Our last Avon representative interview in our Avon home business series was held earlier this month. I spoke with Maria Sutej, a Regional Vice President in Sales at Avon Products, Inc. Maria has been with Avon since 1983, when she began as a District Sales Manager. Twenty-nine years is a long time, but Maria said she “…started this for fun, but had no idea it could be SO much fun!”

Maria shared that there are two ways Avon representatives can make money: 1) by building a home business based only on Avon sales and 2) by taking advantage of the leadership opportunity. She says the latter is where the true business opportunity lies, in not only selling to customers, but also recruiting new representatives. For maximum earning potential, Maria suggests representatives do both.

Maria also shared a couple of stories of Avon representatives she’s come in contact with over the years. She told us about Linda Jones, who was laid off from a corporate job about six years ago and started selling Avon due to the loss of income. Linda now sells $78,000 of product per year and earns about half of that. Another story Maria shared was that of  Donna Reed Mitchell, who is originally from Jamaica and started her Avon career in New York. Donna’s daughter was diagnosed with an illness requiring her to home-school. Donna is a Sr. Executive Unit Leader earning a six-figure income and says she wouldn’t be able to home-school if it weren’t for her Avon business.

Maria’s advice for new representatives is to start approaching not only people you know, but also people you don’t know at various places you go. She said if you want to build a big business, you need to establish yourself. Her suggestion is that representatives list places they frequent and think of who they can approach. A key reminder is to not be afraid of approaching strangers; as Maria said, most people’s response is “I haven’t seen an Avon brochure in years!”

I asked Maria how Avon representatives can take advantage of social media to market their Avon businesses. She responded that Facebook is a great way to spread word and that she sees a lot of representatives using it to launch their business. Maria also mentioned that the internal Avon site has Internet marketing tools to help representatives, including videos, e-cards, and other content.

It’s clear that success through an Avon home business can be different for everyone. In interviewing the various Avon representatives over the past few months, we’ve seen a variety of levels of earning potential and business models. I think the great thing in all that is that Avon provides flexibility and allows each representative to create the home business that’s right for them.

Have you ever explored Avon as a home business opportunity?

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work with Avon.

Guest Post by Lisa Kanarek

Running a household can be more demanding than running a business. When your personal life and your business life are in the same place, technology is one of the best ways to manage all aspects of your life. Faster, better and easier-to-use technology is available and more affordable than before. The dilemma isn’t whether there’s technology available to help you be more productive, it’s knowing which technology to use.

Finding the right computer

Technology changes often and trying to keep up with the latest computer is challenging, but not impossible.  When you’re shopping for a desktop computer or a laptop, decide what you want it to do. Will you use it mostly for sending and answering emails, for handling word processing, or for doing design and layout projects? When you know your business needs, find the right computer to handle each task. No matter what tasks you’ll be handling, buy more memory than you think you’ll need. Eventually you’ll use it. Also, whether you buy a computer online or through a retailer, make sure technical support is only a phone call or an immediate appointment away.

Picking a Printer

A good printer can make you look good to your clients and prospects, while an unreliable machine can affect your business image. When you’re looking for a printer, find out the paper capacity. The more paper a printer holds, the less time you’ll spend having to add more.  Also, look at the “footprint,” or the amount of desktop space it needs, including the paper tray and make sure you have enough room for it. I really like the Brother MFC-J615W because it has a compact, modern design that doesn’t take up a lot of space, and it looks great in any home office.

A Reliable Backup System

If you damage your computer — I slipped and fell while holding my laptop — you can replace the hardware fairly easily. The data however, may not be as easy to replace. A good investment you can make is in a reliable backup system.  You can choose between removable media drives (thumb drives) or external hard drives.  Remember to test your backup system often to make sure you’ve actually saved your information.  Also, keep two copies of your backed up data in different places, away from your home office.

Protecting Your Investment

You never know when your power may go out or when you may experience a power surge. Protect your equipment by using a surge protector. Go one step further by investing in an Uninterrupted Power Source (UPS).  A UPS gives you at least five minutes to backup what you’re doing before the power goes out.

Voice Mail

Whether you use your cell phone for business or install a separate business line, make sure you’re the only person who answers your phone (unless you have an assistant). Family members, especially teenagers, aren’t always the best at taking messages. Test your outgoing message to make sure there aren’t any noises in the background that you didn’t notice while you were recording your message.

Keeping up with the latest technology is challenging and at times, frustrating.  By finding the right equipment to meet your needs, you’ll be able to keep up with technology and furnish your home office with equipment that will help you stay productive.

Lisa Kanarek is one of the nation’s leading home office experts and the author of five books including, Working Naked: A guide to the bare essentials of home office life and Home Office Solutions. She is the founder of HomeOfficeLife, a firm that advises corporations and individuals on all aspects of working from home and is founder of the blog WorkingNaked.com.

Have you designated a formal space in your home as a home office? Do you have the necessary technology for doing your work?

Disclosure: Affiliate links were used throughout this post.

After returning to work full-time only 3 months after my baby girl was born, I decided that I wanted to find a way to work from home so that I could be with her more often. That’s actually how I came across blogging and the reason why I started to blog. But, since it quickly became clear that blogging wasn’t a quick method for making cash from home, I continued my search for work at home opportunities. In the process, I found many resources for work at home moms (or dads, or really anyone who works from home). There are many different communities, forums, blogs, and sites where work at home professionals can find information, tips, and job opportunities. There are also places where you can just network and communicate with others who have a home-based business.

I know that many of you can benefit from such communities, so I’ve compiled a list of 10 Work at Home Online Communities that I think you will find useful in one way or another.

10 Work at Home Online Communities

The Work at Home Woman

The site describes itself as a “website dedicated to helping women and moms fulfill their dreams of working at home and/or becoming self employed, while providing inspiration, motivation and support.”

WAHM.com

Describing itself as an online magazine for work-at-home moms, this site is a “source for work at home jobs, plus support and advice for work at home moms (dads, anyone).” They not only offer home business information, but also provide articles on childcare and parenting.

WAHM 2.0

As part of the Sparkplugging network, this is just one of their many home business sites. While this section concentrates on the work at home mom, it actually offers information relevant to any work at home professional. Through the rest of the network, you can find information for home business experts, starting a home business, and home office productivity.

Working Naked

I’m sure the title is something that catches the attention of many, but this blog says it is “dedicated to helping anyone working from home either part time, full time, or even to occupy time.” They provide productivity tips, reviews of useful products, marketing/PR advice, and how-to videos.

Undress for Success

This site has a lot of information – whether you’re an individual who works from home, a company, or someone doing research on telecommuting. It provides statistics and other data for researchers and companies to see the benefits of telecommuting, as well as information for individuals who wish to find a work from home job.

Work at Home Forum

This forum provides a community for those who work from home to share, learn from each other, and network.

Work-At-Home Success

Leslie Truex aka The Pajama Mama, author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible, designed her site to “provide free information on all aspects of working at home including starting a home business, telecommuting, and avoiding scams.”

Home-based Working Moms

From the site: “HBWM is an advocate for home employment & home business to allow parents to spend more time with their family…provides a variety of opportunities and resources to help moms network, learn and grow in their role as a home-based working mom. The goal…is to help moms create lifestyles that enable them more freedom and flexibility to truly enjoy their family and their life.”

Mom Entrepreneur Support Group

This is an online support group that offers tips, advice and resources for balancing motherhood and running a company.

HireMyMom.com

Their goal is to provide businesses with top talent for temporary and permanent projects while enabling mom professionals to capitalize on the freedom and flexibility to do top-rated work from home.

Like I said, there are many sites out there geared towards those working from home – this is a small list to get you started.

Are there any work at home communities you have found useful? Let’s add them in the comments below to grow this list.

You might also find these lists useful:

• Resources for the Working Mom
• 5 Resources with Tips for Finding or Improving your Work-Life Balance

Photo by ugly banana from Flickr

What do you do on days when you’re not feeling great? If you’re a blogger, do you force yourself to post something that day even if you know it won’t be a great post? If you run a home business, do you put business on hold until you feel better? Or do you push through and work regardless of how you feel?

When I was working outside the home, I knew just what to do. It was easy. I’d just take a sick day and spend some quality time with my TV catching up on shows I’d been missing all week. Now that I work at home, I feel guilty if I take a “sick day.” If I don’t do something – write a post, check email, whatever it may be – I feel like I just wasted the day. I think the main reason is that I’m not getting paid for my “sick day” like I used to when I worked full-time. I know that if I’m not working, I’m not earning anything either.

So, how do you handle it? What do those of you that work from home do to ensure you don’t fall behind? Do you seek help? Do you just take a day or two off and deal with it when feeling better?

I did a quick search online to see what others have to say about this. However, most of the articles I came across were about how to get work done when your kid is sick. The suggestion for that? Reschedule, use a laptop to be more mobile, and work after the kids have gone to bed. And that makes sense, of course.

But, what about when you are too sick to think straight? There’s no rescheduling or shifting around that’s going to fix that problem. This article, There Are No Family Sick Days for Freelancing Moms, touches on free time for those that work from home as freelancers, but doesn’t offer any solutions either.

I’m looking to you now. I know that many of you have a home-based business, freelance, and work at home as bloggers. And, you’ve been doing it far longer than I have. Tell me, how do you keep business going when you’re sick?

I’ll apologize upfront for the mock-post today. I have plenty of reasons. Like my Internet was acting up last night and it barely made it through me posting over at the Family Eden blog.

Also? I was kind of tired.

So, go check out my latest Family Eden post – Working on Building a Home Business

An excerpt:

But, see, for me it’s much more than just being able to afford it. It’s more along the lines of “how can I make a living working from home?” I don’t honestly see that we can live on one income, even if we follow Amy’s tips. I do believe I would have to start a home business. I would have to bring in some income. Actually, more than just some.

Be sure to leave some comments over there as well.

I am the mother of two. They live in the same house but aren’t very close. They’re jealous of one another though. They vie for my attention. I only feed and bathe one of them.

Let me explain.

I have one son, Max, who’s 4. I also have my company, Egg Marketing & Public Relations, who is almost 3. You’ve heard people compare starting a business to having a baby. It’s completely true. What I never accounted for was that my business became my son’s sibling in a sense.

Max is always trying to divert me from my work. Just like kids do when you’re giving your attention to their sibling. If I’m in front of the computer, he knows I’m working (well, sometimes I’m not but I let him believe it so I don’t have to get off so he can play Arthur). Thank goodness he doesn’t stay home with me or I’d never get anything done.

He wants to help. (Envision the big brother wanting to change the baby’s diaper.) He sits on my lap while I’m working and asks if he can type. Uh, sure, honey, you can type this proposal. Ask if you need help spelling something.

Max assumes he’s always #1. It’s hard to say, but sometimes Egg comes first. I mean, making a little money vs. playing Hungry Hippo for the 40^th time…sometimes you have to choose. And sometimes I’d rather be working. Sucks to admit, but when your business is like a child, you love it and nurture it like one.

Being an entrepreneur is hard to explain to a kid. He knows Egg from the little egg logo on my notepads. He knows it’s my work. But he doesn’t really understand the sacrifice, dedication and hardship it has required (not that I’d trade it for the world). I hope that one day when he’s older he can understand the joy of running his own business. Maybe when he becomes a parent.

Susan Payton blogs as a mommyblogger at Sometimes Parenting Sucks and as an entrepreneur who loves marketing at The Marketing Eggspert Blog. She raises an internet marketing firm in Orlando called Egg Marketing & Public Relations as well as a boy named Max who is 4.

I posted the following question on twitter, plurk, and a few other social networks today.

Here are the responses I received.

Twitter

Plurk

And a good friend of mine responded via Facebook.

1. Study the trade
2. Research the market
3. Find out all the legal stuff
4. Building a website
5. Write a business plan
6. Get investors
7. Get to work

These are all great responses and ideas. But, I’m still looking for more.

I think I also need to clarify my question a little bit.

I already have my own domain and I plan to revamp the look of this blog very soon. I’m already working on the design and my husband is working on my logo, business cards, and overall corporate identity.

What I need is the next step.

What should I focus on first?

In other words, if I were to have a full month to dedicate to this blog/business, what is the best use of my time?

Writing content? Marketing/networking? Something else I’m completely not thinking of?

So again, here’s my question:

I look forward to reading your answer in the comments.

Guest post by Philippa Channer, who lives in Maryland and together with her husband operates Forever Always Weddings, a wedding planning business. She is a member and certified consultant with the American Academy of Wedding Professionals. Forever Always Weddings, LLC, is a proud member of the Event Network and Maryland Wedding Professionals Association. Contact Philippa via her contact form or find her at the Forever Always Weddings blog.

Once I decided to start my own business and become a wedding planner, I quickly discovered that the phrase ‘part-time’ was no longer in my vocabulary. I had to learn swiftly how to become a full-time wife, full-time executive director’s assistant, and full-time business owner.

I knew starting a business wouldn’t be easy, but nothing could prepare me for the extreme loss of time I had to learn to adjust to. It took numerous heart-filled, prayerful and tear jerking conversations with my husband, but we both knew in the end that starting our own wedding consultant business from home would be one of the best decisions we could make at that time and we haven’t looked back since.

The hours spent researching how to start a small business from home – gathering information on the proper documents, permits and licenses – was actually enjoyable because we were able to spend that time together. After leaving our normal 9-5 jobs, we came home to our new 5-9 jobs of researching, marketing and studying weddings. Although it did initially take away from the personal one-on-one time we had, that is something we both prepared for and understood, and we were able to come up with new creative ways of getting that time back.

Once we had all the preliminary business items out of the way and could start getting clients, we were able to adjust the hours and the majority of the time spent on the business was spent on the weekends. We were still able to do 90% of the work from home and together. The other 10% was spent on the road meeting and greeting the local wedding vendors, handing out business cards, and attending local bridal shows. Again, time we spent together.

All-in-all, staring the small business from our home was a wonderful decision that allowed for me to continue working for a terrific boss during the week, continue to love, respect, and honor my adoring husband and to live out a dream I have always had to help brides make their wedding day beautiful. I am so glad I made the decision and had the support, resources, and ability to follow through with it.