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Four key ways to earn money from home

6/29/2018

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As a stay-at-home mom, I want to do just that - stay at home! I left the world of public school teaching in favor of homeschooling so I would have more time with my children. But at the same time, life is expensive, and sometimes it is hard to make it on one salary. The wonderful thing about living in the 21st century is that there are MANY ways to earn money from home, without losing out on precious time with our families. These are the ones I have used over the years. What other categories would you add?

Provide a service

Consider your skills and training. What services could you offer to others? Can you teach private lessons in music or art, or offer tutoring in a content area? Could you lead a homeschool community, as I do for Classical Conversations? Could you teach English to children in another country, as some companies do? Could you even teach an online course for your local technical college or a university? Or maybe you are a tech-y person and could help businesses or bloggers manage their social media accounts as a virtual assistant (check out some training opportunities for this HERE!)

Become an affiliate

When you are an affiliate for a company or brand, you share about their products in exchange for a commission. The price is the same for the customer. Some of the companies I have done this for are Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, and Ultimate Bundles (referral link). (By the way, Ultimate Bundles has a Work At Home Super Bundle available through June 30! Find out more about it HERE!) Generally, you need to have some kind of "platform," such as a blog, to be accepted as an affiliate, but you don't have to have a huge following. Give it a try!

Sell your creations

When you think about selling your own creations, think about both physical products and digital ones. Perhaps you have a talent with crochet or calligraphy or some other artwork that you can sell at craft fairs or on Etsy. Or maybe you are a writer. If you have a blog, you can sell your own self-published books there, or you can sell teaching helps on a website like Teachers Pay Teachers. I have sold some of my own creations through my Precious Treasures Store here, and hope to be able to offer some downloadable books in the future.

Sell for a commission

The advantage of selling your own creations is that you are in the driver's seat. The disadvantage is that everything rests on you - materials, production, marketing, delivery, the works. Another way to make money is to sell other people's products. That is what stores do (Target doesn't make everything it sells, right?), and individuals can, too, via direct sales companies such as Mary Kay, or Pampered Chef, or the company I work with, Lilla Rose. In direct sales, you generally purchase an introductory package of products in exchange for the right to sell those products, either in person or online, for a commission as an independent consultant. You are NOT an employee of the company. Instead, you have your own business that you run according to the company guidelines, but mostly on your own time and in your own way. I have had a lot of fun working my Lilla Rose business, and it is something that my daughter and I have been able to do together. Even my husband and son get into the fun of it!

Other ideas?

What other ways to earn money from home have you found? Share them in the comments!

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5 summer hair dangers and how to deal with them

6/22/2018

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It's summer! Outdoor activities beckon, but with them come their own set of challenges to overcome. We hear a lot this time of year about taking care of our skin and body, but did you know there are some hidden summer dangers for your hair, too? Here are the top five dangers for all kinds of hair and how to deal with them all summer long!

Sun
In the same way that the sun can damage our skin, it can also damage our hair. The ultraviolet rays wear on the cuticle, the outside layer of the hair, and leave behind telltale damage such as frizziness, split ends, and discoloration.

Solution: Wear protective hairstyles, such as braiding it, wear a cute hat, or use an umbrella for sun protection. There are also hair products with built in SPF protection, but their true effectiveness is up for debate. Go out early or later in the day, when the sun's rays are not as strong.

Swimming
This is especially true if you swim in chlorinated pools, as the chemicals that keep pools safe also damage your hair, dry it out, and can even tint it green after a while. (Ask me how I know!) But any kind of swimming can also tangle your hair.

Solution: Rinse your hair after swimming in chlorinated water. If you swim often, use a chlorine-removing shampoo like Ultraswim. Use a good conditioner as well. You can also protect your hair while swimming by using a swim cap and by keeping it braided while in the water.

Sleeping
Okay, so this is a year-round problem. It is not the act of sleeping that is the problem, of course, but rubbing your head on a rough pillowcase during the night can bring on the tangles in the morning.

Solution: Use a satin sleep cap or a satin pillowcase to protect your locks. If you have long hair, braid it loosely at bedtime to prevent snarls.

Showers
Our summer activities of sweat and sand tend to lead to more showers than at other times of the year, and that exposes our hair to two additional threats: shampoos and heat. Shampoo strips away our natural oils along with dirt and grime, and too much heat can damage the hair's outer layer, the cuticle. Both can lead to dryness and split ends.

Solution: Don't shampoo every time you take a shower. Especially if your hair tends to be more dry, choose a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner. And as good as a hot shower feels, even in the summertime, end it with a shot of cool water to seal your hair's cuticles and stave off split ends.

Styling
Unless you have a really short do, there is nothing like the summer heat to get us wanting our hair up and off the back of our necks! It can be easy to adopt a go-to hairstyle and wear it all summer long, whether a ponytail or messy bun. But wearing your hair up in the same way each day can cause "ponytail crease" where the hair elastic is and can actually cause hair breakage, or even hair loss, when you are pulling it back in the same way all the time.

Solution: Change up your updo each day so that where your hair is stressed changes. One day do a low ponytail, the next day a high one, and the next a twist and then next a bun. If you need ideas for different styles, check my YouTube channel and this post. Avoid hair elastics completely, and replace them with gentler hair accessories, such as Lilla Rose products, that are designed not to break your hair going in or coming out. Also, as much as possible, avoid products that use heat and chemicals, both of which can cause damage with prolonged use. Summer is a great time to embrace the naturally beautiful and one-of-a-kind YOU that God created!

So much will be happening this summer, and with a few easy adjustments, you can have healthier hair without much extra thought. What else have you tried that helped you protect your hair against these summer dangers?

P.S. Through the end of June, you can get a leather 8 or braided 8 (like in my picture above!) and a hair stick FREE with a $60 Lilla Rose purchase! And if you order soon, you can get some great patriotic Flexis or Bobbies in time for the Fourth of July! Check out those styles HERE.

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What I wish I'd known before I started working from home

6/1/2018

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It was 2011 when I made the big decision to resign from my teaching job to stay home with my three-year-old daughter.

It wasn't the first move I'd made in that direction. When she was born, I was the lead teacher for English for Speakers of Other Languages in our district. I was proud of the work I was doing and the mark I had made on our department, but knew I needed a different kind of schedule as a new mom. So back then I had stepped down from that job to one with fewer leadership responsibilities and "only" 30 hours a week.. My work meant so much to me, and I wanted to try to do both.

Three years later, I knew the time had come to step down. We had been through a harrowing two years marked by medical issues and the losses of three babies during pregnancy. It had been a year since our last loss, and I was now in my forties with no signs of having another baby. I had begun to accept the idea that perhaps our daughter would be an only child, and I wanted to make the most of her childhood, including homeschooling her when she hit kindergarten. Resigning now would give me a year to figure that out. I had no doubts when I sat down with my boss to tell her the news, and coworker after coworker told me how happy they were for me.

By the summer, two things had changed. First, we found out that I was expecting - with a baby who seemed determined to stick around this time. And second, my supervisor asked me to come back, not as a full time teacher, but as an ESOL consultant helping to train both new ESOL teachers and content area teachers to work with English language learners.

Since then, my "stay-at-home-mom" life has always included a "work-from-home" component. In the past seven years, I've worked as the ESOL consultant, a tutor for Classical Conversations, and as a small business owner - the latter in my role as a Director for Classical Conversations, as a blogger, and as an Independent Stylist for Lilla Rose. And while I love it, there are a few things I wish I had known before I started. If you work from home, perhaps this will resonate with you? And if you are considering it, here are some things to keep in mind.

How to manage my time

This is SO hard for me! The trap I fall into is trying to mutli-task, which makes me incredibly inefficient. What I am learning is that I get the most done when my attention is not divided. I need to set aside for work when my kids are doing something else - which is not easy as a homeschool mom. I also need to work in chunks of time, not moments here and there. I'm also learning that I need a calendar to keep track of my deadlines - deadlines to meets, meetings to schedule, orders to place, articles to write. I thought I left a work schedule behind when I came home, but I'm discovering how much I need one at home!

How to keep good records

Especially as a small business owner, I'm learning a lot about keeping track of expenses, inventory, paychecks, taxes - all of which was new to me! I'm discovering, too, that there are a lot of ways to learn all that online. It is far better to start right on this than to fix shoddy records later!!

How to market myself

I hate talking about myself or "selling" myself, but I've been learning a lot about how to share what I am doing with others. I try to do it without being pushy or salesy, and part of that is learning how to share what I am offering as a solution to someone else's problem - whether that is a supportive homeschool community, or an easier morning hair routine, or encouragement. I'm also learning a TON about the possibilities and limitations of social media in this task.

How to lead others

I thought that leaving work meant leaving my position of influence, but I'm discovering that the leadership skills I learned in my job are just as important at home. I have so many circles of influence - over my children, the parents and children in my homeschool tutoring business, my Lilla Rose team members, the women who work alongside me in our Naomi's Circle ministry. In all these areas, I need to be a servant leader, looking to how to meet their needs, and not my own.

How to provide excellent customer service

After seven years of working from home, I have a much greater appreciation for good customer service. It's not always easy to give it! But whether I am providing a homeschool community or standing behind my hair accessory products, my concern needs to be for how I am taking care of the people who are trusting me with their business.

How to be content without comparing

It's SO easy to fall into the comparison trap. This blogger is more popular than me. This CC program is bigger than mine. This Lilla Rose Stylist has advanced faster than me. But God calls us each to follow our own path, the one HE has for us. I don't need to compare my journey with that of someone else, just to check it with my faithfulness to God's calling in my life.

How to keep first things first

This is, undoubtedly, the most important lesson of all. My first responsibility is my relationships with the Lord, my husband, and my children, and to caring for them. My other activities, no matter how beneficial or enjoyable, take a backseat to those. We have had some hard times as a family recently where other thing have just had to be put aside for a time. Even day to day, I MUST give my family my first and best attention and energy, not only the leftovers. It is a lesson I am still working to put into practice.

It’s never too late to learn

These are all lessons I would have liked to have learned before I started working from home, but it is never too late. I’m learning these now, from fellow bloggers, from the free training I get through Lilla Rose, and from low-cost online classes.

What would you add to this list? Share below!

2 Comments

Welcome!

Four key ways to earn money from home

Provide a service

Become an affiliate

Sell your creations

Sell for a commission

Other ideas?

5 summer hair dangers and how to deal with them

What I wish I'd known before I started working from home

How to manage my time

How to keep good records

How to market myself

How to lead others

How to provide excellent customer service

How to be content without comparing

How to keep first things first

It’s never too late to learn

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