Any kind of job or business requires tools to help you complete your work. Working from home is no exception to that. Over the years I have discovered a number of tools that are a must have for my business. I would love to share them with you.

Here are my best 6 tools for working from home:

1. Wunderlist. I have struggled for some time trying to find just the right to do list that works across my computer and my smartphone. Plus find one that I will actually use. I have a couple installed on my phone right now and this is definitely my favorite. I also love very much that it is free. And you can share your task list with your spouse or an employee/contractor if needed. I use this every day.
2. WordPress. Back in the day I used to code websites from scratch and with the help of Frontpage. My how things have changed. Now every single site I build is on the WordPress platform. While it does have its quirks, I love the simplicity of use in the backend and the ability to customize it with various plugins and custom themes like Thesis. And so many people are using it, that if there is something I don’t know how to do with it, I just Google it and there is most likely a tutorial.
3. Internet Connection. It is hard to remember back but there was a time when there wasn’t the internet. I remember computer modems in which you had to place a phone handset into. And I’m not really that old. Anyway having the internet available all the time has really been a key in allowing people to work from home. Whether I am at home using the wireless internet or on the road and using mobile broadband, allows me to work when I want to.
4. Backup Buddy. I used to use a free plugin to send a backup of my WordPress database to my email once a week, but I always worried about it being unreliable. Then it stopped working on one of my key sites. I had heard so many good things about this plugin but I was hesitant to pay for it when there was something free. Free is not so good when it doesn’t work though. I love this plugin because I can set it up to do an automatic backup of either the whole site or just the database and have it sent to Amazon S3, Dropbox, my email, FTP, or Rackspace Cloudfiles.
5. Namecheap. I used to register all of my domains with GoDaddy, but they just slowly chipped away at me until I was fed up. Now this is my domain registrar of choice. They really do cost less plus they have a whole lot less upsells during the checkout process. That’s a win in my book.
6. Hostgator. All of my websites need someplace to call home and this is the webhost for me. I love that they have an online chat feature for support issues, as well as phone and email support. While they are not perfect, the pros have outweighed the cons so far.

I would love to know what your must have tools are. Let me know in the comments below!

Hey Ladies, step away from the computer for a bit. Grab a cup of hot coffee, a book and take a moment for yourself. This post is for the men in your lives.

Guys Valentine’s Day is just a few weeks away (Tuesday February 14) and even if we say we don’t want anything, trust me, we do. So I’ve put together a little Valentine’s Gift Guide for the work at home Mom in your life to make shopping simple.

• Flowers are great, but a Rose Flower Pen is a whole lot more useful. I can never have too many pens actually and this flower pen would be a daily reminder of your love. At only $1.99 a dozen wouldn’t break the bank.
• Heart Shaped Cookies. These smiley faced cookies are perfect for Valentine’s Day. Plus I won’t want to eat all of them so the whole family can enjoy.
• Chocolate Covered Strawberries. I love just about chocolate anything (except bacon and bug varieties, ewww) and these are no exception. Plus they are made with real chocolate.
• Jewelry! Hands down you can’t go wrong with jewelry. I love this Aquamarine Sterling Silver ring for a couple of reasons. One it is my birthstone. It is also customizable with your choice of gems and metals. Plus it is a stackable ring so you could get one with the birthstone for each of your children and it makes a Mother’s Ring. Awwww.
• Tea. I am a huge fan of loose leaf tea and find great enjoyment out of my daily cup (or two or more) of tea. This Bento Box of Green Tea is not only beautiful, it is practical too. Work at home moms appreciate practical. They also offer many other tea gifts to choose from too.
• Clean the House. I think most work at home moms would agree that we work two full time jobs. One is our work at home job and the other is taking care of our family and household. Having someone else clean the house (or cook the food, take care of the kids for the day, etc.) would be a very welcome present.
• Personalized Picture Frame. It is always nice to decorate my work space with some pictures of my family and this personalized frame is perfect and thoughtful.
• Desktop Water Fountain. This would be perfect to bring some tranquility to my hectic days. The soothing sound of water and the soft light would be a nice addition to my desk.

Work at Home Summer Survival Tips

Next week marks the end of the school year in the Elf household. This time of year is always a bit bittersweet cause on the one hand there are no lunches to make, no needing to rush out the door first thing in the morning, and a little bit more laid back lifestyle. On the other hand, there is still work to be done and a child to entertain. Today I would like to share my 7 Work at Home Summer Survival Tips.

1. Have a plan. It is so tempting to do nothing all summer after that first week of relaxation when school ends (come on, I know you do it too), but then the week before school rolls around and you try to cram in all that you had planned to do last minute. It is much better to sit down now and loosely structure your summer with field trips, art projects, and scheduling in time each day to sit down and get some work done.
2. Keep a busy box. How exactly are you supposed to get work done with kids asking for snacks and saying they are bored a hundred times a minute? Stock a box full of craft projects they can do themselves and put snacks on shelves low enough that your kids can get to them by themselves. Don’t pull out the box until you have everything ready to work though, because they will whip through that craft faster than you anticipated and then you are back to square one.
3. Hire some help. Sometimes it is not possible to finish all the work that you need to do with kids underfoot. This is when it is necessary to bring in reinforcements. Whether it is hiring a mother’s helper or bringing in a full time nanny, you need to find the solution that works for you and your family.
4. Strike where it counts. Having reduced work hours and focus means it is time to take stock on what is really important. Create a list of the must dos and the want to dos. Focus most of your time and energy on the must dos and then work on the want to dos when you get a spare moment.
5. Enroll them in Summer Camp. My daughter will be going to summer camp three full weeks this summer at her school. I’m planning on getting the bulk of my summer work done when she is there. Look around for ones in your area either at Zoos, Museums, private schools, and gyms.
6. Work at the Park. Pack a picnic lunch, some sunscreen, your laptop and a broadband card. Let the kids play til they are pooped and have some snacks and ice water waiting. If you don’t have a laptop or a broadband card, then go old school with a notebook to do some writing and planning in. This is also a good time to knock some things off your reading list.
7. Have fun. It is summer after all. Your kids are only going to be young once and the one of the main points of working from home is to be there for them. Build in some hours each day to play or take full days off. You deserve a vacation from all your hard work too.

What are your work at home summer survival tips? Share them in the comments below.

I am a highly distractible person. My mind works in a million different directions and it has been a struggle throughout my life finding ways around it.

One of the solutions I am currently discovering is checklists. If I have step by step instructions to do something, I am much more likely to follow through from start to finish. Without a checklist, I am very likely to start building a new site, install a plugin, have to stop and lookup the settings for plugins, and then along comes a… Squirrel! You get the idea.

A few weeks ago I sat down and started creating checklists of all the business tasks that I do. Everything from registering a domain, to setting it up with hosting, to all the various plugins that I use and their settings, etc. It feels good to get it all down on paper. I’m not finished yet and imagine it may take me awhile to do so. Each time I do a task though, I get out a pad of paper and start writing each step down. Use the method that works for you of course, I just get a lot of satisfaction from writing it down.

My tips for you are to:

1. Make your checklists!
2. Write down a list of tasks that you do on a regular and irregular basis.
3. Next time you do that task, then record each step of the way.
4. Create a printable checklist that you can then print out each time you need to do the task.

My inspiration for doing so was reading the book The E-Myth Revisited. It rocks and will change the way you see your business.

My Sabbatical has lasted a little bit longer than I originally planned on. There were a number of things that derailed my February 1 return to work, but I am glad they all happened when they did. I find that I am in a much less stressed place right now. Having an inconvenience such a sick child or a snow day is much less a big deal then it would have been just a few months ago.

Of course it is easy to balance work and life when you are not working. Strangely enough this TED talk landed in my email inbox today and I thought it was very well timed:

Circumstances are such that I need to be a work at home mom. We can get by as a single income household, but it is tight. So as much as I have enjoyed “just” being a mom, it really isn’t something that works for us right now.

With that I have created sort of a work/life guide map to help keep things in balance. Here are some of the key points:

1. I will limit my working hours to the time my daughter is either in school or sleeping at night. While I can see the merits of my daughter being able to see me work from time to time, I don’t think it is a good habit to get into on a regular basis.
2. I will read a book a week. I used to be a voracious reader, sometimes reading two books at the same time. Somewhere along the way though, reading got pushed back from an important activity to one that I only do on vacation. I have a stack of books at home that are sitting waiting for me and others on my reading list too.
3. I will take more time to have coffee with my friends. Working from home can be very isolating at times and it is important to keep in contact with others. Even for an introvert like me.
4. I will plan my time better. Towards the end of last year I had gotten to the point where I had so many ideas and projects to work on that when I would sit down at the computer, I wouldn’t know what to work on. Which meant not much got worked on. I need to have a more strategic plan moving forward.
5. Occasionally I will take a day off and not worry about work.
6. Related: if my daughter is sick or has a snow day from school, I will not worry about work.
7. I will make traveling to an affiliate related conference a priority this year. Last year I only made it to one event and it was at the beginning of the year. All the rest that I planned on going to had to be cancelled on at the last minute. I find conferences a great way to connect, learn, and recharge. It knocked a bit of wind out of my sails by not going. The number one conference I am considering is Affiliate Summit East in New York.

That’s all that I’ve got right now. I am sure to add more in the future as I see how this works for me and my family. What are some of your ways to balance work and family?

A series of events late in 2010 have left me a little shaken and made me slow down to examine my life. First my 20-year-old cousin passed away and then a couple days later my Mom broke her hip. Both of these events stirred up a bunch of feelings, emotions and issues.

As such I decided to take a bit of a sabbatical. It doesn’t have a defined end date, but as the end of January looms I’m thinking I may get back to work then. Or not. I’ve never really taken this time for myself and my family before.

I’ve never had the chance to just be a stay at home mom. I started working from home before I even planned on having a child, so after my daughter was born I had a bit of a maternity leave and then was back to work.

I love that working from home has allowed me to be there for my daughter when she needs me. That it has shown her a possible path in a woman’s life. Lately though it has been a bit too consuming for me without the results that I am looking for. And my family and home have suffered.

So right now I am focused mostly on me, my family and my house. You wouldn’t believe the checklist on my fridge with areas to be de-cluttered and things to pare down. It feels good to spend the afternoon with my daughter and not have to worry about racing to the computer to check “just one more thing.”

Of course I still have a bit of business going on. All this time has been good for brainstorming and random keyword research. I’m hopeful coming out of this I will have a better plan for moving forward and a better balance to my life.

For many years now I have been working from home and it has mostly taken place at my kitchen table or living room couch. Sure I had a desk when I first started, but that was before my daughter came along and we were short a bedroom. It didn’t make sense to devote one whole room to nothing but a desk. Especially when we occasionally have overnight guests and they need to sleep somewhere.

It worked out fairly well, not having a dedicated location, for awhile. My daughter was only in school half days and I spent most of my time working out of a briefcase. This year though, she has 3 full days of school and it affords me time to actually work from home.

I needed an office, but wasn’t sure where exactly to fit it. I considered getting an armoire desk, but really space is at such a premium in our house that it wasn’t a great choice. And then I saw a tweet from Wendy Piersall that changed my thinking.

Turning a closet into a home office! Brilliant! Our guest bedroom/den has a closet that would be perfect, so I showed the post to my hubby and he took some measurements and came up with a plan. He had the week of Thanksgiving off and that is when the tranformation began.

We made a trip to Ikea for a chair and some baskets, desk accessories, lights, etc. By the way, tried that chair from the design and while very neat looking, it is not very comfortable. I went with something with a bit more cushion.

We had to take the doors off the closet to gain more room for the desktop, but I found some really lovely curtains from Target that worked. And here is the final product:

It has whiteboards and a corkboard for planning and dreaming. It has some nice cubbies and baskets to hold items. We added a mirror so that it doesn’t feel quite like sitting in a closet and gives a window to the outside. And I absolutely love it. Having a home base for working from home is so very important and it is something that I have been missing out on.

What does your home office look like? Was there an inspiration for it?

I have to admit that I am not always on top of things in the blogging world. It was only recently that I revived an older blog (this one) to discuss issues related to being a wahm and affiliate marketing. It wasn’t until last year that I started to hear a buzz about the so called ‘mommy blogger.’

Now I will say that there are a couple of blogs that I follow here and there that would qualify for the title. I knew that there were bloggers that chronicled their life and that of their offspring online.

I have never done that though. I have never been comfortable sharing personal information or pictures of my family online. Unless you are in my inner circle, you probably don’t even know my husband or daughter’s name. I like things that way.

Plus my family is a bit off the beaten path. Many of the companies that are looking for reviews or endorsements of their products are simply not ones that we would use in our home. So while I am all for getting free samples of things and trying them out, I’m not really sure my home would be the right fit.

*Note to companies: If you are looking for a Waldorf, eco-friendly, vegetarian family that tends to use natural toys and fibers to review your products, please contact me *

Instead I am happy with my focus here. I want to continue to bring news and advice about working at home and the affiliate marketing industry to my readers. I hope that you don’t mind that I have only invited you into my home office and not given you more access to the private details of my life and family.

So with that, a question for you. Are you more likely to take advice from someone that is more open about their family and personal life or is it really the quality of the advice that matters? I look forward to your answers.

Summer is here, but for most of us WAHM’s work still goes on. Today I am happy to host the All Things Family blog carnival with suggestions on how to keep your kids busy while you get work done.

Today marked the return to school for my daughter and back to the grind for me. It also has me looking at the calendar and realizing there are only a few shorts weeks  left before school is out for the summer.  Well okay, 9 weeks, but still they are sure to fly by. This is a great time to assess goals and see if I am on track to meeting them.

I know there are several things I had hoped to attain by now, so I am going to need to reevaluate just how I am spending my time and what I can do better. Most of the time I have been feeling very spread thin amongst various website and I am considering selling a few of them. I have heard good things about using Flippa.com to do so.

I also just bought a time management ebook and am in the process of reading it. Is it sad I have not made the time to read it all the way through yet? Anway I will let you know what I think and have a review later.

I do know one thing that is working for me right now, is that I have identified the core group of my sites that are doing well or have potential for success. I am concentrating my efforts on those right now and I have no plans to add any new ones right now.

How are your goals for the year coming along? Are you facing the deadline of your kids being home from school for the summer? This is a great time to assess your goals and make plans to get things done. Feel free to share what you are doing in the comments below.