Halloween is Here: Keep it Fun AND Safe!
Happy Halloween!
If your kids are anything like mine, even though they’ve already worn their costumes about 14 times already, they are still jumping out of their skin waiting for the “official” wearing during trick-or-treating festivities tonight.
Although a lot of Halloween fun and shenanigans are focused outside the home for many people and there’s always talk of keeping your kids safe while they’re out hunting for candy, I thought today might an be appropriate time to reinforce some important home safety practices as well.
Thanks to Home Security Family for sharing some of their professional wisdom:
Any mother’s primary concern in the home is to keep her children safe at all costs. Of course, this is not news to any mother, and much of what is necessary in keeping children safe comes instinctively. However, there is always more that you can learn about making sure that your home is a secure environment. Home Security is a broad concept that involves a number of different considerations. There is much that you can do on your own to enhance your home’s safety, but also much that you can gain from signing up with a professional home security company. So, here are a few important home security tips for mothers.
To begin with, while it may seem a bit obvious to some, it is quite necessary to teach your children some of the basic concepts that by now you probably consider common sense. For example, you should definitely instill in your children at an early age that they should never open the door for strangers, and that they should make sure doors and windows are locked at night. It can also help to teach them to leave a few lights on when no one is home, and other similar practices. All of these tips will help your children to gain understanding about some of the basic elements of keeping your home safe, which is obviously extremely important on a day like Halloween, with a higher number of strangers than usual lurking about the neighborhood.
A couple of Halloween-specific tips are to make sure that kids know not to leave the front door unattended while they go get candy for trick-or-treater’s baskets and also that they should never allow even the sweetest-looking bell-ringers inside the house, as they may not realize who is trailing right behind them.
Additionally, for the good of your family, you will want to look into advanced, professional home security. A professional company can equip your home with all kinds of extremely valuable home security tools. For example, you can install protective devices like house alarms and motion detectors in order to guard you against home invaders. In fact, you will even gain access to advertisement warnings, such as window decals and yard signs, which will keep criminals away by demonstrating that you and your home are professionally protected. Ultimately, a professional security company can help to make your home a very unattractive option for criminals.
While you do not, of course, need to go out and purchase every single piece of security equipment you can find, some of the options listed above are examples of the type of protection that a professional company can offer you. It is important to consider these options and work out the best possible system for protecting your home and family. If you instill a sense of basic security measures in your children and also keep your security system up-to-date, your home will be the safe environment that your children deserve it to be.
So, all that being said, make sure you’ve got home (and outdoor) security always on your radar, but do also remember that today is about fun! Now go out and enjoy all the tricks and treats of the day.
Oh, but before you do, check out some terrific Halloween posts (and one on Dia de los Muertos with some awesome pics!) from a few of my fellow MomsLA bloggers:
Celebrating Dia De Muertos {Day of the Dead}
Have a great and SPOOKY Halloween!
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What Was I Talking About? Oh, Right. Work at Home Distractions
I’m on a writing deadline. I need to have a series of three 500-word articles by Friday. It’s Wednesday and have I written a single word yet? If you guessed
no….ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, for the win!!
I have distraction problems. And this time I can’t blame the kiddos, because they’re at school right now. Nope, it’s just me and my propensity to pay attention to every single other thing in the room (or on the computer) that needs to be done other than the necessary work at hand.
And it’s not that I don’t love what I do. I really enjoy the writing process…it’s just that well, so many other things seem so important in the moment. I know this might sound weird, but part of me thinks it’s sort of like leaving the thing you really want to do until the very last second, because the leading up to doing it is kind of exciting – the whole “anticipation is making me wait” sorta thing.
But luckily I have a secret weapon: my husband. Bless his heart, he knows his wife. He kindly offered to take the kids to school this morning so that I could get to work on these articles. And here I sit blogging. I told you.
Okay, lest his generosity go to waste, I will get to writing! (and thank you, honey, for sometimes knowing exactly what’s necessary to hold it down at home!)
Have a FANTASTIC day!
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Lunchtime Date with Yoplait for a Good Cause
Hey everyone,
It’s a rainy, gray day here in Southern California so the morning rush was particularly challenging. The kids in my daughters’ school all gather in the
cafeteria when it rains instead of going out into the schoolyard to wait for the morning bell. And, let me just say that the cafeteria is very, very small…but there are a lotta, lotta kids. So drop-off was super-fun working my way through that crowd! My 2nd grader’s poor teacher looked like she wanted to run away with me as I left. Being stuck inside all day with 25 stir-crazy 7 year olds? The woman is a saint.
Anyway. Just wanted to give you all a heads up about Yoplait’s “Save Lids to Save Lives” campaign if you haven’t already heard about it. If you have heard about it, you may already be saving your yogurt lids, but if you want to learn more about preventative things you can do and get a chance redeem your lids, there’s a cool event I wanted to share with you and it’s happening today.
Join Yoplait, celebrity breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Kristi Funk and breast cancer survivor and Komen Los Angeles volunteer, Annette Reid to hear how you can take important steps to help reduce your risk and support women in your community fighting the disease.
They will participating in a LIVE Lunchtime Facebook Chat, at 3pm (Eastern time / 12pm Pacific) today.
Here’s a little background on the guests:
Annette Reid:
Having a family history of breast cancer, Annette was always overly cautious about self-exams, regular screening, eating healthy and exercising. Thanks to early detection, Annette’s breast cancer was caught early and successfully treated. The 9-year breast cancer survivor has turned her fight into inspiration to help other women in LA through her work with Susan G. Komen for the Cure Los Angeles.
Dr. Kristi Funk:
Dr. Funk is a nationally known, board-certified, breast cancer surgeon and founder of the Pink Lotus Breast Center, a comprehensive and integrative breast center exclusively dedicated to the prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Dr. Funk has helped thousands of women through breast cancer treatment, including well-known celebrities like Sheryl Crow, who have turned to her for her expertise.
They will also be taking questions beforehand to address during the chat. If you have something you’d like discussed, send your questions to: Yoplait@coneinc.com.
If you do attend the webcast, be sure to come back and let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!
Join the Chat Here: Yoplait’s LIVE Lunchtime Chat on Facebook
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Free Logo Design Giveaway Winner
Happy Sunday everyone!
I know I’m a little late announcing the winner of the Free Logo Design giveaway, but better late…well, you know the drill.
So, without further ado (or cliché excuses)…
The fresh spanking new logo design will go to: Michelle Hagewood of Just Married Mom of 3!
Congratulations Michelle, and be sure to give us a shout out and let us know when we can come look at your brand new logo!
Alright everyone, now go finish enjoying your last weekend day for this week before another 5 days of work/school insanity begins!
But before you do be sure to go give Michelle a shout out on Twitter and join her on Networked Blogs.
Okay, that’s it for today. Have a FANTASTIC day! 
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Free Logo Design Contest from FreeLogoServices.com
………Annnnnd, we’re back. AND with a contest for a free logo design from Free Logo Services to boot! But first, a little update…
Yes, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted and this blog was actually taken down for a bit, but it was a much needed break. I needed some blogging perspective
and time to focus much more on offline stuff. I’m really happy to be reviving things here now, albeit in a much simpler and more personal way. In addition to small biz tips, from now on this blog will be serving somewhat as a hybrid personal journal for me and as a resource guide for new bloggers and work at home women. There will be short blurb posts about my life as a stay-at-home mom and wife, giveaways and guest posts from people I think have valuable life skills tips or small biz information to share. That’s the plan. But as we often find out, the best laid plans….
The main goal for me right now is to focus on raising my kids with all the love, focused attention and passion I can muster…and to fit blogging in when I have time. Not the other way around. I learned a huge lesson over the last year about how easy it is sometimes to lose sight of what’s really important when you’re excited about something. I was so jazzed about blogging and internet marketing when I started out online and I got really distracted by social media, blogger events, networking and blog hopping that I kinda forgot that the whole reason I came online in the first place was to build a business I could do from home. And of course, the reason for wanting to do that was so I could spend more time with my kids. Well, as my new tagline says “you can have it all, just not all at the same time”.
I have time to run my business in the early morning hours when my kids are still asleep and after I’ve dropped them off at school and I have time focus on hearing all about school, friends, events, etc. and then to chauffeur them from one after-school activity to another or play games, plan fun outings and help with homework. But I do NOT have time to visit 10 blogs a day, write a daily blog post, spend time on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, et. al, guest post on other people’s blogs, tweak my blog design, solicit sponsors and advertisers, plan/attend Twitter parties, keep up with industry news and attend all the blogging conferences and events.
Yes, it seems like some moms are doing all of the above and more….and to those I say, “have at it”. More power to you if you can balance all that stuff and still hold it down at home.
But as for me, from now on I’ll be posting from the sidelines, when time permits and enjoying the freedom of a weight lifted off my shoulders.
Okay, enough venting….
As I mentioned, I’m very pleased to mark Biz Mommy’s return with a terrific giveaway to offer you from FreeLogoServices.com:
Your logo makes a huge impression on potential customers, whether on your letterhead, your blog or even your Facebook profile, your logo design demonstrates that your company is credible, trustworthy, and professional. Free Logo Services has offered to give one lucky winner a free logo normally priced at $39.95!
How to Enter
- Subscribe to Biz Mommy – either via email or through a reader is fine, but just be sure to leave a comment below to let me know you’ve subscribed.
- Tweet and “Like” this giveaway by clicking on the “Tweet” and “Like” buttons above this post.
- Follow Biz_Mommy on Twitter.
That’s it! The winner will be chosen on Wednesday, October 19th and will receive a coupon code for a free logo!
Here’s Why Your Logo Matters!
- Your logo is your first impression to buyers.
- The more professional it appears, the more credibility you gain.
- It needs to distinguish your company from the competition.
- It should create a feeling, or mood, without the use of words.
- The free logos you pick will be your number one promotional
tool.
Logo Design Advice from Free Logo Services
In case you don’t win, or prefer to DIY, here are some resources for
designing your own logo:
Logo Design Tips for Online Merchants on Ebay, Etsy and Shopify
Ways Logo Design Impacts Social Media
Ways to Create the Best Business Card Logo Design
The Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday 10/18 (Pacific Time). Winners are selected via WP Contest Plugin and will be announced on Wednesday 10/19. Good Luck!
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Find Your Spark: Interview with April Fan of Senior Resource Central
Join me as I chat with my guest April Fan of SeniorResource Central. April’s professional life has revolved around working with and caring for seniors. As a registered dietitian she has consulted at skilled nursing facilities in the Pacific Northwest for over a decade. After the birth of her first son, she decided she needed to find a way to spend more time at home and still make a good living. So, she scaled back to part time employment and started investing in real estate. She had an opportunity to simply educate seniors about finding the best way to sell their house and, in the right circumstances, even buy their house for them, so they’d have a way to pay for their new residence and/or medical care. My House Sold,LLC was open for business. Even having years of experience working with seniors as a Regional Dietitian and a Housing Transition Consultant, she found myself struggling to find good information when it came time to help her own parents into retirement. She pooled all her resources and experiences to create Senior Resource Central in hopes that it will make this always difficult process easier for others. As a Senior Resource Diva, April Fan, RD, CD, is on a mission to educate baffled adult children who are currently caring for their own children as well as their aging parents. Her goal is to help these juggling caregivers discover how to take the confusion out of this daunting role. Tap into April’s personal and clinical experiences, proven resources, handy tips and sane ideas at http://www.SeniorResourceCentral.com.
Listen to my interview with April on Blog Talk Radio here.
Sponsor Spotlight
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Who Wants to Learn How to Rock Their Social Media Presence? YOU Do!
Who’s to say what’s wrong in the world of social media? Just about all your followers, that’s who. And if they’re not interested in what you’re saying , you—and the rest of the online world—will be the first to know.
Don’t panic.
Join Vocus and five super social superstars, on March 16th for a free, half-day virtual conference entitled, Social Media…So What? and learn how to keep making friends and influencing people.
You’ll hear from:
- The Revolutionary Scott Stratten of UnMarketing will have you rethinking everything you thought you knew about reaching prospects.
- The Savvy Adam Singer of Lewis PR will explore how to integrate Facebook into everything you do, to get the face-time you need.
- The Sage SEO-PR.com co-founder and YouTube author Greg Jarboe gives us the key to longtime readership – including video and images in everything.
- The Practical Neal Schaffer of Windmills Marketing will make sure your Twitter presence isn’t an #epicfail.
- The Unafraid David Brody of North Social reminds us that everyone hates boring.
Attend this FREE Vocus event and learn how not to be, yawn… that business.
And just in case the word free is not incentive enough for you (like it would be for me), how about the word win?
Register and win: All attendees are automatically registered to win one of 200 copies of Scott Stratten’s best-selling book UnMarketing. And the grand prize? An iPad!
Got your attention yet? If so, go ahead and Register Now! (and seriously, if you’ve read down this far, you KNOW you want to go.) Here’s that link again:
Register for the Vocus FREE Virtual Conference. “See” you there!
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Find Your Spark: Interview with Tawanna Browne Smith of Mom’s Guide to Travel
Join me and my guest, Tawanna Browne Smith of Moms Guide To Travel. Tawanna has been traveling since the age of 13, when she packed up her bags and headed off to boarding school. After countless adventures and last-minute journeys, she dubbed herself the queen of packing, until enter husband – stage right and children – stage left. All her travel experience was thrown out the window. According to Tawanna “traveling solo is a piece of cake. However, traveling with a spouse and young children can be a taste of insanity!” But she quickly learned that it didn’t have to be. With patience, practice, and resources, Tawanna figured out how to make family travel stress-reduced and convenient. Now she thoroughly enjoys providing tips, anecdotes, and reviews for other parents traveling with young children.
If you have young children and love to travel, tune in and be inspired by ideas to keep your travel fun and low-stress!
**If you enjoy listening to the interviews, be sure to Follow, Favorite, Tweet and Like “Find Your Spark” on Blog Talk Radio & be the first to get notified of new episodes!**
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Find Your Spark Round-Up: Laura Lee Carter, Leslie Truex and Linda Smaldore
It’s been a while since I posted here about my Find Your Spark show on Blog Talk Radio. I had moved the Find Your Spark archives to a separate page, as opposed to individual posts on this site, to make room for other features. But I recently decided that one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place was to inspire other women and moms to do things they love to do and find viable work-from-home opportunities. And what better way to inspire than to illustrate by example? So from now on, I’ll be posting the “Find Your Spark” interviews each Monday. I hope you’ll find them a helpful resource for getting started or continuing on your own entrepreneurial journey!
Find Your Spark: Interview with Laura Lee Carter, the “Mid-Life Crisis Queen”
Laura Lee Carter worked for 25 years as a research librarian before transitioning into her work as a blogger, author, love/life change coach and speaker. She holds three M.A. degrees including one in counseling psychology with a specialty in midlife challenges. She is best known as the “Midlife Crisis Queen” online for her popular blog of that name.
Click on the link below to listen to my interview with Laura Lee:
**If you enjoy listening to the interviews, be sure to Follow, Favorite, Tweet and Like “Find Your Spark” on Blog Talk Radio & be the first to get notified of new episodes!**
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Find Your Spark: Interview with Leslie Truex of Work At Home Success
Join me and my guest Leslie Truex of Work At Home Success as we chat about what it really takes to succeed in a home-based business. Leslie, who has successfully worked from home since the late 1990′s is also the author of the Work At Home Success Bible.
Click on the link below to listen to my interview with Leslie:
**If you enjoy listening to the interviews, be sure to Follow, Favorite, Tweet and Like “Find Your Spark” on Blog Talk Radio & bethe first to get notified of new episodes!**
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Find Your Spark: Interview with Linda Smaldore of Bean-B-Clean
Linda Smaldore was born in St. Albans, NY into a military family and has had the opportunity to live in California, Alaska, Oklahoma, Virginia and Hawaii. Her father was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, a band of black fighter pilots of WWII, and her mother was born in Jamaica, West Indies.
Linda’s company, Bean-B-Clean, is a result of trying to help her newborn grandson get rid of a bad case of cradle cap with no chemicals or toxins. Teaming up with her husband Joe, the Smaldores searched for a solution – certain that they would find a product on the market to solve this age-old problem. When nothing turned up, the Smaldores set out on a quest to come up with a solution themselves. That’s how the Bean-B-Clean™ was born. The best part is that Bean-B-Clean™ is a locally owned, operated, and invented item in Springfield, Virginia!
Click on the link below to listen to my chat with Linda about her very personal inspiration to start her business and become a “grandmom-preneur”!
Listen to Find Your Spark on Blog Talk Radio. In a rush? Download the episode to iTunes and listen at your leisure!
**If you enjoy listening to the interviews, be sure to Follow, Favorite, Tweet and Like “Find Your Spark” on Blog Talk Radio & be the first to get notified of new episodes!**
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Small Biz Tips Video Series: Using an Editorial Calendar
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