Are you a Work-at-Home Mom or an Indie Designer of children’s clothing or toys? If you are, then listen up as big changes are in store that could affect your business and will be taking place on
February 10, 2009.

I was on Twitter last nite and came across a hashtag, #CPSIA and checked it out.  As of February 10th, a pending legislative mandate will no longer allow the sale of used kids clothing or toys unless they’ve been tested for lead and a host of other potentially hazardous materials.  You can follow the conversation on Twitter by following the hashtag #CPSIA.

This is a huge deal for WAHMs with their own websites, and will also affect eBay and Etsy sellers of childrens clothing. I have many indie designers of children’s clothing in my Moomette’s Magnificents Olde Towne Shoppes, and sell boutique clothing in my eBay store.

Not to mention the fact that businesses such as Goodwill and other thrift stores will be affected.

‘Lil Moomette’s mom, my DD26, is a huge fan of Once Upon a Child, a children’s clothing consignment store that sells upscale clothing and toys. OUAC is terrific source for finding gently used clothing for a fraction of the price, enabling families (and grandmoms) to save a few
dollars in today’s economically-challenged times.

You can find out more about what’s happening and try to help by visiting Cool Mom Picks.

For further reading, the LA Times has posted an informative article HERE.

Welcome Readers to 2009!

I’m so excited about the prospects for this year! In my last post of the year for 2008, I mentioned that I have some really great things planned, and will be taking my blogs in a new direction. I’ll be filling you in as I go along.

Here’s what’s worked and what didn’t work for me in the one year that I’ve been online, blogging and trying to establish my goal to work from home and retire from may day job.

eBay

If you’ve been following along, I started my online presence by selling on eBay, opening an eBay Store where I quickly became a Power Seller. The economy and eBay have changed since 2007, along with the rules of the game for eBay sellers.

Selling on eBay is a LOT of work, and not as easy as it sounds. I spent a whole year devoting quite a bit of time (for free) as a Moderator on an eBay forum that is now defunct. I made many friends, and learned the ins, outs and politics of eBay.

I also had joined many WAHM eBay groups, some of which were free, while the majority required a membership fee. I picked up a few tips and volunteered quite a bit of information. However, selling on eBay is very cut-throat, and the groups were a tough nut to crack if you weren’t in with the “in crowd.” I dropped out of all of them.

The year 2007 was very profitable, while 2008 was a bust. Buyers on eBay are looking for the cheapest deals.  When I sold New, With Tag boutique childrens clothing, the Best Offers I were receiving were at thrift store prices.   I can’t purchase inventory; maintain a store; pay eBay store fees; selling fees; Paypal fees; template membership fees on Sellers Sourcebook and then turn around and sell the item at a loss.

I tried reading all the eBay blogs I could ~ switched inventory around ~ tried selling gently used kids and women’s boutique clothing; new boutique clothing; my favorite category (vintage collectibles); household items and books. It became a constant, daily grind to promote what I had for sale, either through listing fees, auction bump sites or Twitter.

Recently I have made some very good friends through Twitter who do quite well on eBay, are in it for the long haul, and recommend that you visit their auction bump sites.

The one thing I don‘t want to do is hound my Twitter followers by always trying to hawk my wares.  You may or may have heard about Tweebay ~ I haven’t read up on it at all, and due to my final decision, don’t think it would be for me.

In my mind, I gave Ebay my best shot.  It was my baby.  While there is money to be made on eBay, I think I’ll be a much happier person with the new blogging, administrative and social networking roles I’m going to be undertaking this coming year.

Presently I’m in the process of liquidating all of my inventory and hoping to sell off everything through the Best Offer feature. I’ve read in many newsletters that eBay is trying to eliminate sellers of Vintage Collectible items.  That means me.

Slowly I’m moving all of my vintage collectibles over to my own site ~ Moomette’s Magnificents Olde Town Shoppes.

If you sell on eBay, let me know ~ are you going to stick it out this year, or move on to a different platform for selling?  What kind of year was 2008 for you?

Thus ends the first chapter of my online beginnings.  Happy Trails to you, eBay.

Recommended Reading:

Tweaking my eBay Store - How a WAHM Needs to Re-Assess an eBiz

Winter Solstice

#####

What you don’t have you don’t need it now
What you don’t know you can feel it somehow
What you don’t have you don’t need it now
Don’t need it now
Was a beautiful day

U2

The end of a year is always bittersweet.  It makes me give pause to think of all the wonderful things that I have accomplished and that have happened during the year.

At the same time, it is always a time for reflection to see which goals I succeed in attaining and which ones I didn’t.

I’ve decided to set some pretty lofty goals for myself in the New Year 2009.

Although 2008 was pretty successful.  I did manage to generate some income from my blogs through affiliate marketing and advertising revenue, although not enough to retire on (which many of you know is my goal.)  I’ll be covering more on this topic in the New Year.

Connecticut has been affected by the economy, and it’s not that far a fetch to say I might be among those laid off in the new year.  Hopefully I’ll be offered an early retirement.  I would seriously enjoy babysitting for my grandchildren, but wouldn’t be able to do it full-time.  I established my Virtual Assistant website, CAM Virtual Assistant Services; created a professional Twitter ID and joined many forums and professional organizations  in order to have it up and running when the wind changes direction.

I’m winding down my eBay store as I believe that eBay has tanked this year.  Several changes have been implemented this past year that negatively affected the small seller as well as turned off buyers.   Seeing the writing on the wall, I began liquidating my inventory early this past summer.  I’ll be discussing my thoughts in greater detail in January.

Although my eBay Store where I maintained Power Seller status will be winding down, my interest still remains in Vintage Collectibles, which I offer along with hand-crafted artisan baby clothing, home decor and jewelry items directly at my boutique store, Moomette’s Magnificents Olde Towne Shoppes.  I still stay pretty busy!

Due to the success of the Product Reviews that I’ve been asked to do, I branched out and recently launched a separate  product review blog, Moomette’s Magnificents Reviews.  I’m really pleased with the direction that portion of my blogging career has taken, and will be working on tweaking the design of my new blog.

Additionally,  I’d been invited to become a Contributing Editor at Frugal WAHMs Product Reviews and Roxy’s Best of…Hartford.

My Moomette’s Mama Mentor blog continues to give me an outlet to express my lighter side.  I enjoy discussing the ups and downs of family life, cooking, women’s health issues and general topics.  Although not political by nature, I actively took part in this year’s election process, reaching back to my college protest days and found my Feminist voice again.

Many new, interesting  Web 2.0 networking sites were created this year, and I have quickly joined several.  Through these sites and Twitter,  I’ve made some new valuable contacts, became fast friends with many like-minded people and exchanged some wonderful ideas that I hope to implement in 2009.

Lastly, with those changes now in place and my ducks all in a row, I can now concentrate on providing the work at home tips and commentary that I set out to achieve on this blog.

This gram doesn’t sit back in her rocking chair….yet!

I look forward to a very productive 2009!

Happy New Year everyone!

My faithful readers know I keep singing the praises of Twitter and all the wonderful, resourceful Mompreneurs and Mommy Bloggers that I’ve met through that new Social Media phenomena. I’ve also made some terrific contacts through the other social networking sites I belong to.

Dara Blaker, President of Helpful Hallie’s has contacted me to review a new product called Mighty Miracle Mist.

When my youngest daughter was a toddler, her bedroom was over the garage. We live in an old New England town, and our house has quite a bit of … character. Each night in order to get Pumpkin to get to sleep, we had to spray the half closets with “closet monster spray.” I guess we were ahead of the curve ~ even then!

Mighty Miracle Mist takes that thought one step further, and improves on it by offering a product that:

…[P]uts the principal of redirection into action. Redirection means, “to send in a new direction or course.” When working with children, instead of always saying “No” or “Don’t Do That or offering a threat of punishment, children are given an instruction in order to change their behavior pattern.

Children can be positively redirected to behave appropriately using Mighty Miracle Mist.

I received four 2-oz. Spray bottles entitled “Good Thinking & Pay Attention; Good Night; Cooperation & Sharing and; Kind Voice & Good Manners.”

Each bottle has a different color identifier, adorned with a cute Teddy Bear.

Ingredients are identified as: Purified Water, Safe and Non-Toxic Plastic Confetti. One can see the plastic confetti in the bottle which makes it look attractive.  Instructions caution to “spray the air, not the child” to reinforce the expected behavior.  However, once sprayed in the air, we weren’t able to see the confetti, but mentioned it was like “fairy dust, and magical.”

The product is recommended for children ages 3-6.

Made in the U.S.A.

The product is useful for for parents, teachers, homeschooling and caregivers ~ as a Grandmom, that means me too!

Visit http://www.mightymiraclemist.com for more information.

Moomettesgram’s Musings is hosting a Giveaway Contest!  For a chance to win Mighty Miracle Mist:

Leave a Comment on this post after visiting http://www.mightymiraclemist.com and let me know why you’d like to win Mighty Miracle Mist.

Now for extra entries (each task will get you 1 extra entry):
~Subscribe to my blog through my feedburner link (on the top of my left column)
~Add my button to your sidebar or add me to your blog roll.
~Blog about the contest on your blog, linking back to my blog and the post.
~Go favorite or fan me on Technorati, Digg, or Stumble  (the link is on my left column if you scroll down) or both.

~Tweet about this contest.

Make sure you comment separately for each task after the required entry task so you will get credit for each one ~ and leave your e-mail where you can be contacted.

This contest will run until November 26 at approximately 11:00 pm.  Winners to be chosen at random. US & Canada Residents only.

For the last two Tuesday nights at 9:00 pm. Eastern Time, I’ve been participating in Girl’s Night Out on Twitter over at Mommy Gossip.  You can do a Twitter Search using #GNO to see all the posts.

It’s so much fun and I’ve met some terrific new Twitter friends and connected with current friends.

The topic this past Tuesday night was Holiday Dishes and Drinks.  There’s some wonderful new recipes posted that I’m going to be trying.  I had several requests for my Bacon Cheese Roll Up Appetizer and Chocolate Mini Marshmallow Velvet Fudge recipe (my Mom’s, and my favorite when I was a kid) that Mommy Gossip was kind enough to feature this week after the event.

GNO is also sponsoring a Virtual Food Drive ~ GNO Gives Back.

Please join me in supporting this worthwhile cause so all American families in need can indeed, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Visit Mommy Gossip~Cares at http://mommygossip-cares.blogspot.com/ for more information.

Follow me on Twitter on Tuesday November 18 for discussions on Charities we love and how we We Can give back.

Need To Create A Fulltime Income From Your Online Business But Can’t Seem To Figure It Out?
Work At Home Mom Blueprint Has The Answers You’re Looking For.

Awhile back when I first started I opened a Facebook account for public relation purposes to promote my eBay store, blogs, virtual assistant business as well as Shoppes.  I’d heard that it was advantageous to use for PR and social networking purposes.

It took me quite some time to put together a page, understand the mechanics of how it worked; join groups and make friends.  However, I didn’t visit it very often.  When I did log on one day I found my account was disabled.  At that point I was so exasperated, I decided not to bother with it any longer.  Apparently what happens is if one doesn’t log into their Facebook account often enough, it will become disabled.

However, the more I networked online, dropped Entrecards and saw that many of my Twitter friends were on Facbook, I decided to create another account.

Commentary now shows that President-Elect Obama ran a successful campaign by using Facbook.

We hear about people creating Facebook pages and that someone found someone else on Facebook. But what exactly is Facebook all about and does it have any benefits for us?

Read on to find out about Facebook and if it indeed does something more than enhance your social life.

Facebook is one of the top ten Web 2.0 applications and social networking sites in the world. Started as a social experiment, Facebook was originally designed as a way for friends to keep in touch and create interesting profiles and pages for others to look at.

Many kids and college students latched on to Facebook. My two daughters are constantly on FB, keeping up with their friends from high school and college.  Members can upload pictures, leave messages on the profiles of others, and search for friends who have profiles. The problem with Facebook was the type of information people were uploading. College students uploading inappropriate videos at wild parties and such have caught on virally. This spoke to the poor judgment of the students as those videos would still be around when they grew out of the drinking phase and realized that it was no longer the “cool” thing to do.

Facebook is not just for the young teenagers and college students however. It is also a networking tool for business owners. It’s a great way to connect with other business owners and targeted potential customers. A plus for new businesses is that becoming a Facebook member is free. Every registered member gets a home page where they can then create a profile and add applications to their page for friends and other trusted users they designate to use.

If you work at home or are a WAHM or entrepreneur, you can use your Facebook profile to tell others all about yourself. Many times, businesses never really have a chance for potential clients to learn more about the person or people who run the business. More focus is put on advertising, growing the business and promoting its products or services. With a social networking page on social sites like Facebook, customers and other business associates get a chance to find out about the person behind the business.

Anyone can join or create a group on Facebook. These groups bring together like minded people according to business, personal, or other social factors. Groups talk to one another; share business tips and create a useful connection in many different ways.

Businesses use Facebook pages to showcase products or give customers a place to ask questions and record comments about the products they have used. They can talk to each other and compare notes. Big businesses with famous brand names use Facebook to gain insights into consumer trends.  As an example, the RSS feed from my blogs postings, Twitter account and eBay store is uploaded right to my Facebook page.

Facebook can be useful for communities trying to create a closer knit group of families. Homeschooling parents can create a network of support for each other and their kids. Facebook has a variety of uses both for business and personal reasons. So, now that you know more concerning Facebook, what will your page be about?

If you have an existing page, or will be creating a new page, don’t forget to friend request me here!

I actively participate in Twitter & Facebook and met Barbara Schantz who sent me a delightful new product to review!

Barbara is a mom of not one, but two sets of twins.  As if she’s not busy enough, Barbara is also  mompreneur owner of Baby Dipper, LLC, and the designer of The Baby Dipper Bowl.

This bowl allows parents to feed a baby using only one hand and helps toddlers learn to feed themselves.

My daughter, mom to ‘Lil Moomette who just turned two, also has her hands full as she has a new son, Slugger, who was born in August, 2008. When they’re over, it takes both of us to try to feed the kiddos, so I can’t even imagine having two sets of twins!

My Charming Son-In-Law is a twin and has a sister who’s 14 months younger than him, so his mom and I always have conversations about what it was like when he and his siblings were younger!

Sales of The Baby Dipper Bowl launched in July 2008. What makes this versitile bowl so unique is that it’s triangular shaped, measures 4 inches long, 3 inches wide; 1 3/4 inches deep (10 cm x 7.5 cm x 4.5 cm) and holds 4 fluid ounces.

The Baby Dipper Bowl has a non-slip base gripper bottom, so it stays in place on a smooth surface, and won’t slide around. It has contoured interior guides enabling easy transfer of food to spoon. Additionally, it’s transparent, and allows easy viewing of how much food is left in the bowl.  The Baby Dipper Bowl comes with it’s own spoon featuring a nicely curved handle, for ease of use.

Microwave safe ~ exercise caution with hot foods
Hand Washing Recommended

Grandmoms ~ Aunts~Sisters & Friends! This nifty bowl will make an excellent Baby Shower, Newborn or Holiday gift this season!

Barbara would like to offer my readers a coupon code to use for purchasing The Baby Dipper Bowl.  Use CODE MOOM1108 to receive 10% off between now through November 30, 2008.

Visit http://www.babydipper.com for more information.

Twitter is not for the faint of heart. That being said, can Twitter be useful for business? It depends.

One of the newest social networking sites is Twitter. It sounds like a movement birds make. In fact it is a quick way to send messages to your favorite people via the Internet. Due to its popularity with people all over the world, many entrepreneurs wonder if Twitter can actually help them grow their business.

In order to answer that question we first need to find out what exactly Twitter is? It is a social networking site which allows people to keep in touch with friends, family, and others. Through a series of short posts, important information is sent to a person’s followers. Those short posts are called “tweets.”

Twitter has been used by people to send messages to their friends. The posts can be 140 characters long at most, which allows for quick, precise exchanges of information. If you wanted to let your family know that the reunion this year is in New England, and they needed to volunteer to do something, it would be easy to send them all a tweet at one time. When someone logs into their Twitter account or views your Twitter profile page, they would then see the message. They can then respond to you by posting a tweet of their own.

Twitter is real time communication for people who need to contact others right away. Some wondered if Twitter was just a fancy way of texting someone on the computer. Send a tweet to your husband to say dinner is moved to 7:30. Tell a friend you’ve just bought that blouse you saw last week. If you only want to allow certain people to see the messages you are sending, you can easily mark your profile and updates as private.

Although many use Twitter as a more personal way to communicate, even more treat it as a virtual water cooler to connect with all types of people the world over. It seems as if tweeting would get boring after a while. Not so. With talkative friends you could be tweeted to death in a matter of days. Many actually find themselves losing precious time in their day chit-chatting with those with similar interests.

For the skeptical folks who want to know if tweeting will eventually tank, businesses have found a use for the social network that can increase their utilization and visibility on the Internet. First, let’s say that you have an office of fifty employees. Sending a memo every time there is a big announcement creates a lot of paper to file or leave for the trash man.

Businesses can now use protected Twitter messages to keep employees updated on departmental changes as well as company wide agendas. Employees can subscribe to the company feed set up on Twitter. Whenever there is something important posted, they will be notified.

The same goes for small one-owner and Internet businesses and their customers. Customers can subscribe to the company feed to learn about new products and other useful information. I use it frequently to announce new listings for my eBay store. New businesses can create interesting tweets that produce interest and can be re-posted by others to help get the business or owner noticed.

However, keep in mind that while the majority of Tweeters are pleasant, some can be downright snarky and catty. Having an unmanageable amount of followers takes away from building relationships. Therefore some unfollowing is necessary. Many followers take offense at being unfollowed and will then Tweet not-so-nice comments. Other Tweeters will try to undermine your Tweets and links by saying your link contains a Trojan. Rather than comment on your blog post and leave their name, some will blatantly Tweet a nasty remark. At times it takes all the joy out of Twitter.

Twitter fills a niche in the social networking sector and is here to stay. Businesses have found a way to make Twitter work to their advantage, whether they are work at home moms longing for adult interaction or reaching out to a broader audience to increase profit.

Is it for you? It’s up to you to decide.

Wow ~ it’s been one full year since I started this blog!  I still intend to get a Blogoversary post up, but had some WordPress technical issues the night before the actual date ~ of all things!

In that year’s time, I’ve learned so much about promoting my eBay business from the Community Boards, Forums and all the various social networking sites I’ve joined and participated in.  I was formerly a Moderator on eBay Coach Free Forum.  If you check my archives, you’ll find that some I’ve dropped out of for various reasons, and also that I’ve joined new ones.  The new ones are very different than the ones I’ve first joined, and for that reason ~ I’ve become very active in them.

Social Media Networking is no longer a buzz word, but an Internet phenomenon. It represents a way for people to interact without traveling half way around the globe or even leaving their home’s comfort. Read on to find out exactly what social networking is and its potential to enhance your life.

Think of it like this. We all have at least one friend. To keep in touch with that friend we call, write, and meet face to face. Through our jobs we meet other friends. The more interactions we have with people, the more chances we have of meeting more folks.

Social networking sites provide the platform for getting to know more “friends.” It is like our job or school or church. They supply the venue and we mingle to find people who have similar interests. Someone had the bright idea to package this not unfamiliar social concept into a cyberspace platform. Now, people can meet others they already know but have lost contact with and new people.

Social networking took off among the younger generation first. They found a way to talk to their friends when they weren’t within sight of each other. For guys, it meant meeting girls in a non-threatening social situation. For girls, the feeling was mutual.

My daughters graduated high school in 2001 and 2005, but while they were both in high school they were on AIM Instant Messenger night and day.  We only had one computer at the time, and it was impossible for me to coerce them to give up AIM so I could go online.

But, social networking is not just for the tweens or teens. Adults enjoy social networking as well. The first social networking sites we all heard about were Facebook and MySpace. This was mostly due to controversy surrounding what some Generation X kids were posting, but it made parents aware of the social networking craze.

Adults use social networking for a number of reasons. First, it is personal. We reconnect with busy friends and family. If you can’t reach Aunt Pookey because she’s always off around the world on one adventure or another, post new pictures of the kids on your MySpace page. Auntie can view them when she comes down from Mount Kilimanjaro.

Social networking gurus discovered that while finding old friends, business owners could form valuable alliances through their associations on social networking websites. Now, social networking has become valuable to anyone wanting to develop a website presence for their business. Social networking for business is akin to going door to door and telling people about your product. Create a compelling business profile and draw in the people you know by joining social groups with similar interests.

Social networking has a place in the life of both young and old alike. Use it to meet new people, make business contacts, stay in touch with family, or just to beef up your Internet presence. The wave of the future is social networking. Makes you want to join, doesn’t it?

Keep in mind though, that if you join too many, it can become overwhelming and time consuming.  The key is to focus on those forums you can actively participate in and develop a camaraderie with like-minded individuals.

Yes, this Baby Boomer is a social net-worker now.  You can find me at Mom Bloggers Club and Twittermoms as well as many others listed on my sidebar.

Reporting on my work-at-home experience, I can say I’ve finally become more comfortable using Twitter.  I’ve made many friends, developed a sizable following, and have received a Twitter Grade of 97 from Twitter Grader!

Micro-blogging is a good thing and using Twitter makes it even better. However, Twitter will never take the place of a blog. The bottom line is that Twitter is not a full fledge blog. It is simply a way for you to get your words out to the masses in a more expedient manner. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons Twitter will never replace a blog.

The number one reason why Twitter can never replace a blog is because you can only post up to 140 characters at any one time. There’s just no way to squeeze 1,000 words into such a small space. Not to mention, trying to send 7.14 tweets back to back, will not go over well with your followers. There is nothing like a person who tweets excessively. Doing so will cause you to lose followers and your goal with Twitter is to gain a friends not turn people away. You want Twitter to be tool that leads to your platform – your blog – the place where you share your story, product, or business.

Another reason why you can never replace your blog with simple tweets is because you just don’t have the same control to customize. Sure you can create a profile that says something about you but not the way you can with your blog. For example, here’s my About Me page where I go into detail about who I am, and why I blog. With a blog you can also customize the whole kit and caboodle. You can add tools, plug-ins, and even more networking opportunities through your blog.   I have links to the various forums and social networking sites I can be found participating on ~ Mom Bloggers Club, Twittermoms, Mom Masterminds, etc.  You can’t do all that with Twitter alone.

Then we have the website name issue. You can’t attach a domain to twitter. My domain is Moomettesgram’s Musings. I also try to use Moomettesgram as the moniker for all the forums in which I participate.

On Twitter you will always be www.twitter.com/whateveryournameis and that is it. Your username or extension is how people will recognize you on Twitter, but it’s not the same as a domain name for an entire website. In essence, Twitter owns your profile, not you.  But your domain name – now that’s all yours.

If you’re an affiliate marketer or belong to many of the wonderful websites that offer coaching resources, you want to talk about what you are promoting and, as was stated earlier, you only have 140 characters to say what you really want to say. That’s not as effective as a blog post or blog series that can send the message more effectively. That’s just one more reason Twitter can never replace a blog.

Don’t try to replace your own blog or website with twittering. Instead, learn to use Twitter as an effective tool that makes people want to learn more about you. Your blog is where you get down to the nitty-gritty and allow people to become more knowledgeable about your life, your product, service or whatever it is you are promoting.

Want to know what I’m doing?  Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moomettesgram