Smartphones To Network Your Way to a Better Job

Use Your Connections

It’s a fact that many of the prime jobs never get posted publicly and are filled quickly.  Yes, some of these are filled in-house by present employees who have been groomed for the job, but that’s not the case with all of them. Many are filled through informal networking paths.  It’s a fact that networking can play an important part in finding a good position.

Offline

When you think of networking, you probably picture informal face to face conversations and handshakes.  Traditionally, this is how it’s been done, and it still works today.

When it comes to looking for employment, consider all the people you know and all the relationships you have.

• fraternities and sororities

• civic organizations

• sports-related such as your bowling league

• college alumni association

• previous employers

• coworkers, past and present

• work-related organizations

• neighbors

• family

• fellow church members

• your kids’ friends’ parents

• your hair stylist, doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant

Some possible paths to a new job are obvious, but the improbable happens too. Open up all lines of communication.

Online

Online there’s a whole networking world called social media at your fingertips.  This opens up so many more avenues for you, but if you’re not already involved in social media, it’ll require a little work and time to get set up and growing your networks.

The benefits are many; recruiters can find you, you can establish your brand, beneficial connections can be made, and those hiring can see you’re up to speed with technology.

LinkedIn is considered one of the best career networking tools online.  You create a profile with your professional accomplishments.  You find and get found by others you already know in business and then others who want to connect with you based on your profile.  You can see how your network web grows exponentially as your connection’s connections become your connections, and so on.

Twitter can be used as a business tool or a social tool, but it’s best not to mix them. Basically, you join; gather followers in your field of interest (the more the better if you’re job hunting), build relationships and send “tweets” or messages in 140 characters or less. It’s not a bad idea to let some of the better aspects of your personality show through, but know that anybody, including potential employers, can read your tweets. Be sure to tweet that you’re searching for a job.

Facebook is another social media tool that’s free to use. Again, it’s best not to use your profile for both business and personal. Create your profile as you would a resume, and consider that millions of people can potentially view it. Posting a picture of yourself is up to you. If you do, make it a professional head shot.

The basis of networking is building relationships that benefit both you and others.  It’s not a one way street. The best time to establish these relationships is before you’re looking for a job, but it can be done after the fact too.  Use networking, offline or online, to help you land that job before it gets posted to the public.

Smart phones today play an important part in helping us to keep up-to-date with our contacts.  Make it a New Year’s Resolution to check out a cell phone trade in and upgrade your existing phone to take advantage of all the applications that iPhones and Blackberry’s provide.  With the new applications, you’ll be able to access your e-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn Twitter and other social media networking sites accounts.

At Flipswap, you’ll be able to sell or trade in YOUR old cell phone and help to reduce eWaste on the planet.  You can also recycle or take advantage of a cell phone donation.  Flipswap offers fast and free shipping.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Easy Shipping Solutions for Families or the WAHM from FedEx

You Have Options

Shipping Gifts or Shipping for Business

Originally I began my presence on the Internet as an online boutique store owner, eBay Power Seller, and Bonanzle booth seller specializing in vintage collectibles and children’s clothing.  I’ve become very proficient in packaging, insuring and shipping thousands of items all over the United States as well as the world.  As an online e-commerce merchant, I’ve used various shipping carriers to assure that when my products were received by the recipient, that they were packed as carefully as I would like to receive an item.

Whether you tend to leave your shopping until the last minute or you bought presents for everyone on your list weeks ago, gift-giving around the Holidays can add extra stress and worry to an already busy schedule – especially when you factor in shipping. How do you ensure a fragile gift arrives intact? What’s the most cost-effective way to ship? Will it arrive on time?

This Holiday season, FedEx offers ways to save time and money with discounts that make FedEx one of the cheapest options this December. For example, when you sign-up on fedex.com, you can save up to 16% on FedEx Express services and 8% on FedEx Ground and Home Delivery. And, by visiting a FedEx Office location, shipping with FedEx Ground costs 10% less than with UPS.

For those awkward sizes, fragile items, or time-strapped packers, FedEx Office professionals can pack and ship your holiday packages for you or give you tips on how to minimize the size and weight of a package to reduce shipping costs at any of the locations nationwide. FedEx Office also offers customized holiday cards, stationery and personalized 2010 calendars in just minutes either online or in-store. With FedEx Office Print Online services, you can print holiday newsletters and cards to a nearby center of your choice or have them delivered to your friends and family hassle-free.

This holiday season, whether you’re shipping gifts to loved ones or shipping for business purposes, make sure you check out FedEx.

In conjunction with this tour, anyone who signs up for a free account on fedex.com and records their name and confirmation number here will be entered to win one of 5 Apple iPod Touches!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of FedEx and received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Girlfriends Guide To The Business of Blogging Online Conference – December 8-10

Free Conference

Save the Date!

If you’re a WAHM mom, or looking to work from home, here’s a tip:  I just signed up for what promises to be an informative FREE Conference!  You’ll want to check it out as it’ll be covering information on the new FTC Guidelines regarding Disclosure if you do product reviews.

I follow Debbie Lawrence of We Speak Media on Twitter @BirdOnAWire55 and she’s always sharing a wealth of information!

So, you have an online business and a blog. Or you want to have a blog. And you want to make money both in your business and with your blog!

The First Ever Girlfriend’s Guide to The Business of Blogging Online Conference is where you want to be! Connect with other bloggers right from your own office or home and learn what being a Pro in the blogging world really is. No Travel Fees, no fees for attendance.

Save the Dates! October 22-25, 2009 Online – UPDATE – Changed to Tuesday December 8-10th

Learn the ins and outs of Social Marketing. Learn how to set up your blog, the basics of page rank, SEO, ethics, and very basics of business will be discussed. How to’s of offering ads, advanced sponsorship opportunities plus legal and professional insights and much much more. Every session includes actionable take aways, hints and tips you can put to use right now, today to drive traffic, make money and become a success!

Order tickets via Eventbrite:
http://girlfriendsguide-efbevent.eventbrite.com

PS: This is not a women’s only event! Feel free to pass this on to any blogger, entreprenuer or writer you think will benefit from attending.
Speakers will be announced Monday, October 5, 2009
Lets just say, they’re awesome! Stay tuned!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Blog Tip: What is Stumble Upon and How Does it Work?

Stumble Upon

If you’re new to blogging, or even an old hand at it – you’re probably aware of how much time and thought goes into writing a post.  It’s always nice to receive traffic, comments and feedback, along with new subscribers.

One of the ways to drive traffic to your blog posts is by having it Stumbled.

I belong to the website Stumble Upon.  I also have the Stumble Upon toolbar installed.  Whenever I see a post that I enjoy, I give it a “Thumbs Up” and write a short review.  I have a profile, and have “friends” on the network.  We suggest various sites that we enjoy, and if my friends like the sites, they’ll Stumble it, and give  it a thumbs up.

There’s also the ability to become an Advertiser using Stumble Upon.

You can see how much traffic you’re getting from Stumble Upon by checking your stats.

Here’s an informative article to let you know a bit more about Stumble Upon, and why it’s important to Stumble Posts that you enjoy.

What is Stumble Upon and How Does it Work?

By Simon Lissa

Are you sick of doing Google searches and constantly getting search results that just aren’t relevant to your needs?

If you know anything about how Google and other search engines work then you would already know that when you search for a particular item the result on the first page are usually the site with the most capital to invest in online marketing. In my opinion this is not a good way to find the thing you want to buy as the companies that have spent the most on online marketing are also going to need to charge top dollar for the products they sell to cover the costs of their marketing expenses.

Stumble Upon is a great tool that is installed on your web browser toolbar. The web user votes for the best sites in a particular niche so when someone looks for a website through stumble upon they only get results from the highest voted pages for that niche.

This is the new generation of site searching and it may even one day take out the need for search engines, it is definitely a more accurate way of giving the web searcher more relevant results for what they need and soon the search engine index will become obsolete.

This constantly growing website is shaping the future of how people will find the things they want on the net by only giving results of the most heavily voted for site on the particular subject you are looking into.

I highly recommend anyone start using stumble upon the get the websites they need and if you ever find a particular page that was helpful simply use your stumble upon toolbar to give it thumbs up!

Simon Lissa is an Online Home Based Business Entrepreneur and the owner of Online Surveys Australia.
Please feel free to visit: Best Paid Surveys

Article Source: Ezine Articles

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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WAHM Shelly Hill – Tupperware Direct Sales Consultant – Guest Post

Meet My Friend

Tupperware – Shelly Hill

I’d like you to Meet My Friend -Shelly Hill. I met Shelly through several of the work-at-home forums that I belonged to.  We met up again when I joined Ryze, where Shelly was the forum moderator for Chic & Classy, which had a huge, huge following.  Our paths have crossed many times over as I joined forces at one point at Affordable Mineral Makeup, and again through social media sites on Twitter and Facebook.

Shelly is one busy work-at-home mom and we  share several common interests – long-marrieds, kids, grandkids, work-at-home businesses as well as an interest in cooking.  Shelly is a Tupperware Manager and was kind enough to share with me one of the latest items from her Tupperware product line.

I received the medium long container in Azure from the FridgeSmart® line.  We’ve been doing quite a bit of camping this summer (you have to read my mosquito post) and this is just perfect for packing our produce, vegetables  and other food items that need protection.

Size-wise it’s 8 ½-cup (2 L) capacity—6″W x 12″L x 3 ½”H (15 x 30 x 8.5 cm) and fits quite nicely in the cooler.  You can regulate the airflow within the container by way of a unique venting system.  Of course, Tupperware virtually sells itself!  I’ve been a fan since I was first married, and that’s 35 years!

Follow Shelly on Twitter @Ravish30

In the past, I’ve touched on topics about tapping into your interests and hidden talent, and parlaying them into a career where you turn your interests into a business. Many readers or their families have become victims of the current recession, and are actively seeking gainful employment. Some, like me, are considering either retiring, or trying to determine a move to another career that will spark our interest – whether it be something entirely different from what we’ve been doing in the past, or entirely new venture.

Perhaps you are off-ramping from corporate life to take time out to raise your children.

I have been inviting bloggers and writers to Guest Blog on my Meet My Friend meme to share their ideas and experiences with my readers who are interested in becoming a mompreneur.

If you have a WAHM or Momepreneur topic of interest that you’d like to share and be a Guest Blogger on Moomette’s Magnificents, please contact me (see Contact tab above).

Thank you Cindi for allowing me to do a guest blog post here on your fantastic blog.

My name is Shelly Hill and I am a 42 year old wahm and wife living in South Central Pennsylvania. I have been happily married to my high school sweetheart Sam for over 24 years. We have a beautiful daughter who is 24 years old who just gave birth to our first grandchild (a little girl) 10 1/2 weeks ago.

Back in 1986, I decided I wanted to supplement my income by trying my hand with Direct Sales, at the time I was working for a local hospital and hated working every other weekend. The first Direct Sales company that I represented was called House of Lloyd and I stayed with that company until they folded in the early 90’s. I then decided to try my hand at Avon since I love Avon products and I stayed with Avon for 5 years until I left as door to door sales were not my cup of tea (although I did well with the business).

I then joined Tupperware back in February 2003 just for the personal discount as we were remodeling our kitchen and pantry. After a few months, I decided to work Tupperware as a home business and I have been with them since.

Over the years, Tupperware has continued to impress me with both their products and their business model. We sell some unique kitchen items that save you time and money but yet allow you to prepare healthy meals from home.

Our business model rewards those who work hard at their business in regards to both sales and team building. This company truly gives back to their sales force members.

In addition to running my Direct Sales business, I have been managing an online group of Direct Sales professionals for 6+ years. I am also an article writer and ghost writer and mainly write about food and recipes along with Direct Sales topics.

I feel very blessed to have met so many great women in my life who continue to strive for greater heights within their businesses. When it comes to Direct Sales, it’s not about who you know…it’s about what you know and about working your business consistently.

Bio: Shelly Hill – Tupperware Manager;  Shak’in & Bak’in in the Kitchen with Shelly; Affordable Mineral Makeup.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Big Sky Country – Real Country Living – WAHM Guest Post

Meet My Friend

Real Country Living

Long before I became a blogger, I was a Power Seller on eBay.  Although I no longer have a store, I still continue to sell on the auction site. I was also a Moderator on an eBay forum, where I met many wonderful people. Most of the members of the forum had eBay stores, so we shared a commonality.

If you’ve ever spent any amount of time on forums, you’ll know that sometimes you just “click” and hit it off with certain members.

In the past, I’ve touched on topics about tapping into your interests and hidden talent, and parlaying them into a career where you turn your interests into  a business.  Many readers or their families have become  victims of the current recession, and are actively seeking gainful employment.  Some, like me, are considering either retiring, or trying to determine a move to another career that will spark our interest – whether it  be something entirely different from what we’ve been doing in the past, or entirely new venture.

Perhaps you are off-ramping from corporate life to take time out to raise your children.

I have been inviting bloggers and writers on my Meet My Friend meme to share their ideas and experiences with my readers who are interested in becoming a mompreneur.

If you have a WAHM or Momepreneur topic of interest that you’d like to share and be a Guest Blogger on Moomette’s Magnificents, please contact me (see Contact tab above).

I’d like you to Meet My Friend -  Deena, from Real Country Living,  a work-at-home mom of 5 – although I no longer have an Ebay store, we still keep in contact, and both have become avid bloggers!

What amazed me about Deena is that she spoke so candidly of living out yonder in Montana – Big Sky Country! I like to think that I’m the City Mouse, and Deena is the Country Mouse!

On the forum, we discussed how easily it was for us “city folks” to find inventory, and Deena would speak as to how she would have to drive for miles on end and make a whole day excursion to locate inventory for her store!

I’ve never been farther west than Chicago, and just marvel at the photos that Deena shares of her lifestyle and beautiful part of the country!  You just have to go visit and see for yourself!  Follow Deena on Twitter @RealCountryGal

Thanks Deena for sharing with my readers

Hello and thank you to Cindi for inviting me to do a guest post here on the fabulous Moomette’s Magnificents!

My name is Deena and I am happily married to Wade, my husband and partner of almost 27 years now. We are blessed with five children; three boys and two girls.

After growing up in a number of cities throughout most of my childhood, I met and married my cowboy husband here in the heart of Montana. Wade was raised on the cattle ranch that we now own and operate.

Morphing from city girl into a country gal has been such an interesting and exciting journey. Being a mother and homemaker has been the most important and fulfilling job I could have asked for. I am also the Financial Specialist for the ranch and of these titles come with a ‘room and board’ salary!

Over the years I have searched for ways to contribute financially to our family and the ranch, but living 60 miles from town makes employment outside the home impractical and surely not profitable.

In my effort to earn money I’ve sold hand-crafted knitted and sewn items, taught piano lessons for 16 years and recently opened an eBay store, Mudder’s Little Spudders.  My passion though, is my website, Real Country Living, where we share the reality of our way of life to the world. RCL is very much an infant and has not quite reached its first birthday. There is much to do and more content to add, so this project will keep me very busy and happy for a long time!

I stumbled onto the idea of becoming a webmaster quite by accident and had no idea that l’il old me could pull this off with no training whatsoever. I love to tell about how I built my website, so pop on over if you’d like to hear more. Not only do I get to share my love of country living to anyone who wants to take part, but this website has also become an additional income source for my family. Doing something I adore, from my own home…sometimes in my PJ’s…is a dream come true!

Our eBay store is soon to be a standalone shop which branches from  RCL, so because of the impending transition, Mudder’s isn’t very stocked at the moment. The new e-store is in the works and will specialize in western wear old and new~ natural decorating elements like real Montana pine cones and wheat~along with a plethora of other country goodies.

Our new store name is the Montana Mercantile. Maybe Cindi will post an update when it is functional so you all can visit!

I’d love to hear from you, so use the ‘contact us’ form on Real Country Living to ask me questions or just let me know where you call home and what you’re doing! May my website provide pieces of country living that can be arranged into your own version of bliss!

And again, thank you, Cindi! You are an inspiration to all of us who are working hard to fulfill our dreams!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Celebrating Mom Masterminds 5th Anniversary

Check Out the Mom Masterminds 5th Anniversary Opportunities:

Are you looking to kick-start or ramp up your work-at-home business or blogs ?Moomettesgram’s Musings, Jun 2009

You should read the whole article.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Social Networking Women

If you’re new to working from home or thinking of being a WAHM, you must be actively involved in Social Networking.  I’d like to share a great article with you referencing  some ideas and tips to help you work smarter while connecting and exchanging ideas. You’ll still be able to get your name out and recognized in the blogosphere while increasing your productivity and managing your time.

Social Networking Women
By Liz Lichti

If you are one of the many work at home social networking women then you know how time consuming it can be ‘tweeting’ to make potential business connections and keep up. I find too it’s hard to stay focused with all the interesting people on Twitter and links to cool sites. Fun, yes. Profitable? Not so much.

I often wonder how these people who have thousands of follows have the time to attract them let alone keep up with them. I know I have spent my share of late nights following new people, tweeting and direct messaging to feel too burned out for any kind of marketing the next day or to meet the demands of my family.

Have you noticed? It seems as though every other person on Twitter has a link in their message to increase your followers in one week, one month, 60 days, while you sleep,… and the list goes on.

Have you noticed? There are Twitter accounts that have actually generated tens of thousands of followers within an incredibly short time. They appear to be the large businesses with a staff doing the tweeting for them or celebrities who don’t even follow anyone yet have over 100,000 followers.

So, how does a smart entrepreneurial woman work from home and play in the big league without compromising her family obligations or bank account?

The solution? Good social networking software tools and by good I don’t mean those free viral, multilevel programs that everybody else is signing up for.

If you want something that works, do your research and be prepared to invest a little bit of money in a program that will not only increase your followers, but that will also teach you how to market to your new followers in a hands off, highly effective approach.

That way you can be a social networking mama and manage to do it all, make decent money and still have time for the most important things in life.

Start doing your research now, so you can start saving time. With the right program I believe you can be among the top most successful social networking women and get big league results on autopilot.

If you wish to skip the research part you can check out a product that I just happened to stumble on while, you guessed it – on Twitter!

It’s new and absolutely cutting edge and the proof is in the results. I was skeptical as always, but the people promoting it were real people like you and me doubling their followers (this is conservative) within one week and making money doing it.

Now, I’m not a die hard Twitterer, but I was impressed. I thought this information was worth my time to share it, but you be the judge. Click here to learn more.

Article Source: Ezine Articles

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Secret To Getting Kids To Respect Your WAHM Office Time

Disciplining yourself when working from home is difficult enough without the added responsibility of caring for young children.  Add into the equation distraction from neighbors, routine household chores and extra-sensory stimulation (read, just your day-to-day usual household excessive decibel level noise) and you get the picture.  The most challenging of the above is how to deal with getting your progeny to respect your office time.  Here’s a few secrets:

1. Establish a Work Schedule. Often it helps to establish a schedule that works well for you and your family.  Before you begin your workday, first spend quality time with the kids.  They’ll be more willing to entertain themselves for awhile after they feel they were listened to and their immediate needs were met.

2.  Choose Your Work Location Carefully. If you have the option, exercise care in where you choose to set up your office space.  Choose an area you can close the door if your children will need to be under supervision.  If that’s not a workable option, use a screen to set up a designated work area to signify that the area is your “private space.”

3.  Establish Boundaries. Hold a family conference to let them know that this is your job and that is how Mom or Grandmom makes money.  Explain that it isn’t a hobby, and that they need to understand that this is how you make money for their clothing, food, toys, gifts and keeping the utilities on.  Your spouse or significant other must also be understanding in order to offer support in keeping the kiddos occupied when they’re home and you’re working.

4.  Dress for Success. Maintaining a professional demeanor and attitude while you’re working is important and your children will notice the difference.  They’ll be able to recognize the “working mommy” versus the “at-home mommy” mode.  Be consistent and eliminate confusion by avoiding chatting on the telephone in a conversational tone that they’ll recognize as your “at-home” mommy voice when you’ve told them you’re working.  Oftentimes it helps to dress up in casual office attire when planning your work-at-home schedule.

5. Create A Signal System. If a responsible sitter or adult is home to watch the kids, it always helps to develop a signal system to let others know you’re working.  One possibility is to hang a cute sign clock with movable hands on your closed door or screened-in area set to the time when you’ll be available again.  Have the kids make one for you!

6.  Eliminate Distractions. Background noise such as workers or animals can frequently become a distraction or source of procrastination and can easily be remedied by using a noise-canceling headset.  Using this will also signal to the kids to respect your privacy and need for quiet time.

7.  Keep The Kids Occupied. As a Grandmom I know full well that children have short attention spans so in order to let them know you have to work, head the kids off at the pass.  Set up a project for them to do so you can be busy together.  They can work independently while you work at home on your blog post, virtual assistant project or ecommerce site.  Keeping the kids occupied will allow you to catch up on writing more articles for e-How.

Undoubtedly it’s sometimes hard to get any work accomplished at home with the kids under foot, but it can be done.  Remember, pay attention to them first while explaining to them in their own language that everyone has a “job” and theirs is to let you do your “job.”

Photo Credit: Mom & Kids StockXpert

Related Reading:

5 Ways to Manage Your Time While Working at Home Online

Learn How To Recognize Your Procrastination Triggers When Working At Home

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Business Cards for Mommy Bloggers: Vista Print – Review

Long before I became a blogger I began my online presence by opening an eBay store where I quickly became a Power Seller.  To increase my WAHM online knowledge I joined several eBay and boutique children’s clothing forums and was invited to become a Moderator on one of them.

A bit of advice I picked up along the way was to develop a business card to enclose when I shipped out the ecommerce products I had sold on eBay  and encourage customers to become repeat buyers and also leave me feedback.

I ordered several boxes of business cards from Vista Print.

Now that I author 4 blogs I order business cards with the names of my blogs imprinted on them.  Business cards are a great way to promote your brand if you’re trying to secure sponsorships to blogging conferences such as BlogHer.   It’s always a good idea to carry some to hand out if you’re networking at Chamber of Commerce meetings, church functions or community service functions.

I’m happy to have the opportunity to review not only the Customized Business Cards that Vista print sent, but also the matching Folded Note Cards and customized Address Labels.  They go so well with my blog theme!

Vista Print also offers Free business products as well as customized products for every need to help you promote your brand and grow your business:

• Rubber Stamps

• Pens

• Car Magnets

• T-Shirts and more!

Even if you don’t blog, Mommy Cards are also very popular to hand out at your local pre-school, playgroup or PTA events!

Given the state of the economy and today’s job market, networking or introduction cards are  a great idea to have on hand to pass out!

Visit Print is offering my readers 25% off of any orders!

For more information visit: Vista Print

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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