Work at home moms - aka WAHM

'Work at home moms' - also known as 'WAHM' is an extremely popular search term on the internet, and it's a phrase that is used to describe anybody who is balancing childcare with trying to bring in an income from home, including dads and, these days, grandparents too.

I will use the term 'work at home moms' here (rather than the UK version 'mums'), simply because it's what most people search for and what you should search for if you're looking for WAHM resources, advice and tips on the internet ... even if you're a work at home dad!

Make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page and download my free e-book guide to being a work at home mom ... it'll save you a lot of time and effort if you're setting up or running a home internet business.

What's unique about WAHM businesses?

The reason that specialised resources are created for work at home moms is because they have a very unique home working situation:

• There will be a toddler - or toddlers - around in the house while they're trying to work.
• They will have to fit work in around school or nursery times, so the day might constantly be interrupted.
• The need to work could be more pressing because there are children on the scene ... money might be tighter as a full-time income might have been lost.
• There is no office any more and the boss is often knee-high! Workspace might be a table shared with a painting toddler ... not the ideal combination.
• Work at home moms are often on their own in the house, without adult company, so it's important that they hook into online support forums or get involved with other WAHMS in their locality.

In spite of the practical problems involved in juggling childcare with a home based computer business, there are many advantages to being a work at home mom:

• Farewell to the morning rush hour - no more traffic jams!
• Reduced, or zero childcare costs.
• You create your own schedule.
• No suits and shirts to prepare for work ... t-shirt and jeans is fine.
• You get to do the school or nursery run everyday.
• You're around if your child is ill and can't go to school or nursery.
• You get to balance work and home life.
• You can listen to music or the radio - even work in front of the TV - and nobody will ask you to 'turn it down'.

How do you become an organised work at home mom?

The trick to being a successful WAHM is to get the balance right so you don't end up looking like the hassled mum in the picture on the left.

I work part time and schedule my 'at home' days so that I'm working in an empty house for most of the day.

I take the kids to school and pick them up, but come 3 o' clock I'm getting drinks and snacks ready for three kids (and a wife!), going to school, bringing them home ... and my work rate must reduce by at least 50% in the two hours between home time and tea, as the house is noisy, I'm constantly being disturbed and it's much more difficult to focus.

At work, I get my head down at 8am, come home at 4.30pm, and the only disturbances I get are work related.

So how do you make home working more like working in the office?

Here are my top 5 tips:

• It's all boils down to organisation ... and lots of it! You'll know plenty about that already if you've got kids. Plan your workday - around school, nursery, naps - whatever your home routines, look for pockets of time where you can get your head down and work.
• Plan your working day ... you can be thinking it through while you're stacking the dishwasher, polishing the shoes or ironing the school uniforms. What's the next thing you need to do and how will you do it? By the time you sit down, you will already have organised yourself and what you plan to do.
• Create a workspace for yourself, and make this a priority of getting organised for home based employment. You don't need a big leather office chair and walnut desk, just a small space that you can call your own. PC tables and chairs can be bought together for less than £50 these days, but if you can't afford that or find the space, make a rule that the kitchen table is 'mine-only' at certain times of day.
• Focus on what you're doing. This is more important for work at home moms, because they already have more distractions to begin with. Don't check your emails every 5 minutes, or see if anybody wants to be your friend on Facebook. Those are the sorts of job you can do around the children, perhaps while they're busy drawing a picture or watching a favourite programme on TV. Work on the task in hand and focus on getting it done.
• Don't do it alone, get some support. It's difficult running a business when you're its only employee, but don't struggle on without help. Find an online forum that suits you and get involved. Ask for - and offer - help, tips and advice. You might even be able to meet some local work at home moms and set up something locally.

Before you know it you'll look as calm as the lady on the right!

Well, maybe not all the time, but that's what's unique about WAHM work ... you have got be, above all things, completely flexible.

I don't manage it all of the time - it's a constant struggle to create a balance - and that leads me to my two big tips for work at home moms ... things you can do to increase your chances of success when you work online and have to balance children with earning an income.

Big WAHM Tip 1: Become an infopreneur. Pardon? An infopreneur is a person who writes about things that they know a lot about. They don't sell products or have customers constantly calling them on the phone.

They create a niche website, focusing on a hobby, expertise or area of professional knowledge and experience, they turn that into an info-packed, website, then monetize it to generate an online income.

You can start and stop writing at any time, the phone won't ring with a customer in the middle of 'In the Night Garden' and you can even build a proper business by giving up as little as 1 hour of TV time a day - possibly even when the kids are in bed.

Don't think it can be done? Download my free e-book below ...

Big WAHM Tip 2:

Work on the web - simple as that!

You can take your laptop - and therefore your business - wherever you go.

Your business start-up costs are minimal, the space you require to work is tiny.

An online business can be tailored to work around any lifestyle, and you can create a money-making enterprise aroound 1 hour a day or 80 hours a week.

The choice is yours and you can change how you run your business at any time ... no staff to lay off, no premises to sell, no old stock to offload.

To find out what other opportunities are available for moms take a look at themomtree.com.

You can read stories about work at home moms who have successfully managed to build successful online businesses in my free e-book download.

This guide will explain exactly what you need to do and how you can organise your time to create an income generating web business.

Imagine being able to enjoy total flexibility and create the income you need on the web ... read on!

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Click here to download 'The Work at Home Mums Masters Course'.

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