| BOOK
REVIEW |
Check out the SEED Manifesto - just published. |
SEED is a unique concept, aimed
primarily at women, which provides an inspirational and practical guide to
success in business in the context of a new revolution in 'sustainable
business'. It's about personal growth as well as economic truths.
Everyone has a potential entrepreneur inside them and "The SEED
Manifesto" should show you the way.
It's not just for women, tho. As one reader put it, "It's about time there
was a book about developing business in a more feminine and organic way - and I
am a man! I have always run my business along these lines and it is nice to
have many of my experiences and methods validated when often I felt I was out
on a limb."
Check out our bookshop for the full story on
the SEED Manifesto and its predecessor, the SEED Handbook |
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| WEBSITES
FOR HOMEWORKING PARENTS |
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| Especially as it's Mothers' Day in
the USA, download the mom's
contract and fill it in!! |
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| Get the new Adobe Acrobat
e-book reader
- it really does make reading texts on-line much easier - I may never use the
regular Adobe Acrobat reader again! |
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| Once you've downloaded it, check
out some great e-books
designed for homeworking parents looking for survival techniques and business
ideas at |
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| If you're looking for an on-line
business idea - what about a website by dads for dads working at home??! Or let
us know if you find one! |
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The Motherwise Newsletter
for
Homeworking Parents
Summer Sunshine edition
May 2001
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BBC DOCUMENTARIES |
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Working from home sounds like a great way of being home for the children - but
it's not that simple. You still need childcare, and you'll find yourself having
to work out a really flexible system with backups for the backup!
I know some of you have solved this dilemma by enlisting the help of your own
parents. The BBC is preparing to film a new series of 'observational
documentaries', looking at family politics from the grandparent's point of
view. They would like to talk to as many UK-based people as possible in order
to find the families that they can later film. They hope to start filming this
summer.
Working parents who have handed over the day to day care of their children to
grandparents would be of particular interest - or indeed any grandparental
changes or challenges.
Please contact Inge Samuels on 0117 974 7495 or write to
"Grandparents", BBC, Whiteladies Road Bristol BS8 2LR.
Tell 'em you found 'em through Motherwise UK!
Write and tell us of your experiences of grandparental help in your homeworking
business - Email us.
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FREE LUNCH? |
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VistaPrint is an e-printing site that lets you customise your
own high-quality, full-colour business cards online. And now they're offering
them for free.
250 business cards for FREE! That's right, £75 value for FREE!
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The downside? There's always a downside! The VistaPrint logo is discreetly
published on the back of the business card so I guess there's a bit of 'viral
marketing' going on but that's not a bad quid pro quo for free business cards
when you are just starting out or wanting to experiment with a new design.
The upside is that Vistaprint produces good quality business cards - I've
purchased from them myself (before the 'cards for free' campaign came along -
sigh!).
Why Wait? |
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PENSIONS for HOMEWORKERS |
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A new type of personal pension became available in April and
will be particularly useful to people who are homeworkers, self-employed, in
temporary work or who frequently change jobs.
You can make contributions whenever you want as long as each contribution is a
least £20 (unless your scheme has a lower limit). This means contributions
can be regular or irregular, and on a weekly, monthly or annual basis.
Contributions start at £20; you can invest up to £3,600 a year.
Information can be found by visiting the
Stakeholder Helpline
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MANIPULATIVE MARKETING |
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If you're looking for an opportunity to work from home, don't
get the wool pulled over your eyes. It might sound like a good idea, but is it
really? From on-line shopping malls such as Bigsmart to websites from Skynary,
replication seems to have replaced the concept of a 'chain letter' but it's
basically the same thing.
The good news is that the businesses are being caught out but only after lots
of people have spent time, money and energy getting nowhere fast.
Internet malls are basically a collection of links to regular retail sites and
offers a `viral marketing model'. As friends and neighbors shop, ``they will
realize they can customize their own mall, and as they do so, the original mall
owner earns a percentage of the e-commerce sales from that mall.''
Members pay a $10 application fee and a $99.95 'hosting' fee to get access to
the host company's 'welcome page'.
However, the US FTC charged that, in order to make substantial amounts of money
through BigSmart, investors had to do successive recruitment of other
participants, rather than retail sales. Thus it was a pyramid scheme and
illegal.
It's going to cost the company $5million in reinbursements and a trading bond
of $500,000 before the principals can enter into any further MLM opportunities.
I wonder where they made that kind of money...?
Meanwhile, Australian Direct Selling guru, Edward Ludbrook, writes about
Skybiz, a company which promotes the purchase of ready-made websites, in his
latest newsletter.
"I am pleased to announce that the company Skybiz is dying in most
countries of the world.
This pioneering company started with a good concept but was perverted by the
greed of top people and owners. They promoted the purchase of 3,5,7 and 9
websites (who needs 9 personal websites?) Thus it's a pyramid and deserves to
die. (They always do.)
"I no longer try and get these companies closed down because my experience
reveals that you cannot stop people carried away on greed-driven emotion with
obvious logic. They need to feel a bit of pain to teach them and their friends
not to go near them in the future. It's like a vaccination!"
It does seem that we need to be bitten before we get shy. Like kids, we all
need to learn from our own experience.
But if you do want to learn from others, you can check out the WorkatHomeMom
Undercover operation then visit
Homeworking.com and check out Sue's article on
manipulative marketing
DON'T be the next to get conned!
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SPYWARE and COMPUTER VIRUSES |
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Yet another 'worm' virus is in the news. Don't open any
attachments called Homepage - otherwise you'll find yourself on a porn site and
you'll have sent everyone in your address book there, too.
If you don't have anti-virus software, visit the Doctor for a free
on-line checkup.
Interestingly enough, there's always lots of news about viruses and worms but
very little about spyware.
Check out Steve Gibson for all the gen
on this invasive software which - unbeknown to you - may have been downloaded
onto your PC and is keeping track of all the websites you visit. If you agree
with Steve that this is an invasion of your privacy ("It's MY
computer", as he rightly says), you can
download the free Ad Aware
v.4.6 from the nice people at Lavasoft in Germany to uncover and remove all
those suspect files in your registry.
I did and was amazed at what turned up!
Check out our CyberMums pages
for more.
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MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Volunteer your PC! |
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250,000 PC volunteers around the world are contributing
computer processing time to the Intel-United Devices Cancer Research Project at
the University of Oxford. The project is expected to run for 12 months. The
more people involved, the better the chances of finding a cure.
For more information about how you can join up at no cost and other easy ways
to 'Give with a Click', visit our
Thought for the
Day.
(If you sign up with the Cancer Research Project, you are invited to join us on
the
Homeworking
team)
We've also got FREE
motivational
posters for you to download. They'll keep you going when the going gets
tough.
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That's all for now!
This ezine comes to you from Homeworking Parents and is edited by Sue
Wentworth-Sheilds MSc MInstD FRSA
Information about sponsorship, advertising and article submissions to
workingparents@mothers.co.uk
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Copyright Information &
Disclaimer
Although every effort is made to bring accurate, safe and legal information,
Homeworking Parents makes no warranties, regarding the content contained
herein. Views of contributors are not necessarily the views of the editor.
Readers are responsible for determining reliability and accuracy, of any
information published here and Homeworking Parents will not be held liable for
any mistakes or omissions.
© Copyright 2001 Sue Wentworth-Sheilds
...Bye for now!
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| FROM THE
EDITOR |
| Spring has sprung in our rural
idyll, the trees are blossoming and the big freeze is over for another year.
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| We have sheep in our paddock,
working hard at keeping the grass mown, and we feel blessed to have taken the
risk of moving away from commuter-land and commiting ourselves to working from
home. |
| Foot and mouth disease by-passed
Lincolnshire but the wildlife reserves and footpaths were closed as a
precaution. |
| Now the tourist season is under
way, places of interest are opening up to the public again. |
| Check out
Kids Net and the
Days Out Finder for some
great days out |
|
To
keep little ones amused at home this summer, we're recommending bird
watching! Well, just from the kitchen window.
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| The RSPB has a great website with
bird song and pictures to help you identify the birds you find
in your garden or in the park. |
| The results of the 2001 RSPB Big Garden
BirdWatch survey are now on-line with May 26th signalling
the beginning of Wake up to Birds
Week. |
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| May the Homeworking Parents newsletter help to
make your working day more productive and your hours of parenting in keeping
with your aspirations for health,
happiness and
success. |
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| Subscription Information
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Looking for children's software?
Concerned about the time they spend on a PC?
Check out the features at IT4Kidz |
|
Want to put your home-based business on the
map?
Don't wait any longer! Get your home-based business off the ground now/
Check out Homeworking.com for support,
inspiration and a FREE homeworking.org email address. |
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