Name: Michelle Randall
State: Indiana
How long you have worked from home: One Year
Company: a TAMM creation
Website: http://www.atammcreation.blogspot.com or http://www.atammcreation.blogspot.com
Tell us about yourself: I'm marriedto my college sweetheart for almost 15 years now, we dated for 4 years before that , so we have been together almost 19 years/ We have three wonderful kids, son age 8, daughter age 6 and daughter age 3.
Tell us about your company: I have done crafts at home forever, but I started making my beaded socks and hair barrettes and friends and family were always asking to buy them from me, so in January of 2007 I launched "a TAMM creation" to the world. I recently added some new items to the line, handknitted scarves. I am always thinking and designing new items and adding things to the line to grow the company.
Why did you pick your company:
Tell us about anything(family, hobbies...) family is my first priority. everything I do is for them, including this business. I love to read and sew and craft. I am a Brownie Troop leader and on the Children's Ministry team at church.

Working at Home With Young Children

When I speak to moms who work at home, one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is ?how do you run a business with small children??

I have several suggestions on running a business with small children. My kids are grown now, so I?ve lived through running a business with infants, running a business with toddlers, running a business with school aged kids and running a business with teenagers.

The amount of children you have and the amount of time you put into your business are going to affect the amount of help you need with your children. ?Help? can mean many different things. I had various forms of help over the years.

Infants sleep a lot. Working during sleep time can often give you the necessary hours to run a business. When I was on the phone, I had my daughter?s in their room, so if they cried, I heard them but the person on the phone did not hear them. I really did not need help during the infant stage. I was able to balance work and being mom.

The next stage was probably the most difficult, the toddler stage. At this stage, children nap perhaps two hours per day and the remainder of the day, at least my children were very high energy and wanted to be entertained.

At age two, my younger daughter went to preschool 3 mornings per week. She was there from 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. She loved it and I was amazed at how much I could get done in those two hours at home. I NEVER used that time to run errands, clean the house etc. That time was almost always devoted to using the phone. In addition, her dad and I rotated night time routines so that some nights I was able to work from 7 p.m. until bedtime uninterrupted. As she got older, I increased her days in school up to five mornings per week and as she neared kindergarten age, I had her in school from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Once a child enters preschool they begin making friends. I did many play dates. I swapped with other moms. One day the kids would play at my house and the other day, the kids would play at the home of the other child. This can help in two ways. The day your child is with someone else, you have time to work. The day the kids are at your house, the kids play together, which allows you time to work. I could pick them up from school, come home and fix lunch and then actually work while the kids ate. If the kids wanted to play outdoors, my yard was fenced and my computer faced the backyard. I could keep an eye on them at all times. If the kids played indoors, they were either in the same room as I was or in the very next room. I was not always able to use the phone, but I could catch up on emails, complete paperwork and do any other tasks that did not involve the phone.

Scheduling is key here. If the kids were at my home on Monday, I tried to make Monday my day to not do the evening routine at home. I needed that time to make phone calls. If the kids were playing at someone?s home on Tuesday, I knew I had several hours I could be on the phone during the day and so I would take over the evening routine.

We also had an emergency box of toys. These toys only came out when I needed to make a phone call and I needed my toddler quiet for just a little while. My daughter loved these toys and would sometimes ask me to make a call just so she could play with the toys in the emergency box. We did not bring that box out very often and so when we did, I knew I?d have about 30 minutes of quiet time.

My older daughter did not like school and so only went to preschool from age 4 to 5, and then went to kindergarten. We joined several mommy and me classes which introduced her to other children, which then led to play dates. I also had her take longer naps, 2 or 2 ? hours in the afternoon. She was up longer at night, but that was ok, as I wanted the time during the day to be able to make phone calls.

If you live near a college, check if the school has an early childhood development program. If they do, consider hiring someone to come to your home two mornings or two afternoons per week to watch the kids while you work. You get work time and they get experience with children and some income.

Once your kids enter elementary school, you will always have mornings to work. Afternoons can be play dates, individual play or consider hiring an older child, say 8 or 9 years old who can earn a little money and come play with your child. My kids loved their older friends. They would beg for the days their older friends would come over and play. These older kids can read to your child, fix a very simple snack, play a game with them and even watch them outside. One hour is often enough time to make a few phone calls, and after an hour sometimes the kids are getting a bit restless.

All of these ideas require scheduling. If you plan one or even two weeks at a time, you?ll have a very clear idea of when you can be on the phone and when you?ll just be mom.

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Audrey Okaneko has been marketing online for several years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.recipe-barn.com

This Weeks Interview...

Name: Michelle Randall
State: Indiana
How long you have worked from home: One Year
Company: a TAMM creation
Website: http://www.atammcreation.etsy.com/ or http://www.atammcreation.blogspot.com/
Tell us about yourself: I'm marriedto my college sweetheart for almost 15 years now, we dated for 4 years before that , so we have been together almost 19 years/ We have three wonderful kids, son age 8, daughter age 6 and daughter age 3.
Tell us about your company: I have done crafts at home forever, but I started making my beaded socks and hair barrettes and friends and family were always asking to buy them from me, so in January of 2007 I launched "a TAMM creation" to the world. I recently added some new items to the line, handknitted scarves. I am always thinking and designing new items and adding things to the line to grow the company.
Why did you pick your company:
Tell us about anything(family, hobbies...) family is my first priority. everything I do is for them, including this business. I love to read and sew and craft. I am a Brownie Troop leader and on the Children's Ministry team at church.

This Weeks Interview...

Name: Jo Legat

State: FL

How long you have worked from home: 3 years

Company: Send Out Cards

Website: www.ladijocards.com

Tell us about yourself: I'm married to my best friend, have 3 grown children, 4 grandchildren and 1 great granddaughter

Tell us about your company: It is an online greeting card company that sends out actual greeting cards. You choose what you want off of the computer from over 12,000 cards, can add your own message if you want, as well as upload pictures and business cards, can add checks, or gift certificates as well and even candy right now for Valentines Day. Can even set up campaigns so can send to numerous people at one time

Why did you pick your company: I sent out welcome and thank you cards to customers for another company that I was in and was looking for a way to do it from the computer.

Tell us about anything(family, hobbies...) I'm married with grown children, grandchildren and great granddaughter. I enjoy doing Bible study, love to read, travel, shop, the ocean, eating healthly and life.

New Look....

Yes we have redid our look. Lara did a great job on the graphics. She was super fast but yet took her time on each detail. The new look is great. Thanks Lara!!

Saving Money Tips

It's a new year and a lot of people make resolutions to better themselves. People always have a list of things they want to change, one being saving money. There are many ways to save money and I will give you some tips on how to do that.

You have to decide whether its a want or need for a certain item. A lot of people will save money if they can tell between the two. A want is something that you really don't need but have to have. I call it a luxury item. I have had many of those in the past. A need is food, clothing, housing, and vehicles.

Shopping around is another great tip. I know some stores offer price matching. Make sure you check the same items in other stores. Sometimes you will find them cheaper somewhere else. If not some stores will honor other store prices.

What about store brand or generic foods? I find that sometime the store brand foods taste the same as the name brand foods. The price is a lot cheaper. Why spend the extra money on the name?

Budgeting is another important tip. Everyone should have a budget. Start by making a list of your monthly income and expenses. Income is all the money you bring in each month. Make a list of all your expenses that you have. You have to really think about this because there are always more expenses popping up. You also have to figure out what you can live without. You must stay committed to this budget.

It will take a few weeks to get used to all the changes. Make sure you don't get discouraged. You will see great results in the long run.

Working Mom or Dad?

Have you ever really thought about becoming a work at home mom or dad? Everyone has different reasons to work from home. I know it was my dream when I had my first daughter. I researched for a while on the Internet for legit work at home opportunities. I thought I found the one opportunity that would have let me stay home with my newborn daughter. Well I ended up getting scammed thinking that I have found the best work at home business. I was crushed.

There are tons of different opportunities out there. You have to find the right one that fits you and that will grow with you. I know most of the moms and dads want to be able to stay home with their kids to watch them grow and be there for the most important moments in their life.

There are challenges when its time to work from home. I know I had to worry about the kids, house work, finding time to do the running around, and of course working the business. It can be overwhelming at some point.

The best way to go about working from home is to set goals. In order to be successful you have to follow your goals. You really have to be able to pace yourself and get used to being at home and managing business and kids. Set a schedule and follow it. It might take a bit for you and your child to get used to having a schedule but it will be worth it. Make a list of the daily errands that you have to do. It will be a lot easier to look at it on paper rather then to try and remember.

Just to summarize everything up, working from home can be very rewarding yet challenging in some ways. You must stay positive and stick to your goals and schedules. Working from home may not be for everyone, but it might be well worth it in the end.