Wednesday, February 24, 2016

My Swap.com haul….Amazing deals Hey ladies, and probably a few men too. Lol I hope you all are have an amazing day. It’s a beautiful, nearly 80 degree day here in Nor Cal and here I am stuck inside catching up on some work. I’m going to get some gardening done today, but before I go catch some much needed rays (kinda pasty these days) I wanted to share this amazing deal I had to tell you about. If you don’t take up this offer please unsubscribe to my blog because we aren’t friends. Lol Just kidding. I’m a frugal shopper but I refuse to dress frumpy. I buy cute stuff,my kids and I always dress well, we just do it on the cheap. So this is the deal of your life I’m telling you. Watch my video to see what I got and what you can to. They are also having a clearance so be sure to check that section first. You have to use these codes to get these deals… $3 for brand new Sketchers shape ups which retail for around $70…..(update try $199) Amazon prices!!!!! FREE KIDS GIFT $20 Cra-Z-Art Fun Softee dough play set with your first order using this code… GB96RRMA FREE SHIPPING ON FIRST ORDER OF $10 OR MORE!!!!!!! No coupon code required. 20% off code PLHTRHY good for 30 days

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Hustling housewife Series...#2 Making instant cash, using one popular FREE website!

For those of you who are following my blogs. I just want to say thank you! Even if you are just reading this article, I want to say thank you. It is because of you that I get these ideas and I'm up at almost 1 a.m writing blog content. I want to share what I've learned, lessons learned the easy and the hard ways. I want to show people, not just moms, that you can start a business at home. You just need to know how to avoid the scams and you need to be able to find legitimate, real money making opportunities. This blog only posts real work at home opportunities. Ones that I have either tested myself, have some kind of personal experience with or have done extensive research on. I was once in your shoes, not knowing where to start, looking for ways to balance it all, and be able to have the freedom of working at home. Ok, on with the show, enough rambling, on to #2 Hustling Housewife Series #2 Making money with...drum roll please.....Craigslist Craigslist is a wonderful resource for making money at home because there are several ways you can do this. #1 Sell stuff you don't want. Have an old dusty bookcase, or old vintage chair? Sell it for cash...today! #2 Look through the FREE section of Craigslist for things people are giving away like furniture, collectibles, clothes, household items, etc. Then what you can do is turn around and re-sell the things you got free on either Craigslist or, even websites like ebay. You might have to sand and re-paint a table or clean a sofa but it is well worth your time in most cases. You can also just drop the items off at local consignment stores. One I go to in my area takes 40% but they store and mail the checks on the 15th after items sell. It's well worth getting an unexpected check for a couple hundred dollars for something you got free. #3 Offer your services. What can you do that you can turn into cash? Can you write an article, design a website, edit a video, take some wedding pics? Are you crafty? Sell your crafts on Craigslist as well. Still not sure what you can do? Just simply browse through catergories and see what others are offering. That should inspire you in some way. So there you have it #2 CRAIGSLIST

Don't start a blog...until you read this!

I started this silly little thing called a blog when my first son was born, as a hobby. My son is now five and I have since decided to take it from "this silly little blog" to " my silly little business" ok, maybe just business.;) When I started blogging hardly anyone knew what the heck a blog was, now everyone and their grandma has a blog. So here's a few lessons I learned along the way. I think this info would be of use to a blogger just starting out, or someone considering starting one. #1 It's not all rainbows and sunshine....it takes so much work and dedication. Full time bloggers work all day, everyday. More than forty hours a week in a lot of cases. When I decided to take this to a full time business in October I also started putting about 50 hours a week into it. The thing is I didn't even realize it until I added it all up because I love it so much, to me it's not really work. I personally work til 2am sometimes. I do my best work late at night when my kids are in bed, it works for me, I say whatever times work for you, go for it. If you aren't a 9-5 kinda person, that's ok in this business. I work better at night and as a freelance worker that's ok. #2 You have to have a good support system and an understanding family. Because it takes so much time you need to manage you time well. Thanks to my supportive finance and super dad Jeff. I couldn't do it with out his help and support. He takes the kids to the park or to grab a bite on days I have assignment deadlines. You will need childcare sometimes so you can work interrupted (don't try to be supermom), something I needed to learn a long time ago (after cleaning up a room full of nail polish),as well as posting some pretty crazy posts. You have to be able to focus and working when hearing mom I need ____, is just going to leave you frazzled and of course with a crazy, messed up post. Bloggers who glamorize working at home with kids aren't being real about it, it's a challenge and a juggling act everyday, but it can be done. #3 You can't do it all yourself, even the most technical writers/bloggers need some help. There is so much work to be done. From designing your blog, to coding to affiliate links and other links like products you sell and social media marketing. You will eventually have to hire help, even if it's for a small task here and there. Trying to take on the world by yourself is just going to leave you burned out. Believe me I've been there. #4 It takes money, starting out as a money saving lifestyle blogger, I tried to start this business free. You just can't *period*. Some folks may beg to differ, but as someone who found out the hard way, trust me on this one. If you want to take it from hobby to business you have to invest some money. It really does take money to make money. You can start out free to get the feel for things, but to step it up to business, it's going to take a little moolah. Of course you can start for less than $100 to start, which is nothing though compared to what some full time bloggers make. Upwards of $10,000 or more a month. Some things you will need. You need to buy a domain...which you can buy really cheap though godaddy You will need hosting. I have hosting for this blog and my other blog mommiesfrugalfinds.com through godaddy. It's a work in progress, and will be switching to Bluehost soon, most successful bloggers have Bluehost and they also make money from promoting Bluehost. I will be eventually transferring all of my blogspot content to wordpress too. If you start on wordpress you should buy a designer template for better SEO, which basically means more visabilty. For this blog godaddy seems to be working out pretty well though, so I may not transfer to bluehost because the price is very reasonable. You can start a blog free through blogger, and you won't need a domain or a host, this is a great way to get a feel for blogging and you can always step things up down the road by getting a domain and hosting, I do recommend at least buying the domain though because it may be unavailable for purchase when you decide to take it from blog to business, which will change everything. You might not be able to get a (dot) com. #5 Blogging can be discouraging. It's hard to put your heart and soul into this business (I've been blogging five years), only to read stories like one blogger makes $10,000 a month after only one year of blogging as a single mom making $700 a month. There's no way, I'm sure someone helped in one way or another. She makes the bulk of her income from this story selling books about her life story and how her husband left her, and she went from homeless to making well over $10,000 a month. Knowing what I know about this business. There has to be so much more to this story. Like maybe her ex was a doctor and she ended up getting alimony or something, all kidding aside, it just seems pretty unrealistic, but I guess there are exceptions. One can assume or speculate, it just blows my mind when I hear stories like this because of what I've put into this business, it's not an easy business by any means. Or the story about a crock-pot blogger who started a blog and within weeks ended up on the Rachel Ray show, not knowing anything about crockpot cooking she winged it and quickly became an overnight success. In the world of blogging you hear stories like these all the time. It has made me want to quit so many times. Why do I keep going? Because I love blogging and writing and I love helping other moms, if I did it for the money I would have stopped a long time ago and went into investment banking or something. I'm not in it to make money, though it would be nice to make $10,000 a month, I'm not gonna lie. You just have to start with that mindset that it is not going to be a reliable source of income at first. You can however make other streams of income in the process. More posts on this to come. #6 Make sure your heart is in it. It takes time to make decent money blogging. If you are starting a blog for income alone. Don't start a blog at all, go into another field. Or keep following this blog for more on ways to generate more income streams and use your blog as a launching pad for other business opportunities. #7 People are not going to understand this business...I can't even count how many times I've heard "what's a blog"? Most people have no idea this is a big business, as well as a platform for other endeavors. You might have to just not tell anyone about it and work on it secretly. There is so much negativity surrounding anything where you make an income online or anything unconventional. If you tell anyone what you do you will usually get a confused or glazed over look. Just smile and move on. Don't let others opinions or misconceptions bring you down. Just keep doing what you love. #8 The competition is fierce and it's not pretty. Other bloggers will steal ideas, steal tags or titles and then every blogger in that niche has the same posts. That can be super frustrating. But I just keep going and make sure I follow all competition to ensure I'm posting unique articles and that my posts are totally different and attention grabbing. #9 In order to draw readers in you have to grab attention... you have to have a great title for posts and a reason to get someone to read it....just keep your integrity. Many bloggers sell their soul for readers. Just be yourself and be real, that will eventually shine through, making your voice unique and authentic. I would rather have my integrity and no readers than a million readers because of a title that was less than honest or using someone else's idea. #10 You will face criticism and critique and you have to be ok with this. You develop a tough skin from this business. You have to not care what others think and just be true to yourself.Blogging enables you to speak your mind, just remember to be respectful of others and realize that things can be taken out of context. There will always be someone who doesn't like what you have to say, not value your opinions or are just simply mean spirited and bored. Even these people are valuable to this business because the truth of the matter is this, if they are reading your content, you are still getting views and that ultimately leads to a higher Alexa ratings, so really even haters are helping. That's the way I look at it. #11 Never stop learning and growing everyday. I learn something new everyday. Study, read, explore, learn and ask questions. I read a lot and if there is something I need to learn (like video editing for example), I watch youtube videos or turn to my BFF google. There is always room for growth and improvement. Always strive to make your blog, and your business better.And always stay humble. #12 Most bloggers don't make the bulk of there income from blogging alone. Revenue is made from multiple sources by selling ad space, affiliate links, affiliate programs, YouTube channels, marketing programs and products like; ebooks, courses, fitness programs, printables, digital downloads, etc. A lot of bloggers also write for other websites, do public speaking do virtual assisting and other side gigs. Blogging is really launching pad for other opportunities and income streams. I'm going to be doing some more posts about this subject..the truth about blogging in the months to come. Happy blogging! More business ideas to come!

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Hustling Housewife Series: #1 How to start a blog for profit So you want a home business or side hustle but don’t know where to start? Here’s the first step. Evaluate what you like and as well as what you are good at. You should start by asking yourself the following questions.... What do I enjoy doing? What would I do free? What do I do for fun in my spare time? What jobs have I had that I really enjoyed doing? When thinking about starting a side business or full time home business you need to think about these things because if you enjoy your work, it won’t feel like work. I love blogging and writing to me it’s fun. I find myself daydreaming about my next post or ebook. My passion is helping other moms create businesses and lay down a path to self suffecienty. So back to business… How to start a blog from scratch #1 Wordpress or blogspot? You need a platform. If you are a newbie blogger and have no technical or little technical experience I would recommend blogspot which is through Google. Blogspot is very easy to set up, if you already have a Google account you just have to go to settings to set up from there. Blogspot walks you through the process. You will be hosted through blogger so there is no fee…there is also no domain and the downside to this is less visibility, but even so it is a good choice to get started and get a feel for blogging and see if you like it before stepping up. Or you can jump right in head first and go with Wordpress, now for me personally, I started with blogspot and I think that is the best way to get a feel for blogging, others might disagree. Wordpress is a little more complex but you can customize themes and make your blog look a lot more polished and professional. There are free themes that look pretty nice and you can even add social media link on some. The coding and monetizing is more complex, I had to have someone help me with mine, not gonna lie. #2 You will need a niche. I started out with a coupon blog five years ago that has evolved to a money saving and home business, well business. It is still weird saying, business. Sorry about that. It’s weird when you take your blog, from blog to business. Again, think about what you enjoy. You don’t want to pick a subject that will be boring, for you or your readers. Here are some ideas Kids/family Fashion Technology Art Crafting/DIY Home Décor Organizing #3 Make Youtube your BFF. I seriously don’t know what I would have done without youtube. Youtube is an invaluable resource for setting up a blog for the first time. If you need help setting up your blog go here. I would also be happy to answer any questions you have. You can email me @ 530shasta@gmail.com #4 Start creating amazing content. Create catchy titles and try to think like the reader and don’t forget to use tags and keywords. Try to keep your content appealing to the eye to by adding amazing pics and make the pic PIN worthy as well, more on this later. #5 Consider buying a domain. I use godaddy for domains. You an do this later it doesn’t matter, but if you have an amazing website name that you are worried someone might take, snatch it up now. Sometimes godaddy has domains for .99 be sure to check out websites like retailmenot for coupon codes before checkout to save big. Once you have your domain you can re-route your blog to your new domain. Here’s an example. I just set up a wordpress site a while ago…bringingmomshome.wordpress.com (so this means it was free and hosted through wordpress) now I bought a domain the one I wanted was bringingmomshome.com was sold so I went with bringingmomshome.org so when you now type in bringingmomshome.wordpress.com it automatically is re-routed to the new website. You can check out my theme I’m using there too. This is a free theme and I have all my social media links #6 Show me the money! Ok, so at this point you are probably thinking so, how do I make money from my blog? This is where it gets a little tricky. Ok, so here’s the thing. I wouldn’t monetize your blog when you first start. The first thing you need to focus on is great content and driving traffic. Without traffic you won’t have visitors clicking on ads or buying products and without great content they won’t even come. You need to be able to reel them in! After you have been posting consistently for a few months at least a few times or more a week then think about putting up ads. If you have google blogspot. It’s relavily easy to set up one affiliate ad network and that is google adsense. Google picks the right ads for you. All you do is go to your google blog settings to set this up. Then look into other affiliate programs that would work for your website. I use Amazon Affiliates, adsense, zulily, ebay, avon (I sell it), etsy (I have a shop), and a few others. #7 Create other sources of income! Consider your blog a launching pad for other ventures. Most bloggers make most of their money from other resources and products like, books, ebooks, courses, newsletters, emails, products they created or sell and speaking or teaching gigs as well as things like web design and business consulting. #8 Don’t turn your back on social media! After your blog is all set up, take the time to make your social media accounts that are cohesive with your blog, as in the same name, I’m so guilty of this one, I got lazy with this and paid the price. It confuses visitors if you use a different social media account than your blog. Take the time to set this up and you won’t be disappointed. Also make it a personal experience, people love to read background stories about the blogger, don’t leave this out. Make your about me page engaging and your picture professional. #9 Focus on building your email list! You can use a free mail service like Mailchimp that helps you organize emails and bring in subscribers. This is super important and something that I learned the hard way, I learned a ton about blogging through trial and error from five years of blogging. If I only knew then what I know now. Oh well, passing on the info to help other moms so they won’t make the same mistakes I did. Hope these tips help get you started, more home business ideas and side hustles to come!