3 Great Work Locations Outside the Home

One main complaint from work at home moms is that working from home is full of distractions. From a messy kitchen and piles of dirty laundry to overactive children and the monotony of your surroundings, too many distractions can create an unproductive mindset and environment. Because consistent distraction can lower your productivity drastically, consider hiring a babysitter or putting your older children in charge, and then visit one of these three places that will help you get back on track.

Get Outside

Get some fresh air and refocus. You could go to your local park, your favorite scenic spot, or even just your front porch. Working outside will give you new sights, sounds and smells, which can increase creativity, help rejuvenate you, and clear your mind so you can commit to your current project. If you need just a few undisturbed hours to make headway on a project, going outside is a fantastic office alternative.

Visit a Local Museum

Most museums are quiet, and they offer free Wi-Fi access to all visitors. When using a museum for temporary office space, head to the farthest collection or exhibit from the front door. The farther and deeper inside you go, the quieter it will be. The farthest corner of the museum will also have the least amount of unfaltering foot traffic, meaning you can focus for longer periods of time without disruption. When you need a moment, stretch your legs and look at some of the exhibits. It may give you some great ideas for your work.

Use a Library

This is not a new idea for work at home moms, but it’s a popular suggestion for a good reason. It’s quiet, it’s calm, and there are nooks everywhere, which makes isolated work easy, comfortable, and even desirable. Plus, if you need to research a topic or get fresh ideas, you’re at the perfect place. Keep in mind that your local library most likely has Wi-Fi access to use as you need it, so you don’t have to feel that you’re lacking Internet connection by working in a library.

Using temporary work locations doesn’t mean you should avoid working at home. It simply means that you have options to work around the distraction. Instead of letting distractions become a hindrance, use them as motivation to find focus and accomplish your daily professional goals. Distraction is normal. But what you do with that distraction and how you fix it is what can make you a stronger work at home professional. If the three suggestions don’t work for you, find unique places of your own that bring out your productivity and keep you on task.

How to Break Into the Education Market to Work from Home

Landing a job working from home in fields of education is difficult. But the key to doing so is by developing an online professional presence. Without this, it’s nearly impossible for job seekers to receive an offer.

What is a professional online presence? How do you start one?

A professional online presence is also known as a professional digital footprint. It is developed by creating professional online profiles, sharing job-related ideas, and networking with other professionals by using Internet tools such as blogs, social media outlets, and other websites that allow educators to share or collaborate with you.

Why is having an online professional presence important for breaking into the working from home job market in education?

Developing an online professional presence is marketing your technology skills. When you apply for a remote position, potential employers will do an online search of your name using a search engine. When you have a professional online digital footprint, your name and skills will show up in an employer’s search results. These employers will more likely want to interview you when they see that you are proficient with web-based tools.

If you don’t have a professional digital footprint, potential employers will not find your name in their search results. Employers will not consider you a serious job candidate if you communicate to them that you are not tech savvy enough to work from home remotely, and don't care enough to establish an online presence in this field of work.

Ways to Develop an Online Professional Presence

(Note: More details will be covered in future articles.)

1. Create a professional Twitter account. Make sure your profile showcases your knowledge in your subject area and doesn't include Tweets with poor or offensive language. Review educator profiles and follow the ones that fit your niches. Search educators using the search tool by typing in “#edchat”. When you follow someone, don’t be afraid to send a Tweet to say you are new to Twitter and want to network with them professionally.

2. Create a full LinkedIn profile. This will give you an online resume that showcases your skills. Your profile will show up in LinkedIn and Internet search results when employment recruiters are looking for job candidates. When you create your LinkedIn profile, you can choose which content is made public and which is not. It’s best to let your name and the summary of your skills show publicly. Leave everything else private, only to be seen by those whom you add to your network. Find educators you know in real life, and those you know from other social networks like Twitter. Send a request to add them to your network.

3. Create a professional education blog using a blogging platform like WordPress. Guest blog on established education blogs. To find established blogs do a Google search of “education blogs,” or find blogs through contacts in your Twitter or LinkedIn networks.

4. Request to write lesson contributions for education websites such as Read Write Think. Websites like this will feature you as the author of anything you create for them.

All the above methods are good ways to market your professional skills online. The process of starting is a time investment, but once you get it going, don’t neglect it. You must continue regular updates on all your social networks and profiles to show you are serious about your professional online identity. The great thing is, once you have it firmly established you will be rewarded.

5 Signs You're Ready to Start Your Freelance Career

The trick to starting a freelance career is knowing when to make the switch and leave your traditional job behind. Switching career types can come with a lot of hesitation and even fear, but identifying the signs that you’re ready can give you peace of mind and the motivation to get started. You don’t need to manifest all of these signs to know you’re ready to freelance. Sometimes one is enough.

Opting to Work Harder on Something You Enjoy

Preferring to work harder on projects you enjoy rather than work less on easier, uninteresting work means you’re ready to cut the cord and try it on your own. Working harder and longer are exactly the skills and abilities you need to make it as a freelancer, no matter the industry.

Willingness to Toss Aside Stability for Professional Freedom

Freelancing isn’t always stable. Some months you’ll make more than at your previous job, and other months will end with very little profit. It’s the nature of the business. There are ways to lessen the instability of freelancing, but no effort will guarantee constant stability. If the potential instability is worth the professional freedom that a freelance career offers, now is as good a time as any to get started.

Freelancing During Your Limited Free Time

If you’ve started supplementing your professional work with freelancing, it’s time to consider devoting yourself to freelancing. As a busy mother and professional, you don’t have much free time; filling your nights and weekends with freelancing projects shows your passion. Life’s too short to ignore your passions and your professional desires.

Already Considered the Pros and Cons

How many times have you thought about the pros and cons of freelancing? You’ve probably gone over the list several times. The cons might be intimidating, but not enough for you to give up on the idea. There comes a moment when it’s time to act on all your research and considerations. Now’s the time.

You Feel Ready

Set aside all the negative self-talk and natural worries about freelancing. Instead, focus on how you feel. Do you feel ready to freelance? Are you excited to try? If you feel ready, don’t let the uncertainties scare you away. Properly preparing for a freelance career should quiet those uncertainties and allow you to move forward.

Freelancing offers schedule flexibility and the freedom of choosing clients, which is a great option if you’re looking to be a work-at-home mom. You may hesitate to make the switch, but only you can decide if you’re ready. And once you decide that, a whole new professional world will open up, providing you with new opportunities and experiences that will only make you a better freelancer.

20 ideas to make money online

A cash cow for the enterprising, the Internet is littered with opportunities to make a fast buck. While it rarely qualifies as a solitary source of income, the Net can easily help you supplement it. However, the amount you earn depends on the time and effort invested. Go through these 20 options and find out which ones work for you.

Blogging
If you're a passionate closet writer who wants to be published but can't find a way to do so, make each keystroke your way to wealth by penning your own blog. Starting a blog doesn't require extensive technical skills but it's important that you have expertise in the field you are writing on. This will attract visitors to your site. Building a large following will enable you to earn profit by luring advertisers, writing paid reviews or getting commissions for promoting other people's products. Blogjohn is an example.

Paid Writing
If maintaining a blog is difficult for you but you still want to indulge your passion for writing, you can jot down articles for other blogs or sites such as Weblogs, Helium or PayPerPost. Writing an e-book can also be a good option. E-books are investment free, with no cost for printing and shipping. If you have a strong command over languages, you can become a copy editor, where Webmasters will pay you to read articles and correct grammatical errors, sentence fragments, etc.
Paid Writing Jobs

e-tuitions/Webinars
The demand for tutors is high and growing. So, if you like helping others learn, e-teaching could be the earning ticket for you. All you need to become an online tutor is expertise in your subject and a few spare hours per week. TutorVista, e-tutor, SmartThinking and Tutor.com are some of the sites you can enroll with. If you gain a good reputation as a coach, you could even conduct Webinars-lectures or seminars transmitted over the Net. College and university students are willing to pay to gain entry to a well-respected Webinar.

Affilliate/Reseller
For those who have the knack of selling, one of the best ways to make money online is to become an affiliate/reseller. An affiliate is a person who gets a commission for selling every product that he promotes, whether on his Website or through any other avenue such as eBay. You don't have to own the product. You only need to sign up for an affiliate program with a company and start selling its products under your referral link. Firms such as Amazon, Commission Junction , Linkshare or Click Bank have a large pool of products.



Buying/Selling domains
Buying and selling domain names is another way to make money from home and requires very little investment or time. You can buy domains at their registration prices or even cheaper and trade them at a profit. However, always research on sites such as sedo.co.uk, afternic.com, ebay.com or other domain auction sites to get an estimate of the hottest selling names. The best way to find good ones is to use terminated domain lists, which contain several expired names that are back in the pool.

Freelancing for Professionals
Freelancing is a great option for professionals who are experts in their respective trades and know how to ensure customer satisfaction. Various freelancing and project-oriented sites allow companies that need help to describe their projects. Freelancers and small businesses offer bids, ideas or proposals, from which the buyers can choose what they find most suitable. Websites such as Elance cover everything from programming and writing to data entry and design, while RentACoder focuses on software programming.

Advertising
You can sell space on your Website or blog for advertisements and you earn when these ads are clicked by visitors to your site. The sorting and placing of ads is free. The profitability of pay-per-click advertising depends on the traffic level of the Website and, most importantly, on the clickthrough rate and cost per click. Google AdSense is the most popular option, while others are BidVertiser, Text Link Ads and Blogads. Direct banner and RSS feed are some other forms of online advertising.

GPT Programme
GPT or Get-paid-to sites are becoming increasingly popular among teens. You get paid for signing up for free Websites, newsletters, playing games and filling out online surveys. These are suitable for people who don't have a skill set but want to earn extra money. Taking online surveys is simple- register with a few legitimate, paid survey sites and answer questions. The topics range from shopping to politics. This might not help you make a living, but you can earn good pocket money. Contests2win is one of the trusted GPT Websites.

Online Marketing
Once a Website is created and optimised for search engine (SEO), the SEM or Search Engine Marketing begins. A treasure trove lies hidden here. An SEO/SEM expert, who is responsible for marketing a Website, can promote it in various ways. These include article marketing, writing press releases, forum posting, blog posting, submitting your site to directories and search engines, social bookmarking, etc. Most companies don't do this in-house and pay you to conduct the SEM for them.

Making themes
As more and more people seek an online presence, the demand for Website templates and WordPress (Blog) themes will keep increasing. If you are good at Web designing and coding, you can earn a lot from designing Web themes. In this segment, there are mainstream Websites, such as TemplateMonster and ThemeForest, which act as a marketplace where you can sell your themes. Templates are sold and priced depending on the rights and features that are bundled with them.

Selling photos
If you enjoy photography and are good with a camera, you could be sitting on a huge reserve of revenue. There are people who will be interested in your collection of images. Nowadays, it's easy to take your photos to the public, providing a convenient way to build a secondary income stream. Many stock photo agencies, such as Fotolia, Dreamstime and Shutterstock, offer incentives for people to earn from their photos.

Support & service
Providing coding or fixing other Webmasters' issues is another great way to earn extra bucks. There are simple jobs ranging from adding a script to setting up sites, but knowledge of Web coding is essential. One can offer support for Web CMS (content management systems) like Drupal or Joomla. After you are comfortable with your own installation, you can help other people to set these up and configure them.

Stock/forex trading
Joining the stock/forex market may seem a bit risky. However, you can start small and continue researching till you gain experience in this area. Once you do, it will be easy to earn from exchanging foreign currencies and/or stocks. Their rates fluctuate depending on supply and demand, and economic and political influences in the world. The aim of any trader is to spot which currency/stock is likely to rise or fall in value against another. The more time you put in, the more you will earn.

Selling your own brand
If you have a flair for designing cool images, don't bother about creating your own inventory. As long as your design can be printed on a product, you can pocket some money. You can upload designs on various Websites such as CafePress, and if somebody orders these designs, the company will print them and distribute the products. It could be designs for T-shirts, hats, bags, books, posters, calendars, greeting cards, etc. You will receive a commission for each sale. Other such sites include Lulu and Zazzle.

Virtual Assistant
Small businesses always need help in running their processes, but may not be willing to hire a full-time employee. As a virtual assistant, you are expected to perform practically any administrative task that a traditional secretary or assistant would, such as make travel reservations, handle expense reimbursements or pay bills. You can do it from the comfort of your home, interacting with clients either online or by phone. Your expertise will decide how much moolah you rake in.

Inbound call centre
Many companies, who are facing space constraints, especially those in metro cities, prefer to hire workers outside their offices or outsource certain processes. You can set up an inbound call centre at home to handle such jobs. Research different companies that are outsourcing their work as they may have opportunities for inbound call centre agents. You can work for more than one company. This can be either a part-time or fulltime engagement, depending on your need.

You Tube
If there's a dramatic performer hidden inside you who craves applause and adulation, upload yourself on YouTube. You can be a filmmaker, musician or comedian who wants a wider audience. Your earnings will come from ads displayed on your video page. This process is similar to the pay-per-click advertising program common to other Websites and blogs. Sites such as Flixya and Mediaflix can be helpful in this regard.

Researching for others
Don't be morose if you can't write, design or code. Lack of talent cannot stop you from making money online. If you're willing to work hard for a few hours a week, you can take up simple research jobs for other people who don't have the time to do it themselves. You could search for opportunities in organisations that provide funding for research and offer to assist them through online investigation.

Building Applications
With smartphones gaining popularity, the demand for their applications, or apps as they are popularly known, has also shot up. There are over 3 million apps for the iPhone and over a million apps in Google's Android market. Most of these are selling like hot cakes. Developing and selling your own smartphone app is becoming a lucrative way to make money on the Internet. Apps cost virtually nothing to develop and entail no storage or shipping costs. So they enjoy the best profit margins.

Transcription
Medical transcription involves making written copies of oral material dictated by doctors or other medical experts. These may include history and physical reports, clinical notes, consultation notes, reports, letters, psychiatric evaluation and so on. The dictated material needs to be transcribed swiftly and accurately, which is the most challenging aspect of the job. To become a medical transcriptionist, you need to have a good knowledge of medical terminology and a high typing speed along with accuracy.