This is the first post written by new staff writer Melissa from Momsplans.com.  I’m excited to have her on board so please give her a warm welcome!

In 2011, I quit my full-time job because the cost of daycare for my younger children, ages 3 and 20 months now, would have cost me nearly my entire monthly salary.  Essentially, I would be going to work to pay for daycare so I could go to work.  Instead, I opted to work from home as a freelance writer and virtual assistant, and now I am making more than I would have had I gone back to work.  However, working while caring for young children is challenging.  Here are some strategies to work from home when taking care of little ones.

1.  Spend time with the kids first.  If you take the time in the morning to play with your kids, read them books and talk with them, they are more willing to go without your undivided attention later in the day.
2. Invest in busy bags.  I have been reading about busy bag swaps on the blogs I read, and a few months ago, I decided to join one.  Basically, you choose an educational activity that will keep preschoolers busy such as a laminated paper with the ABCs written on it and a dry erase pen and eraser or pipe cleaners and beads so kids can make their own necklaces.  Make up 30 packs of the one activity and send it off to the busy bag organizer.  In return, you will receive 30 different busy bags.  My girls love playing with these!  They can easily stay occupied for 20 or 30 minutes with these, giving me a bit of precious time to get some work done.
3. Let them watch one favorite tv show.  While I would never advocate sitting your child in front of the tv all day, both my girls enjoy watching Sesame Street, so once a day, they watch their show and I work on my laptop in the room with them.  For the most part they are occupied, and I am able to get some work done while also being available for their questions, comments, and need to cuddle.
4. Work during their naps and at night.  Nap time is precious, so make sure to use it to your advantage.  I get the bulk of my work done during their 1.5 hour naps and after they go to bed at night.  However, because I spend this time working instead of say, cleaning, some aspects of the house are not as I would like them.  The dishes aren’t always done and the house isn’t always as clean as I would like, but both my husband and I are willing to make that sacrifice so I can work from home and care for our kids.
5. Hire help if you need to.  If the messy house drives you crazy, hire a housecleaner to come in once a week.  My business has grown to the point that I am now interviewing babysitters to find someone to come to my house one morning a week so I can have a bit more uninterrupted work time.  I will still be home when the sitter is there, so I will be available if the kids or the sitter need me.  Because I am making so much more per hour than I need to pay the sitter, it is a worthwhile expense for our family.

Being a work at home parent really offers the best of both worlds in that you can forego the high expense of day care and spend the bulk of your day caring for your children.  However, you will still get to bring in an income.  Doing so can work if you are flexible with your home and family arrangements.

A recent Yahoo Finance article discussed what they considered the top 5 tips to build wealth and success.

Here are each of their tips along with my own thoughts on each…

1. Live Below Your Means – Who would have guessed that spending less money than you earn is one of the best ways to build wealth?  Duh!  Unfortunately even though this rule is plain common sense, way too many people don’t follow it.  If your expenses are currently greater than your income than you’re moving in the wrong direction.

2. Bounce Back From Defeat – We all suffer financial setbacks at times, but the key is to not let them hold you back.  If you’ve been laid off from your job or declined on a loan application it’s easy to feel as if you’ve been kicked in the gut and thrown down a flight of stairs.  But successful builders of wealth know that the only way to win is to dust yourself off and keep trying.

3. Self-Promote - This is one that I’ve personally struggled with at times.  I used to think that if I worked hard and applied myself I’d be noticed and rewarded.  But eventually I realized that most people are so wrapped up in themselves that they have little time to pay attention to others.  Now I’m not saying you should become the king of bullshit and ass-kissing, but you do need to learn to promote yourself if you want to be noticed.

4. Have Street Smarts – The Yahoo article defines street smarts as not being gullible when it comes to money.  Lot’s of otherwise smart people are taken advantage of due to their lack of street smarts.   Just look at all the people who were ripped off in the Bernie Madoff scandal.  And beware of friends and family who come asking for money to invest in “can’t fail” opportunities.

5. Buy Cheap – You might think that the wealthy only shop on Rodeo Drive, but the truth is that most wealth builders are also bargain hunters.   They understand that paying top dollar when you don’t have to doesn’t make sense.

My buddy Jesse turned me on to a creative new way to make money online.  A new site called Solution Auctions is marketing itself as an online marketplace for problems and solutions.  Here’s how it works:

Someone has a problem and goes to Solution Auctions to search through the existing solutions that have already been posted to the site.  If they can’t find what they need they can post the question themselves and let bidders compete to find a solution for the lowest price.

Sounds similar to the Yahoo Answers program right?  Well yes and no.  The question and answer format is similar to Yahoo’s version but since this is a paid model it is targeting a different audience.  Yahoo Answers is good for entertainment purposes but I wouldn’t put much stock in any of the replies I received there.  There is a great deal of misinformation floating around on that site.

Solution Auctions is actually more like the old Google Answers program.  Google’s version was also a paid model in which people would pay for the answers they received.  Of course the paid answers were much more detailed and usually came complete with reference links showing where the answer came from.

Google Answers never really took off but most people who participated agree that it was a very effective system that just didn’t get enough attention from its owner.  With all of the different projects Google had going on, the Answers program got pushed aside and was eventually terminated.

This is where Solution Auctions comes in.  They are taking the promising idea that Google started out with and hoping to execute it more effectively.  It’s a tough proposition but they think they can pull it off.

So how does this help you make extra money?  Well, let me ask you a question.  Is there something you would consider yourself an expert in?  Or if not an expert, at least more knowledgeable than the average person?   For me, it is my ability to  build websites.  Building sites really isn’t that difficult but I’d say the great majority of people have no idea how to do so.  To them I’m an expert.  But what are you an expert in?

C’mon think about it…there has to be something.  Maybe you’re a mechanic who can tell what’s wrong with a car just by listening to the engine  idle.  Or perhaps you’ve had a lot of experience with children and you’ve got some never fail tips for getting them to sleep through the night.

Why not turn your knowledge into cash?  You can begin selling solutions by browsing the various categories and searching for problems that you can answer (the site is still new so traffic is just starting to pick up).  If you can’t find anything you can answer you can create the solution yourself and post it for sale.  Then when someone comes to the site with a problem they’ll find your answer and you’ll get paid!

Time will tell if the market will bear Solution Auction’s business model, but I think it has some potential.  And while you probably won’t get rich selling solutions, if you use a little creativity you should be able to at least earn a little side income.

Most of my friends and family have no idea I even have a personal finance blog or that I’ve been building websites to earn money online for several years now.  But whenever someone does find out, they always want to know one thing…how they can get a piece of the action too!

I try to be patient and explain that it isn’t all fun and games.  It takes hard work and discipline to make money blogging.

That usually turns them off.   I’m not sure if it’s because they are hoping to reap the rewards without doing any actual work, or because they think I’m trying to hoard all the riches for myself.

So in order to clear up some of the misconceptions about starting an online business I thought it would be nice to discuss some of the qualities I believe are required if you’re interested in earning an income online.

A Willingness to Learn. Things happen fast on the internet.  What works one day might not work the next, so it’s a constant struggle to stay ahead of the curve.

Focus. You need a goal that you can look to when you are feeling sluggish and unmotivated.  Something that will kick you in the ass and make you keep pushing yourself even when you don’t want to.   Find your focus and tape a picture of it near your work area for motivation.  My motivation is my kids kids…what’s yours?

Discipline. Some people struggle to get things done when they don’t have a supervisor cracking the whip.  It’s easy to keep putting things off while you watch TV, slaughter Zerglings, or just waste time on Facebook.  You need to discipline yourself to get things done on your own.

Writing Skills. If you’re planning on building a website to earn money online, then you’ll need to have decent writing skills.  You don’t have to be a literature major, but you do need the ability to express your thoughts clearly.   The good news is that your writing skills can always be improved (or outsourced) so don’t worry too much if you aren’t a natural writer.

Networking Skills. Trying to go it alone is a recipe for failure.  You need the ability to network and make contacts within your niche.  Work together to help one another and you will all reach your goals faster.

Do you agree with the 5 qualities I’ve discussed here?  Is there something more important that I missed?

Ever since my wife quit her job to stay home and raise our kids I’ve been on a quest to create as many streams of income as possible.  I currently have this blog and a small portfolio of web sites that earn me a nice little side income.

In addition to the obvious benefit of extra income, my online efforts offer us some protection by diversifying our income sources.  While my online income can’t replace the salary I receive at my full-time job (not yet anyway!) it would buy us some extra time and breathing room if I were to lose my job.

If you haven’t already started building multiple streams of income for yourself, perhaps it’s time you started.    Take baby steps and add one small income stream at a time.   And keep reminding yourself that as you build those income streams they will slowly join together to form a raging river!

Ideas For Building Multiple Streams of Income

Working part-time at a second job is probably the first idea people have when brainstorming ways to make extra money.   You can also earn extra money by pet sitting, mowing lawns, delivering newspapers, or doing odd jobs around the neighborhood.

The downside to these methods is that your earning potential is limited to the number of hours you can work.  If you’re too tired, sick, or just plain busy to deliver papers or mow lawns…you don’t get paid.

I prefer to search for more passive income ideas.  Enter the internet.

I launched my first web site back in 2004.  It was nothing fancy, just a small static site consisting of about a dozen pages about wine.  Right now that site is  averaging about $2 a day in Google AdSense revenue.  That may not sound like much, but that’s for a site that I have barely touched in years and do almost nothing to promote.

I have other sites too in addition to this blog and they are online 24 hours a day, 365 days a week.  Even if I’m sleeping or away on vacation, they are running and making me money.  That’s about as close to passive income as you can get.

Have you ever considered launching your own website to make extra money?  Why not?

You’d probably be surprised how easy it is to get started, and it requires almost no start up costs.  You can get your own domain and web hosting package for about $100 a year.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Making money online does take hard work and patience.  Anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you something.

But, the beauty of the internet is that once you go through the initial effort of setting everything up, it can be relatively easy to maintain.

Over the coming weeks and months I’m going to be sharing a lot more about my adventures in web site building.  I’ll tell you what worked for me and what didn’t.   I’ll give you the lowdown on the various ways to make money online.  And I’ll give you a step by step guide on how to start building your own roaring river of income.

Stay tuned!

UPDATE - Although i’ll still post about the subject here, I decided that creating websites was really a topic all to itself.  So I’m launching a new site where you can learn how to make a website.  I’ll discuss the technical side of it, how to find a niche, keyword research, monetization, and a lot more.  I’ve already registered a domain but I’m not ready to announce it just yet.  I want to get some of the core topics all written up first. It’s already launched…check it out at http://howtomakeawebsite101.net

PS – if you’re looking to create some streams of income for yourself, you should check out Couple money where Elle wrote up a great review of the Empire Building kit.  It may sound a bit pricey at first but when you think about all you get it is actually quite a bargain.

Paid market research Studies Are A Fun Way To Make Extra Money.

This week I participated in my first paid market research study and I actually got paid $60 to taste french fries!

Marketing research companies are all over the country and I bet there’s one where you can earn extra money too.   First let me explain how paid market research programs work and then I’ll tell you more about my experience so you know what to expect.

Marketing research is incredibly important in the world of business. Just think about it.  If you were CEO of a corporation that was considering offering a new product, wouldn’t you want to get some feedback on the idea before you spent millions of dollars developing it? Maybe you’d create a few prototypes and let people test them out to see if they like them?

So companies hire marketing research firms to run focus groups, surveys,and taste testing panels to get objective opinions about their products BEFORE they commit to spending a fortune developing them.

That’s where you come in!  When you sign up for a paid market research program you can actually get paid to drink coffee, test new kitchen utensils, or watch pilot episodes of new sitcoms.

How I Got Paid to Eat French Fries

One of my wife’s girlfriends recently started participating in focus groups and she got my wife to sign up too.   When you first sign up you fill out a short questionnaire so they can get an idea of what kind of paid market research studies you would be eligible for.

When a new study is ready, you’ll get a call asking if you’d like to participate.  There may be some additional questions to determine your eligibility.   My wife started getting calls right away…a couple a week actually, but the timing just didn’t work out (most studies are during the day and she would need a babysitter).

When they called about the french fry testing they mentioned they were primarily looking for men so they asked if there was a man in the house willing to participate.  I love french fries so you can bet I was willing! 

The marketing research office is not far from my home so I was able to swing by on my way home from work.  I signed in and chatted with some other members of the test panel in the waiting room.  After a few minutes they ushered us into the testing room.

We sat down as the testers handed out the questionnaires and then they brought out little plates with french fries to taste.  There were 3 sets of fries and after each we had to fill out a survey describing what we liked and disliked about each.   The testers came around and made sure each survey was complete and then we were excused.  On the way out I stopped by the front desk and the receptionist handed me an envelope with $60 inside.

That’s easy money baby! 

To find a research program or focus group near you just do a Google search and see where the closest locations are.

You shouldn’t expect to get rich participating in paid market research studies, but it is certainly possible to earn a a couple hundred bucks a month while having fun testing out new products and tasting food.

Like many people I’ve used eBay to sell unwanted items to raise cash.  Nothing major, just a few things here and there that I could get a few bucks for and free up some room in my garage or basement.

I’m really not a huge fan of eBay these days because it seems there is less and less room for small scale guys like me.  I’m not a power-seller and I don’t want to be.  I just want to unload a few things I don’t need instead of throwing them away.

Anyway, most of my transactions have been pretty smooth.  I sold a large lot of old VHS tapes and a couple smaller lots of books, and a few other random items.

The last item I auctioned off was a Linksys wireless router.  I had picked it up on Amazon for $48 when I first bought my laptop so I could be free to roam the house and not be chained down to the desk.  I used it for about six months and everything worked perfectly.  Then I switched internet providers and I no longer needed the router because FIOS gave me one to use for free.

So rather than have an unused router sitting around collecting dust I figured I’d just pack it up back in the box and sell it.  After all it was barely used and looked as good as new.  I had the original box and everything else that came with it.

I auctioned it off on eBay but all I got was a lousy $14.  The seller sent me $22 (eight bucks for shipping) but after mailing it off and paying paypal and ebay fees all that was left was about $12.

“Oh well,”  I thought.  “I wasn’t using it anyway and $12 is better than nothing.”

After a few days I received an email from the seller complaining that I ripped her off and sold her a router that didn’t work.  I wouldn’t say she was nasty about it but there was certainly the implication that I knowingly sold her damaged goods.

I responded as nicely as possible that the router was working perfectly when I boxed it up and mailed it and is she sure she’s using it right?  I suggested reseting the router back to default settings as that might clear up any problems.

She then wrote back that she tried everything and it doesn’t work and she wants a refund.  She’ll mail the router back to me but I need to pay the return shipping.

Three Scenarios

I start thinking about what went wrong here and came up with a few ideas.

1. The router is fine and she doesn’t know what she’s doing.  If she sends it back I can always resell it and hope for a better outcome.

2. The router was damaged in shipping and is useless.  I’d be paying for a worthless piece of trash that I couldn’t resell.

3. I’m being scammed.  Maybe her router broke and she concocted this scheme to get one for nothing.  She could send back her broken one and I’d probably never know the difference.  It seems like a lot of trouble to scam such a small amount, but people are crazy.

The first scenario is the only one in which I could come out ahead.  The other two result in me getting stuck with a broken router.  Since the odds were against me I decided to cut my losses. I sent her a $22 refund and told her to toss the broken router since I couldn’t resell it anyway.

Could it all have been a scam?  Maybe.  But probably not.  And either way I decided it didn’t make sense to pay another $8 shipping and throw good money after bad to reaquire a broken router that is useless and unsellable.

In the end I got nothing for my router.  Oh well.  At least I gained a little extra room in the basement!

What would you have done in my situation?  Do you have any eBay selling tips or any general tips for selling online that could have helped me avoid this mess?

In today’s post I’m going to tell you about my experiences with Aweber’s autoresponder/email marketing service.

What is Aweber?

Aweber is a popular email list management and autoresponder tool used by bloggers, business owners, and internet marketers. It allows you to build a list of subscribers, send out an email newsletter, and create an unlimited number of email marketing campaigns using autoresponders so you can send out a series of messages automatically while you lay in the sun sipping cocktails.

I use Aweber on this blog and on another site I own, and I have several ideas on how I can make money with Aweber in the future (I smell a new series of posts in the near future).

Why did I choose Aweber?

I first signed up with Aweber a couple of years ago when I was running a site selling Private Label Rights articles with a little ghostwriting mixed in.  I needed a way to keep in touch with customers and prospects…to announce new article packs were available, to offer discounts, and to just to remind them I existed.

When I first realized I need a list management/email newsletter tool I went to various online marketing forums and dug through old threads to see what users had to say. I posted questions asking which was the best option available and why. And then I signed up to a bunch of newsletters to see which service people were actually using.

It didn’t take me long to realize Aweber was the way to go…

• Delivery rates are higher than other providers. What’s the point of having a list of subscribers if they never get your emails?
• Aweber’s double opt-in requirement offers protection against CAN-SPAM complaints.
• Tons of features and templates to customize your newsletter.
• Awesome training tools including a knowledge base system and live webinar tutorials.
• Killer support including real people by phone, email, and live chat.
• Integration with Twitter and Facebook so all blog posts can be automatically posted on both sites.

How I’ve used Aweber so far

As I mentioned above, I first signed up with Aweber so I can keep in touch with people who purchased my PLR article packages. I haven’t updated that site in ages and it has suffered mightily from lack of attention. I might go back and start releasing new packs and building it up again, but right now I just don’t have the time.

I also created a new Aweber list so I can build a database of subsribers to this blog.  Notice the big box on top of my navbars asking for your name and email?  That’s an Aweber web form designed to attract subscribers. Actually, you might see 2 different boxes if you visit often. I’m split-testing (one of the cool features I told you about) a couple of different options to see which gets better results.

When you subscribe using that box you’ll automatically receive email updates whenever I post a new article on this blog.

Now I know what you bloggers are thinking…why not just use Feedburner? They offer email subscriptions and they are free.

Well actually I DO offer Feedburner email subscriptions as an option. But emailing new blog posts is about all Feedburner is good at and I need more than that. With Aweber I can also send off “broadcast messages” which are basically one off emails to subscribers only. In the future I plan to hold contests, giveaways, and other cool stuff strictly for email subscribers.  I can also offer premium content and free reports to subscribers so they know how much I value them.  (I also need to create some kind of free report to entice people to subscribe.)

What do I plan to do with Aweber next?

The same thing we do every night Pinky…try to take over the world!

Just kidding…right now I want to concentrate on building up this blog and making it a “go to” place for people looking for personal finance advice. Along with that I want to build up a list of loyal subscribers. So that’s number one on my list.

But I have other plans to make money with Aweber…

1. I’m thinking of offering a series of short reports for sale. They would be priced cheap so everyone could afford them but contain enough useful information that they’d be worth many times what I’d charge. By overdelivering I could build a customer base and use Aweber to announce new reports.

2. I’m going to create a couple of short email courses where the main site would basically be a signup page for the free course. In addition to lots of great content there would be some affiliate links mixed in so I could cover the costs of hosting and hopefully make a little profit. The course would be delivered via email autoresponder so once I set it up it would be on autopilot. That’s passive income baby!

To learn more about how YOU can make money with Aweber click here right now.

This morning I came across an ingenious little site called Fiverr that lets people buy and sell simple services for just $5.

Here’s how it works…

You sign up for a free Fiverr account.  Then you can post a gig for a small service that you are willing to offer.  If someone orders your gig you are notified and asked to accept it, and once you complete the work you receive $4 in your account (Fiverr keeps $1 for itself) which you can withdraw via Paypal.  You can also buy gigs if you find a service that you can use.

What kind of services are being offered?  Just about anything!  I spent a short time browsing through the listings and found all sorts of stuff…

• One guy offered to analyze your Fantasy Baseball team and offer suggestions.
• Another one offers to send you a surprising list of Canadians.  I’m not sure what that means. 
• There is even a woman offering to write a message on her cleavage and send you a picture of it. 

Now many of these are just plain silly, but if you use your imagination you can think of many legitimate ways to make extra money on Fiverr…

1.  Several posts offer to promote web sites through social media sites like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc.   I bet a lot of struggling webmasters would take you up on an offer like that.

2.  One guy is willing to write a review of your book on Amazon.  Reviews help build buzz and can make your book standout from the crowd.   This is especially helpful if you’re a small timer selling your own book on Amazon.

3.  A few were offering proofreading and translating services that may come in handy.

4.  There’s one guy offering to visit your web site or blog and click on your AdSense ads 200 tims for $5.  He obviously doesn’t understand Google’s terms of service because if you take him up on that offer you will quickly find your AdSense account banned.

I can think of a few legitimate ways to use Fiverr to outsource some simple tasks for promoting this blog and I’m going to give it a shot.  I’ll write again soon with a new post detailing my experiences. 

Can you think of any simple ways to make a few extra bucks using Fiverr?  The key is to offer something others will be willing to pay for but that you can do quickly.

Are you looking for a business opportunity that doesn’t require a lot of start up capital but has plenty of room for growth? 

Have you considered picking up dog poop? 

Don’t laugh…I’m serious!  Dog waste removal is a growing market that is still largely untapped.  There’s still time for you to get in on the ground floor and build a profitable business for yourself.  And all you really need to get started is a shovel and some plastic bags.

According to The Humane Society of the United States, thirty-nine percent of US households own at least one dog.  That’s a lot of poop that needs to be cleaned up.  Smart people like you can really clean up by picking up after other people’s pets.

Here are some tips to help you get your pooper scooper business started:

1. The first thing you should do is call your town and find out about business licenses and regulations regarding the removal of waste.  It’s important to make sure you don’t inadvertently break any laws.

2.  Start small.  Ideally you want to have a whole bunch of clients all in one neighborhood so you can limit fuel costs and commuting time.

3.  Promoting your business is absolutely essential if you want to be successful.  Most dog owners probably don’t even know that poop-scooping services are available so you’ll have to get the word out.  Try making flyers and posting them around your neighborhood.  Ask local veterinarians and animal shelters if you can post a flyer in their offices.  And once you land a few clients you can start asking for referrals.  You might even want to offer a discount to clients who bring you business.

4.  Try to map out a schedule and stick to it.  Especially if you are starting your business part-time, you’ll need to manage your time efficiently.  Set certain days as “pickup” days and leave the rest of the time to administrative duties and promotion to bring in new business.

5.  Check out your competitors to see what kind of prices they charge.  Prices will vary from one region to the next so you’ll want to be sure your rates are competitive.

6.  Provide an excellent service.  If you do a crappy job you won’t be invited back.  But if you do good work you can build long term relationships with customers and also reap the benefits of referrals.

Running your own pooper scooper business may not be the most glamorous way to make money but it can be very profitable if you’re willing to get your hands dirty (no pun intended).

This post is part of my continuing series on ways to make money.  To receive free updates so you don’t miss future posts you can subscribe to my RSS feed.