Yes, it’s tax season and this means we all have the best account of what we are doing with our businesses. Everything is broken down to what we are spending, saving and what programs are working.

One area I’ve been seriously lacking in the last two years is furthering my education. I’ve been ignoring it by using the “I don’t have time” excuse. Not pushing my businesses to the next level is a big waste of time and that goes against everything I believe in. I don’t have time to waste, so let’s see how some learning can get me using my time even more efficiently.

So where to start? That’s been an easy choice. Two people I follow and look to for a lot of information have come out with group coaching programs geared towards things I’d love to keep pushing ahead. I signed up for Nicole Dean’s Income CPR today. What are you getting with the program?

==> Immediate Access To The Monthly Lesson with Case Studies

==> Ask Nicole – Yep! You can email Nicole your questions about the lessons & she’ll answer them.

==> She’ll help recruit affiliates for you via her FreeAffiliateArticles.com site.

The opening price is way underpriced. Nicole charges $500 an hour for consulting. You’ll be getting access to how she’s built her business for only $10 a month. However, that will change at any time as the program fills up. So don’t wait.

No, that’s not just a big sales blurb of poo from me. Well it’s a sales blurb, but I’ve “known” Nicole for years through forums and I trust that this program will not waste my time in the least.  I’ve downloaded the first lesson and will be opening it up as soon as I hit publish here on the blog.

I’ll work on keeping more updates as I go along. I’m starting out with Nicole’s program and then adding another program this weekend or next week that I know will be a good one. But since I haven’t focused on learning in so long I don’t want to jump in over my head and not follow through. It’s all about the follow through.

So why not join me in the Income CPR program and we can both chat about our progress?

Scott Stratten gives lots of case study examples, which help you to understand the context of each chapter (there are over 50 of them). His funny and entertaining style keeps your attention from the first page to the last. Learn about viral marketing, strategies to treat your customers well and turn them into long-term prospects. Social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are covered. The book is filled with lots of great advice and top tips on what works in today’s marketing world and what doesn’t.

Overall, if you are interested in reading up on Scott Stratten’s successful, modern marketing approach of engaging with your customers, Unmarketing would be a great asset to your business library.

But that aside, it’s always driven me nuts that I don’t know about any local big online events until the weekend of or after. WTF? I am not bragging when I say that I am a social media nut and I also include local media in hopes of finding out about stuff early. Hasn’t happened, so guess what, I’m deleting all of those biggies in my area because in 2 years I haven’t learned jack shit from them that I didn’t already know and I didn’t get early notice of any events. Usefullness? #fail as we like to post in twitter.

However, my being active on my account and posting to smaller local accounts? #twitterawesome I have now gotten an introduction to a social media event next week. I will clear the deck and head downtown Seattle. I’m excited and this stems on my missing a major event I wanted to hit in Portland. It’s the last one I will miss as I’ve made quite a few friends from the Power of MOB and I’d honestly like to put a package together and speak at next years event. Besides the fact I want to just hang and have a real drink instead of a virtual drink with friends.

Then another site has been going out and out and out. It’s a passion of mine. Firefighter Wife is not a money making site of mine. Yes, I do hope to make some here and there, but it’s truly a resource. To be contacted by others with resources I can push and especially resources that are charitable is awesome. Once such site I’ve fallen in love with, Firefighters Wives.net is built around helping those with career ending disease or injury. This is an organization I would love to get involved with and I couldn’t believe they are local. Sure, it’s a 2 hour drive, but hey it’s not every day. lol They have their site launch in 2 weeks and I want to be there to meet the women behind the site. I already have emails to them about some joint work.

Local meetups will increase your passion. Social media has been the answer to my local meetup. I’m making connections and then meeting up. Previously the groups had a link that they met up and not much info. I can’t tell you how excited I am about these local events and how out of character it is that I’ve already told my family I MUST GO!

First and foremost, if you are looking for some help to get your blog off and running or get a jumpstart after the kids go back to school, then look into the September Blogging Special.

Here is what people will get when they sign up for the September Blogging Special:

- Daily blogging tips, sent to your email from September 1 – 30

- Daily blogging prompts through the month of September. This will eliminate blogger’s block!

- Invitation only web chats throughout September. They will be able to get direct feedback from me on their blogging questions, as well as meet and network with other bloggers.

-And much more, including some big advertising chances.

Crissy is offering this incredible info for only $10. Her misfortune (need of a new car) is your gain. So take a look and see if it’s a good time for you to jump. Nope, this isn’t an affiliate sale for me, I just know Crissy really needs the help and it will be a great fit for so many of you.

Now on to some others that do have some affiliate links.

Publicity Boost -This is a mini-marketing plan that includes a press release, a customized media list, and a 60 day action plan to help people jump start their business, which is especially helpful after a long summer!

Black Friday Holiday Marketing Package – With this package, Crissy will help online business owners take advantage of Black Friday sales. Package includes a 30 min coaching call, a sales page, press release, 120 day action plan, a media list of 25 outlets, and an email that they can use to contact the media list.

Then the new thesis wordpress theme has been released and it is quite a versatile theme to begin with, let alone with some new features like header image and favicon uploader it’s super quick to customize even more. The Thesis Theme for WordPress

If you are into PLR then you don’t want to miss the latest release from Melissa Ingold on facebook marketing. It’s selling quick and only went on sale yesterday. In the 30 minutes it took me to quickly draft up this post, 25 more licenses were sold. It won’t last more than a couple days on the market I’m sure. Check it out and see if it’s a fit for your biz! 4-week Facebook Marketing Coaching Program/Course

Not so much for either anymore. This blog is and always be about my working online and my interaction offline. I can’t help that. I’m a people person and no matter how much I work online and how much I LOVE working online, I still need that personal interaction. I’m killer at customer service and that is personal no matter how we try to change it.

So right now I’m working on a mix. Yes, online biz still. I still have my offline biz but it’s light and then I am actually looking for a small offline job to have that steady paycheck between. It’s just that time. I’ve put a couple of clients above my own work and frankly it really messed up my own stuff. So now it’s time to rebuild.

Working WAHM has always been about the best resource to use. Not the most affordable, the cheapest, the latest or the one that will make ME the most affiliate money. So I need to get back to basics for ya and move to the resources. Like Hootsuite…wanna hear my love affair tomorrow? Better comment if you do or I’ll ignore it!!

I searched around to many scheduling programs for twitter and for one I was amazed at how many have a monthly cost. Definitely not what we were looking for. But others were just very cumbersome to use.

Hootsuite was recommended so I created a free account. I use twhirl for my twitter accounts as I like having the little box pop up for quick posting from multiple accounts and not have to open a new browser tab. But scheduling is something not available in twhirl unfortunately. Hootsuite was very easy to set up and I was posting in no time. Setting up my facebook fanpages took a little bit of figuring out, but I had 4 fanpages added within 15-20 minutes and that was mostly because of waiting while everything got permission to connect.

I hit my client up and asked her to check out hootsuite. She liked it too and set up an account. At first I was going through her main account, but now I have been added as a user to her business twitter and fanpage. I LOVE THAT! I log into my hootsuite account now and can update hers then quickly toss some to mine or vice-versa.

I can go in one day a week or a couple of times a month and schedule things for her. This works great and also forces her to work ahead. Great options for both of us. Plus the time saved logging into accounts can be better spent on other projects for her.

I’m giving hootsuite an A+ for usability and for holding options I don’t even know how to use yet. lol

First the live event. My friend Lisa Young has put together an awesome event in Michigan with speakers, classes and a lot of networking. There are very affordable options and more information can be found by attending some of these other two events!

The Peace System is a 6 week telecourse setting you up with a system for business and personal. Getting a balance between the two is key to enjoying life and work. This is a $500 coaching program that Lisa is offering for free as a build up to the live event in August. Look at all the information you will learn and the plans you will put in place by using The Peace System.

Ok, the last is a free call this weekend. We’re hosting a free call on Mom Chats and you’ll see some coaching in action and learn more information about all the above. This call is going to happen on this Sat. June 5th and call in details are all located at Mom Chats

We’ll look forward to you being at one or all of the events!

I’ll also comment that I’ve been frequenting forums for over 9 years now. Sadly some major one’s that I learned the most from are so full of spam I won’t send anyone there any longer. But there are still some incredible forums out there that I am a part of and I’m more than happy to promote them!

My first place to send you is my favorite, Mommy’s Helper Community. I am a major moderator and I visit a few times a day to check for where replies need to happen and to start posts. It’s never a negative place. You are never made to feel stupid when you ask a question. In fact if you ask a question, just be prepared for very long reply posts to read. lol

The second forum I will run to on my forum check days is Classy Chic Forums. I joined the Classy Chic’s way back in my ryze days. ROFLMBO That seems so far back, I just never did get into ryze. But I did get into the Classy Chic’s and Shelly Hill from all of that Super thankful I found Shelly! Amazing thing is I’ve run into her in so many other places as well. Like the first boards I mentioned and also…

Here at Work at Home Space! I found Sophia’s forums by following a google search for my reprint articles I put up a couple of years ago. Her site was so friendly that I made a point of stopping by a few times a month. Now I make sure and hit it weekly at the least. If you are looking for some online jobs Sophia has a huge amount of them posted everyday for you to go and research.

Alright, that’s 3. Go check them out and report back. Or better yet…hit me on the boards. My username on all of them is busymomma I think I’m actually going to do some spotlight sites. Boards, etc. This post has me thinking of some new ways to point out some great resources!

I have some sites with a lot of info built up on my computer behind the scenes ready to go. As my clients have needed questions answered I’ve done a good job of creating how-to documents. These will be used for filling up the next site that I’m just dieing to get up and running. But I’m being good and waiting. I can’t put them up until I get everything else in control and/or sold off. That’s my rules right now, no matter how much it’s driving me nuts. lol

I’m partners on a couple of sites with friends and yes, those are even up for evaluation. Nothing gets spared the grilling about every 6 months. One site isn’t making the cut at all. BUT, that is because I have totally lost interest in the niche. It was VA related and honestly I had some first clients that really turned me off from the niche. It really went downhill from there. That makes me evaluate that it just may not be for me. I’m ok with that and going to move on. I sent the email out to my buddy/partner tonight that I would be taking my info off the site and especially any of my paypal buttons.

I have absolutely no guilt about this as I know she has been rocking this niche and I’m excited for her to keep it going. I have no problem helping her promote it and even implement some of our ideas here and there down the road so she can build the biz even bigger. But alas, it’s not even close to my passion and I am not pushing it. In fact I’ve gotten to the point that I cringe when there is an email inquiring from it. THAT IS NOT GOOD BUSINESS! So backing away is the best thing for me to do and I feel awesome about it.

I’m also super excited about some new directions this site will be taking here soon. Well I shouldn’t say new direction, but many more added resources that will be new and so helpful. So keep an eye out for those to be popping up in the coming weeks!

If your time and energy is in short supply, and your business needs a boost, WAHM-Articles.com has launched a new social networking community that might help.

The WAHM-Articles Forum helps work-at-home-moms learn how to market their businesses in less time and more effectively by using article marketing. Article marketing is a marketing strategy where you write articles to promote your products and services and let others publish them for free in exchange for a link back to your site. You set your bio-line for the links you want to be included in the article when they publish it.

Many of the members at the WAHM-Articles Forum are experienced article marketers and publishers, so it’s a great place to hook up with website owners who are looking for articles like yours and ask all your article marketing questions.

In the forum, they talk about everything to do with article marketing, including:

- How to write articles that get more traffic to your website or blog
- How to use your articles to get more subscribers to your mailing list
- How to get your article readers to visit your website
- How to convince those website visitors to buy from you.

Joining the forum is free. There is also a Platinum membership that gives you access to article reviews, article marketing training, and valuable resources and discounts. Platinum memberships are available for an introductory price of $50 a year.

If you want to learn how to get more traffic and sales in less time, I recommend you go to http://www.WAHM-Articles.com/forum and register for a free account.

I’m a member and I’ve already learned a lot from the community there. If you join us, you can discover how to spend less time on marketing your website so you have more time spend with the kids, or on taking your business to the next level. Look for me there, my username is busymomma

I’d love to see you there! You can register at http://www.WAHM-Articles.com/forum