It’s Friday! After you check out our job leads and before you take off for the weekend (if you’re able to), here are a few interesting work at home articles and blogs you should thumb through:

Most of us can relate to this one. In fact, we’ve written a few posts about how little our time is respected. Well, one writer has finally had enough and here’s what she has to say:

I may work from home. But I’m not your errand monkey

Continuing in this vein, here’s another example of how frustrating it can be when people attempt to invalidate our work from home status. Felicia at No Job for Mom expresses her strong feelings over coming face to face with an “unenlightened one” and we applaud her for handling the situation so politely. How would you handle someone like this?:

Oh No She Didn’t!

Many of the leads we offer here are contract positions. This article helps explain what being a contractor means in terms of tax status:

Contractor Vs. Employee: Decoding the Tax Differences

Even if this week has been a breeze, work at home jobs for moms can be quite stressful. Here’s solid advice on how to release and relax so as not to become overwhelmed:

4 Simple Steps for Letting Go of Stress

Have any interesting news, resources or advice to share that other WAHMs can benefit from? Please feel free to share in the comments section below.

Have a great weekend!

Work at home moms everywhere can relate to the dilemma of keeping kids busy while mom works. Of equal concern is the guilt that some feel over not being able to spend quality time with children during work hours. Moms are resourceful creatures, however, and here are a few of the tactics some are using to balance entertaining the children while working from home:

1. Move the office to a kid-friendly location. Don’t take working at home so literally. You are a location independent professional, after all, so pack up the laptop and take the kids to the nearest “fun zone”. Most major cities offer indoor playgrounds for children and many are even equipped with Wi-Fi. So, while the kids tire themselves out amidst a sea of colorful balls and intricate jungle gyms, mom can work nearby and everyone’s happy.

2. Visited your local YWCA or YMCA lately? Many offer structured activities for kids and, even better, Wi-Fi connections. While the kids will only likely be occupied for an hour or two, many moms are using this time as a way to hammer out important assignments…or at least get a head start on important tasks.

3. Join or start a childcare co-op. It’s likely that other work at home moms in your area are struggling with the same issues. Why not join forces and create a schedule that works for everyone? While a few moms work, other moms can help with childcare and vice versa.

These are just a few of the ways work at home moms are creatively juggling kids and work, what are some of yours?

Also, feel free to list a few kid-friendly places in your area offering Wi-Fi and space for moms to establish temporary offices.

Not too long ago, I finally signed up to become my local Women’s Issues Examiner. Although I’ve known about Examiner for some time and I know several people who became Examiners long before I did, it wasn’t until I learned about their referral program, or the opportunity to post backlinks, that I finally decided to take the plunge.

Examiner.com specializes in citizen journalism and Examiners (the official title given to writers) are awarded for their efforts in one of three ways:

1. Compensated per article (A dollar or two if certain conditions are met)

2. Compensated for page views (Which is never a guarantee, but some writers are doing well in this area)

3. Compensated for referrals (Up to $50 per referral if the person is accepted to write for Examiner and publishes at least one article)

My Little PayPal Surprise

I’d planned to put a lot more effort into writing for Examiner, but, so far, my schedule hasn’t allowed me to do so. Which is why I was uber surprised to receive a $52.73 PayPal payment from them recently. Completely unbeknownst to me, I’d helped someone plug into Examiner and was awarded a $50 referral fee. While I hadn’t signed up for this, I was nonetheless pleased that someone else had discovered the site and that they were kind enough to credit me as their referrer.

My Personal Reasons for Becoming an Examiner

One of the primary reasons why I applied for the position, however, is because it offers a high traffic platform to publish articles about a variety of different topics, of which one my favorites happens to be women’s issues (there are TONS more to choose from, however). I’ll admit that it’s been a little tricky figuring out how to relate these issues to my geographical location, but, luckily, Examiner doesn’t force writers to ONLY write on issues relating to their specific areas. As long as we occasionally do so, we’re allowed to write from a broader perspective.

Google Juice!

Now, the other reason I applied is because Examiner is a PR4 do-follow site that allows writers to backlink to their own personal websites and articles. For those of you unfamiliar with what this means, Examiner has a little Google juice and they’re not stingy about sharing it with their writers. This means that, as long as I don’t go crazy doing so, I can promote this website, as well as articles that I write for other sites and for private clients. For freelance writers and webmasters, this is a good thing!

Other Examiner.com Benefits and Possibilities

With Examiner, there are no deadlines to follow and, after publishing the first time, writers are pretty much left alone to do their own thing. Like I mentioned earlier, some are making quite a bit of money off of page views at Examiner and there are stories on their forums about Examiners getting book deals, being mentioned on popular mainstream news shows and being granted press passes to special events.

The Brawn Behind the Brand

It doesn’t hurt that billionaire Philip Anschultz is the main investor in Clarity Media Group, which is Examiner.com’s parent company. Anschultz also has major investments in the Los Angeles Lakers, AEG, The Staples Center, The Home Depot Center and the O2 Arena in London, England. His involvement with the brand gives me comfort in that it’s not a fly-by-night operation and that the powers that be are working hard behind the scenes to establish the brand as a front runner in citizen journalism.

Passive Income, Anyone?

I realize that some writers aren’t into the whole idea of writing for passive income. But for those who are (or who, like me, prefer a mix of upfront payments and residual payments), Examiner is worth looking into. Even if you’re not a writer, per se, but you are passionate about a particular cause or hobby, Examiner is also a great place to advertise news, information and events.

If you’re interested in applying for an Examiner position, sign up here and be sure to let them know that I referred you (you can use my name or my referral I.D. 50714). The application is pretty painless and it does involve a criminal background check (no charge for this), but most Examiners are approved in less than a week.

If you have any questions about writing for Examiner or if you’re an Examiner and you have anything to add to this post, please feel free to use the comment box below.

More information on making money with Freelance Writing

Work at Home Jobs for Moms are Green!

Work at home jobs for moms help stay at home moms make money, they allow women the opportunity to put their skills and talents to marketable use and they are helping to save the planet in the process. Upon first hearing this statement some may miss the truth it contains. Consider these ways in which work from home opportunities are actually green jobs:

1. Lower carbon emissions – This one is almost too easy to spot, but considering that every day (quote emissions) drive to work while spewing toxic emissions into the atmosphere, work at home jobs for mom… (insert more). Now we know that our fellow workers are also concerned about the planet and, therefore, carpool, take the bus or a train to work, but even if a work at home job requires a mom to travel to the office even one day per week, she is doing far more to save the environment than her counterparts who don’t have this same choice.

2. Lower energy costs – Besides carbon fuel emissions, work at home jobs for moms make it possible for women to control their energy usage by using less lighting. Instead of lighting an entire office with flourescent lighting, the average work at home mom uses a single overhead light or lamp (which we hope is energy efficient). Or, when the weather is right, work at home moms may even choose to do what I’m doing now, which is working outdoors under the power of free, natural sunlight.

3. Less paper – The majority of work at home jobs for moms are done by phone or the Internet. While these obviously save on paper usage (as a freelance writer my office is almost completely paperless), even the hiring process for most work at home opportunities are able to be done without paper. From applications to resumes to actual interviews, many of which are done online or by telephone, far less paper is used when women work from home offices.

In what ways have working from home helped you become more “green”?