I have been MIA  I know.  But the truth is, I’ve been busy.  Super busy.  Today was the annual Women’s Conference at my church. It was fabulous. The theme was “Cooking Up Joy”.  The truth is God is cooking up something in my life, and it is producing a great deal of joy for me, but I’m really still not sure what he is up to.  I am expecting him to work and move and I am excited about what he has in store.

This week already had some exciting happenings, including on Tuesday that I had my Christian Charm School materials printed here locally and I have already sold a few copies.

Second, on Wednesday I was invited to a conference in San Antonio, TX in October that I am super excited about going to. It is a miracle in itself that I am going and I know God has big opportunities and connections to make in store there.

I have also booked 3 speaking engagements this week.  More details to on those will come soon.

Though, I am not sure what’s next I am anticipating something great.

Sometimes, I tend to be too much of an overachiever, not looking ahead before I leap into something.  With my online business and projects I tend to do that alot.  I make hasty decisions.  I don’t think things through enough.  So, over the last week or so I’ve been thinking alot and praying alot about my decisions.  As a result, I’m letting some things go and not picking up some other things.

I am letting go of:

• my MomTV show, Faith Inspires.

• Faith Notes from Alyssa is returning to Mom-Daughter Connection ezine and keeping its focus of being for moms of girls of all ages.  If someone chooses to subscribe that is not a mom of a daughter that’s ok, but that’s my ministry and my focus so that’s where it is going to stay.

I must remained focused.  God has a plan and a reason for the focus and vision he has given me and I must stay on task.  That’s what he has told me to do and I’m going to obey.  It just took some pruning to get me back on track.

Photo credit: Crystl

As of this week, I am officially the Editor of the Inspired Bliss Channel over at Blissfully Domestic, an online magazine for women.  Check out my first post.

What Inspires You?

Inspiration. It can come from many places, it is what gets us going, keeps us going and makes us want to “keep going.” Without it we likely won’t get much done, or have a reason to even try. If you are “inspired,” then you know what it is like to have the ability to get things done, because after all that’s what inspiration does for you.

There must be something present in one’s life to inspire them.  It is likely different things for different people.  We all don’t thrive on the same type things.

Continue reading at Inspired Bliss.

This blog post idea was sparked just moments ago.  After a super fast chat session with a mom, The Queen Mommy, Debbie, whom I’ve never met face to face, but I truly feel a “heart connection” with I began planning for a “prayer session”.  I plan to pray about a possible partnership / business / ministry venture over the next 2 weeks before she and I meet again to discuss it and to share with each other what God’s answer for the idea is, and to decide the direction in which we will then proceed. 

After chatting with her, feeling that incredible “God -connection” and being excited about the possibility of a new ministry stream I excitedly tweeted about it, specifically about our plans to “pray” about it.  I tweeted prayer and business they go “hand in hand”.  I truly believe it.  As the Bible says,

“A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”

Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV)

The only way that I can know what step He wants me to take next is to pray.  Get that connection with God that will lead me to the next step.  I love how that works.  I’ll keep you posted.  I’m heading into my prayer closet and a 2 week prayer meeting with God over the possibilities.

I am convinced that sometimes you can have so many ideas, so many projects and so much going on that you can get bogged down in it.  That’s how I am feeling right now.  Things are going along quite nicely for me.  I am loving my life, what I do for a living, and generally feeling productive, but I am wanting to work smarter, not harder so I am attempting to truly leverage those things I do have going for me.

Take for instance my new training membership program, Faith Leaps,  it is so much fun! I have had a blast creating it. It is truly right up my alley and I love seeing people succeed with it.  The thing is, though I know HOW to create it and the ideas just flowed, on the other hand I am not so good at marketing it.  There is just something in me that is a little shy when it comes to promotion.  I am not good at promoting myself.

That’s where I need a breakthrough, I need help, an action plan.  And I am going to get it.  I am getting Kelly’s Breakthrough Brainstorming package and I am so excited about it.  I have worked with Kelly many times before each time was successful as I know this time will be.

I’m excited about all that I’m getting with this pack including: 

• A brainstorming beach ball and a sharpie! Oh and I told Kelly my kids might steal it and she said “Oh I usually include one for the kids too!” Now that’s a woman who understands Work at home moms.
• A Brainstorming Workbook (I love this it is a real workbook mailed to me! )
• 2 – 45 min coaching sessions with Kelly
  

Honestly, this is worth the price of the whole kit.

As I said before, I have had coaching with Kelly and I have enjoyed my membership at Mom Masterminds for two years now.  Every penny I have spent with Kelly has been worth it.  If you’re feeling stuck, need some help or just want to do more in your Work at home business I recommend checking all of these resources out.

P.S.  The Brainstorming Kit is under $100 until April 1st when the price goes up!

As I have said many times, I like new years because  I like a fresh start, a new beginning, even  though, not much in all honesty really changed at the strike of 12 last night at least not in circumstances, it did in my mind. You see, it gave me hope and a fresh perspective through which to view my life.

So, to review my  slogan for 2009 is “By faith, I claim God’s  Promises as mine in 2009.” And my Scripture is “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23

Hope to me is what 2009 is going to be about. So, without further ado here are my goals in each area of life for me:

Personal

• Think more positively.- all year
• Stick to a monthly budget.- monthly
• Save more money.- monthly
• Always have a Bible study to do.- every 4-6 weeks

Ministry

• 12 Speaking Engagements- by year’s end
• 4 new ebooks -1 per quarter
• Launch training program- by June
• Double list subscribers- by year’s end

Writing Business

• Steady, consistent income stream.- in 3 months (by March)
• 5 Blog Management Clients- (by March)
• To be able to outsource some of the writing to a co-writer. (by June)
• Referral / Affiliate program (by June)

New Biz

• Setup- (by February 1)
• Writing initial articles (by February 14)
• Making a residual income from the biz monthly. (by August)
• Growing and expanding to take on writers. (by next year)

Bartering rocks people.  I am totally crazy about it, have done it many times in the past and over the past several weeks have accomplished quite a few of my goals for my businesses as a result of a good barter with some other very capable, awesome WAHMs.  Thank the Lord for them!

So far, I have gotten my header redone over at Beauty by Design Ministries, as well as gotten my podcast site and my ministry site converted into one Wordpress site, then I got some awesome new graphics for my ebooks there as well.

Finally, this week I have gotten a whole new look for A Writer for Hire. It is looking fresh and unique which I am pumped about, as I have a new slogan, “Delivering Fresh Content to You”, and a new approach for that business to totally get me going in 2009.  So, if you need help with your blog or website content or articles written to help market your business or to put in your newsletter, I”m your gal. But, mostly my specialty for 09′ is going to be blog content management.  My goal is to have 5 blog content managements.  So, if you want in on that you should go here, read up on what I can do for you and then contact me before I fill those 5 spots.

So, what have you bartered for lately? Was it worth it?  Would you do it again? Do tell!

This was created last week but I just haven’t had a chance to blog about it.  Last week I recieved coaching from Cara Mirabella, The Household Helper. She was awesome my friends.  She is just a big cheerleader and that was just what I needed.  As she stated I knew what I needed and wanted to do regarding my routines and schedule, but I just needed a pep talk.  She also reminded me I had just had a baby and not to be so hard on myself, but as most people who know me personally know, I tend to PUSH myself.  I’m a perfectionist and a planner and just crave my routines and discipline. To visit Cara’s website and learn more Click here for help managing your home!

So, she helped me come up with a new schedule that I have been working this week and so far even though my son isn’t in school yet and I”ve had to be flexible it’s workign pretty well. I am not getting as much accomplished daily as I have in the past but I keep telling myself “You have 3 kids now” and “You just had a baby.” and I that brings me back down pretty fast from freak out mode.

So here’s the new schedule which I’m anxious to work through next week with my son gone in the am where I can focus better.  The other two are a breeze compared to him.

Mondays - I will work on my affiliate program, Beauty by Design Ministries’ Affiliates

Tuesdays - I will write for the various blogs I write for as well as clients that I manage their blogs.

Wednesdays - I will write articles for my ministry and for clients.

Thursdays - Hopefully this can be my “off day / errand and grocery day”.

Fridays - I will focus on my ministry, newsletter, ezine and any work to be done on the website.

Of course the weekend is family time.

Wish me luck! How about you do you have a “schedule” that works well for you?

It’s not just about time management, it’s also about discipline. Discipline is something I’m going to need a great deal of over the next few months in order to make my working from home plan continue to work. I have been doing very well working from home since about October of 2007. All this time, my son has had 1/2 days of preschool. Now, he’s out for summer, and there are going to be 100s of distractions for me, not just him, but his activities such as VBS at church, my mom is off (she’s a school teacher) and there will just be more temptations to do something OTHER than work.

A fellow WAHM wrote on this topic on here blog, and I loved a few of her suggestions. In fact, today I’m going to try them. They include not turning on the computer before I eat my breakfast, get dressed, and do some housework.

Another is that I spend a specific amount of time on certain tasks and then stop. I am bad about just messing around online for endless amounts of timing hopping from one task to another. Though I am organized and do have a plan, I need more discipline to actually STICK to it. So it’s not JUST about Time management for me it is also about discipline.

Finally, I agree that I should have a quitting time each day and for the summer especially since my children will be home all day with me I think this is going to be important. Especially with the new baby coming I need to be disciplined with my work so that I have time to enjoy my family too.

I just Twittered this question, “Why is it that some weeks are so productive and others you step back and say, “Where did this week go?” That is the question I am sitting here asking myself. “Where did this week go?” I just don’t feel I was as productive this week as the last couple of weeks. At the beginning of April I got extremely motivated to clean and organize. Not sure if it was because of my pregnancy and a form of nesting or if it was the nice Spring weather we were having, but I sure got on the ball. I made a list of Spring Cleaning Projects and began tackling them. Before this week began I had tackled all but 3 of 11 projects. I also hired an organizing coach and became so motivated i have a new project that involves organizing.

Now, this week has been an exception. It flew by, I had some appointments outside the home and my son started playing actual tee ball games so we have been out more than I have been in week’s past. I have learned one thing it’s much harder to get things done when you don’t stay home. I am going to chock this week’s lack of productivity up to doing too much running and hope for a better week this week, however I am not too optimistic because my son has 4 tee ball games this week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and we always attend church on Wednesday’s therefore it appears that we will be gone EVERY night this week to something. OY!!! Wish me luck!