Golden Ticket Blogging: Blogging for Profit Made Simple

Blogs are the well from which all varieties of money-making opportunities flow: therefore, swarms of people are blogging for profit. Blogs are not only used to market and sell, they are also used to empower, create, express, attain social awareness or even just vent. Blogs are the great equalizer, giving voice to big companies and small newbies alike. Here are some strategies on blogging for profit. 

Blogging for Profit Tip #1 – Develop your unique voice. There are so many blogs doing the same, commonplace old thing that readers get bored. Present them a dose of your personality by introducing your personal style. By the way, blogging isn’t just writing, it can be audio, video, social bookmarking, or pictures. Ideally, your blog will unite several different styles of consumption to appeal to different people. 

Blogging for Profit Tip #2 – Blog everyday with hard-hitting substance. This means 5-7 times a week, at least.  It also means giving readers content so juicy, so helpful or so mind-boggling, that they beat down your door for more. This turns traffic into repeat traffic. Repeat traffic tend to trust and respect you more, and will be more likely to buy from you.

Blogging for Profit Tip #3 – Drive traffic to your blog. If blogging for profit is the well, traffic is fortunate rain that fills it. There are many strategies to drive traffic: article marketing, SEO, PPC, social media, banner advertising, co ops, viral marketing, etc. If you are new to driving traffic, I suggest you pick a strategy that you are most comfortable with, acquire it, dominate it and move on to the next one. For some strategies, you may want to devote someone else to do it for you. Just stick to a budget and don’t waste too much capital on your blog before you know what works or not. 

Blogging for Profit Tip #4 -  Publicize on your blog. Once you have all this outstanding content, that drives traffic to your blog, you now have leverage to monetize your blog even further by putting advertising on it. You can either use Google Adsense, or rent banner space to other blogs or websites. You can use affiliate marketing and get banners from Clickbank or Amazon and market products your readers might like to purchase. The sky is the limit!

Blogging for Profit Tip #5 – Join paid blogging networks. You can also pull in money by writing your reviews on different products and services offered online. A roundabout way to do this would be guest blogging or commenting on other blogs, linking back to your blog. People visit your site, and start following you.

Blogging for Profit Tip #6 – Get email addresses. Put a form for people to sign up for updates or newsletters. Sweeten the deal by offering a free report, free audio, or free ebook. Email lists are another valuable ticket for internet marketing, so treat it as such. Put out great updates, promotions, etc. Don’t forget to remind them that they signed up for your list, so they are less likely to complain about spam. Also give them an easy way to opt out.

Just think it will take a lot of work, discipline and consistency. If you are prepared to do this, then you can really make money blogging for profit.

If your goal is to have the potential to make more money than you ever thought possible, click the button and begin a journey that will take you places you’ve never dreamed you could go.


The Right Attitude to Setting and Achieving Goals

If you need to be really successful in setting and achieving goals, then you need to acquire the right daily practices and attitudes that will keep you on track. There are too many habits and details to mention, so let’s focus on the main habits that you need for setting and acheiving goals. 

Work Your Arse Off for Setting and Achieving Goals

There will be early daybreaks and late nights. You will be spent. You will question why you started in the first place. Yet, you will keep working hard for setting and achieving goals. Remember, there is no single notable person ever who soared to great heights in life without working like a slave. Massive action means performing better, studying more and sacrificing more than anyone. You have to understand the importance of delayed gratification and own it. Start by nailing down essential tasks, adjusting your schedule, writing down tasks and functions of the day and finding the right people and resources that can assist you. Keep in mind that you have to be as independent as possible to finish more in the long term.

Disciplined Consistency and Consistently Disciplined for Setting and Achieving Goals

Discipline is what distinguishes the leaders from the followers. If you truly want to change your life, if you want to up your game, you must produce even if you are tired, while being excellent each and every time. Ok, maybe not totally excellent, but at least be systematically good. Notice I did not say you have to be perfect. Aiming for perfection only slows you down and is often an excuse for procrastination. You need to take action, all the time, every time. Your goal is depending on you. Don’t let it down.
 

Discipline and consistency go hand in hand, because discipline breeds consistency. If you keep going, if you aim to accomplish your everyday tasks, if you keep taking action, you will find it easier to do over time. Then, something interesting happens. You begin to change as a person. You learn and do new things, and therefore become different by default. You become better. You become more YOU. 

Proud Graduate of the School of Hard Knocks

When working on your goals, you will eat the pavement more times than you care to count, perhaps even literally. People around you may think you have gone looney. You may lose some pals. You may take criticism from people who have thrown in the towel on life and expect you to give up on yours. The toughened person always prevails in setting and acheiving goals. Also learn from your errors and turn these into more productive actions next time. Learn to pick yourself up after each fall and put in double effort to become better. The most successful people, as well as those who truly left a mark in history, are known to have faced big troubles and resistance before others understood their inner genius that brought about innovation and change the world had never seen.

Smile, SMILE Gosh Darnit!

I flex my smile muscle many times a day, even when I don’t feel like smiling. Why? It helps to get me into a positive state of mind. It is also scientifically proven to work. I read motivating quotes, watch inspirational videos on YouTube and train daily in the act of optimism. Opitimism takes exercise. Here’s a good tip: The next time a problem seems so big and scary that it threatens to swallow you up, fight it with knowledge. Get on the Internet and do research. Slay that dragon by learning its loopholes, it weaknesses and shortcuts. It might help to believe in the powers of the Universal Law of Attraction which draws opportunities toward you just the way you specify to, and in the right intensity as you sought after.

Finally, Have Patience

Some goals are very big and will take time to accomplish. Break them down into smaller goals. Do not allow yourself to think that some goals are just too huge to be possible. Be specific and set goals that are attainable to your current situation and start working to achieve those. Patience is the partner that silently keeps you going, even when you feel you are about to give up. Sometimes patience is the biggest, but quietest factor in the game of setting and acheiving goals.
If your goal is to have the potential to make more money than you ever thought possible, click the button and begin a journey that will take you places you’ve never dreamed you could go.


The Correct Mindset to Setting and Achieving Goals

If you need to be really successful in setting and achieving goals, then you need to develop the right habits and mindset that will keep you on track. There are too many habits and details to mention, so let’s focus on the main habits that you need for setting and acheiving goals. 

Work Your Butt Off for Setting and Achieving Goals

There will be early sunrises and late nights. You will be spent. You will wonder why you began in the first place. Yet, you will keep working hard for setting and achieving goals. Remember, there is no single notable person ever who soared to great heights in life without working like a mule. Massive action means performing better, studying more and suffering more than anyone. You have to understand the importance of delayed gratification and own it. Start out by nailing down essential tasks, adjusting your schedule, writing down tasks and functions of the day and finding the right people and resources that can assist you. Keep in mind that you have to be as independent as possible to finish more in the long term.

Disciplined Consistency and Consistently Disciplined for Setting and Achieving Goals

Discipline is what distinguishes the leaders from the flock. If you really want to change your life, if you want to up your game, you must produce even if you are tired, while being excellent each and every time. Ok, maybe not totally excellent, but at least be consistently good. Notice I did not say you have to be perfect. Shooting for perfection only slows you down and is often an excuse for procrastination. You need to take action, all the time, every time. Your goal is depending on you. Don’t let it down.
 

Discipline and consistency go hand in hand, because discipline breeds consistency. If you keep going, if you aim to finish your daily tasks, if you keep taking action, you will find it gets easier and easier. Then, something interesting happens. You begin to change as a person. You learn and do new things, and therefore become different by default. You become better. You become more YOU. 

Proud Graduate of the School of Hard Knocks

When working on your goals, you will eat the pavement more times than you care to count, perhaps even literally. People close to you may think you have gone looney. You may lose some pals. You may take criticism from people who have thrown in the towel on life and expect you to give up on yours. The toughened human being always prevails in setting and acheiving goals. Also learn from your mistakes and turn these into more productive actions next time. Learn to pick yourself up after each fall and put in double effort to become better. The most successful people, as well as those who truly left a mark in history, are known to have faced big difficulties and resentment before others understood their inner genius that brought about innovation and change the world had never seen.

Smile, SMILE Gosh Darnit!

I flex my smile muscle many times a day, even when I don’t feel like smiling. Why? It helps to get me into a confident state of mind. It is also scientifically proven to work. I read motivating quotes, watch motivational videos on YouTube and train day by day in the act of optimism. Opitimism takes practice. Here’s a good tip: The next time a problem seems so big and scary that it threatens to swallow you up, combat it with knowledge. Get on the Internet and do a search. Slay that dragon by learning its loopholes, it weaknesses and shortcuts. It might help to believe in the powers of the Universal Law of Attraction which draws opportunities toward you just the way you specify to, and in the right intensity as you desired.

Finally, Have Patience

Some goals are very big and will take time to accomplish. Break them down into smaller goals. Do not allow yourself to think that some goals are just too huge to be possible. Be specific and set goals that are attainable to your current situation and start working to achieve those. Patience is the partner that silently keeps you going, even when you feel you are about to give up. Sometimes patience is the biggest, but quietest factor in the game of setting and acheiving goals.
Once you got your traffic, check out the three things you can do to get people to fall in love with buying from you.


Place a Free Ad on Craigslist and Ramp Up Your Business Exposure

How do you use the biggest online free classifieds? Advertising on Craigslist is lucrative for just about any business offering products or services. Whether these are offered through ecommerce websites or physical stores, the business owners can see financial gains through advertising on Craigslist. Firstly unlike other advertising opportunities there is very little risk involved in posting on Craigslist. Except for posting job of housing ads (in some cities), advertising is free on Craigslist. Users are asked to agree to the terms of service of the community and are required to adhere to the rules when posting advertisements. Use common sense, no spamming, putting down other people or businesses and you should be fine. This means those who post advertisements don’t have to worry about whether or not the Craigslist ad posting they create will meet their expectations in terms of sales generated.

Reaching Potential Customers on Craigslist

There are so many propects you can reach with a Craigslist ad posting, that it is really a great reason to create a Craigslist ad.  Craigslist draws about four billion page views each month with ten million people using this free advertising forum each month. Based on these stats it is pretty clear that free online classifieds placed on Craiglist are likely to receive some exposure.

There are tons of visitors on Craigslist each month means the advertising possibilities are limitless. You should do some research to make sure these visitors will be interested in what your offering. Like any other marketing strategy, your listings on Craigslist should catch their attention, be informative and have a call to action.

Finding Your Target Audience on Craigslist

You’ve seen how many visitors are using Craigslist each month but the key to taking advantage of these numbers is to target your advertising in a way aimed at reaching your target audience as opposed to a wide audience of individuals who have no specific interest in your products or services. It is much more lucrative to reach a small audience of those with a keen interest in your products or services than to reach a much larger audience of those who are not interested. That small group are your target audience.

Posting an ad on Craigslist in the best locations is the key to reaching your target audience on Craigslist . Craigslist has a section for businesses to advertise their services. This section is divided into a number of categories. Those who are in computer repair would be wise to place their ad in the computer section as opposed to the babysitting section.  It may sometimes be appropriate to place an advertisement in more than one section. This is acceptable as long as it does not cross the line to spamming the section.

If your niche is not represented in Craigslist, then you have some other options. Business owners can place an ad in the section for small business ads. Alternately the business owner can email Craigslist and request the addition of a new category. They might be willing to oblige if there is enough demand for a new section.

The Difference between Advertising and Spamming

Placing an advertisement in an appropriate section of Craigslist is acceptable; however, placing the same advertisement in nearly every section of Craigslist websites for a number of different geographical regions is considered spam. Spam is ineffective for a number of reasons. All potential customers who see a particular advertisement in a number of different locations are likely to recognize the spamming techniques and be less inclined to view the ad. Also, if Craigslist detects the practice of spamming they may delete all of the postings and could potentially ban your ads and close your account.

In summary, if you are looking for other places to advertise, you really should give Craigslist a try. Be courteous, get acquainted with the rules and try different techniques. It is a perfect place to test a paid marketing strategy because you can see if your ads are working for free. Don’t miss out on this great online opportunity.  
Once you got your traffic, check out the three things you can do to get people to fall in love with buying from you.


Make money online quickly

People have discovered that absolutely anyone can make quick cash online. So, millions of people flock to the web for fast money. The reasons that people go online are night and day, but the goal is the same – they need money to pay for whatever it is that they want or need. 

There are two types of making money online – fast and slow. Slow cash has to be earned, set-up and automated, so that you can keep earning cash even when you are not working. That is the beauty of the internet – you can set up web sites that sell for you and bring in residual money. This is ideal. 

You are probably here to learn the quick way to make money. You know, you go online, put in some effort and return quick cash. You can see the desire by looking at the key word phrases being searched for on a daily basis. They are phrases such as fast money, make money fast, cnbc fast money, make money fast and easy, make money fast online and making money fast. This is only a few out of thousands of requests.

A common but effective way to make quick cash are selling items online. You can’t  just sell any old thing – you have to make sure that item is in demand. The fastest way to sell for cash is on Craigslist, especially things you don’t need around your home anymore. If you are selling broken or used items, eBay is the best way to go. Lightly used and new brand name items are great for Amazon. Combine them – buy cheaply on one and sell for a big profit on the other, and you are set. I used to go to garage sales with a scanner on my Android phone, scan stuff and buy based on how much I could sell said item on Amazon or eBay. Craigslist was great to sell stuff I couldn’t move anywhere else. If anything, take it to Goodwill at the end of the year and make extra money by claiming the tax write off for donating to a non-profit.

Making money fast online is very probable, yet a lot of people fail at it. The problem is many people just do a search and jump into the program that looks the easiest, pays the most and promises the world.  They either get scammed or they think they will make money without putting in any effort and it won’t happen. That’s why they call it work at home, because you have to do some work from home. No matter what you do, you have to do some work. And better still, you have to TAKE ACTION. Stuff doesn’t sell itself.

The reason why people jump from opportunity to opportunity so quickly is the need for fast cash. We live in a “fast” society – we want it fast and NOW. If you want to make some cash on the Internet it can be done, but you have to either do your research or use a web site that has done some research to ensure you are getting into the best possible programs. 

For more traditional jobs, there are things like Online Paid Surveys, Data Entry, Type At Home, Mystery Shoppers or Telephone Answering. This is just a few, but each one involves narrowing down your selections to just a few companies out of the thousands that are on the web. You must either use a web site or be able to spend hours researching or you are probably going to get into the wrong program. If you do the research one way or the other there is plenty of good programs, whereby you can make some really nice money on the Internet. You more than likely have the skill sets required to do any of the task required.

You most likely already have most, if not all, of what you need, such as a computer, printer, access to the Internet, word processor and spell check. If you don’t have these things, then look for something that you can do with the supplies you do have. If you have none, look for free resources where you can get started. The local library has internet access and a printer, for example. Don’t get up, but do get started. Once you get the taste of making money online there is no stopping you!

Once you got your traffic, check out the three things you can do to get people to fall in love with buying from you.


Starting a Home Based Business: What You Truly Want to Consider

If you are thinking about starting a home business, chances are that you have done a lot of research into this endeavor. Starting a home business can be very rewarding in more ways than one. Many believe that they have thought about everything that goes into a home business, only to find out that they were not aware of some very important aspects. Below are a few things that you may have forgotten that you will definitely need to address before you get started.

1. Working at home is totally different than working in an office. You have to completely change your mindset. Many people forget that there are a lot of distractions working from home. For example, you don’t check Facebook at work, because you know that there is probably somebody monitoring the network, or even the chance that your boss may catch you. At home, you think, why not? The next thing you know, you’ve wasted an hour and have nothing done. This doesn’t cost your boss money, it costs YOU revenue. When you are running a home business you will have to contend with distractions such as the television and radio. You will also have to be able to deal with any other family members that are going to be home with you. Your children may not be able to tell the difference between work time and play time. This presents a lot of problems to people that run a home based business. So you have to start running your home, as you would run a business and manage time, tasks and distractions for each one. Come up with a system to run both, or you will be running yourself, and your dreams, into the ground.

2. If you manage a home based business, you are going to need to have a lot of self discipline. You are going to be your only boss, which means that there will be nobody looking over your shoulder telling you what to do. When there is no one telling you what to do, YOU have to figure out what tasks you need to do everyday, your goals, and your vision. When everything is laid out for you by a company, it can be pretty easy to get things done. But when you have to build your own system, and bring in your income, your discipline must be both plentiful and unwavering. Most people can’t get past this, and fail before they even start.

3. When you run a home based business you are responsible for all of your own costs. Many people forget to budget for this. Remember, if your computer crashes it is your responsibility to get it fixed. You no longer have an IT team that you can call to help you. You will also be responsible for buying your own supplies when you need them. What you also have to remember to budget for is the revenue you are not bringing in while you are getting started. This is also an expense, as it is costs you money as well!

4. As a home based business owner you are in charge of every facet of your business. This means that you will not only have to make sales and take care of marketing, but you will also be in charge of accounts payable and accounts receivable. If you have the money, you can also outsource these tasks. Check out odesk.com and elance.com for help with anything from accountants, to marketing to answering phones. 

5. Home based business owners are in charge of their own taxes. When you run a home business there are no taxes being deducted from your paycheck every month. This means that if don’t want to go to prison you are going to have to pay your own taxes throughout the year. This is usually too much for a home business owner to handle alone, so you will have to hire a professional to assist you. A home business can be very profitable, but make sure that you know exactly what you are getting into before you start.

Do you know what home based business you are starting? If not, make sure there is a demand for it. This is called market research. Also think about complimentary products or services. Consider your start up costs. If you feel your business is too pricy to start, consider starting another business to raise the money. Affiliate marketing is perfect for this. This gives you great practice for starting your main home based business too!
Once you got your traffic, check out the three things you can do to get people to fall in love with buying from you.


How to Get Blog Traffic and Destroy the Competition

How do you get blog traffic and destroy the competition? You as an individual writer have a lot of advantages that the bigger blogs don’t. People are dying for new content; they are tired of yesterday’s meme, so your one-of-kind perspective on things is in HIGH demand. You are small, so once people start learning who you are and digging the awesome content you are putting out there, your traffic, following and income can only grow. If you try something and it’s not working, you have the power to change things up and try something else. Eventually, you learn the ins and outs of how to blog. With that in mind, you have think strategically. Before you worry about your competition, you have to worry about your enemy.

Who is your enemy? Who is standing in the way of your ability to get blog traffic? Well, it’s you. Your own opinions, fears, negative emotions and procrastination is your number one enemy. You must slay this dragon, because honestly, you are getting in your way of making some serious cash. What if you had a great-paying job, and as you are going to work, some jerk stood at the door to the office building and said, “Hey, why even bother being here? You know you won’t get all your work done today. Go home. Go shopping. Go do something you can actually do and stop wasting these people’s time. Ha ha! ”

Would you listen to him, go home and not collect a salary? Heck no! You would call the cops and get that person thrown in jail for harrassment. That’s exactly what you need to do. You need to call the mental cops and come take the frenemy living in your skull the heck out, because he’s stopping your from making money.

Phew! Happy we got that guy out of here! Now let’s get down to business.

<h1>Get blog traffic and put the competitor to shame.</h1>
Listed below are some valuable tips that will enable you to become a successful blogger and attract increased traffic to your blog.

Boost blog traffic Tip #1. Think of the kids…

…Or in this case, your audience, who is also your targeted website traffic. There they are, looking for something on XYZ topic, and not finding it. Suddenly, like a lighthouse in the storm, there appears your blog. The heavens open up, a smile comes to your readers face and they are blessed with the information they are looking for. What blog post are they looking at?

Web traffic is very impatient and any thing less appealing is not likely to generate any interest by the people viewing it. Blog posts that captivate reader’s mind and that are understandable, share good ranking from search engine optimizers as well as from the readers. Make sure that your posts stick to one topic and the topic should be burning and topical.
Remember to write at least one post a day to make the visitors keep coming back to your blog for more. Blog daily. Remember, even if you don’t think your content is stellar at first, keep writing anyway. That’s how you get better. We threw that heckler in jail, remember? He’s not here to tell you your content stinks. So blog like your life depended on it.

Get Blog Traffic Tip #2. Search Engine Optimization

SEO – The process of making your content look so sexy, Google, Yahoo and Bing can’t help but pick it up and tuck it right on the first page, like a trophy wife.

In order to increase blog traffic, you first should do a little keyword search. Go to Google and look up Google adwords Keyword Tool and look for keyword phrases that have around 500-1500 searches a month. You don’t want the keywords that have millions of searches every month – people will never find you. Make sure your blog posts are keyword rich, but do not keyword stuff, which means your keyword phrase appears too many times. Use it once for every 100 words or so. Sprinkle them in there.

Also do the tried-and-true steps listed here.
*Your blog URL must contain the primary keyword to increase your search engine ranking. Instead of Jen.com, try Jenphotography.com
*Primary keywords that you use in the URL should also be included in the title of your post, think babyglamorshots.html
*The body of your post should have sufficient secondary keywords. Primary phrase baby glamor shots, secondary, infant glamor shots, photograph kids, family photography, etc.
*The anchor text of links in the body of text should also contain keywords.

Get Blog Traffic Tip #3. Article Marketing

This means, that you write an article and submit it to a database of articles. Ever seen eHow.com? Those are articles written to help people, but also to drive traffic. At the bottom of the article, you are given a chance to put in your information and a link to your blog. Want to fast track? Take a blog post, change the wording in the first sentence or so of every paragraph, change the title slightly and then link back to your blog. DO NOT put the exact blog post in an article database. That will just get your hard work rejected. It will also hurt your search engine ranking. Be a good person, innovate!

Get Blog Traffic Tip #4. Advertise Your Blog

Make your posts known to potential visitors.
You can achieve this by:
*Creating a buzzword for your blog or its topic
*Introduce some complimentary gifts along with your blog’s URL and tag line.
*Write a newsworthy press release as an addendum to your blog topic.

By following the above tips you would be able to get blog traffic. The more readers you have viewing your blogs the more traffic you will generate for your website and profits.
Once you got your traffic, check out the three things you can do to get people to fall in love with buying from you.


Blogging Brings Popularity and Income: How to Write a Great Blog

You should not be thinking about how to write a blog, but also how to write a great blog. Thanks to the net, everyone will now be able to communicate and
interact with each other for free, internationally. One way to reach
out to people is through blogs. In fact, blogging
brings fame and even can let you earn extra cash if
you’re good enough.

Essentially, blogging was originally created as an
online journal or diary where people are able to
express their feelings and let other people know about
it through the internet. Today, blogging is now
considered to be one of the most popular ways for
people to interact with each other and share their
point of view about different kinds of things.

If you write about anything – your life, your opinions, your thoughts, your observations – with such conviction, or even uniqueness, blogging can definitely make you turn heads. This is how to write a great blog.

So, how can you become famous through blogging and how
can you take advantage of your blogging website that
it can generate you some extra cash?

First of all, you have to remember that blogging is
all about your voice. Get everyone to know who you are just by reading a few lines. Get them laughing, crying, thinking, smiling, and most importantly, sharing your blog. Get people to change their ways of thinking. Inspire them. This is how you essentially get
famous through blogging.

Once you get loyal readers, you can start earning some
income. Depending on the subject of your blogs, you can
become an affiliate marketer where you will include
links of affiliate products or services in your blogs. You can
also make money by selling merchandise. Brand a phrase or coin a term and
you can sell T-shirts, coffee cups, and other goodies to your adoring devotees.

In order to become famous, you need to write blog posts
that people will want to read. If you are going to
talk about your life experiences, focus on one
subject. For example, if you love the outdoors, try
writing your experiences about it and don’t be afraid
to merge reality with colorful anecdotes, observations, metaphors and even fantasies.
It is also a good idea to integrate in some edgy humor
that people will surely love reading even if they get
a bit offended.

The key to writing good blog posts is by getting people’s
attention in the title. Once you get their
attention, then the rest of the post should be written to draw them in – feeding on their curiosity, desires, ambitions or problems. When writing blog posts, you need to be
consistent and everything you write should be
relevant to the title and the opening sentences.

Once people come and like what they read, they will share, share, share! Make sure you make it a cinch for them to share by adding plugins that put sharing buttons on your post. However, you have
to remember that once you get loyal readers, they will
keep on demanding more from you. Keep thinking of how to write a great blog. Blog daily to keep your readers coming back for more.

Stay connected with your readers or potential readers through social media. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are obvious places to start, but did you know you could get valuable insight from places like Digg, Yahoo Answers, forums or even your own comments section? This will fine tune your writing to become even more relevant to them. This is how to write a great blog: in the minds of your readers, you have the answers, the perspective, or direction that they are looking for. You’ve got their backs!

As you can see, blogging can bring you esteem. If you want to
be well-known in the internet, then blogging is the best
way to become popular. However, you should
always remember that one should write good blog posts in
order to make a good first impression – and a lasting one.

Once you got your traffic, check out the three things you can do to get people to fall in love with buying from you.


Do Single Parents Contribute to Gun Violence? This Single Mom Says No!

Last night, I was watching the presidential debate. I have two toddlers, and they were bored with it and quite loud, so I heard about 40% of what was said. Each candidate was asked about what they would do about gun violence. A short while later, I heard Romney talk about encouraging more two-parent families. I agreed! After all, who would want to have their family broken up, raise a child on their own and most likely struggle? That’s what happened in my family, twice! It was very difficult for me and my sister growing up. My husband’s family, on the other hand, had no divorces (they’re Chinese) and his parents had been married for almost 45 years. We are now married, and I feel insanely lucky that my kids can grow up in a two-parent household. Browsing the Huffington Post, I saw this:

Why Mitt Can’t Blame Us Single Parents for Gun Violence

I read the article, about this woman who is a single parent. Her name is Wendy Fontaine. Her take was that Romney was saying that single parents were a factor in gun violence. She was furious. She felt insulted. She also gave me insight into the struggles that single parents face.

I know a few single parents. Most are women. In their cases, they are better off being single because they would be exposed to domestic violence or drug abuse. They all work. They have a lot of challenges raising their kids, because they have to be everything to their kids, including sole breadwinner. I really don’t know how they do it.

Wendy discussed the stereotypes that single mothers face – lazy, being on welfare and raising delinquents. I’m actually a little surprised. I thought we as a society were supposed to offer comfort and support to people in need. I’m not just talking about welfare. I’m talking about empathy. Everyone’s situation is different. Judging people just adds to the problem.

I sat down and did an exercise today that honed in on what my passions are. My passion is empowering women, especially working mothers. I don’t think anyone should have to work and leave their precious infants all day unless they really want to. Single mothers especially need to have financial freedom, but I also think they need even more. They need support. They need understanding. We need to get rid of these ridiculous stereotypes that keep people down and isolated.

The majority of single parents are doing what they can to raise good people. Let’s give them a hand, shall we?


How to Set Up Your Kids’ Naptimes So You Can Work In Peace

kids napping

We’ve all heard of the power nap, that is the process of sleeping for a spell to wake up refreshed and ready to go. When you are a work from home parent, this means getting all of your tasks done while the kids are napping.

If you have a business, you need this time to read, write, or do any other focused work. This is crucial time.

I have found a way that works for me and my kids. I have two toddlers at home and I have mastered the art of getting them to nap simultaneously, for roughly the same duration. This was no easy feat, so here’s what I did.

How to get toddlers to nap

Get multiple children to nap simultaneously.
Now, this was a little tricky. My son is a morning lark and my daughter is a night owl. For months, one would nap and the other demanded all my attention, and then a couple hours later they would switch. This was brutal. So what I did was I would get them up around the same hour. They bathe, eat breakfast, go play at the same time. See the pattern here? They did. They started napping in sync with each other’s schedules. 

Tire the tots out.
That’s right. Take them out to play, take them to the library, take them on nature hikes. If the weather is crappy, play a fun game that involves a lot of running around and laughing. Do this around the same hour every day. This serves many purposes. First, you are totally focused on them. Second, you get some exercise and stress release yourself. Third, they are already on their way to nap time!

Schedule later naps.
You should be consistent with nap time, but schedule them a little later than normal, but no longer than one hour later. This gives them time to reeeeeally  tucker themselves out. After lunch, I like to settle my kids down with a game, coloring, blocks or a movie. Then it’s off to their siesta!

Use magic words.
I tell them that it’s bedtime, whether it’s day or night. Use one or two words consistently, so they understand that it is time to go to bed and you mean business. They will either run for the hills or run for their bed. Use your words to praise them when they go to bed. Say a parting phrase like goodnight as you shut the door. They understand that this means they must sleep.

Usually they are so tired, they fall right asleep. But sometimes, they will not. That’s ok. Let them lay in bed for a while as you work.

These techniques buy me a couple of hours of peace and quiet so I can work. They won’t work for every kid, and that’s ok. Just try these techniques and tweak them until you have your strategy down.

As entrepreneurs, we are no strangers to trying different methods until we hit paydirt. Getting kids to nap isn’t always easy, but when you have success, all the effort was so worth it!