Working at home. It's almost every mom's dream who has a small child. You get to work with the benefit of watching your child grow, never missing out on a milestone, and that sigh of relief from not having to see their day care on the news.
Well, this is my dream, only a little different. After my 4th child my back was severely messed up and now I have spinal cord damage due to an idiot anesthesiologist and a needle. I've always been one to work. Even 4am at McDonald's to make ends meet while heavily pregnant. I wanted to stay home, but I wanted to work. To contribute. To say "yes well I paid my portion of the bills". As I was taught to by my parents. After this happened, it was a whole new ball game. I had to get a job, working at home because of my inability to stand for long periods of time.
When they discovered the issue, it was already too late. My fluid was so low and leaked so much that I had a small pool of spinal fluid (dismissed a few hours ago as sweat) and was unable to function or move normally. Totally new perspective of "the mind's willing but the body ain't going" from that point on. I had to relearn for to do simple things after all the issues. Walk, write, type, etc. So, with all of these issues, I had to learn to work from home and accept it, plus make decent money to cover my bills completely.
Learning to work from home when you're completely used to being out, going places, and networking face to face is weird. I will tell you that. I did some trial and error with some companies. Just signed up and winged it before because I wasn't worried about income because I was already working. Extra income was just a bonus. Well, now I needed steady job, decent income, and from home.
I had to make this work for me or I was going to go completely crazy with the drive that was taught to me when I was younger that if you have a family you need to make money. You need to be the breadwinner. Whatever your spouse makes just adds to the pool to make it easier and make life better. So it drives me crazy not working. So, cue stay at home job search!
I went through looking for places that were new and up and coming. I wanted in on the ground floor. Be able to really get to know the owners and founders of the company if there were any yet. Really get a feel for the company as a whole. I'd rather help build from the ground up and be useful than to putt putt along at a big business and get no recognition for my efforts.
Well, the first job I found was It Works, or should I say, it found me. My great friend and now upline and mentor, Diamond Jenied, was talking to me quite a bit about the opportunity. About how to work. How there was always new advertising and things. Even though it was a large, already established company, I could still not be shut down for everything I mention (like with eveventure when I worked with them) and they were products I would and could back and use (unlike avon). I'm a stickler for backing my products, their prices, and the values I can place in them. (which is very important with stay at home work). So I waited until I presold and joined. I got my box, and let me tell you, these wraps work awesome on mommy belly even after 2-3 months of doctor prescribed soda intake, not working out, and no extra effort on my end. I've went down to a size 18 in pants. Yay me :D. How could I not back this? Plus it's natural. No gross side effects. Perfect for me to post it all over the place (like I did without meaning to just now lol). With a $500 guarantee, I couldn't go wrong. Plus money back if I didn't like the products.
If you want to check it out, at look to see if this job would be for you, check it out here:
www.boomhower.myitworks.com
www.wrapwithamber.weebly.com
Well, with this job, I was on my way. I could do everything, the name was already known, and the products are amazing. Always incentives, bonuses, etc. Well, there's always that starting lull. When you advertise all over but can't really get out due to health issues or weather so you look for something else to do and go back and forth for. Well, I looked for yet another job. Yep, i'm insane like that.
I discovered Jewelry In Candles. Natural, not stinking, good candles with quality. Made in the USA. Hand made to make more jobs. I don't see how we're not already funding this vs funding giant factories for many jobs. So I looked into it, talked to quite a few reps, and made my choice to join while it was free. No investment, small commitment of time, and now it's one of my most profitable only a few months later. Yes please! I've heard all the product comparisons too. From how nasty others were to how awesome ours is. Makes you a little proud and happy that it's doing all this good and you get to bring it to people. At least for me. So there is my second work at home job.I could put it between advertising lulls for It Works and not have an issue. I could alternate parties and even tie them together for a party if needed (spa package and relaxing candles to top it off? yes please!)
Check it out here:
www.jewelryincandles.com/store/amberboomhower
Well, with these two things, plus all the home work, and school work, I was busy. Not too busy where I felt challenged or drained, but busy enough. Well, then back to school time comes around. Of coarse, now I have even less to do. So I looked for something else to do. Gaming felt like a waste of time. Which is odd because as a teenager and even some early adulthood, I was all over gaming as a big part of my down time. I still play classics with my kids and some new ones. Such as Warcraft we play together, NES games, Sega, Gamecube, Mario series is really big in my house.
Then I looked around. The not having so much to do was killing me. I hate being bored and am not good with being unproductive in any way. So I looked while advertising. I checked out a few places, a few prices, and found another start free job. Well, this job, I didn't know, had my name written all over it and is now one of the greats for friends and colleagues I now have.
I am on the ground floor at Bella Speranza. There were about 300 or so reps when I started. We then rose to over 2,000 quickly and have fluctuated. I have grown with the company and the people and love them. They are my family. Dawn is wonderful, and Lori, and Christina, and the credible hulk (Jerry). I'm part of the Mothership. Product wise, The prices are right, the jewelry is the same as the big brands without a big brand price tag. Know how much i've wanted a Pandora bracelet? Seriously for a few years i've been hoping to have about $200 I can just throw away. Well, that $200 now I can buy a complete set of charm jewelry and charms and probably still have money left over. There is no nickle, which means I can wear it, endorse it, and back it completely. So, in a short amount of time, this was my new job and my new home.
Ok, so I now have my 3 work at home jobs. I am now busy enough to be busy. Not neglectful to house work I can do or family. It's still work. There are still work hours.There's still things that need to be done so money can be made and all that. This works great for me and other people who have a harder time with a traditional job. Some who can't do one at all. Some who want a change. It works for my family because they can help mommy at work. We can do little booths together. My kids can help set up, or take people's money, or anything little they would like.
I found companies I can back and endorse without conflict from each other. This isn't a job for everyone though. I know i'm probably making you scratch your head because I talk so highly of all of my jobs and can go on about them for hours (and have). Not everyone can do stay at home work though. Why not? Well, there are always factors you consider when doing any job. First off, you have to know where you stand. If you knew the ingredients, and what they did, would you use your stuff? Are you against BPA? Animal testing? You can't be a hypocrite in a work at home world. It'll show and you won't make a sale unless you're an extremely good liar who can live with yourself at the end of the day.
Many people know who they are, some are still feeling around and maybe it got lost somewhere along the way or you haven't really looked at an issue close to you in a while. If that's you, a work at home job probably isn't going to be for you. Like I said, you have to be able to live with yourself, what your selling, and what you're doing. If you're not current on goings on, then you can have some serious issues keeping track of what new products are at work, what's in them, and other valuable information. It's as hard as the regular rat race you're already in if you don't keep up and keep tabs on things.
If you suck at time, always late to work etc. Depending on the type of job you have, that's not great for work at home. In the beginning, you're working your butt off to get established and have other people working under you and helping you achieve. That's a hard thing because then you have to make and keep appointments, meetings, tabs on people, helping people. Thinking that you're going to get out of super early mornings or really late hours at work is a myth for alot of reasons. Even when you own your own business. You still have to hire people, advertise, and catch those early risers and those late nighters. There is a very small window of opportunity for you if you only go and work from 12pm-6pm. Mostly because of dinner, after school activities, homework, etc that all impede that time period. Can it be done? yes. Is it going to be difficult? Very. So if you're on this mindset, maybe that 9-5 isn't looking so bad right now huh?
If you're a stickler and frugal, working at home might now be for you. Why? You have to invest in yourself. If you're always looking for the cheapest way out, then there's not going to be a whole lot of hope for you. Why? Marketing. You have to advertise, you have to market, you have to get a banner for those shows, you need to buy trays for samples, maybe even displays. If you make them yourself and are crafty, ok go for it.
Weigh in on what the pros and cons are from working at home. Is your child really active or requires every bit of your attention? Well, working at home in the little bit of down time you get might be a good way to cover an expense, but make sure you can put aside the time for team meetings or company phone calls. If you have a child or person who is fully dependent on you for care, make sure it's not going to have a negative effect on their day to day care. If you want to do it and need help, ask. I know there aren't many who would turn down helping you out when you need something like this. I recently (extremely recently) helped a friend with an online party because of her going to the ER. She works at the same job that I do so I just brought it over and every link was hers. Did it take a little extra on my part? Yea. Was it worth it? Yes definitely. I got to help her out and she got to take her mind off of worrying. Make sure you have people that you can connect with to do that though. You need to be able to lean on and support one another. I recently was having a family crisis of my own and one of my other team members advertised for me while I dealt with it. It was a wonderful gesture that meant alot. If you don't like to ask for help (that's one of the issues i'm fighting with right now myself) then you have to learn to.
If you're really really bad with money, don't work at home. You can spend way more than you make easily and then you'll be back where you started. Now, i'm not saying don't take what you make and invest it back into the company. By all means, if it buys you a rep kit, go for it. Don't overspend. Do you really need those business cards that you turn and show a different picture or have glitter letters or anything like that? Do you really need extravagant banners or to try one of every single product in every color? No. If you're tempted to do this, the discount helps but you're going to wind up with more issues than when you started with the company.
Don't really have a hobby or direction? It's going to be harder for you to find a job you're going to stick with in the long run. If you don't collect jewelry, or don't really know anything about it, you can't work at home for a jewelry business without some knowledge.You can't work with a candle company and hate candles. It just won't work out for you. You'll put in all this time and not be passionate and your products will never sell. Not many times have I been to a home party and not seen their house covered somewhere in their product. Avon women usually have their cute little knick knacks, cookwear, maybe even clothing and makeup from the company all right there all the time. Youngique presenters are always wearing their makeup and looking fabulous. Bella Speranza reps always wear and are proud of their charm bracelets. The list goes on. You can imagine a company, someone has their products they sell somewhere in their house. They do that because that's their hobby. They like and collect makeup anyway, sell it at work and wear it around. Someone likes baking, they work at a company that sells food or cookware. They can't cook but love to eat good food. You can probably think of a company that fits into almost any hobby someone would have. Kind of like there's a fetish for everything but not as disgusting lol.
If you have no direction, just kind of bouncing around with no long term goal, well I hate to say but you're going to bomb in an at home job. Why? You NEED to know where you're going. You NEED a direction. You can't just say "i'm going up the ladder" if you don't know where the ladder is, how to climb it, or what you need to do to get to the bottom rung. Not having direction will kill you. It'll make you seem scatterbrained and not reliable. You want a direction, a plan, and the ability to set it into motion all by yourself if needbe. You're your own greatest asset in a work at home job.
Feel free to add why work at home would or wouldn't work for you. Any other things you want to touch on as well :)
