That’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past days. While I’m waiting for feedback from the company I applied to, I might as well do something more productive and create added streams of income. After all, my end goal is to have a creative business that supports me financially and spiritually.

It’s been a huge learning experience and a challenging one too. Being at home has its perks — I can control my time and I get to be around my kids. But it has its downsides too — sometimes I get distracted by other things at home, most of the time, I have to stop working to attend to my kids.

I’m trying to figure out the best working schedule for me. Some days I try to squeeze in work after they sleep. Other times, I’d wake up earlier. Sometimes, I’d work a few minutes here and there while the girls are playing on their own.

I recently finished one of my online shops which was a huge boost to my morale. And while it won’t make me a millionaire overnight, I’ve already made some sales which encourages me to keep going.

Thankfully, my buffer fund is holding up. No need for payday advance loans yet. I’m just budgeting a little tighter until my cash flow becomes positive again.

Right now, I’m so out of my comfort zone, I’ve been used to working for others all these years and I’m still learning the ropes of having a business. But I know this is what I need to do.

Sometimes I feel worried and scared, I have a family to support after all. Thankfully, my hubby is supportive of my goal. I am keeping the faith that everything will work out just fine or even better than I expected.

Since it’s almost the end of 2010, I’ve been thinking of cleaning up my online stuff and getting rid of those I don’t need or use. See I’ve accumulated quite a lot of domains and blogs over the past years. And while I thought buying them or building them was a good idea then, now I may have to let them go.

I know I said a few months back that I will be holding off on the shopping. Actually, I’ve been pretty frugal when it came to the “usual shopping”. I have successfully stopped myself from buying trendy clothes, personalized jewelry and other accessories online. But what I haven’t been able to stop spending on are ebooks, tools, domains and WordPress themes for making money online.

Some people say you don’t need money to make money online, and that could be true to a certain degree. But I found that sometimes, it’s worth spending money to learn things and use tools that make the process easier and better. I always consider these purchases as investments for my online business and I’ve been working on getting my ROI soon.

I just need to focus more and manage my time better. And cleaning up the clutter will help me do just that. I’m still thinking whether I should let them just expire or give them away. We’ll see.

If you asked my 8 year old self what I wanted to do 20 years from that time, I’d probably tell you I’m contentedly working in a regular job as a writer, happily married and with kids.

I would never have dreamed of working for myself or going into business. Back then, my plans were pretty simple: I will finish my studies, earn a degree and get a job so I can support my family.

I didn’t have grand dreams of becoming a millionaire but I knew I wanted to have enough money for everything I need.

Fast forward to the present and I’m living that vision: I have a regular job, I’m happily married and I have kids. I am very grateful that our family lives a comfortable life and we’ve got everything we need.

But the good thing about dreams is you’re allowed to change them. A year ago i realized that after I accomplished this dream, it’s time to achieve something bigger.

I decided that I don’t just want to have enough money. I want to be financially free.

And if you’ve ever been an employee, I believe you’ll agree with me that the only way to prosper and have financial freedom is to break away from the four corners of your office.

You’ve got to have your own business.

I actually admire those who have thriving businesses. I think every business owner has some kind of magic genius. From conceptualizing your product, to marketing it to your target audience, and to scaling it up for more profit.

Then they’ve got foresight to anticipate possible glitches and they’re prepared to troubleshoot them. For example, they’re knowledgeable about business insurance and familiar with the current business insurance rate. If the business relies heavily on vehicles, they get a business car insurance. It’s not just about putting up a business but also protecting that business.

Having a brick and mortar business did cross my mind at one point. One of the first ideas that came to mind was a restaurant since my hubby is a great cook. A food business will always be profitable since it’s an evergreen need. You just need to have great positioning, competitive pricing and a unique selling point that will make you stand out from all the other restos on the block.

However, none of us has any business experience. Not to mention, it takes some serious capital and even more time to set it up. So am I giving up on my business idea?

Well, not entirely. I am still thinking of a starting a business but using a different avenue. It will be an online business.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been brainstorming ideas with some helpful online marketers about what business to put up. And finally, I think I know what direction I’m going to take. This business will allow me to achieve my work at home goal and I’m so excited because I feel that I can make a new start by 2011.

I’ve been dabbling in different things since last year and I’ve constantly lost my focus. But after fleshing out ideas with other people, I realized I should be focusing on my core genius, what I love to do and what I do best.

It’s neither going to cost me a humongous start up capital nor will I need insurance at this point. But it’s going to cost me some serious brain cells and time. I’ve been a little sleepless lately since I work after everyone goes to sleep.

But I’m sure that when I pull this off, it will all be worth it. I can finally be a present mom to my kids. I can finally help Kernan more with our family’s finances. I can help my own family more.

It’s scary yet exciting at the same time. After I get this going and pull it off successfully, I can catch up on sleep and buy a really potent eye cream. And then some.

Financial freedom, here we come.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I am bent on achieving my goal to work at home by next year. While my primary method is to earn money online, I am still testing different ways to do it. I want to come up with a business model that is sustainable for me and has potential to earn unlimited income too.

So far, the only way I’ve earned online was to do paid blogging. I’m very thankful that I got to do this because this is what has allowed me to invest in learning how to make money online and exploring other business opportunities.

But even if paid blogging is a fairly enjoyable work to do, the only way to earn a sizeable income from this method is to have a network of 10 or more blogs. Another factor is the frequency of paid assignments that are given to you. Sometimes, there are windfalls while sometimes there are no assignments at all.

So I’m exploring three other methods of making money online: affiliate marketing, freelance writing and niche blogging.

Simply put, affiliate marketing is promoting other people’s products and making money from commissions. Products could be digital goods like ebooks or software or physical goods that could bought online like electronics and gadgets.

For example you can have a site that focuses on one product, say TVs, and your site’s content will feature TV reviews and price comparisons. When someone looking to buy a plasma television searches for good deals online, finds your site and makes a purchase through one of your links, you earn a commission.

Freelance writing is also a popular way to make money online. Fact is most people don’t like or don’t know how to write articles so they outsource this task to freelance writers. The key to earning a stable income from this method is to establish a clientele who will hire you on a regular basis. It’s sort of like having a boss too since you write for others but at least you can work on your own time and you can set your own rates.

Niche blogging is about building blogs for specific niches which also promotes products for sale. This can also be used for affiliate marketing which means you’ll use your blog to promote other people’s products. But you can also create your own product and sell it through your niche blog.

For example, you are very passionate about planting orchids. You can blog about it and gain a following among other orchid lovers. You can either write and sell your own ebook about how to grow orchids or you can promote and sell gardening tools on your blog.

Of course, these are all broad strokes of the different methods and while they may all sound easy. Each method still takes work. But the key is, if you enjoy doing these things, then they won’t be work at all. It’s like getting paid to do what you love.

I enjoy blogging and writing so I could probably try doing all these. Marketing is something else but I think I can learn it along the way.  The important thing is for me to keep taking action, to evaluate the results and to do more of what works.

Wish me luck!

“Mommy, ‘wag ka na mag-office.” Jamaine tugs at my arm with a pleading face.

“Baby, mommy needs to work so we’ll have money to buy you food, to pay for the house, and save up for school.”

“Wag na,” she’ll say.

I’ll try to explain to her again but she won’t budge.

“I’ll get money from the office so I can buy you pasalubong later.”

I always try to avoid using that line of reasoning but it works all the time. And when I come home, she does remember to ask for pasalubong. Although if I did forget, she would forgive just as easily.

The anxiety of having to work full time away from home has been with me since Jamaine was born. But let’s face it, we need a double income to sustain the family that’s why I took on a regular job to help pay the bills.

I like my job, I just don’t like how it eats so much of my time in one day. I like to work, I just need to learn how to work smarter.

Since last year, I’ve been trying to figure out how to earn a stable income from home. I’d go on and off working on a project with very little results. It gets discouraging at times. But I always remind myself that I just have to keep learning and moving forward until I make it.

In the meantime, I’m training myself to have a “save more and spend less” attitude because it’s the only way I can have more money immediately. I haven’t shopped in months and I’m putting off buying all unnecessary “wants” on my wishlist.

Tomorrow’s grocery day and I promise myself I’ll stick to my list and consider picking some best buy items over branded ones.

The good thing is I’m starting to work on my little money project again and I have a good feeling I’m finally doing it right. I’m excited to see this thing finally work.

And when it does, I’m gonna be so excited for the day when I can finally tell Jamaine, “Mommy doesn’t have office today.”

I’ve been studying how to make money online since last year and I think I’m slowly putting the pieces together. I’ve a got a ton of ebooks in my hard drive and I’ve read them all so I got bogged down in information overload for awhile. But now I am concentrating on just the niche blogging method and I am pretty positive that this will work.

The basic premise is you choose a super focused topic for your blog which you can earn money from. Say you are so into gardening and it’s something that you are interested enough to write about for a long time. You can start a blog that shares gardening tips and helpful reviews of gardening tools. You can set up Adsense on your site or feature products from which you can earn commissions. When someone clicks on your ads or buys from your site, you earn money.

I’d have to say though that as simple as it may sound, there are some intricacies to this whole process that is needed for it to work. One thing I’ve learned so far, if you want to make money writing is you have to write about the things you love or, at the very least, you’re interested in.

See if you don’t have money to invest in an online business, expect to do a lot of writing. That’s not actually a problem for me since I love to write. But when I have to write hundreds of articles on something I don’t love or can’t relate to, I get stuck. So my guide for writing articles and picking niches for my business blogs are stuff that I like (better if I love) and can write about on and on.

I’ve read a lot of “gurus” advising against this. They say you have to find the topics with the highest searches or products with the highest commissions and write about them or sell them. Doesn’t matter if you’re interested in them or not. But I’ve tried it and it’s so time consuming and inefficient.

For example, it takes me a couple of minutes to write about Moleskine journals (which I absolutely adore) but it takes me forever to write about scanning software (which I don’t know anything about). Of course, I might make more commissions selling software than journals. But if it’s such a pain to work on it, then I might just end up not doing it and giving up the business altogether.

If you want to make money writing, they key is to find something you are interested in writing about that also earns you money.

Anyway, I’ve got all the technical stuff set up and I’ve finished one article for the niche blog. I’ve got 99 more to go. Ack!

Thank God for the endless P2B assignments, the money I earn there helps me afford the ebooks I’m studying for this business venture. Grateful too for the vacation break which gives me time to work on this. I think I’m onto something good.

Wish me luck!

But it’s the good kind. I’ve got a lot of blogging gigs lined up, my trusty laptop and my Linksys router have been working overtime every night.

And I can’t be more thankful that the opps are streaming in continuously. Sure, I’ve got to sacrifice a little bit of sleeping time but at least, I’m trading it for money.

Besides, I really enjoy blogging and it’s cool that I get to earn from it. Doing this aligns with one of my core beliefs about money: you can earn it  effortlessly.

The long term goal is to make a living out of this so I can work on my own terms and, the best part of all, get to be at home with my hubby and my kids. Lots of other moms are doing it, I know I can do it too.

I’m following an ebook written by a mom that shows how to earn money online using free platforms —  a great option if you’re a newbie with very little or no starting capital. I’m still trying it out to see if it does work. Then I’ll share it here.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep typing away…

Hope you’re all having a great weekend.

This is kind of what I’m feeling right now. So far, I’ve got our weekly budget sorted out and most of the time it’s enough for all our expenses. But Jamaine is starting school in a year and that takes our expenses to a whole new level.

We have some savings but I know we need to save even more if we want to send her to the best school. Not to mention that Kalia is going to school immediately after she does.

I told hubby that we need to set more concrete financial goals so we can better prepare. I’m confident that we can reach those goals since we both have jobs and my hubby is one hard worker. But I’m actually aiming for earning more by working smarter.

I’m still working on my personal finances and trying to save whatever I earn with my regular job. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating when I see all the deductions, especially the humongous tax cut. (As my officemate says more money to launder for the corrupt politicos.) But I always remind myself that at least I have my benefits taken care of and i won’t have to settle for cheap insurance I will forget to pay for.

Good thing I still have my online earnings intact so I have a bit of back-up. I have been very disciplined with saving my Paypal money. Yay! And the earning opps continue to come so I remain thankful. It’s proof that there is more than enough money to go around for everyone, you just have to be open to receive it.

It’s a juggling act on most days: taking care of the hubby, taking care of the kids, managing the household, working at the office, working at home, taking care of myself. Sometimes it’s scary because it feels like when one thing falls the others will follow. But it’s a learning experience every day.

When one ball falls, pick it up and start again. You just have to keep going and trying and working on it. Until one day, you’re juggling like a pro before you know it.

If you’ve known me long enough, you’d know I love words better than numbers. But since I had to learn how to manage the family budget, numbers had to be my friend.

I bought a good ole math notebook where I list down our budget for the week and our purchases. I also have a special envelope where the funds are segregated and where the receipts are kept. And unlike math quizzes in school, I actually enjoy balancing the budget sheets and doing some accounting.

Previously, we’d just set a random amount and buy everything in the grocery. Oftentimes, our grocery bill would run towards 10k and we’d still come up short on supplies sometime during the week.

Now I go to the market to buy fish, chicken and vegetables where, of course, everything is much cheaper. When I buy stuff from the grocery, I now take the time to use a calculator and make sure everything is in the budget. No more lingering in the cookies and chips aisle.

This is the first time I’ve tried doing our budget and managing the household finances. Yeah, I’m a late bloomer. But I’d rather think of myself as a housewife in progress.

So far, so good.

When I’ve got this down pat, I’ll move on to the bigger things like investing in life insurance, mutual funds and maybe the stock market. That’s all part of the financial freedom project.

Before this is done, numbers will definitely be my best friend.

Photo by: streetfly

When I receive a paycheck or extra money from a racket, I used to find myself battling with the urge to splurge.

I always justify my purchases with reasons like “I work hard, I deserve this reward.” Or “I still have a lot of money in my bank account, I can afford this one shopping spree.”

I’d pick up clothes, shoes, magazines even if I don’t really need all of them.

All the way to the counter until the cashier flashes that symbol ls2208 price scanner, I would psych myself up with the feel good vibe that comes from retail therapy.

After I walk away with my purchases, a little voice inside me computes the money I just spent versus my bank balance and asks, “Did you really need to spend all that?”

Of course, I’d ignore that voice and just keep on spending. Next thing I know, my account is down to a minimum and I find myself pining for the next payday to arrive.

It’s a vicious cycle that can be very challenging to overcome if you’re not determined to quash it.

But more than this, it’s a bad habit that can make you or keep you poor.

I read somewhere that the difference between poor people and wealthy people is the way they value their money.

When a poor person gets money, he asks himself, “How do I spend this?”

When a wealthy man gets money, he asks himself, “How do I make this grow?”

That one shift in mindset can make a huge difference in your personal finances and in turn makes you think twice about splurging unnecessarily.

Poverty and wealth are both dependent on the financial choices we make everyday.

The concept had such an impact on me so much that I’ve tried to manage my money better ever since. It’s still a trial and error thing but I think I’m making progress.