How Would You Start a Home-Based Business?
I posted the following question on twitter, plurk, and a few other social networks today.
Here are the responses I received.
And a good friend of mine responded via Facebook.
- Study the trade
- Research the market
- Find out all the legal stuff
- Building a website
- Write a business plan
- Get investors
- Get to work
These are all great responses and ideas. But, I’m still looking for more.
I think I also need to clarify my question a little bit.
I already have my own domain and I plan to revamp the look of this blog very soon. I’m already working on the design and my husband is working on my logo, business cards, and overall corporate identity.
What I need is the next step.
What should I focus on first?
In other words, if I were to have a full month to dedicate to this blog/business, what is the best use of my time?
Writing content? Marketing/networking? Something else I’m completely not thinking of?
So again, here’s my question:
I look forward to reading your answer in the comments.
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Posted in Wahm on August 25th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 10 Comments
How do you handle bed-time?
At our house, we try to give baby girl her nightly bath around 7:30 pm, though some nights it’s closer to 8 pm. The general goal is for the bed-time routine to be over and her to be asleep by 8:30 pm.
Most nights, my husband gives baby girl her bath while I grab her jammies, milk and do some general tidying up from dinner, etc.
I’ll then come in as the bath ends, and we both stay in the room for story time and then while she falls asleep.
So my question is this:
If you have a two parent household, do both of you work on the bed-time routine?
Or does only one of you do it each night, possibly alternating nights throughout the week?
I know we have to work on getting her to fall asleep on her own, where we leave the room after we’ve read a story or two, but for now this works for us. Except that sometimes, I’m sure one of us could be doing other things while the other is doing the bed-time routine. There have been times that my husband has been able to leave the room while I read her a story and put her to sleep, but I’ve never tried it the other way around.
I wonder how it would go? Maybe it’s more of my own attachment than hers.
I look forward to reading your comments and all about your family’s nightly bed-time routines.
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Posted in Parenting, toddlers on August 20th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 12 Comments
No More Part-Time Work for this Wedding Planner
Guest post by Philippa Channer, who lives in Maryland and together with her husband operates Forever Always Weddings, a wedding planning business. She is a member and certified consultant with the American Academy of Wedding Professionals. Forever Always Weddings, LLC, is a proud member of the Event Network and Maryland Wedding Professionals Association. Contact Philippa via her contact form or find her at the Forever Always Weddings blog.
Once I decided to start my own business and become a wedding planner, I quickly discovered that the phrase ‘part-time’ was no longer in my vocabulary. I had to learn swiftly how to become a full-time wife, full-time executive director’s assistant, and full-time business owner.
I knew starting a business wouldn’t be easy, but nothing could prepare me for the extreme loss of time I had to learn to adjust to. It took numerous heart-filled, prayerful and tear jerking conversations with my husband, but we both knew in the end that starting our own wedding consultant business from home would be one of the best decisions we could make at that time and we haven’t looked back since.
The hours spent researching how to start a small business from home - gathering information on the proper documents, permits and licenses - was actually enjoyable because we were able to spend that time together. After leaving our normal 9-5 jobs, we came home to our new 5-9 jobs of researching, marketing and studying weddings. Although it did initially take away from the personal one-on-one time we had, that is something we both prepared for and understood, and we were able to come up with new creative ways of getting that time back.
Once we had all the preliminary business items out of the way and could start getting clients, we were able to adjust the hours and the majority of the time spent on the business was spent on the weekends. We were still able to do 90% of the work from home and together. The other 10% was spent on the road meeting and greeting the local wedding vendors, handing out business cards, and attending local bridal shows. Again, time we spent together.
All-in-all, staring the small business from our home was a wonderful decision that allowed for me to continue working for a terrific boss during the week, continue to love, respect, and honor my adoring husband and to live out a dream I have always had to help brides make their wedding day beautiful. I am so glad I made the decision and had the support, resources, and ability to follow through with it.
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Posted in Wahm, guest-posts on August 19th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 0 Comments
Nothing Better
Nothing’s better than waking up to hear your baby girl whispering…
Guess What?
:me grumbling: What’s up baby?
I LOVE YOU!
It can’t get any better than that. 
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Posted in The Monkey, a different perspective on August 17th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 3 Comments
Burger King Gift Card Winners
Thank you everyone who entered the BK gift card giveaway!
I used Random.org to choose the winners.
And the winners are:
Which translates to Carla and Pam! Congratulations!
I’ll be contacting the two of you via email to get those gift cards to you.
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Posted in contests on August 16th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 1 Comments
Meet Unscripted Dad
Guess what?
I talked my husband into starting a blog.
hehehe
Actually, he didn’t need much convincing, since he had been thinking about it already. But, I gave him that final nudge kick in the butt.
Anyhoo, you can find him at Unscripted Dad, where he’ll be blogging about fatherhood, marriage (hope it’s all good stuff!), things he finds funny, and whatever else may come to mind. And believe me, LOTS of things pop up in his head. Now, I just might not have to hear it all! You fine folks can. 
So give him some love. Here’s what you can do:
- Learn more about him.
- Subscribe to his feed.
- Follow him on twitter or plurk.
Be sure to tell him I sent ya!
Oh yea! Don’t forget to scroll down and enter the BK gift card giveaway! You only have a few hours left.
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Posted in Husband on August 15th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 0 Comments
Burger King Kid’s Meal & Giveaway
Apparently I write quite often about how busy I am with work and the home life.
So much so, that it attracted the attention of the folks at Edelman. They contacted me to try out the new Burger King Kid’s Meal and Apple Fries.
*Photo from The Skinny Blog at Sun-Sentinel
Unfortunately, the Apple Fries that I was sent went bad at the mailbox, since I didn’t know they had already been sent. Luckily, the Apple Fries are included in the Kid’s Meal, so we still got to try them with the BK Crown Card I received.
During one of our recent, “weekend warrior” shopping runs, I heard the inevitable grumble from the back seat.
“Mommy, I hungry.”
Man, every time I hear it, I feel negligent. I’m starving my kid. Yeah, I know, hardly, but still, when she’s willing to eat I won’t miss the opportunity.
So we did a quick hit and run through the drive thru and picked up the latest from BK. The monkey almost seemed confused. I’m thinking the mac and cheese threw her off, but to my delight, she ate it and apparently, liked it. The only short coming was the caramel packet. It’s a little tough for little hands to handle responsibly (some type of dipping cup would be nice, however small). But, the apple fries are handy and would even make for a quick snack.
I’ve got a VERY picky eater, so it may be worth a shot if you are on the run.
In fact, I’ll make it easy for two of you…I have 2 $10 BK crown cards to giveaway so you can try it yourself.
Here’s how to enter:
Just leave a comment telling me what your kid’s favorite on-the-run meal is.
That’s it! Simple enough, huh?
You have until 11 pm EST on Friday, August 15 to leave a comment. Two winners will be chosen on Saturday using Random.org. I’ll post the winners on Saturday, so be sure to check back to see if you’ve won! Remember to include an email address so that I can contact you if you win.
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Posted in reviews on August 11th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 19 Comments
Upcoming Book Review
I was recently contacted by the folks at Da Capo Lifelong Books, to review their newest book, I Brake for Meltdowns: How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2- to 5-Year-Old
From the publisher:
More than just meltdowns (public and private), this book includes advice on what to do when your little one:
- Has difficulty sharing or taking turns
- Won’t eat what you made for dinner
- Won’t put his coat on
- Talks back to other adults
- Refuses to brush her teeth, clean her room, or get in her car seat
- Constantly engages in self-criticism
- Keeps getting out of bed when it’s time to go to sleep
To learn more about the book and its authors, please visit: ibrakeformeltdowns.com
I look forward to reading this book and will be back to share my thoughts with all of you.
Lord knows we all need help every once in a while when it comes to toddlers.
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Posted in reviews on August 9th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 0 Comments
Binky Update
It’s been 5 nights that we’ve been bobo-less.
And contrary to my belief, things did not go that bad.
There was no hair pulling, no screaming, and just some crying.
Friday night:
We explained to her that “Blanca the Bobo Fairy” was coming to pick up the bobos to take to the babies. And that Blanca would leave her a nice present in the morning as a thank you.
She helped me find the bobos and put them in the envelope. She sealed the envelope herself and put it by the front door.
We then took a bath, had some milk, and went for a car ride. Although she didn’t fall asleep in the car (like we hoped), she did get calm and relaxed.
When we got back home, she layed down on top of her daddy and got all snuggly.
We had Bjork’s All is Full of Love playing, which has commonly been “the go to sleep song” since she was a baby.
She got all cozy and closed her eyes and I began to celebrate since she didn’t ask for the bobo and it looked like she was asleep!
Well, it lasted about a minute before she sat up, opened her eyes, and said “Where’s my bobo? I need my bobo.”
As soon as we reminded her that the Fairy had taken them for the babies, the crying began.
But, I must say that it was not the 2+ hours of crying we expected. We thought it would last until her little body could take no more and she would just cry herself to sleep.
Instead, she cried for about 10 minutes, then let me hold her and she calmed down and fell asleep. And stayed asleep! She didn’t wake up at all that first night.
Saturday morning:
As soon as she woke up, we told her how proud we were of her. We then reminded her that the fairy came and left her a present since she was such a big girl now!
Boy did she hop out of bed to go “find it!”
Here’s what she found:
My husband decorated the envelope and made it all glittery and magical. I think he did a great job!
And yes, I know that fairies don’t have feathers on their wings, but it’s the closest thing I could find at the store. It was representative of the fairy having come to the house. Go with it.
The fairy left her a tea party set and a princess jewelry set.
Can you guess how many times we’ve played tea party since Saturday?
Yea, that many times.
And of course, we have to wear our princess crowns. Cause you can’t have a tea party without your princess crown.
Apparently there’s also a proper way to serve tea:
- Put sugar in tea cup. Two year olds like 5 spoonfuls of sugar in their tea (in case you didn’t know).
- Next, pour in the milk.
- And lastly you can pour in the tea.
- Stir it all around.
- Now everybody hold their cups up and when given the “green light” go-ahead, you drink.
It’s like doing tea shots.
The rest of the weekend and past few days have gone pretty smoothly as well. She’ll ask for it at times still, but we’ll remind her of Blanca the Fairy and thankfully she hasn’t thrown a fit.
Do you have a binky tale to tell?
I look forward to hearing all about your method for getting rid of the pacifier in the comments.
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Posted in Parenting, The Monkey, toddlers on August 6th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 6 Comments
Case of the Blahs
I’ve been having a case of the blahs lately. I can’t even figure out why. It’s not like I have anything to complain about.
Work is ok. And, I’m thankful that I have a job considering the state of things these days.
We have a home. (check)
We have food. (check)
Baby girl is doing good – she’s not sick and there’s no behavioral issues. (check)
And yet, I feel blah.
Then that turns into guilt for feeling blah when I know there are others out there dealing with so much.
Maybe it’s the monotony of everyday life. You know, the same old same old routine we go through.
Get up.
Get dressed.
Go to work.
Sit at desk for 8 hours.
Pick up kid.
Drive home.
Make/eat dinner.
Clean up dishes.
Kid’s bath/bed time.
Crash on couch.
Go to bed.
Repeat.
Today I called my husband and said, “I feel like playing hooky and forgetting about that whole ‘responsible parent’ thing and just going to have fun with you. Like we did back in high school/college.â€
And of course, now I feel guilty for saying that.
Cause when I have such a wonderful daughter, why would I want to leave her behind with her abuelos to go have fun on my own?
This little blah-phase needs to leave.
Fast.
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Posted in life on August 4th, 2008 by Modern Mami | | 9 Comments
