 web pages.  I grew to really enjoy learning at Mom Masterminds and realized that this was THE place for me.  Even today, I get inspiration from the many moms inside MM who are not only growing their business, but totally thriving in it.

Is there anything that you’ve tried that you would say didn’t work for you?

I wouldn’t say there was anything that didn’t work, most of it has. I think the main thing I could say what didn’t work was the constant purchasing of ebooks to learn a new technique, and expecting it to work right away. A technique is just a technique, an idea is just an idea.  You need to develop a process of things that will get you to where you want, thankfully I know this and work on this daily.

What do you love about what you are doing to work at home today?

Oh Kelly, this brings me to tears. I spent so many days and nights away from my children, I will never get back that time.  I love the fact that I am here with my children now day in and day out, spending very special moments with them during each day. I can tuck them in at night, I can kiss them when they are hurt, and I can support them in what makes them happy. Now at ages 15, 12, and 6, I am realizing how very fortunate I am today to have this opportunity of working online.

How are you applying Web 2.0 tactics to your business?

I probably don’t focus enough on Web 2.0 things but for now I love spending time on Twitter, I enjoy building relationships on Facebook, I’ve hooked up with lots of people from even elementary school, very cool.  I’ve spent some time creating pages on Squidoo and even had a virtual assistant do some for me.  I recently joined Linked In, but other than that not alot.

What are your hopes for the future?

I hope to build a business that is thriving over and above anything my 5 retail stores ever did so that I can donate and be a part of ministries that I’d like to contribute to.  But mostly, to be happy and live life to the fullest, thankfully this internet business that I have allows me to do all of this.

What advice would you give a new work at home mom?

Stop looking for opportunities to happen, and start creating them for yourself.  Keep looking forward, don’t dwell on finances, think of what you want to create and build for your future.

Also, get plugged into a group that will help you at a much faster pace, I welcome you to join us all at Mom Masterminds, we are truly a family there and I visit there still almost daily.  Don’t get sucked into hype filled messages, the key for me is listening only to a handful of core mentors. Also realize that this is a real business, not a play thing that you’re going to try out for now, you’re putting time and effort into building something very real.

Twitter is my virtual water cooler of choice.  I love the social and business interaction that takes place.  As it has grown, the chatter moves faster and finding a place to jump is has become more challenging for newcomers.

I find it easy to get comfortable in the circles I’ve already developed.  With over 700 followers at this point, there’s a lot going on in my timeline and I can’t always respond to everything I’d like to - but I see others with three or four times that many followers who consistently greet new followers and bring them into the conversation.

So I’ve made a list of ways that I plan to be more friendly on Twitter.

1. Greet new followers with a reply and mention something about them. (@newfollower Thanks for the follow! I see that you’re a VA - great business to be in!)
2. Make it a point to encourage new Twitter users who have followed you by asking them questions about what they do. (@newbie Tell me something fun you did today.)
3. Recommend a fun Twitter user to your followers. (I’m enjoying tweets from @funperson - give her a follow and see what I mean!)
4. Don’t send all your compliments by direct message - use a reply so that others see you complimenting them in public.
5. Tweet about a good blog post you found on Twitter. (Good blog post about working late by @goodblogger - http://www.url.com)
6. Take time to reply to more tweets on a daily basis.  Sometimes we smile at a tweet but don’t act on it.  Replies help to widen circles on Twitter as your followers spot someone new that you follow and they don’t.
7. Create a blog post that highlights your favorite tweets of the week on a regular basis.
8. Create a blog post with a list of Twitter users who regularly provide value on a particular niche topic.
9. Introduce a new Twitter user to an older Twitter use you think they have something in common with. (@newtweet did you know that @oldtweet also dreams of going to Paris on vacation?)
10. Promote other Twitter user’s resources on a regular basis. ( This is an awesome list of tips that @cooltweet keeps updated each week: http://www.url.com)

Have any ideas you’d like to add to the list?

Work at home Moms Tracy Roberts and Crystal Unrau have just launched a new project, Moms in a Blog.

Tracy and Crystal are a great example of work at home moms taking advantage of everything that Web 2.0 has to offer them.  Tracy lives in the US and Crystal lives in Canada.  They’ve never met but they share a strong interest in moms, blogging and building something big!

By creating a busy community blog they plan to build an income through selling advertising and affiliate marketing.

Moms in a Blog features several mom bloggers who will be writing on specialized topics.  One of these writers just happens to be my niece, Tracy Jo, mom to five year old Macey and nine month olds Max, Brody, Piper and Willow. (My precious Quad Watch!)  Not surprisingly, Tracy Jo will be writing about infertility, high risk pregnancy, preemie babies and raising multiples.

Other than posting pictures and brief updates on her family blog, Tracy Jo is a brand new blogger and I’m so proud to welcome her to the web!

I hope you’ll pop over, subscribe to their RSS and post a comment congratulating them on their launch

I have decided I only have so much attention to go around and that some people just shouldn’t be paid attention to.

The mesh of the web presents us with a puzzle of little pieces of people and my thoughts can’t help but try to assemble the individual puzzle pieces. Usually the puzzle pieces makes sense or at least all seem to belong to the same puzzle.

Sometimes though there seems to be more than one puzzle in the box if you know what I mean.

I run out of patience with people who are incongruent.

A definition for you: “Made up of parts or qualities that are disparate or otherwise markedly lacking in consistency:”

On a blog she’s one person.  On Twitter she’s something else.  On Facebook shes something else entirely.

Does she even know who she is?  Is she in the process on reinventing herself?

I don’t know - I’ve lost interest.

Compare that to the person who presents one message all the time.  There’s no doubt about who she is and what she does.  The puzzle fits together.

I feel comfortable networking with her.  I feel that I can safely refer others to her, knowing she won’t flake out in the midst of her next recreation.  I’m open to joint ventures with her.

What does your puzzle say about you?

Deb Ng of Network Blogging Tips posted about a gal who tried to cheat Web 2.0 tactics.  You’ve got to go read the post now so that you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I’ll wait.

(Sipping coffee)

Back?  Ok, good

What do you think of something like this?  I am flabbergasted that someone would even try something like that.  Don’t they know how easy it is to see IP numbers on blog posts?

I don’t know who Deb is talking about and I’ll admit my curiosity is high - but I respect her not revealing the name in the post.

If I did know who she was, or worse, if she is someone I ‘know’ online - I’d probably have a hard time forgiving her lies and deception.  I can’t stand it when people try to cheat the system.

A little shameless self promotion if great.  As an internet marketer I welcome messages from other about what they do.  I’d much rather hear you say that you think you’re great than think that you’d pretend to be someone else who says you’re great.

Social Networking invites interpersonal communication and I love that.  I treasure it!  In my opinion, it’s an major faux pas to use these open lines of communication to lie and deceive a person or a community.  It’s something I consider unforgivable - unless the person who tells the lie makes it right by confessing and telling the truth.  (Which almost NEVER happens.)

What do you think?

It’s the beginning of the month which is generally a very happy time for me as an affiliate marketing mom.

Why? Many affiliate programs payout in the first five to ten days of the month!

That means money, honey!

Affiliate marketing is the icing on my cake.  It’s the custard in my long john.  It’s the cream in my coffee. It’s that ‘oooh, that’s nice!’ that comes from something a bit extra added in just about every situation.

I am involved in affiliate marketing from both sides.  I’m an affiliate for a large number of programs offering products and services that work at home moms need.  And I’m a mom affiliate program owner, offering products for moms that others can market for a commission.

As an affiliate, finding a great program to promote can be challenging.  As an affiliate program owner, connecting with great affiliates requires a lot of work. Well, help is on the way!

Moms Affiliate Expo is a virtual event coming up in September 2008 which will bring mom affiliates together with the affiliate programs they need.  It’ll be like bringing chocolate and peanut butter together! Mmm-mm good!

I need your help making it a success!

If you participate in an affiliate program that would be perfect for moms, it would be great if you would send the program manager an email inviting them to check out the expo site with an eye for getting an exhibitor spot.  You can even grab an affiliate link for the site and earn a commission on the listing if they do sign up.

I also want to reach moms and encourage them to visit the site and sign up for the mailing list.  We will be giving our subscribers some pretty amazing free resources in the coming months - including an exclusive interview with Super Affiliate Alice Seba - without a doubt the most successful affiliate marketing mom I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.

So if you have a mom blog, if you wouldn’t mind telling your readers about the expo site - I’d be so appreciative.  You can use an affiliate link there as well, even though there is no cost to attend the expo the sessions will be recorded and sold later and since our affiliate program has a lifetime cookie, you could earn in the long run.

Then you’ll be celebrating at the beginning of the month just like I do!

As a work at home mom, you are the keeper of some very cool information aren’t you?

Moms love to share their advice and skills with others. Most do so freely on the web via blogs and forums. Some realize that their experiences and wisdom has true value and create information products or offer specialized coaching and consulting services.

The next step after that, one that only a few have taken is to launch a paid membership site where information is shared on an ongoing basis.

I have been co-coach in a membership site since the summer of 2004, it’s called Mom Masterminds. (In fact, we’re celebrating our fourth birthday this week!) MM has been an awesome experience for me and most importantly, very profitable.

Several internet marketing mom friends of mine have launched paid membership sites for a variety of niche topics, products and services:

• Alice Seba & Mila Sidman launched All Private Label Content
• Alice Seba launched Outsourcing Sweetie and the Sweetie Saturday Report Club
• Michelle Waters launched Product Sellers Club
• Melody Spier and Kit Singleton launched Virtual Assistants Mavens
• Lynette Chandler & I launched Easy Internet Survey
• Vera Raposo launched ScrapventurePro.
• Crissy Heron Gipson launched Quick and Easy Newsletters
• Alice Seba launched
• Melissa Ingold turned Special Report Club into a paid membership site.
• Jenn Cangelosi & Heidi Marshall own Toy Auction Profits and Boutique Bargains
• Nicole Dean & Darina Loakman launched Shelancers
• Arika Liddiard launched Yummy PLR

If you’re interested in exploring ideas for creating your own paid membership website, I have two recommendations.

First, Lynette Chandler and I have just released Membership Site Intensive as a self study product.

Second, Jimmy D. Brown has just re-opened doors on his Membernaire program.

I adore Membernaire. Even though I’ve been running a successful membership site for four years and have helped other launch their sites, I signed up for Jimmy’s course because he’s so freakin’ awesome and I knew I’d learn more from him.

He teaches a ‘fixed term membership’ program that anyone can take an use to develop a membership program of their own. I’m so enamored with it that I have used his teachings to launch me latest membership site: Blog Evangelists.

Blog Evangelists is a 12 month membership program that will teach members how to launch a local blog design company and teach local small business owners how to make use of Web 2.0 tactics.