Help Moms Stay at Home with their Children

For a while now I have been working on taking Buy By Mom to the next level…the site needs re-building and it needs a professionally developed Media/PR Package.

Well…Great News this week! I just received notice this week that I am a semifinalist of the Moms In Business Grant!

The National Association For Moms In Business’ grant program www.momsinbusinessgrant.com allows me to build my business ( Buy By Mom) capital by harnessing the power of crowd funding to take Buy By Mom to the next level so I can help even more Moms in business!

About my Venture
The purpose of BuyByMom.com is to promote moms in business and get them out on the web. My passion is for the moms who want to stay at home with their children while bringing in an income by selling the items they create or the products they believe in. A friend of mine started an online boutique and tried so hard to market it and get word out about the products that she offered. However, in over 2 years, she only ever made 2 sales from the boutique. She was heartbroken. All the time, money, and effort she was putting into the website was bringing her nothing in return. She was frustrated, to say the least, and decided to close up shop.

BuyByMom.com was born because I wanted to keep that from happening to other moms. I wanted to see mothers succeed in their businesses and be able to stay at home with their children. I wanted to spread the word about the amazing talents moms possess and I wanted to see them succeed beyond their wildest dreams in your business. I truly believe that by working together, we can make each mom a success.

This new way of fundraising process allows all persons, even those with very little to give, to show their support and be a part of something big.

The Moms In Business Grant is the first-ever crowdfunding business grant in the nation, and I’m one of the Top 10 National Semifinalists!

This is an exciting opportunity for me to grow my business and to have a chance at a $12,000 Grand Prize Grant Package. I’m literally one of the final 10 that were chosen out of dozens of business owners who initially applied.

I’m so close to winning, but I need your help.

I need you to pledge support for my business, Buy By Mom. Sharing the information about this with your friends and family would be very helpful too!

Statistics show that women business owners do not have the same advantage as male business owners in getting funding for their business. In fact, women business owners only receive 11% of venture capital funding, but woman-owned businesses tend to stay in business longer. This is exactly why the National Association For Moms In Business has developed this revolutionary business grant rather than giving the “traditional” kind of business grant. Due to the promotional requirementsto be successful in this grant, it’s a good way to identify those entrepreneurs who will go the extra mile to publicize and build their ventures therefore making them ideal candidates for our additional $12,000 grant support.

How does this work?

The “crowdfunding” platform is a way to raise money by attracting many small donations from a large group (friends, family, professional contacts) to meet a funding goal. “Backers” give contributions in exchange for rewards or perks offered by the grant applicant – rewards can be any product, service or experience to which the grant applicant has access. And example of crowdfunding is an NPR pledge drive - if you donate $25.00 to NPR, donors may get an NPR T-shirt or a coffee mug, or get to go “behind the scenes” at a special event, etc.

In addition, if I win, I will receive up to $1000 in additional funding. That means that every dollar you give to my project may be matched: dollar for dollar!

Step 1: Go to http://mibn.org/site.php/spgs/read/momsinbusinessgrant

Step 2: Click on button Back This MOM for Buy By Mom

Step 3: Click on button Back This Project

Step 4: Choose your reward option, for example Featured Sponsor Spot for 9 months or Featured Parent and Featured Sponsor for One Year and Enter Pledge Amount

The grant ends on June 15th, so please back my project today. And tell your friends!

I’m excited that I have the opportunity to participate in this program!

I am a Proud Mom in Business, and would very much appreciate your help.

Work/Life Balance Part I - Love What You Do!

Being a work at home mom and/or dad can be challenging. There are a lot of things that require, even demand, you attention every day and most, if not all, of them are probably high on your priority list. It is easy to get burned out, discouraged and give up - don't!

One of the keys to being a successful work at home parent is to love what you do. You should be passionate about your work at home job or business.

For example, I have several things I am passionate about: family, helping parents work at home so at least one parent can be home full-time with their children, politics and writing. To tee myself up for success I have combined these passions - the way I have implemented them in my business is in a manner that they support each other.

Family is extremely important to me, as is helping parents work from home for the sake of their children. To combine these and have them work to support each other I did several things. The first is I partnered with an INC 500 company whose focus is enhancing people's lives by helping them attain their goals. They are privately held, have no debt, have an A++ rating and have been inducted into the BBB Hall of Fame. They have always been 'green' - long before it was 'en vogue'. Their sales have consistently grown every year regardless of the state of the economy due to their exceptional product line. This makes this a stable and reliable company to partner with and one I can confidently recommend to others.

Another way in which I can help parents work from home to be with their children is through the work I do with Our Milk Money (OMM) as their Director of Communications. Our Milk Money is a national search directory that lists ONLY self-employed parents. OMM is also a community resource dedicated to helping parents who want to stay at home find financial opportunities and support.

OMM's institutional ethos is built around a common goal to provide for our children. In this society, the average family is faced with a challenge to provide for their families with no less than two incomes, and are sacrificing their commitment to raising their own children. As a result, many parents are forced to give the people they work for more of a commitment than they are able to give their children.

OMM envisions a situation in which we are able to reinvent ourselves as parents and entrepreneurs, and where we are able to adequately embrace our family values and support one another by working towards a lasting solution. OMM's rationale is based on a concept that brings the community of self-employed parents together: by purchasing only each other's products and services and by promoting our unity as an organization. OMM wishes to see a vibrant change in the choices we make as consumers, to appreciate the VALUE of what we purchase, and to support the parents who have chosen to earn alternative revenue for their family by working for themselves.

Another passion of mine is writing. I love sharing what I have learned with others - it's always good to be able to learn from others...it can increase our learning curve and productivity! I am passionate about our country...the companies I have partnered with are great examples of the ethics and moral values I share. I combine my love of country and helping others with my love of writing.

An additional way I combine all of these passions is by featuring work at home parents on my Buy By Mom Blog. I also review their wonderful products. I get to write and they get the benefit of free publicity!

All of these are things I love to do. I am passionate about them. Doing what you are passionate about helps me to keep going even in the face of challenges and challenging times. In fact, when you are passionate about what you do, those challenges can even spur you on to further success...they do for me!

If you are stuck in a job or business that you are not loving but need to help support you and your family here's a suggestion: while you working at that job or business out of necessity, continue to search for something that ignites passion in you. Don't give up on that...it may take a while but with persistence you can find it!

Said Albert Schweitzer: "Success is not they key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."

Here's to your success!

New Blog Design!

It's a new year, and my blog needs a new look! Thank heavens, Angie at 5 Vinez Monkeys is giving away a new blog look to one lucky reader courtesy of her business, Angela Vinez Designs. You won't want to miss this giveaway! Stop by before 11:59pm ET on January 27th and enter to win!

Visit Tweet A Day Giveaway.com!

Site Focuses on Helping Small Businesses Breakthrough the Internet Noise

Tweet-A-Day Giveaway promotes giveaways for free to help small business grow.

Henderson, NV July 18, 2009 – Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com sends out a daily email and daily tweet on giveaways is targeting the need of micro, small and medium businesses to breakthrough the internet “noise” by offering an easy way to get their promotional giveaways listed and out to the public.

Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com is unique from other giveaway sites and blogs because it drives traffic to the company’s site not just the promoter’s site. Tweet-A-Day does not manage the giveaway or ask visitors to enter to win on their site like other giveaway sites do. Tweet-A-Day sends visitors directly to the site of the company offering the giveaway. Doing this brings more traffic to the company’s’ site. In addition, the company doing the giveaway does not have to send in the product for “review”.

Tweet-A-Day founder, Gina Robison-Billups, recognized the need for this service when she was promoting her own giveaway for MomsMakingaMillion.com. It was very difficult to find sites to contact. The submission links for most of them didn’t work, and their promotion of the giveaways just drove traffic and comments to their own sites, not hers. In addition, Moms Making a Million didn’t have a product to review with a picture because it’s a service. Service providers are left out in the cold when it comes to giveaway promotional opportunities.

Tweet-A-Day Giveaway is also free. There are no advertising fees for posting giveaways, and no shipping of free products for review – a practice that has been recently scrutinized for tax implications and conflict of interest issues.

The program is still in its beta phase, but the first week has seen real results. The Tweet-A-Day giveaways were re-tweeted to 12,000 twitter-ers in it’s first week of operation, and many of the companies offering giveaways have reported results and sign ups.

Visitors wanting to receive daily giveaways through email or Twitter can register alerts through www.Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com or at http://www.twitter.com/tweetgive

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About Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com

Pure, simple, free, and easy promotion – Tweet-A-DayGiveaway.com gives small business a place to promote their giveaways and to breakthrough the internet noise.

Media Contact: Gina Robison-Billups, tweetgive@gmail.com

Twitter!

I'm on twitter...my user name is TheWishPlace. Follow me! :)

Getting Publicity for Your Work at Home Business

Getting publicity for your business is very different from marketing your business. When you market your business, you control your message and try to persuade people to buy from you. Marketing can include things like paid advertising, attending a trade show, direct mail campaigns, and your newsletter.

Publicity is convincing others to talk about you, instead of you talking about yourself. It's something you earn, not something you pay for. Instead of convincing people to buy from you, publicity informs people about the newsworthiness of you and your business, from an objective point of view.

Marketing is important because it helps to build your brand. Publicity helps the public to trust you. But to get this kind of attention, you have to make yourself newsworthy.

Publicity usually begins with a press release that you send to media outlets and online press release sites. It includes being interviewed in magazines and newspapers, being interviewed on radio or TV, having popular bloggers blog about you – and any other way that people can tell others about your business.

Here are some ways you can make yourself newsworthy and generate free publicity for your business. Use one of these ideas to get started, or come up with an idea of your own, then send out a press release about your news.

- Prove that a myth or stereotype about your business is wrong.
- Why did you start your business? If you started your business because you didn't think anyone else was doing a good job in your industry, that can be a newsworthy story.
- Has your business experienced a setback and survived? Write a story about your comeback and send it to the media.
- Do you have an eco-friendly home business? Write about how you’re helping the environment.
- Sponsor a local community service project that relates to your business.
- Offer surprising facts about your business. What is a little-known fact about your industry that people would be surprised to learn?
- Close down your business for a day and spend the day doing charity work with your family. Invite other home business owners to join you!

Get as creative as you want. Making your business newsworthy just takes a little bit of imagination and inspiration.

How to Market Your Home Business in Forums

Forum marketing is a valuable way to get your work from home business noticed by your target market, and to build relationships with others. A forum is basically a discussion board where you can connect with people who share your interests.

When you join a forum, you can create a signature line and add it to each post you make. If you make interesting and informative posts, people will click on the link in your signature and visit your website to learn more about you.

Some forums have a section where you can post ads for your business. Most of the time though, members won’t read your ad unless you're active on the other parts of the board. You need to show the other members that you are there to help them, not just to attract new customers or clients.

When you're looking for a forum to join, you can ask your online friends where they like to go, or do a Google search for the specific type of forum you are looking for. If you're joining a forum to market your business, you'll want to find one where your target market spends their time.

For example, if you have an eco-friendly home business, you should look for a forum that caters to people who are concerned for the environment. If you sell candles, look for people who are interested in decorating their homes. If you're a web designer for small businesses, search for forums where small business owners spend their time.

You don't need to join a lot of forums to be a good forum marketer. It's more important that you are active in the forums you join on a regular basis. Be selective and choose forums that will be a good investment of your time.

One of my favorite forums is the one at Moms United in Business, http://www.momsunitedinbusiness.com. At MUIB, we support each other both as mothers and as business professionals. We discuss things like business issues, blogging, parenting, and relationships.

I would love for you to join me there! You will make some new friends, and you might even find some new clients.