I worked seven years for a stock-brokerage firm and had been told I "topped out my salary" and that there was no chance of my moving any more up because I'd just "leave and go work for a bank, like all the other women do. At that suggestion, I moved along to a bank anyway and started building a new career as a consumer banker and doormat. Each position I assumed, I was told I was "too ambitious" and had reached the summit of that particular endeavor. When my second baby was born, Alexis, nine years after the first, I discovered an appreciation I had not had before. I am told age makes you wiser and also more appreciative, so I relinquish it to that reasoning.

I initially put my new baby into daycare so I could continue my well paying yet going nowhere career. However, it seemed that I was continually receiving calls from the daycare to come pick her up for illness. As we lived thirty miles away. It was no small thing to even have to go "check" on her, as I increasingly found myself doing. At the same time my son who was around nine, then and has severe ADHD was having lots of problems at school, due some to the ADHD and some to the adjustment of not having all the attention at home anymore. Therefore I found myself on the road to and from work far more than I should have.

The last straw came when a baby who had been in the care of our daycare suddenly died from pneumonia. She had been only one of several from the daycare that had contracted a severe form of pneumonia. At that time my husband and I sat down and formulated a six month plan to pay-off all our outstanding debt, so that I could leave the j-o-b. Recently I had discovered a newfound love and talent in the new computer and internet age. And reasoned that I could do something of that venue to supplement our household income and give me the career satisfaction I both enjoyed and needed.

True to our plan I was able to leave that outside job in six months and begin my adventure as a work-at-home Mom. I think my first obstacle was finding an answer to that then irritating question "where do work?" or "what do you do?" I found "work at home" only made people assume I was "only" a housewife. So I adapted the popular "work from my home". That seemed to satiate the less inquiring minds. Then there was the "Oh, and what do you do?" In the beginning that was easier to answer because all I did was design websites. Currently, however, I've had to fall back on the "consultant" term, because what I do now, encompasses so much more than webdesign.

I found that webdesign satisfied my creativity craving and "drumming up business" satisfied my entrepreneur spirit. But that webdesign as far as income was not as lucrative as I thought. Due to the fact that you don't garner the "repeat" business and it doesn't' take most long to figure out how to it themselves anymore. So, as almost any entrepreneur will tell you, it was time to expand my horizons. About that same time, our family was once again expanding also and I found myself tied to home more and not able to get out and market and meet with clients anymore. This is when I discovered "Affiliate" programs and began designing my own websites and using these programs to generated income from them. It was slow at first and a lot of time consuming work. The main thing was to design a topic specific site, develop content to bring visitors to my site and adding relevant affiliates. Content needs to always be as fresh as possible to keep people visiting the site so online research is a must. I spent about 5-6 hours a day, sometimes more working on the site in one fashion or another. Slowly, but surely the checks started coming in. Little ones to begin with, then bigger ones later. As I got more proficient at designing and researching, I added other sites and got bigger checks. Then I started putting affiliate information on my business site and referring other webmasters and started making even more income from that. Sometimes I would get really frustrated and almost ready to quit and suddenly there would be even a small check in my box that would get me motivated again. During my slow time (if there really was such a thing) I started contracting out my time doing maintenance, proofing (also called beta testing) and editing for big corporate websites. I even got my ISP for free by being a chat host for a few hours each week!

Meanwhile, my son's ADHD and public school were becoming a real dilemma; compounded with recent onset of campus violence we made the decision to pull my son from public school and homeschool him. Homeschooling has been a wonderful challenge and blessing to us all! We even started preschooling my daughter early and the little sponge that young ones are, she's just soaked up everything I've taught her and begged for more! Being as internet savvy as I am, I began searching for homeschooling resources online; yes there are many out there, but there was no real community for them. So began my latest endeavor and advocacy project, Homeschool Haven, an online community for Homeschoolers that includes a public and private chatroom, message board, free e-mail, and resources for curriculum, lesson plans, advice and more!

Although still in the beta stages I had a great response from the Homeschool community. Researching and finding new content has really opened my eyes and my heart to the homeschool issues, conflicting public school issues, continuing on to our families, spiritual well-being and government intrusions. I find myself becoming a real homeschool and family with separation of government advocate.

Don't let anyone tell you that making money online is easy or quick. It's not. Not if you want a real income. Finding time for work and family is equally tough and challenging. First find out what you're good at and what you like and expand from there. Make your family first priority (after yourself of course) and everything else will fall into place! I am still working on getting a "schedule" and I'm starting to think to work-as-I-go may probably be my "schedule" . No one can tell you have to work 4,6,8 hours a day, clean house on weekends, cook suppers once a month, freeze them to thaw out later, etc. Every Mom has their own style of parenting and working; finding that middle ground is about the best you can expect. For example, I am not nor have I ever been a morning person, when I had a j-o-b, morning could be a real challenge for me. No more, due to my freedom working from home and homeschooling my children, I get up later than some would consider reasonable, take my time waking up and being better for the extra time. By the time I come downstairs to face the day, my children are dressed and ready to go, my son already working on his lessons and my young ones watching an educational video or just playing in the playroom. The day starts from there and everyone is happy!

Please feel free to visit one of my sites or communities, especially Homeschool Haven if you or someone you is interested or involved in homeschooling; it is located at http://Homeschool_Haven.tripod.com (soon to be just HomeschoolHaven.com). Or visit one of my other sites, like my business site where you can get more information on affiliate programs and more at http://RubyImage.com, a site for information on early learning at http://BabyMindz.tripod.com and a general baby site http://ABabysWorld.tripod.com; just to name a few! I am always open to suggestions and willing to lend a helping hand to my sister work-from-home Moms when I can.

Paving the Way for Main Street Mom
By Mia Cronan

If you haven't visited Main Street Mom yet, it's an easy trip to make. Just turn right at the next hyperlink, and you're there! (www.mainstreetmom.com) You will find the result of what two stay-at-home moms fostered after leaving their jobs to be at home full-time with their children.

We, Mia Cronan and Crystal Dupay, currently live in the suburbs of Charleston, West Virginia, and know exactly what it's like to long to be at home with our kids while concurrently trying to maintain responsible positions outside the home. I (Mia) gave up my position in hotel management after 12 years in the industry. The toughest part for me was being away from the "adult" world and feeling left out of the fast-paced business environment I was so used to. But, as the mother of a then 15-month old girl, and expecting my second in four more months, I knew it was time to stop the day-care chaos and ease the stress in our lives by resigning from my position as Assistant General Manager. Fortunately, my husband was in full agreement that this was the thing to do. It's been two wonderful years since that day, and a lot has changed. I am now expecting my third daughter, and I am a co-founder of Word Results Co., which owns the Main Street Mom web site.

Crystal, co-founder of Main Street Mom as well, is a Registered Dental Hygienist, but gave up her position over a year ago to be at home with her two daughters. The first year was real testing ground for her, but she came out victorious, knowing she is where she needs to be. (See the article "My First Year as a SAHM" in Main Street Mom.) Crystal went through the grief of losing the daily adult contact and missing her old routine in the business world. In spite of the fact that her co-workers were very supportive of her choice, her decision was not greeted so warmly by family and friends. Crystal has managed to grow beyond the derisive comments and grow beautifully into the gratifying role of full-time mother.

Crystal and I met a year ago at a local mom's group outing and quickly became friends. We both wanted to do a little more with our time and utilize our professional skills, but starting out individually had not yet become a clear option for either of us. In a short time, we realized we could cover a lot more ground together and sat down to brainstorm ideas. What came of it? We both love meeting other SAHMs, writing, sharing, giving support, and spending time on the internet. Several ideas were tossed around before the web site came to fruition. Eventually, Crystal and I took the first step and got the domain name, Main Street Mom.

From there, responsibilities were divided: Crystal would do all the site design, layout, uploading, and site maintenance. I would handle administrative, marketing, accounting, and correspondence issues. We would then share in creating and writing the articles. We both realize that to do this individually at this point in our lives would be prohibitive at best. Budgeting for the time requires significant forethought, a lack of sleep some nights, and careful consideration of our girls so that they are getting the attention they deserve. We are also able to give each other occasional support when frustrated by the little things that pop up each day, just as good friends do.

Main Street Mom is still in the growth phase, but we are optimistic that we can continue to offer affirmation to other SAHMS, that their job is important, too. We are gratified by being full-time moms without forfeiting important pieces of ourselves in the process. Please visit our site at www.mainstreetmom.com, and be sure to sign our guestbook!

Mia Cronan