I Get eMail
Not long after posting last month’s blog earnings, I received an email from an off-line friend whom I didn’t even realize had been reading my blog. Apparently she felt prompted to shed her lurker status by envy: she wants to know how she can make money while remaining a SAHM.
Specifically, she wanted to know how long it would take her to start earning a similar income after setting up a blog of her own.
This, of course, isn’t nearly as easy to answer as she’d like. I mean, how can you explain to someone that if you set up a blog with the purpose of making money, chances are you won’t make a dime? Or that, judging by her horrible writing and grammar in that email, she’d be better considering some other way to earn money from home besides writing for public consumption?
Fortunately, I didn’t have to. Later that day she sent another email after seeing a CNN story on working from home. In addition to the standard recommendations of getting high-speed internet access to replace her dial-up connection and finding a quiet room where she can work, the story also mentioned companies that specifically outsource administrative tasks.
This was news to her, which is probably indicative of how long she’s been out of the workforce. In her email she wrote that she was on her way out of the house to go purchase a bigger, faster computer and that she had already scheduled installation of her broadband internet access.
Also, she wrote, she’d signed up with several “work at home” companies and was going to mail off her “start-up fee” to one of them while she was out. I nearly broke a fingernail in my haste to dial her phone number, praying the whole time that I could stop her before sending that money to what was no doubt a fly-by-night company. Seriously, why are people so easily duped that they’ll believe an employer would require you to pay them before sending you actual paying work?
I did manage to reach her and expressed my concerns, then urged her to consider instead looking at companies that specialize in employee leasing services, or even companies like those mentioned in the CNN report that farm out appointment-making, customer service and other tasks easily performed by someone out of their own home.
As I pointed out to her, the concept of employee leasing is a fairly new one which primarily focuses on removing the administrative burdens from small- and large business owners by acting as co-employers of already established employees. The company then manages things like payroll services and providing group insurance, things of that sort.
But there are other companies who offer employment opportunities handling customer service or working as a “virtual assistant” — and those, I felt, were far more along the lines of what she was looking for than the “stuff envelopes in your spare time” scam she nearly fell for.
I wish I could say that I completely talked her out of the notion of starting her own blog to make money, but she seems pretty darned determine to do just that. She proudly pointed out that she’d already signed up with Blogger.com and had written her first few posts. No, she wouldn’t provide me with the URL — she wanted to wait until she’d built up some content first. Which is great in my opinion, since it means she plans to stick with it for a while.
Meanwhile — since I know she’s probably going to pop in and read this at some point — I thought I’d point out that my rapid phone dialing saved her from spending $250 on one of those “work at home” scams. It seems to me that a $6 martini would be a nice way to say “Thanks.” Tonight would be fine.
Just sayin’.
Give her my URL and email address. Maybe hearing it from someone who failed will carry more weight than someone who succeeded.
I’d personally be suggesting Mary Kay for a SAHM. Red has been at it for less than 4 months, and we’re loving it, although I’ll admit I have a bit of a baised view on it.
I think Mary Kay’s a great idea, except that I hate most people and really hate dealing with people face-to-face. I also hate talking face-to-face with people, meeting face-to-face with people, listening to people and pretty much being around people.
So, um, it’s probably not something I’d do well at.
“stuff envelopes in your spare time”
You know- I always find this sort of offer extremely humorous. I do direct mail for a living. That’s right- I send unsolicited advertising to addresses just like yours everyday.
The thing that amuses me about ’stuffing envelopes from home’ scams is the amount of money they promise per piece. I’d love to be able to bill those kind of per piece rates.
But here’s the best part- several years ago my (now ex) wife was part of a corporate downsizing. Not to worry though- she sent money to one of these scams (albeit only $5 or so) so that she could learn about how to make money stuffing envelopes. Maybe that’s when I should have realized we had a serious communication problem.
(BTW- I know it’s not necessary for me to type ‘now ex’ for the purposes of this story- but I just like doing it.)
LOL. Will, my now husband decided shortly after we married that he wanted to make money in his spare time working from home.
So after watching late-night TV he spent $75 (which was very hard to come by at that point in our marriage) on one of those direct marketing things that promised to turn him into a millionaire within 30 days. Thing is, the box sat there unopened for 30 days… until I found it and just about blew my stack that he could’ve been so gullible.
That’s when I realized what a good thing it is that my husband is gorgeous.
Good thing she has a friend like you that wasn’t afraid to tell her not to do it! You saved her some valuable money!
I’d pipe in as a very loud Anti-Mary Kay voice, personally. The long-term failure rate is higher than the success and the only real way to succeed is constant recruiting and frontloading which doesn’t help anyone. Not saying MK promotes it, but that’s generally what ends up happening as people get more desperate to meet challenges and stuff (years of experience speaking here). It CAN work but it seriously is a LOT of work to make the money they tell you about during recruiting. It’s not part time work with full time pay.
There is no such thing as part-time work with full-time pay; if one doesn’t treat it as a job/business and take it seriously, of course one won’t succeed at it. The reate of failure in any industry is always higher than the success rate.
WG, this is the exact thing I’m trying to get VH and the Big-Eyed Boy to understand. Between blogging for a living now along with homeschooling, I AM working full-time, which means Mommy shouldn’t be the only one wiping up floors and changing the empty toilet paper roll.
There is one sure way to handle that particular problem, assuming you can bring yourself to actually follow through on it (and once you begin, you can’t back off). Take a page out of union-building history and go on strike after announcing that you’re doing so.
I know it’s hard to say “No.” and mean it, and if I can be permitted a completely biased opinion here, it’s usually the Mommy that has the hardest time with following through on it. I know that’s the case at our house; the kids have learned that when Mommy has taken her pain medication and is lying down, and WG isn’t paying attention, it’s a good time to get Mommy to promise anything. Devious little boogers….
I do less around the house than Red does because I work full time in my day job and I work part time as a photographer. I don’t have spare time and literally couldn’t do laundry and get enough sleep if I tried. When she goes back to school full time and continues building her Mary Kay business, I’ll have to pick up more of the load somehow, but that’s how it goes.
I’m also not hesitant about passing some of the duties of the household onto the kids. Everyday cleaning of their bedrooms and the common-use areas of the house are the province of the younger two. The oldest is assigned full-time responsibility for the dishes and countertops in the kitchen. Their mother and I try really hard to reinforce the “no-going-to-play-or-anywhere-fun-until-chores-and-homework-are-done” rule, and I won’t kid you, there are times they really hate it. They all three really enjoy swimming, for example, and earlier this week when it was 90 F here at 5 PM and they were invited to go swimming, they were very upset with me when I told them, no, you’ve been home long enough to have gotten your chores done, and you chose to waste that time watching cartoons. Tough.
*steps off soapbox* Oops.
“Their mother and I try really hard to reinforce the “no-going-to-play-or-anywhere-fun-until-chores-and-homework-are-done” rule…”
Yeah, that’s the part I have to get VH to agree to help enforce. Been working on it for a while now without success.
I am SO sick of always being the bad guy.
The flip side of that, though, is that you get to be the good guy when things are done your way. Red’s girls have all learned not to ask me for things when they know they haven’t done the things they’re supposed to do.
Think of it this way – if the other members of the household are leaving it up to you to run the household, then you’re the one that makes the rules. If they want to make the rules, then they need to do the work, it’s as simple as that. Maybe it’s too much of a “my way or the highway” approach, but IMO sometimes that’s the way it has to be.
I think of it this way: the kids are actually Red’s kids, they aren’t my biological kids (although I’d be happy to claim any or all of them). The house is mine, therefore there are some rules that are simply going to be done My Way. On most of those things, I am willing to negotiate; during summer time, if things are done within “good enough for now” standards most of the time, I’m willing to allow friends over, staying-up-late-watching-movies, popcorn in the living room, and other small indulgences. On the other hand, if things aren’t consistently getting done – dishes, cleaning, laundry, etc, then I withdraw support for those minor fun things around the house. If it goes long enough, I start saying no to going and doing the things that will take up my time away from getting those necessary things done. In other words, you make me do it rather than do it yourself, and I’m not willing to take you to the movies, take you to the park, allow you to go skating with your friends, go swimming over at the neighbors’ house, spend the night with friends, and so on….I don’t have time, because I’m doing your chores.
I actually sat down with the oldest and put it in financial terms; my time is worth $50/hour when I’m running my photography business. For every hour I’m forced to do things that aren’t my responsibility, that’s $50 less money I have for things that are fun, and one hour less that I could be spending doing those fun things. While probably not the best approach to take with your son, I imagine it might make sense to your husband if you put it that way.
Not that I’m saying you haven’t already, that’s just my take on it.