WAHM Interview – Success Working from Home

Successful WAHM Interview

I recently sat down with Karen Weir, a good friend and successful work-at-home mom and wanted to share with other moms some tips Karen has on how to achieve success as a WAHM.

     Karen, how long have you been working from home and what brought you to online marketing?

“I try to figure that out every now and then… it was a gradual thing you know, I puttered around on the internet and bought into a few scammy programs beginning in about 1996.  I was working full time outside the home, and was actually introduced to the internet at the office.  I was hooked pretty early on.  The internet intrigued me.  My earliest experiences were on message boards where I re-discovered my love of debate.  I had been a pretty good debater in high school, and I got pretty involved on some of the boards.  Another activity that I have always enjoyed was writing.  I joined some writer’s boards and picked up a couple of jobs writing for online marketers.  It was in 2003 that I got into network marketing, and took it online immediately.  I’ve been doing it fulltime now since 2005.”

     Karen, what is your sole motivation for starting the Crazy Fox Marketing Team?

“This is one of my favorite stories to tell, but I will try to give you the reader’s digest version.  I have worked primarily with men throughout my marketing career.  Some of the other women and I would chat and we felt that we were really from different planets LOL.  It seemed that much of our time was spent talking about who’s better than who, who has top spot on google and who’s going to knock him off etc.  The competition was kind of underground, in that it wasn’t open and friendly.  This kind of competition really brought a negative energy into the group.  We thought it was a guy thing… you know the whole male ego thing… power and control seemed to be gaining greater emphasis than creation and cooperation. 

As a student of the Law of Attraction, I really wanted to surround myself with positive people who understood that there is no need to control other people, and that energy spent doing it is wasted.  I agree with Wattles that wealth gained through competitive means, which usually means someone loses or gets hurt, is fleeting.  I think we are seeing evidence of that truth today with the collapse of Wall Street.  Wealth gained through creation, on the other hand, is real and lasting.  That is what I wanted.  In effort to reach out to like minded women, we started a blog intended to attract women in business.  It turned out that we attracted as many men as women.  But these men were different… clearly this was not a male/female thing, but rather a mindset thing.

As it turned out our previous marketing group was disbanding.  Some of the members of that group liked what we were putting together and they joined us in creating what is known today as the CrazyFoxes Marketing Group.  We are a group of men and women who work together in cooperation.  We do not compete with one another, but rather we create together.  The atomosphere is really amazing and energizing.  We utilize a blueprint marketing system to teach marketing skills, and we have truly created a family environment where we not only enjoy each other’s company, but we are honing our skills and learning new skills while we’re making money.   New members are coming in all the time, and are often struck by the positive atmosphere.  Most comment that they have not experienced it on the internet before.

When you are working on the competitive plane, you are usually looking for power.  It is impossible to build genuine, trust based relationships on that realm.  It is too difficult to separate business from personal, whereas when you work on the creative plane, you don’t have to differentiate.  You are not seeking power or control over others, you aren’t concerned about being the “Almighty”, so you are not threatened by others, which means you can learn from them.  One of the things that I love about our CFMG is that we are genuinely friends.  We trust each other.  We can practise new skills in a safe environment.  This is the environment that I wanted and we’ve successfully created it, as a group.  I don’t see this as a group that I started or created… it is a group designed and run by the group.  I see it as a group that attracted like minded people, and those who don’t share our values, weed themselves out.”

     Since Wahms are usually juggling business and family how do you make the most of your time to keep your income up while maintaining family balance?

“Kelly, you know that balance is a myth don’t you? LOL… seriously it is.  We all strive for some sort of balance in our life, but reality is that life isn’t always balanced.  Some days the business takes priority and the family takes a back seat.  My family understands that.  I am so fortunate to have a loving and supportive husband who really “gets” that there will be days that he barely sees me.  Those days he really picks up the slack and tends to the children and house.  If my husband is away on those days, my kids become lower maintenance, and my housework doesn’t get done.  Other days, the family takes priority.  And that is the beauty of working from home.  Most of the time, I can work around my family schedule, and I can perform my must do tasks at any time of the day or night.”

     How many children do you have and how old are they now?

“I have two children at home.  They are 10 and 9.  My husband and I each have an adult daughter from previous marriages.  My daughter blessed me with a grandchild 11 months after my youngest child was born.  My grandson is 8 years old, and although he doesn’t live with us, he is with us much of the time.  My step daughter just gave birth to our second grandson on November 25, which is pretty exciting, even though I’m still way too young to be a Grandma!”

     What has been your greatest challenge in working from home?

“That balance thing that doesn’t exist has been my greatest challenge.  I really love “working” and I spend all my “free” time online.  I can get started on a project and look up to find that hours have gone by, and haven’t had breakfast! I can’t tell you how many times I have said, “I have to find a balance”…  I think that women have a tendency to judge themselves harshly.  You know, if I was working outside the home, no one, including myself, would expect my house to be in perfect order.  I guess learning to accept the fact that I really don’t have to be perfect all the time has been a challenge, but I’m working on it!

What are the biggest mistakes you have seen people make over and over working from home?

I think one big mistake people make is that they treat their business like a hobby.  They get to it when they have time, and they are inconsistent.  I think you really have to want it bad to maintain the discipline required to do your work everyday.  Along those same lines, some people are really scattered.  They fail to set themselves up a routine or develop a systematic way of doing their work.  Now, I realize that time is an issue for some people.  That doesn’t have to stop them from building their business though, if they develop a consistent routine.  I tell people they should have their daily tasks that will get done no matter what everyday – the non negotiables… and DO them everyday.  If those basics are done consistently, the business will grow even if they never get to the negotiable tasks.”

     How many hours a day do you spend on your business and how do you organize your time?

“The bulk of my time spent working my business is during the school day.  Typically, I get up very early and perform my must do tasks before I get the kids up and start the morning routine.  I take them to school and am back in front of my computer by 9:00 a.m. and work until I leave to pick them up at 3:15 pm.  My work day officially ends at 3:15, and that is when I tend to household tasks, but often there are evening conference calls or trainings, so I will spend another hour or two depending on the schedules.   I attend some meetings on weekends, but my family takes priority on the weekends.” 

     What’s the best piece of advice you can give for a mom looking for a way to start working from home?

“Schedule your time so that you don’t neglect yourself or your spouse.  When you have a business to run, a home to maintain, and children to care for, it is difficult to find time to squeeze it all in.  The business won’t work itself, the children need a Mom, and laundry and housework don’t magically get done, so it is too easy to neglect the other adult in the house who can fend for himself, and even easier yet to forget to take care of yourself.  Relationships don’t just take care of themselves and every couple needs to have couple time.  I realize that not all women are as lucky as I am.  My husband is very supportive and understanding.  We have a true partnership, and he doesn’t resent the time I spend working on my business, because he views it as “our” business.  I know that many women working from home do not have that kind of support.  My best advice is to work on getting it… and the best way to get your spouse’s support is to strengthen your relationship and communication.”