You know you're a WAHM

Dusty Reid
Co-owner & Designer, BB&G
Baby Bouquets and Gifts
Flowers That Bloom Into Babywear

Check out this photo. It's made with one of my favorite baby products: Baby Legs! (baby leg warmers)

Dusty sent this to share:

You know you are a WAHM...
"I'm a WAHM, we all are, I know, but I also run my business from home. This is a new thing, it's only been a few months so we are still having friends over that we drag downstairs and proudly show 'the biz' to.

I make flower bouquets with silk flowers and baby clothes rolled into flowers so there are all these lovely arrangements everywhere.

Our friends dutifully ooo and ahhh over them as I excitedly pull them all out for show and tell.

Inevitably, with a 7 yr. old daughter in the house, there are many bouquets on display that SHE has made and (you know this is coming :) inevitably, our friends will point to one of HER bouquets and exclaim with feverish excitement "OOHHH, that one's gorgeous! I REALLY like that one"!!

I strongly oppose child labor but am seriously beginning to wonder if I should be increasing my daughter's allowance in return for some design work?

Maybe I should just be proud!!"


Check out the Baby Bouquet website here.

Have a You know you are a WAHM... story to share?

Email me your story for consideration. lori at lbpublicrelations dot com.

You know you're a WAHM

You know you're a WAHM when you go into your baby's room after her nap and she's standing in her crib!!

I'm so thankful to be able to work from home and experience these thrilling milestones.

My little one has since perfected the standing technique and has been pulling herself up on everything.

Do you have a "You know you're a WAHM" story to share? Email it to me for consideration

lori at lbpublicrelations dot com.

You know you're a WAHM

You know you're a WAHM when your 3 year old uses her play cell phone to call Dr. Caruth and Von Anthony Salon. (Two of my current clients.)

Do you have a "You know you're a WAHM" story to share? Email it to me for consideration:

lori at lbpublicrelations dot com.

Container Store co-founder shares secret shopping encounters

"How are you doing today?" and "Can I help you find anything?"

Along with Garrett Boone, co-founder of the Container Store, I find these questions VAPID! And CRINGE WORTHY!

Cheryl Hall of the Dallas Morning News wrote about Boone's "mystery shopping spree."

Any business owner who services customers can learn from his experiment.

He spent time looking carefully at items that interested me. He gave sales associates "every opportunity to connect."

Only two clerks connected with him and that is where he spent the most money.

The others used the VAPID, "How are you doing today sir?"

This is also from the article:
"Garrett Boone went mystery shopping, he called himself "Inspector MID." That's Container Store code for "Man in the Desert" selling.

Here's how Boone explains MID:

"A man lost in the desert for weeks stumbles across an oasis and is offered a glass of water. But if you stop to think, you probably realize he also needs food, a place to sleep, a phone to call his family, a pair of shoes and a hat and umbrella to screen the sun's rays.

"When a customer comes looking for shoe storage, most retailers help her find a shoe rack – that glass of water. We know she needs a complete solution for her entire closet.

"Man in the Desert selling teaches our salespeople to become so immersed in the customer's needs that we complete their solution instinctively."

Besides water, what else do your customers need?

Engage your customers in conversation. Read the full article to learn how.

Working With a Coach

As you may remember, I recently partnered up with Making Work at Home Work as a blogger.

Working with a Coach

By Mary M. Byers

I took the plunge and hired a coach late last year. She’s been a fabulous addition to my team and is worth every penny. Here’s how I’m benefiting:

Accountability: At the end of each session, we identify 3-5 activities for me to complete by our next session. I don’t want to disappointment my coach or embarrass myself so I find I’m highly motivated to get my “homework” done each month.

Advice: I’m able to outline my thoughts and then ask for her advice. Though she doesn’t always say, “This is what I think you should do...” she is always able to ask pertinent questions to help me come to a decision I’m comfortable with.

Expertise: My coach has small business acumen and more importantly to me, is an expert in online marketing, something that intimidates me. I have a lot of questions about how to implement my online marketing ideas and she’s a great resource for getting the answers I need. When I’m stuck, she reminds me that I don’t have to know how to do everything and that between us, we can find the resources to implement even the craziest ideas.

Companionship: Let’s face it, being a solo-preneur can be a lonely endeavor. My coach gives me someone to bounce ideas off of as well as the comfort of having someone along on the journey with me. Knowing someone else is rooting for me encourages me to continue to strive for excellence.

If you’re looking to help your business reach new heights in 2010, consider hiring a coach. Doing so is a great way to stretch yourself and grow your business.

Mary Byers is the author of Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof. You can learn more about making work at home work by subscribing to Mary’s free blog at www.makingworkathomework.com. Interested in more articles like this? Join the blog ring here.

A Day in the Life of a WAHM

A Day in the Life of A WAHM

Kids ages 3 and 7.5 months.

2 a.m. - Hear baby humming in her sleep. at 7.5 months, she still not sleeping through the night. The humming never amounts to anything and she goes back to sleep. So do I.

3:15. "Sleepy humming" starts again. Big sigh. It would b nice to get my remaining 15 minutes of sleep before my alarm goes off.

Get up. Change baby. Nurse. She goes off to blissful "La La" land. I go start my computer.

3:30 - Eat banana with peanut butter. Take vitamins. Drink water and clear some clutter off the kitchen counter.

3:40 - Read a chapter in "Power of a Praying Wife" and indulge for a few minutes in some of my favorite blogs.

3:45 - Internet goes down. Since I work from home, I'm my own IT person. One reset of the router, and I'm back up. Finish reading blogs, check email and start work. This includes adding to a press release, blogging for my clients, respond to emails, finish listening to an interview with a client that I recorded a few days prior.

6 a.m. - Wake up hubby. Chat for a few minutes before our day goes in separate ways. Go down stairs and make oatmeal with raisins and almonds. I also eat some chocolate covered raisins. I read somewhere that it's best to eat your junk food in the morning so that you burn off the calories. This makes me feel OK to eat chocolate at 6 in the morning.

6:38 - Baby is awake. Daddy brings her down stairs.

Say bye bye to Daddy.

Finish oatmeal while baby nurses and scan the health section of the paper. Baby is done nursing and starts clawing at the paper.

7 a.m. Put her down to play. Load some dishes and brew some tea. Finish scanning the paper.

Baby gives me some smiles. Makes it worth getting up at 3 in the morning so that I can be with her during the day.

7:10 - Baby wants to be held so we play. Baby seems to be fussy and has a bit of a runny nose. Catch the weather report while nursing. It's going to be really cold. I mentally adjust my schedule for the week and decide to go grocery shopping tomorrow before the cold sets in.

7:30 Sister awake. Sister picks out her ballet outfit for the day. I put her hair in a pony tail. She brings down a bag of books. She makes her breakfast TV time selection and has a hard time deciding between "Little Bear" or her Barbie movie of the day, "Rapunzel." I get her drink while she decides. Barbie wins.

I feed Kate her oatmeal myself. It's the easiest way for me to get whole grains and veggies into her.

8 a.m. Baby need to go down. Grab trash out of baby's room and send a quick email.
Back to feeding the 3 year old.

Take advantage of the TV and water the cat, take out the trash, get spinach out of the freezer for dinner, get shoes, pack a snack and get 3 year old warm clothes.

Baby is fighting her nap and today it's a good thing because we have ballet. I go and put her in the carrier.


I realize our library books may be due. A quick check on my receipt confirms. I make Kate clear out the books she's dropped behind her bed. Get her dressed.

Search for the keys. Warm up the car. Kate complaining that she wants to go to ballet. When it's time to go, she complains that she wants to read. Sigh. Life with a 3 year old.

9 a.m. Kate enjoys ballet class.

10 a.m. Talk Kate into getting her coat back on to head to the library.

10:20 - Pass the post office on the way to the library and realize I forgot a package I wanted to mail.

10:30 - Kate cuddles in my lap while we enjoy story time.

11 a.m. - Head for home. Lauren still hasn't taken her morning nap and she's desperate for one.

11:30 - Baby down. Make lunch for me and Kate. Kate said she wanted PB&J. I make grilled cheese for me. When it's time to eat, Kate insists that she wanted grilled cheese. We compromise by splitting our sandwiches.

I read Kate two books and start her new book on tape that she got at the library.
12 Noon - Back at my desk. Check email. Schedule a hair cut appointment.

1 p.m. Baby awake. But I'm in the middle of trying to work with the web designer to get photos for client's newsletter. Play with baby while I wait for web designer's email.

2 p.m. Kate awake. Feed her veggies while she watches TV.

2:30 Images arrive! Talk with client. Finalize newsletter and distribute. Get ready for a walk.

2:45 - Baby is tired and wants to go down again. Play with Kate.

3:15 - Share an apple with Kate. Put chicken in oven for dinner.

3:45 - Baby awake.

4 p.m. - Over to a neighbor's house; a sweet, sweet lady who loves my girls.
4:30 - Go home. Daddy is home! Make a deal with Kate that if she helps clean the living room, she can have chocolate milk.

4:45 - Daddy plays with girls while I work on dinner.

5:15 - Daddy goes to work out.

I wrestle baby into her pj's.

Girls play while I assemble the chicken lasagna. I'm out of mozzarella, cheddar will have to do. This seems to be how my grocery trips go. I always forget something.

5:30 Baby down. Share an orange with Kate. Look through a magazine together. I make up names of the models in the photos.

Brush Kate's teeth, wash her face and hands, give her a massage. She chooses a dress for her pj's.

6:20 - Daddy is home. He reads to Kate while I put the lasagna in the oven. I do some yoga stretches. We say prayers and Kate gets to read for a bit.

6:30 - I iron hubby's clothes while we catch up on our day. I then melt in a hot shower.
6:50 - Lights out for Kate. Head to the kitchen. Timer is dinging. Lasagna is ready.

7 - Eat dinner with hubby.

7:15 In bed. Ready to enjoy my sacred "me time" by reading.

8 p.m. Lights out for me.

9 p.m. Baby wakes up. I nurse her and go back to sleep.

More Reasons to Blog

Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," an ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive by email the handy cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a Press Release."


--A blog establishes your credibility and expertise.

--It's like a giant magnet that pulls in traffic.

--It can impress visitors and turn them into buyers.

--Many of your competitors are blogging.

--Unlike Twitter, you can use your blog to discuss topics in-depth.

--You can engage visitors and carry on a conversation with them in the comments section.

--A blog can give you a huge online presence, even if you can't afford a website.

--It can help you gain more traction than publicity in traditional media because, unlike most media people, bloggers love to link to each other. Get in front of just one influential blogger and you can be all over the Internet within minutes.