Project Done - Free Chat Rooms for Moms

Look at me go! I'm nearly unstopable now, things are really starting to roll. I feel a little stuck right now because much of my plans can't be started until after Thanksgiving. I did however get a suggestion for another blog this morning (actually more of a request than anything else), so I'm about to start working on it. I don't know how far ahead I'll get because I've got a sick kid today. It wasn't even something I really planned on working on today either, so not really a big deal. I'm just amazed how fast I've been getting everything done lately.

About Yesterday's Project: MomChats.com
Yesterday I took a chat room we set up a long time ago and decided to take it a bit further. Originally it was suppose to be a chat room for us, but with our busy schedules we haven't used it much. So I decided to make it a public chat room that can be rented. It's not all that easy to find free chat rooms without pop ups or one you have to download. So there's actually two parts to this:

Part One - I hope to promote others by offering a partnership. They add the room to their home page, we add their link to the main side of the chat room. The links aren't pop ups, and they dont' take up the entire room. They just sit on the side as "Useful Links".

Part Two - The rooms are open to anyone that needs them for whatever reason. An online party, a team meeting, how-to chat, or any other type of chat. It's not limited to just wahms, but any mom that wants to hold any type of chat. What's better is they are 100% free. We do some very light advertising for them as well, but expect the bulk of the advertising to be done by the person renting the room.

Noone pays a dime, and everyone benefits. :)

I haven't started any real promotion on it yet, since I'm waiting until after Thanksgiving to really get moving on it, but the site completely ready and open. If anyone needs a room for ANY occation, visit:
http://www.momchats.com

I'm sickened

I couldn't believe what I saw today. Out there floating around online is a wahm-based website offering free hosting. You may think "hey that's great!", but too bad their heart is in their wallet instead of actually thinking about the average wahm.

First off, free hosting is NEVER a good idea. If you want a business online, you need to be able to pay $5-10/month for hosting. If you can't afford that, you shouldn't have a website. I know that's harsh, but it's the truth. There's other expenses that go along with business, and if $10 isn't a cost you can swing, you are going to have problems later on.

Second, if you are required to have ads on your site because of the free hosting, you are loosing sales left and right. How many sales do you think you are losing every day when a potential customer clicks on your competition's ad? You might think "doesn't matter to me, I've got all content on my site"... well if that's the case, wouldnt' you rather have your OWN ads on your site and earn money from them? I can gaurantee you would be earning more than the hosting if you did that!

So my major "beef" with this free hosting for wahms is this - they are offering free hosting KNOWING they will be taking potential customers from these wahms AND making a profit from it. It makes me sick, it really does, to know this is going on. I just hope too many people don't get sucked into it.

Just remember - FREE is NOT always GOOD!

Busy week and a busy weekend

It's been a crazy week around here, which is really nothing new. I feel pretty good about what was accomplished, and I'm excited to keep moving along next week.

Right now though, it's the weekend, which means no schedules and no working on projects. Feels good to take a break for 2 days out of the week, although I must say it doesn't slow us down much. My father's side of the family celebrated Thanksgiving today ( a week early to accomedate everyone's schedules ), so today was rather interesting. My dad and his sisters and their kids are the ultimate in "blue collar". Some of them are pretty well off, but you'd never know talking to them. It always feels good to spend time with them because they are all so down to earth and fun. There's always kids running around and lots of great food. Isn't that what family is suppose to be about? ;)

Announcement - On Vacation

As most of you already know I will be on vacation from Thursday, November 17th through Tuesday, November 29th.

All emails and advertising purchases will be processed at that time.
Happy Holidays!

Take care,
Anita

"Together" Features New Ways to Create Family Memories

Fabulous ideas. Great JOY. Time Together!

Nothing crystallized what’s important in life faster than the recent events of the past few months. In the aftermath of catastrophe as we collectively embraced each other, we re-ordered priorities. Traditional family values have become more important to everyone. Parents no longer want to postpone time spent with their children. Families are closer together today than they have been in a long time.

On November 17, 2005, NineTwentyPress is launching and Amazon Best Seller Campaign directed at modern families who are searching for ways to enrich “quality time together” The book, entitled Together: Creating Family Traditions by Rondi Hillstrom Davis and Janell Sewall Oakes, addresses a back-to-basics philosophy themed around creating more memorable time as a family. For 24 hours only, this award winning book is being offered with a bonus package worth $385.00.

Together: Creating Family Traditions is a cheerful book that will put a smile on your face – a book that brings out the child in all of us. Together fills us with memories of our own childhood, and shows us how to share those wonderful times with our own family. Simply stated, Together identifies directly with families through beautiful, inviting photographs, easy-to-read text and recipes, seasonal ideas, and holiday activities for the whole family to enjoy together.

Photographs of children running a sack race and stomping in puddles, families stuffing a scarecrow together, stringing garlands, catching fireflies, planting gardens, or simply picking flowers – all events that evoke nostalgia from a simpler period. These fun, yet timeless activities require nothing mechanical, automated, or electronic – just good old-fashioned togetherness.
What Martha Stewart did for entertaining, Together does for parenting.

Together: Creating Family Traditions inspires families to start their own traditions. A ‘must have’ for all parents – a book that can be passed from generation to generation. Together makes an ideal gift not only for the current holiday season, but a welcome contribution for baby showers, expecting mothers, birthdays, and celebratory holidays. A family gift of sharing that is priceless.

To learn more about Together: Creating Family Traditions, and further information on the 24 hour November 17th Best Seller Campaign, contact:

Nine Twenty Press
214.956.9844

Visit their website
http://www.TogetherCreatingFamilyTraditions.com

P.S. I have personally reviewed this book myself and do highly recommend it to any family that enjoys traditions and creating traditions. This is more than "just a book". It's also a journal where you can write your own ideas, document your own tradtions and new ones you've created. This book not only is a great addition to your own library but also will make a very inexpensive and special gift to any fellow mom. I hope you enjoy!

Take care,
Anita :)

Enough Technology for One Day

I'm having a "technology sucks" day...you know those type of days where NOTHING seems to want to work. I shouldn't complain too much because it hasn't been THAT bad of a day. I actually got quite a bit done in a small amount of time. It was when I started working with blogs, feeds, and blog related programs that I ran into major problems. Grrr. As great as blogs are, you have to wonder if the entire concept has grown way too fast. Not only am I now completely lost when it comes to what link I'm suppose to be using to submit a feed or what "ping" really means, but I have no idea why certain programs refuse to work for me. *sigh* oh well. Moving right along....

I did feel like progress was made today on the big goal I mentioned yesterday. A very small step, but still a step. I have to keep in mind that an extra $3,500 isn't going to happen just over night. So to keep myself on track, I've broken it all down into smaller steps and smaller income goals. I won't give all the boring details here. I will tell you I the plans I have in full swing right now I expect to bring me in an easy extra $1,000 in a month or two. I'm hoping to see that by the end of December. If I don't, well no big deal. As it stands, what I'm putting into play right now will never end and never stop. It will only increase and grow. So if it doesn't hit what I think it will in just a month's time, it will eventually. The fun part is, by the time I'm done with this project for the time being, I won't have to mess with it again for another month or two. Hurray for residual income!

I was a little worried what my next big project was going to be, but the ideas began to flow again last night. I can hardly wait to start the next big project which has to do with chat rooms, but I've got to keep my focus on the current project for the time being. Good news is, I might get done with it sooner than I originally thought. Always feels good to get 2 week's worth of work done in a week's time. :D

Remodeling and Planning

For the last year or two I've been trying to decide if I wanted to move or add on to the house. I grew up in the country, so living in town isn't exactly normal for me. Even still, I rather enjoy some of the benefits. Not to mention the location of our house - nice neighbors, just 2 blocks from the post office, about 3 blocks from the little store, and less than a mile away from the school (well, lol, everything in this small town is less than a mile away). Over all, I like living here. I like the house for the most part too, although it's in serious need of some updates and remodeling.

Currently there's only 2 bedrooms upstairs and a possible 3rd on the lower level. The house is set up rather strangely (to be expected from very old houses around here), and the "front room" is our main part of the house, which is also the largest. It's the adult living room, company room, dining room, and my "office". Honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. The possible 3rd bedroom is the family room/kid's toy room/kid's living room. I really don't want to turn that into a bedroom, but with 2 kids and only 2 bedrooms, I don't have much of a choice but to find another bedroom somewhere. They're still young now, but as they get older they are going to need separate bedrooms.

My solution is to use the unused space above the kitchen and bathroom to put an addition on the house. The roof there needs to be completely torn off and replaced anyway, so why not just add on? Not to mention it would be very easy to add a bathroom right above the one on the lower level. I haven't made any solid plans yet, but I can see some ideas already. When we get closer to actually putting all this into action, I'll call in some contractors for estimates. Either way, it's looking like the entire project is going to cost at least $10,000.

Where am I going to get all that money? Well, since on my list of "wants/needs" is also a new car, I'm actually going to have to come up with about $20,000 in a year or so. I'm not the type that likes to be in debt or jump through all the hoops of taking out loans, so I'm going to save this money myself. To do so in a reasonable amount of time, I need an extra $3,500 per month to devote to savings only. I've broken this down into some smaller goals, but that's the ultimate result.

To earn this much extra every month, I'm jumping back into affiliate programs (which I started to talk about last week). It's actually only step one of my long income plan. I've got most of the details worked out to earn me a few thousand extra in affiliate income in just a few short months. Once that's put into play, I'll be working on other projects one at a time to increase my income slowly. The plan is to be able to start saving a full $3,500/month within just 6 months. It will take about another 6 months to reach the $20,000 mark. That's the plan anyway, but I realize it might take a little longer than that. Realizing it might take a little longer will help me keep my focus on actually reaching that long term goal.

Anyway, I'll be posting my progress here and there. :)

Christmas is in the air!

Have you started Christmas shopping yet? I'm one of those that usually waites until the last minute - or at least the first of December. This year I'm trying to break that habit and get started early. So far I already have a few presents puchased/made, but I've still got a lot to go. I've got half of a list started, but I'm still gathering ideas before the list is set in stone.

If you haven't started your Christmas promotion yet, it's time to really get on the ball! Last minute shoppers in December usually don't shop online (trust me, I'm one of them!) for fear their items won't get delivered in time. If you own an online business, you need to be in front of your customers TODAY. For some advertising ideas both free and paid, you can download our free ebook at:
http://www.momsezine.com/advertising-list.zip

Also be sure to check out our advertising at both of our sites:

Mom's Market
Mommy's Helper

Happy shopping!

Direct Sales Success Kit Sale - Ends Today!

Four Day Only Sale on Direct Sales Success Kit - ENDS TODAY!

This is just a reminder that our Christmas sale ends today! Don't miss your chance to grab the Direct Sales Success Kit for a discount price!

Remember, this sale ends at 10pm EST on November 11th (today!) and it is only available to our subscribers only.

Why are we offering the kit at a discount? As an early Christmas gift to you for being loyal subscribers. We want you to succeed this Christmas! Stay ahead of your competition, and have a great holiday season.

Do NOT purchase from the main page or you will not receive your discount.

To take advantage of this *Subscriber Only* offer, please use this special link: http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/subscriber-kit.html

To your success!

~Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank~
Direct Sales Helpers
www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

Important Message from Mommy's Helper's Online Community

Well, I'm afraid unfortunately we weren't able to get help soon enough
to prevent a disaster from happening to the Mommy's Helper's Online
Community. Apparently the boards have been hacked once again but this
time some major damage has been done.

We're in the process of restoring the boards but the restore is going
to take us back to March. Any members who have registered after March
of this year very well may have to re-register.

There's also a very good chance that we're going to loose all the posts
made from March until now also. I must say that I am just devastated
over this whole situation and I apologize for any inconvience this may
have caused.

Making Christmas Gifts This Year

After some careful thought about the amount of junk toys out there, I decided this year I was going to make my kids Christmas gifts this year. Not that I'm completely boycotting Amazon or any of my other favorite online stores, but I'm just not going to spend near $200 on toys that will be lost, broken, or unused in 6 months. They'll get a few things, such as another My Little Pony and perhaps an educational toy or tow, but aside from that, they'll be getting useful handmade items.

Right now I've got a few things in mind, but still trying to come up with more ideas. They'll each be getting their own full size pillow - Strawberry Shortcake for Jillian and Spiderman for Chase. Also, Jillian will be getting some clothes for her baby dolls. I've also got some odd beads around here, so will be making a few cheap bracelets for Jillian (chances are they are going to get broke, and while I won't be happy when it happens, at least I know it didn't cost all that much!). They are so little, they really don't need much. Here I thought I was spoiled growing up, but my children have more toys at 3 and 5 then I did my entire childhood!

Didn't know I could sew? Yeah me either! Well actually I knew, but had totally forgotten about it. Isn't that sad? Guess I didn't have time to think about anything else! Now that I've realised what I can do, you can't hardly stop me. :p

Direct Sales Success Kit Sale - Four Days Only

Four Day Only Sale on Direct Sales Success Kit

Starting today and ending 10pm EST on November 11th, the Direct Sales Success Kit is available at a discount for SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. This invitation will NOT be made public, and is available for you, the Direct Sales Rep looking to improve their business.

Why are we offering the kit at a discount? As an early Christmas gift to you for being loyal subscribers. We want you to succeed this Christmas! Stay ahead of your competition, and have a great holiday season.

Do NOT purchase from the main page or you will not receive your discount.

To take advantage of this *Subscriber Only* offer, please use this special link: http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/subscriber-kit.html

To your success!

~Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank~
Direct Sales Helpers
DirectSalesHelpers.com

Free Wahm Bands

Even though some nasty hackers tried to ruin my day by hacking my message boards I still won by accomplishing one of my "to dos"! Yup, that's what I said, someone hacked into my message boards, put up a new banner and sent out two emails to all my members - why? What do these people really get accomplished from this? (Besides, trying to damper my day of course!) We've temporarily rectified the problem and are working on preventing this from happening again.

So, what did I get done? On Saturday I mentioned some of my holiday promotions:

I've decided this year has been a great year for all of my online efforts and truly have all my visitors, clients, customers etc to thank for that so I thought this year I'd like to give a little something back. But, I want to give something "real". Not too give away too much until it's time but I see a lot of work at home moms wearing Wahm Bands before the end of this year ;-)

For a limited time I'm going to be giving away free Wahm Bands with each Wahm State Directory Listing purchased from www.WahmStateDirectory.com. So, not only do my advertisers get one of the best forms of advertising (at a very reasonable price if I do say myself, lol) but will also get something "real" to boot.

I'm thinking about offering free Wahm Bands with some other advertising but at least for now I have one under my belt. I'll see how this promotion goes and then take it from there.

What's a Wahm Band?
Click Here to Find Out!

Christmas Already?

For those of you who know me well, you know I'm not a big fan of Christmas. Without going into too much detail of my personal life, I will tell you my dislike of Christmas started when I was in high school and lost a close friend just a few days before Christmas Eve. It's stuck with me for a long time, and I'm one of those people that associate Christmas with horrible debt, large crowds, standing in lines, and driving all over the state in less than perfect driving conditions making sure we get to every family's Christmas celebration. Yes, I am a Scrooge and I say "Bah humbug".

I am getting better though, since my kids are getting older. I love to see them excited over seeing Santa, the first look under the tree on Christmas morning, and opening presents. That does make me happy, so my Christmas spirit is slowly returning. Also being forced to jump completely into Christmas has changed my tune a bit as well. Being in business you just flat out can NOT say "Bah Humbug" and forget about Christmas products. Marketing I enjoy, so marketing for Christmas has always been fun for me.

However, I'm still in shocked how early Christmas has come this year. I have yet to see any Christmas trees for sale (well, real ones anyway - you can find the fake trees already sitting out on display!), but signs of Christmas are EVERYWHERE. I kid you not, we have already SEEN SANTA! Yes! Can you believe it? My kids both got to talk to them a little, and decided it was about time to write him a letter to tell him what they want. Wow, I haven't even started to think about Thanksgiving yet!

Not only that, but we are almost sold out of our Christmas scents at Prairie Soy Candles. It's obvious we'll have to buy more of those scents, since we've still got two more craft shows to go to as well as a home party or two. I am glad we thought ahead and got the scents so early but wow. I'm just in shock here.

I know for years many of us have joked that Christmas comes earlier every year, and one of these days we're going to be seeing Christmas stuff in October....but who would have thought that wasn't far from the truth?

Time to get serious about the Holidays

Boy oh boy sometimes I can be one of the biggest procrastinators around. Well, it's not always that I'm a procrasitnator but more of a time issue. I tend to get way more ideas than I do have time to accomplish them. But, if I want to get in on the holiday shopping I better get myself moving! Gotta love blogs ... they tend to help keep you accountable when they leave the mind and go into print.

For my DS companies http://www.HandmadeFriend.com and http://www.EasyBakeGreetings.com I'm planning on offering a combo price. I'm thinking for offline I'd like to create a catalog of my own that shows all my "friends" I have available and also all of the Christmas cakes we have. Then an order form where they pick a friend and a cake for one price. Then handle everything just as I would a catalog show. I figure if I do it this way I can also save big time on shipping and handling cost and be able to pass that onto my customers. Doing this I will be able to offer a really nice deal. The only only thing I'll have to work on with this is all the accessories we have available. I think with these I'll just offer them as add ons. The main I idea I have is to make ordering as simple as possible. With the idea of "Quick Christmas Presents" in mind.

I'm also thinking with the cakes I can market on the "something more than just a card". Know what I mean? Market on the idea that these are great inexpensive gifts for the people that you need/want more than just a card. Example, mail carries, beauticians, teachers etc.

Now, doing this all online?? This I haven't figured out how to make it work. I mean don't get me wrong, I can do it ... I just won't be able to save on shipping and handling prices and of course making it a bit more expensive for online orders. This I'll have to put a bit more thought into...

But, I do want to mention that gift packages, combos ect are a great way to market for the holidays. I highly recommend taking a few of your best sellers and combine them into package deals. Saves the customers money and remember sometimes it's better to take a small cut per item to win big time in the long run.

Let's see what else do I need to do soon. Keep in mind I'm going on vacation from November 17th through the 28th (Going to Florida - YAY!) So, I really need to get things in place now.

I need to finish up The Ultimate Direct Sales Guide. I am just so excited to see the finished product of this! I'm still waiting for some info from some advertisers. I already have an over-abundance of distributors which I think this is going to be the Perfect time to hand these out! There's going to be so many more shoppers out this time of year. (Acutally, don't tell hubby but have so many distributors that I've gone over-budget here ... This project is going to cost me money! LOL! But, that's okay, I feel this is going to be a premise for future editions and I'll have a great idea of exactly what everything's going to cost. I had to kind of guess when setting my pricing.) Thanks to some very smart advertisers I'm also going to the pdf version of the guide. Some plan to print it out themselves to hand out and some plan to offer a downloadable version on their websites, in the ezines/newsletters etc. I'm so thrilled to see how receptive everyone has been to this and the distribution is going to be phenomenal! Here's to future editions through 100!!

I've decided this year has been a great year for all of my online efforts and truly have all my visitors, clients, customers etc to thank for that so I thought this year I'd like to give a little something back. But, I want to give something "real". Not too give away too much until it's time but I see a lot of work at home moms wearing Wahm Bands before the end of this year ;-)

Oh, and Kara and I have been working up a little plan for the VERY near future especially for our faithful subscribers of Direct Sales News from http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com. You know, and this is just my outlook and opinion, but the subscribers to that newsletter are really serious about their business. Not that others aren't but, I've found that our subscribers to that list have been the most responsive that I've ever seen! Seriously, we have about 500 subscribers to that newsletter and we have almost 900 subscribers to Mommy's Helper's - Mom's Market Ezine. We receive probably double the response from our DS newsletter vs. the other. These folks deserve something extra special for their job well done ;-)

I have one other project that I can't wait to get finished but there's no real time-restraints on that one so I can let it simmer for a little bit longer. I'm excited to get it finished but ... could someone please invent the 48 hour day for me?? PLEASE!

So, what's your holiday plans??

Getting Ready To Party

Like I mentioned in my last post, the blogs aren't my only project right now. I'm still very much involved with Prairie Soy Candles, and actually have an all day party planned for today. It starts here in about 20 mins, at 2pm EST (1pm CST, Noon MST, 11am PST) and will last most the day. I've got lots of games planned for the day, all winners earning points for our reward program.

If you haven't signed up to our reward program yet, you can get more information at:
http://www.soy-wax-candles.com/earn-points.html. You'll get 20 points for joining the program, and another 5 points just for stopping by the party.


To join the party, go to:
http://www.soy-wax-candles.com/online-party.html

Hope to see you at the party here in a few!

Motivation for Boring Work

Well I got enough motivation to really sit down and write an outline for what I must do to meet my new income goals. I have much work ahead of me, this is for sure, and much of it very long and boring. *sigh* I was ready to go this morning, but after writing 20 pages of the same type of information (product reviews), I started to see the long road ahead of me. While it's true those pages will last one of my blogs for almost a month, I plan to start other similar blogs like that one. 10 more to be exact, adding up to another 200 pages of content. YIKES! It's not that they take me all that much time, it just gets extremly boring after awhile. Although the benfits should greatly exceed the work put into it. I already know the potential that lay before me, because I've seen it in action before. This time around will be slightly different though, since I'll be working with blogs instead of websites.

If I may do some thinking outloud here, I see these blogs hitting there full potential in about 5 months. That's about how long it too Idea Queen to fully take off, although since we are dealing with blogs here it may be sooner than that. I sure hope it is, but I can't get discouraged if it doesn't.

So anyway, regardless of how boring this was today, I'm still excited about where this is going to lead me. It only took me about 4 hours to create all 20 pages to be used one at a time on the blog (5 per week). I could easily do this once or twice a week and never run out of ideas.

This isn't my only project, so won't be done daily, but even still the income potential is very high! :)

See, Print Advertising DOES Work!

I myself have been dabbling quite a bit in the offline printed advertising and have even started my own printed advertising avenue with The Ultimate Direct Sales Guide. By all means, don't quite your online advertising because it's crucial to your online presence ... but don't be afraid to do some offline advertising too ;-)


Attention Google: Newspaper Advertising Works Too!

Myclassifiedads.net, a USA based online print media placement service, has long been using volume classified advertising as ‘mini billboards’ to drive traffic to web sites, a service Google is now testing on its own. During the last several months, Google has been exploring opportunities outside the internet to enhance online advertising.

(PRWEB) October 20, 2005 -- Myclassifiedads.net, a USA based online print media placement service, has long been using volume classified advertising as ‘mini billboards’ to drive traffic to web sites, a service Google is now testing on its own. During the last several months, Google has been exploring opportunities outside the internet to enhance online advertising campaigns.

“Google is raising eyebrows by probing for opportunities outside the digital world for the first time ever,” according to Keith Regan of E-Commerce Times. Google announced it would conduct a program to re-sell print advertising space to customers of its online marketing programs. Google described the effort as a "limited test."
“Google has been working to add more oomph to its creative for a while. Clearly they have a desire to offer more to advertisers than just a text link," said Tim Hanlon, senior vice president at Publicist Group Ad Agency. "Google has shown that big media companies don't have to be part of the mix at all," Hanlon said. "People can just get the content and ads directly from an uber-intermediary. That's caught a lot of traditional ad types off guard."

MyClassifiedAdverting.net, regards the Google quest for additional advertising options for online advertisers as a ‘no brainier.’ “People tended to look at newspaper advertising as old fashion, but are taking a second look at newspaper because of the mass volume of internet competition.,” said Blaire Fanning, a principal of Classified Advertising Plus, Inc. “Today’s advertiser knows they need to blend a combination of media techniques to be the most cost effective,” added Fanning.

“Our premise what we lunched our site in the spring of this year, was that small to middle sized businesses want one place to for their online and print media advertising campaigns, said Fanning. Our grass roots is classified advertising so it makes sense to combine print campaigns with online ads to get the highest Return on Investment (ROI) for our clients. What were are finding, of course, is that newspaper volume classifieds enhances online marketing campaigns quickly.”
For more information contact 813-920-0197.

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Do You Make Any of These Critical Marketing Mistakes?

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Editor's Rambling:
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Note from Anita

Wow, mark last week down on your calendar! That is the first time we’ve EVER decided not to send out an ezine issue! (Besides holidays of course) It wasn’t really an easy decision … okay, maybe it really wasn’t that hard at all. We were both too sick to even think about working but when it comes to your business you want your visitors, clients, customers etc to be able to count on you. If you’re not consistent and on time you could possibly loose the loyalty that these people give you. But, tough decision or not we still have to remember to take care of ourselves! With that said … please accept our apologies and we’ll promise not to make it a habit! (Hehe)

For all of you that celebrate that spooky time of year I do hope that you enjoyed trick-or-treating with your little ones. I know we had a very good time and I’m so grateful the we had such a beautiful evening to go door to door in my old hometown. Now, if we can just get rid of all this candy … the dentist costs way too much!

And don’t forget … the race is now on! Halloween is now over which means it’s officially time to pull out the big holiday guns. Do you have your marketing plan ready? Have you started implementing it yet? If not, get moving! I’ll share next week what I’m planning for the holidays.

Till next week...

~Anita DeFrank
Mommy's Helper


Note from Kara

I'm still in shock we weren't able to get our newsletter out last week. Like Anita said, it was the first time EVER we weren't able to send out at least a note on Wednesday morning. It just didn't seem natural at all, but thankfully we are both feeling better this week.

I was lucky to be feeling alright by Friday afternoon, because my mother and I had a table at a local craft show. It was nice to get out for awhile, and seeing how well our sales were got me very excited for the Christmas season. I'm still putting in my all to Prairie Soy Candles, and working on increasing monthly sales. So far it's going well! Not anywhere near where I want to be, but getting there fast.

See you next week!

~Kara Kelso~
Mom's Market

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Do You Make Any of These Critical Marketing Mistakes?

Mistakes are part of doing business and employees make them daily. Factors such as the size of the business, the number of associates, and a failure of management to review progress within departments. You will have to recognize and address marketing strategies if you are to avoid making the easy mistakes.

Read this entire article at: Do You Make Any of These Critical Marketing Mistakes?

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Message Board Topics
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Hot Topics:

- Opinions Please – ClickBank/Commission Junction and Others

- Any Scrapbook Affiliate Ideas?

- Where are you from?

- Word Relation Game

- Chore List

- Answering a Question w/ a Question

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Product Reviews
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Do you have a product you would like to see here and on Mom's Market? Now accepting reviews! Please contact Kara for details: contact@momsmarketonline.com

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Childcare
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How to Write a Family Mission Statement

Setting goals can give our lives meaning. In fact, without a plan our lives seem to have no direction, and we often get frustrated. Imagine taking a trip without a road map. You would most likely get lost. Knowing where you are going and how to get there almost guarantees your success.

Read this full article at: How to Write a Family Mission Statement

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Coffee Break
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Scientist Succumbs To Reality of Mortality

My husband is a lover of science through and through. He’s up to date on the latest technology and the advances in medicine especially in the areas that interest him most—immortality.

Read this entire article at:
Scientist Succumbs To Reality of Mortality

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Recipes
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ARTICHOKE & CHEESE DIP

* 1 lb. shredded Mozzarella
* 1 c. grated Parmesan
* 1 c. (8 oz. jar) mayonnaise
* 1 c. (8 1/2 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
* Minced onions

Mix ingredients together. Bake in casserole at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or in lightly buttered 3 1/2 quart slow cooker/Crock Pot on (high) for about 1 hour. Serve with broken up French bread or wheat crackers.

More Recipes At:
www.RecipesForMom.com

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Post them at Mommy's Helper Online Community!
Note: Recipes must be quick, easy, healthy, and original. Nothing from a cookbook or a box please.