Even though I want to own my own business, I realize I may have to take a detour on that path.

In the next couple of years I have my sights set on buying a house. To get there, I have to be on a path that includes saving money for a substantial down payment. Mortgage rates fluctuate all the time, and it’s important that I have as small a mortgage as possible.

With people losing their houses left and right, unable to pay their Mortgages, my plan has to be well-thought-out.

Right now that includes getting a full-time job so I can use my freelance writing to add to my savings. It also includes taking a first-time home buyer course so I can be well-informed about mortgages, closing costs, and more.

My dream house? Right now it’s one with a clear view of the mountains and lots of room to grow. I need an office, a playroom, and maybe room for another child.

Over the years I haven’t owned a watch because I never really pay much attention to time. I get up when the sun (or my daughter) wakes me up, and I kind of just know what time it is.

But if I were to finally get a watch, I’d definitely be sure it includes a stopwatch feature, like the one featured above from Seiko Watches. With constant interruptions from my daughter, I need to be able to literally stop time so I can accurately time a business event (versus getting up and changing a diaper).

Why is it important for freelancers, or any business owner, to properly keep track of their time?

Whenever you take on a project, even if it’s work done for your own business (like accounting, marketing, or even brainstorming), it’s crucial that you know how long it’s taking you.

When you do work for a client, keeping track of how long it takes for each task will help you price future projects more accurately. Be sure to include time spent on the actual writing. But you also have to take into account researching, editing, talking to the client, and more.

Keeping track of time spent on your own business should be accounted for also. This way you can see more clearly how much time it really takes to run your business. Use this information to adjust your hourly rates. You’ll quickly be out of business if you only consider your billable hours when setting your rates.

How do you keep track of your time?

Before my daughter was born, I decided we would not watch T.V. at all. I heard all about the studies that said T.V. was bad for kids, that there’s no real interaction, that it may affect their ability to pay attention, and other scare tactics.

For us, television has been a sanity saver. There are times when I can’t be my daughter’s only source of entertainment, and we both need a break from each other. My daughter gets to visit places she’ll never see otherwise, she gets to see all kinds of people, and she’s introduced to lots of different concepts. For instance, she’s never seen snow in real life. The other day I pointed out that there was snow on the mountains, and she said, “I can ski on that snow!” I don’t ski. I don’t talk about skiing. She learned that on television.

I tape record educational shows for us to watch together, and we interact with them together sometimes. Our huge favorite is The Backyardigans. While there isn’t a teaching curriculum, she (and I) love to sing and dance together. When she was younger we watched Teletubbies.

Why do I mention this here? Lately I’ve found some shows on PBS that are wonderful programs that teach reading and writing. My educational favorite is Super Why. My daughter watches them read words, sound out letters and letter blends, write letters, and sing the alphabet. I find her telling me, “S. Sssssssss,” or “Tuh Tuh. T!” I love how she’s getting introduced to phonics. She answers their word questions, sings the alphabet with them, and pays close attention when they’re spelling out words.

While I’m still working at home without daycare, television is also a way for me to get a few minutes to concentrate on work.

So if you’re looking for another way to teach your toddler reading and writing, or if you’re a work-at-home parent, maybe rethink the whole television ban idea. Television might not be so bad after all, when used wisely.

Do you need a reason to improve your grammar and writing? If you have children, or plan to soon, you have at least one great reason.

My daughter will be 3 years old in about 3 months. Though I know that genetics plays a role in her incredible language ability, I also credit her skills to my parenting style.

One thing I do is talk to her constantly, in regular language. I use prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, contractions, etc. I make it a point to tell her what things are, how they work, and I use a lot of words to explain. I also give her definitions.

My point is that my daughter uses almost perfectly correct grammar when she speaks. Sometimes she’ll say “me” instead of “I”, and of course she’s no English expert, but it’s amazing to watch her learn English everyday. If I didn’t know how to speak properly, and if I didn’t take the time to actually talk to her, she wouldn’t be able to communicate as coherently as she does.

Hand in hand with grammar is writing. I made sure to introduce and point out the alphabet to my daughter early, and we often discuss letters and words. When we’re playing with crayons, I often wrote letters for her, so it’s no surprise that she likes to make letters as best she can (she’s pretty good at writing an A, H, V, and U.)

Another excellent tool is right in front of you. I’ve allowed my daughter to watch me type, and I let her type letters too. This helped her learn not only her alphabet, but also punctuation marks and numbers. She often tells me, “Let me type my name, Mommy.” Right now she just types whatever letters strike her fancy, but she has fun pretending she’s writing words.

All of these everyday activities will help my daughter become a good writer, speaker, and reader.

So if you need to brush up on your basic rules of grammar, or if you never thought it was important to speak to babies and toddlers, give it a second thought. It really does matter.

Just this morning my daughter told me, “I hear a train. That’s strange. Hey! Train. Strange. Train. Strange!” I made sure to tell her that that’s called rhyming. I’ll let you know in a few years when she’s written her first book.

Note: Look for more stories about my daughter’s amazing talents. I’ll be talking about her more and more, or I might just have to start another blog that’s not about writing.

Are you a work-at-home parent? Even if you’re a home-based entrepreneur without children, this resource list is gold.

The list includes 100 resources, from articles to blogs (mine is included…very nice), to networks and miscellaneous information. Everything’s online, so there’s no need to run to the library.

Even if you don’t have time right now, just go to The Bootstrapper’s site and bookmark the WAHM’s Toolbox. This is a list you don’t want to ignore.

One of the perks of owning a home-based business is that you set your own hours. You can work late at night, early in the morning, or during “regular” hours. It’s up to you!

But when are you most productive? It probably depends on the task you have to complete, and also on your lifestyle.

For me, mornings are best for dealing with clients and for marketing. I work with clients all over the country, so I need to be able to contact people who live on the east coast. If I wait too late, they’re usually gone for the day. I’m most productive in the morning hours once I’ve woken up, eaten, and cleaned up.

My writing is best done late at night. I’m no good during the middle of the afternoon. That’s when I get overcome with sleepiness. So I’m kind of a night owl, and I get my second wind after 9 p.m. This might be because my daughter is blissfully asleep then, and I can’t write well when she’s up running around.

Blogging activities (replying to comments, dropping Entrecards, writing posts) are another story. When my daughter’s at home I can usually take care of most blogging tasks, but sometimes I wait until the wee hours of the night/morning.

What are your most productive times for the jobs you do at home?

Small business owners have to be savvy with marketing, and everyone can benefit from low-cost, high-quality marketing materials.

Recently I realized it’s time for me to get new business cards that include my website and blog, so a friend suggested VistaPrint. I’d always heard about the company’s free business cards, but I wasn’t thrilled about having their logo on the back.

But I did some investigating anyway, and I was quite pleasantly surprised. VistaPrint actually has business cards that don’t include their logo, and they come in a variety of types.

Even more interesting is that VistaPrint offers more than just business cards. Just some of their products include brochures, postcards, pens, hats, rubber stamps, announcements, invitations, checks, and even design services.

The process to order items and personalize them for your business is very simple, and I suggest giving it a try to see if you like it. Just click on the ad in my sidebar under “Essential Writer’s Tools” to go directly to their site.

I ordered their free sampler pack just to check out their products even more. It didn’t disappoint. I got to see their paper marketing materials in the flesh, and the quality was amazing for the price. I signed up to receive their special offers, so I’ll have coupon codes from time to time. Also, VistaPrint runs a lot of specials, so you can often get products for free or really cheap.

One of the recent coupon codes is for their save the date announcements. Freelancers can use the announcements to let clients know about upcoming specials, or even as simple follow-up notes. If you’re interested, try the coupon code BlogAnnounce10 to get 10 free announcements when you checkout.

Marketing is the meat and potatoes of owning a successful business. What products have you found useful for your marketing campaigns?

(Photo by Andrew Beierle)

In the beginning, Crayon Writer was intended to market my freelance writing business. It still is. But it’s become a bit more, and I now consider this blog to be a business itself.

Interested in joining this venture? There are several ways.

First, I’m adding a Satisfied Readers blogroll for people and companies who’d like to pay me for my “crayon writing.” Some call it a donation, but I figure that you should only donate if you think my words are worth paying for.

Or perhaps you feel strongly, like I do, that society benefits from mothers staying with their children as long as possible, and you’d like to support that cause.

Either way, if you send at least $10.00 using the convenient “Donation” button (found in the sidebar), your link will be added to the “Satisfied Readers” blogroll. Just so the list doesn’t get too long, I will have to remove links sometimes (first in, first out), but your link will be active for at least 24 hours (probably longer). I will only link to sites that are PG, though, so if it’s offensive to me I won’t post the link (no refunds for donations, though).

Email me the following information when you’ve donated $10:

1. Tell me what anchor text you want for your link
2. Tell me the URL for the link

Want to have a lengthier, more visually appealing advertisement on Crayon Writer?

You can buy advertising space or a review. The full details are on the Advertise page, complete with convenient buttons for you to make immediate purchases. Reviews are just $50, while 125×125 ads are just $40 per month. Click here to reserve your space or buy a review now.

Finally, take a look at some of the products in the sidebar. I have an affiliate partnership with the products I recommend, so if you’re in the market for them please buy them by clicking on them at Crayon Writer.

That’s it! Crayon Writer is officially open for business. If you’re ever in need of great writing for your business or blog, click on the tab for Copywriting Services. My freelance business is still accepting new clients too.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

As a work-at-home-mom, I definitely deserve a break today. I’m grateful that there are family and friends visiting. Not just because I get to see them, but also because my daughter enjoys seeing and interacting with new people.

My “break” is that other people will be occupying her so I can get some much-needed work done. (Do home-business owners ever stop working?) After being up late wrapping presents, and spending the morning trying to convince my daughter to open them (she’s more interested in the wrapping paper), I felt a little off-kilter since I hadn’t opened my laptop all day.

I hope you are enjoying today, however you define “enjoyment.”

Merry Christmas!

November was my month for marketing my freelance writing business. 

I did a bit of cold emailing (as time permitted, considering I have a very busy toddler), and I have a few warm leads as a result.

I also started a new blog, Marana Unwrapped, both because it’s an interesting topic and it’s a more specific niche. (I consider Crayon Writer to be a more personal blog that also has some universal appeal.) Hopefully the exposure in my community will help me gain more clients, and the niche should attract advertisers also.

So December is my month of looking for freelance gigs, while I also continue looking for another day job.

What’s a freelance gig? Projects I find not by marketing myself, but by perusing freelance sites. Right now I only use Craigslist. With access to cities across the country (and the world, if I choose), I should be able to find some nice side work.

If you’re a single parent or sole breadwinner, how did you get started with your freelance business, and how do you keep on keepin’ on?