I don't watch So You Think You Can Dance. But this video appeared on sports talk shows that my husband watches, so I went and found it. It's crazy.

Happy Friday!

One of the more difficult things to do in the summer is keeping the kids occupied. This can be especially challenging if you work from home.

Happily, there are some resources that you can use to find fun things for the kids to do, like this link list of educational games for kids to play online from BlogHer.

We have a laptop, so I've been letting my son spend a little time on the computer, while I get some work done on the laptop. He's learning, having fun and I'm getting work done.

One of the most difficult things about being a work at home mom (WAHM) is setting priorities. This is especially difficult during the summer, when there is no school to take the kids away and provide you with a block of solid work time. Over at Home Biz Notes, a guest post by Jan Ferrante explores this WAHM balance:

Without great, concentrated effort, the boundaries between work and home responsbilities and more importantly… priorities… can become fuzzy. The fallout comes down ironically upon the things that we wished to protect – our time with our children and family.

I also enjoyed a post by Queen of Spain, Erin Kotecki Vest, regarding being a WAHM -- and the mommy guilt that can sometimes come with it. She has a great post on the babysitter she hired for the summer. And, honestly, that seems like a good solution. Having someone help out for a few hours can leave you more quality time with your loved ones when the work is done.

When it comes to your home business, reputation is important. And a good online reputation can be very important. Problogger points this out about the importance of tools that help you monitor your online reputation:

The importance of such tools to bloggers is significant. Not only do they allow you to monitor what is being said about you and your company in the blogosphere - but to be able to set up tools to monitor when keywords in your niche are being mentioned is very important - particularly if you have a blog with a news focus.

So, how do you keep track of the online reputation of your home business?

There are many ways, including free tools from such sites as Google and Yahoo. However, a new online reputation monitoring tool is appearing in Trackur. Bad news: This service costs money. Good news: Packages start at a low $18 a month (and go as high as $188 a month -- yikes!).

If you use the tracking for your home business, you can count it as an expense on your taxes (yay!).
Carefully evaluate your home business needs, though. You may be just fine with the free tools out there. While you may not need something like Trackur, you should still be doing your best to monitor your online reputation.

If you are a freelance professional, or a blogging professional, you know that on the Internet, social media is becoming increasingly important. Many companies are beginning to recognize that there is some value in connecting via social media.

This podcast from Entrepreneurs-Journey is an interesting look at how a blogging professional can make use of social media -- and how social media is measured in terms of value and return. If you have half an hour, I suggest having a listen.

This is a great video about a guy who is learning about how to promote his book on the Internet. It's about an author, but it could apply to any home business...

Happy Friday!

If you are interested in gaining more exposure and doing a little networking in order to help promote your home business blog, BlogWorld Expo might be the place to go. Bloggers from all over the world exhibit, hold workshops and seminars and network. And, right now, there is some early bird pricing available for BlogWorld.

Another conference to be aware of is the BlogHer conference and the Reach Out Tour. These are great opportunities to meet women in blogging -- and even men who blog about women's issues.

Conferences can be a great way to meet others in your niche (and outside your niche), and do some quality networking.

It can be tough to make money blogging. But it is possible to pad things out a little bit if you work at home. And one of those is through blogging affiliate opportunities.

Sparkplugging (formerly eMoms@Home) has a great list of 18 blogging affiliate programs that can help you inject a little more money into your work at home efforts.

But remember: Even though sign up is free, you still have to put in some time and effort. Carefully choose which programs you sign up with. You want to make sure that you are protecting your reputation as an expert -- and as someone who recommends useful products and services.

Yesterday I had the rather unsettling experience of unexpectedly having no Internet access until the afternoon. I do most of my working at home in the morning. I am most productive then. Doing my work in the afternoon -- not so much.

I found myself very tired and sluggish as I attempted to get my work done. It took a little longer, and I was definitely unmotivated. I kept trying to give myself pep talks while trying to ignore the fact that my husband and son were having a great time while I was stuck doing work.

When are you most productive? This is an important detail to figure out. Try to get most of your work done for your home business during times when you feel energized. You might do better at night or the afternoon. I do better in the morning.

What matters is not when you do it, but that you do it at a time that allows you to maximize your productivity.

Many people don't take you seriously if you are working from home. I have a different case, since I'm a writer, but those in other professions may find it difficult to get potential clients to take them seriously when working from home. Here are some suggestions from news-press.com about how you can make yourself look a little more legit:

*Get a virtual assistant (a professional receptionist) to answer your calls and make your schedule.

*Have a separate business phone number that is automatically forwarded to your home office.

*Set up virtual office space in different cities.

I thought I'd share this promo for The Office as today's Friday Fun Video. You know, since the 4th season finale was last night. *sigh* Let the summer reruns begin...

Happy Friday!

One of the ways you can promote your home business Web site is with a blog. But you can't just put a blog up and expect people to come. Deb, over at Network Blogging Tips, offers some great insight into the mistakes that many new bloggers make. Don't let yourself fall into these traps:

1. Thinking that blogging is a way to get rich quickly.
2. Not doing enough research for your blog.
3. Blogging in a niche that is over-saturated.
4. Blogging about something you don't know.
5. Not promoting your blog.

Remember: If you do a good job with your blog, and you get out there and promote it -- especially by being a member of a community -- you will build a loyal following for your home business.

This is a guest post from Ryma Technologies.

When it comes to your home business, it is important to look at the "Big Picture." The "Big Picture" takes you beyond what you are doing to get started right now to how you will handle future challenges and changes to your products and services.

As your home business grows, you need to be aware of the challenges that scalability represents. It is important that you consider where you are going, and what you want to do. Starting a home business is hard work, and it can seem unimportant to take a look into the future. But if you integrate your plans for later into what you are doing now, later transformations will be easier.

Ryma offers expertise in integrated product management. You can learn more about integrated product management by attending seminars in Santa Clara (May 22), Phoenix (May 29) and Huntsville, AL (June 5).

Small business owners have until May 15 to submit videos for the NFIB Video Contest. This contest carries with it a cash prize of $5,000 and a free trip for two to the 2008 National Small Business Summit being held June 8-11 in Washington, D.C.

Here is what a NFIB press release says about the summit:

The 2008 National Small Business Summit, “We Are Stronger Together,” presented by the National Federation of Independent Business and eBay, brings together small business owners from around the country to meet their lawmakers face-to-face and share their experiences about how Washington , D.C. decisions affect small businesses. The Summit will focus on top small business legislative priorities, including healthcare reform efforts, and also will examine the political landscape leading into the November elections.

One of the problems that I have in my home office is that the paper clutter tends to stack up. I mean really stack up. You get a file, or a paper, or a report and add it to the pile. Sometimes you just shuffle things from one pile to another, or from one area of your home office to another.

Over at MyOrganizedBiz, Jennifer Hoffman offers a suggestion: Make sure you keep an expiration date on your files. The idea is to keep your paper flowing through your home office, rather than stopping there and gathering dust.

I'm thinking that setting a certain time each day to look at your files and Get Things Done. Or, at least go through your piles once a week. The idea is to keep paper clutter to a minimum, and make sure that you address what's in the files.

I kind of liked this commercial for the Lincoln MKZ. Amusing AND heartwarming. Awwwww...

Happy Friday!

One of the issues that might come up for a WAHM (work at home mom) is how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I know it's hard for me. Just bring a pile of M&Ms downstairs to munch on while I write. And sitting in one place isn't the best thing for managing one's weight. Which is why I really enjoyed some suggestions on weight management from WAHM Articles. Nothing earth-shatteringly new, but still some great information for managing your weight as a WAHM:

*Drink 4-6 glasses of water per day.
*Avoid eating while at the computer. This includes meals AND snacks.
*Try to eat healthy (I like to prepare fruit the night before so that it is available during the day).
*Try for a daily exercise routine.

I also like to get up and do the sun salutation (yoga) every so often to keep me energized. It only takes a minute. Another suggestion: take 10-15 minutes to meditate each day. I do my meditation while my son is having "quiet time."

When it comes to your home business, it is important to consider opinions of professionals. But it is also important to realize that "they" aren't always right. Over at Ledership Turn, Miki Saxon has some great quotes about some experts who were wrong.

My favorite? The Mrs. Field's Cookies warning: “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”

I am quite partial to soft and chewy cookies. Crispy cookies are hard and make a mess.

If you are educated and skilled in a particular area, you might try this home business idea: consulting. If you have the credentials to help others in a specific area, you can do a little consulting as part of your home business. Or even as the sole purpose of your home business.

I started thinking of this when I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal about SAHMs and how they are being tapped by the corporate world now:

The decision among some highly educated women to stay home with children is sparking a countertrend: The rise of the mommy "SWAT team." The acronym, for "smart women with available time," is one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss.

I thought this was really cool. And it made me think: If many of these women are so qualified, what's to keep them from making more as consultants?

When it comes to your home business Web site, there are many tools that you can utilize in terms of building your online community. And one of those things is online forums. If you are wondering about online forums -- from how to get one set up and going to how to properly manage it -- Patrick O'Keefe has written a great handbook: Managing Online Forums.

As social media becomes increasingly important, this book has been released at an ideal time. It has everything. O'Keefe uses an engaging and conversational style to share his experiences with setting up and managing online forums. This book will take you from the basic technical steps of setting up an online forum through creating guidelines for community members to managing inflammatory postings.

If you are interested in adding an online forum to your home business Web site, this book is a great read.

I'm not really sure what to make of this. But it does amuse me. It amuses the heck out of me. Do you think this is really a good work from home opportunity? I'm not sure...

Happy Friday!

The Internet is offering a wide variety of work from home opportunities. But just picking one and trying it out is not going to help you earn money working from home. Like any successful venture, running a successful online business requires that you work hard. There is no magic way to suddenly make money with an online business.

Your best bet is to look for an online business opportunity that matches your personality, preferences and some area of knowledge that you have. Be picky about which online business you start. It needs to be something that you can make work.