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"What's your Biggest Question about achieving Success -- offline or online?"

At my ShowMomTheMoney Network last week, we started a discussion asking "What's your Biggest Question?" Several of the moms had mentioned that they are not getting enough sign-ups to their newsletters. They understand the importance of having a newsletter list -- to build a relationship, trust, follow-up, repeat sales, affiliate sales, etc. -- but their lists were not growing. After taking a journey through some of these sites, I noticed two things ...

* I couldn't FIND the sign up boxes when I looked at their site. If your goal is to get people to sign up for your newsletter -- put your signup box FRONT AND CENTER at the top of your screen on as many pages as it makes sense (possibly all of them). I, myself, am working on making my signup box stand out more. :)

* The sign-up boxes said "Sign up for my newsletter" - Why?! Why should I sign up for your newsletter? What kind of information are you offering? What makes your newsletter special? Will I get a bonus for signing up? Use your best sales pitch to get a viewer to sign up for your newsletter -- just saying "Sign up for our Mailing List" doesn't exactly make me leap with excitement. ;)

Stop on by the ShowMomTheMoney Network and post your Biggest Question. What is keeping YOU from success?

Tax Time -- (Begin playing the Theme From Jaws...)

I've got to say I really really dislike doing taxes. Not only do I dislike things that make me feel stupid, but I really hate having a threat of punishment hanging over my head if I screw it up!

One of the things that is helping me with my taxes this year is Home Business Tax Smarts which is one of the freebies I received when I joined
MomsMasterminds.

Home Business Tax Smarts is an interesting interview set up between Kelly McCausey and her ex-husband, who is a tax-whiz. :) It's great to hear a REAL WAHM asking a Tax Guy the same questions I had in mind. How do I KEEP more money and still give Uncle Sam his fair share?!

If you're a Work at Home Mom or a Work at Home Mom Wannabee and you haven't heard of MomsMasterminds, you are missing out on making more money. Between the
Audio Courses, Video Courses, and Business Tools, the membership is worth it. Tack on the mentoring and it's priced ridiculously low.

Here are some of the Treasures included in your membership...
"Underachiever" SEO (Search Engine Optimization) System
7 Deadly Website Sins
Home Business Tax Smarts
Increase Your Sales with Copywriting
4 Big Lessons in Making More & Working Less
Increasing Your Sales with Online Auctions
Google AdWords from Start to Finish
Create Your Own Blog
Create a Media/Press Kit
How to Create a Website in 5 Days
Ultimate Time Management Guide
Project Planning Sheets

Check it out today at
MomsMasterminds. I'll see you there, and I'll be learning with you!

Nicole

Somebody Pinch Me!

Kelly McCausey, owner of WAHMTalkRadio.com contacted me last week to let me know that I won the WAHM Community MVP for 2004. I had been nominated back in December by some friends and the voting began in January and ended in the middle of February.

I was completely stunned. I thought maybe the other nominees has been at a conference together and had fallen victim to a viscous Rhino attack. Or perhaps the woman who truly won was in a generous mood and wanted to give it to me ... I actually hadn't gotten my hopes up at all, considering the list of amazing women who had also been nominated...

Audrey Korshoff of nogginworks.com
Kristi Sponheim of wahmpro.com
Sue Seward of eCommerceHomeBiz.com
Lynn Terry of SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com
Brandy Latshaw of MelodysMommy.com
Jennifer Dugan of DugansTravels.com
Lynn Phelps of NWAHMA.com
Janet Jakubek of WAHParent.com
Tara Crooks of AdvertisingMoms.com
Karyn Fagan of TeamWomen.com
JoJo Tabares of ArtofEloquence.com
Alice Seba of InternetBasedMoms.com
Nell Taliercio of MommysPlace.net
Shelly Terrell of PrimMart.com.

So, while I was still in denial, Kelly asked to interview me that night so that the winner could be announced on Monday via her Internet Radio Show. Of course I was totally nervous for my interview again and rambled on. I believe, when asked what I wanted to say to my supporters, I yelled "WE ROCK!" lol.

The hardest part was that I had to keep a massively huge secret from all my friends for several days (some of them may haven't forgiven me yet). But, it was very exciting and fun!

I get an amazing prize package from the generous sponsors below...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free Six Month Membership ($1182 Value!) to The Infoproduct Insider
Dr. Mike's Infoproduct Insider Coaching club! Learn directly from one of the most successful internet marketers on the web!

Free One Year Membership ($300.00 Value!) to The Copy Doctor
Michel Fortin's The Copy Doctor is a powerful membership site that will teach our MVP how to supercharge her website copy!

$150.00 in Professional Graphic Design Services from Nola Cooler, Classic Creations Graphic Design. This top notch graphic designer will provide our MVP with some sharp new graphics for any project personal or professional.

Alex Mandossian is providing our MVP with his famous Traffic Conversion Secrets - Online Version with a value of $797.00.

"Does the thought of marketing your home-based business drive you to chocolate? Discover "Testosterone Free Marketing" by Denise Michaels and learn the secrets to why you hate marketing and selling and how to get over it. Our MVP will receive the Testosterone Free Marketing Course free! A $397.00 value!

From Corey Rudl, the #1 best-selling Internet Marketing course online for more than 6 years running, the "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet -- Version 2004" is the product that our affiliates consistently report earning the highest commissions promoting. A $197.00 Value with tons of bonuses!

Patty from Patty's Country Colors has contributed a creamy container of Shea Body Butter for our MVP!

Allyn from Queen Power has a real tiara for our MVP, because everyone knows . . . "It's good to be Queen!" The MVP will wear it and she'll immediately understand. Being Queen means you are stepping into your power while welcoming opportunities with confidence and courage.

Sandi Krakowski from A Real Change has contributed a 3-pack of SeaSilver valued at $100 to keep the lucky lady going with her new "Powerful Position"

Melissa White In celebration of these 15 fantastic women, clever kingdom! happily donates a $25 gift certificate to each of the WAHM MVPs! We thank you for brightening the lives of mothers everywhere! And know that you (or your favorite little one) will enjoy our very comfortable, charmingly hip attire! Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's the scoop from here. More to come...
Nicole, Very Proud WAHM Community MVP 2004

Is Your Home Office a Wreck?!

As you may know, Cheryl Miller writes an Organizational column for my site here ... Get Ready for Company in 30 Minutes or Less

I've requested that Cheryl's next column be about Organizing your Home Office -- since I, for one, am sitting in a mountain of paperwork, coffee cups, a boy scouts cap, some crafts, catalogs, bills to be paid, a musical instrument made of bells, two staplers (neither of which have staples in them), and more that I'm too embarrassed to write about.

So, if you don't mind, send your questions to Cheryl about Organizing your Home Office so she can get ideas to help those of us who *really* need it!

Stay tuned...
Nicole

Being the Best YOU Possible.

Today, after a great Sunday Sermon at Church, my thoughts are focused on being the best ME I can possibly be.

The focus of my site ShowMomTheMoney.com is Success in Business, Family & Life, and I feel that "Success" should be defined as being the best YOU that you can be.

What defines Success for you? Is it bringing in money to help your family meet their basic needs? Raising children who become responsible, happy adults? Is it making a difference in the world through charitable work? Is it living your life to the fullest and loving the people around you?

Oftentimes, that list of dreams and goals is set aside and eventually lost under stacks of homework, bills, business notes, recipes, and snack wrappers.

It's a new year. Reassess what YOU want to do with your year. How will 2005 be special for you? Will you strive to work harder? Play harder? Give more? Or be better to yourself?

I know I'm looking forward to being the best ME possible in 2005.
Have a great week!
Nicole

Whoa -- Welcome me to the Blog-Era. Scary, but True.

Ok. I'm reluctantly moving into the Blog-Era. I'm still not quite sure what I'm supposed to do other than babble incoherently for a few minute each day, so we'll see what happens.

The thing I don't get yet about Blogs is -- WHO READS THESE? Is anyone so incredibly bored with their lives that they want to read my ramblings? I can't imagine that I have anything very interesting to say, but we... shall... see....

I should probably say something about me. I am a Work at Home Mom. My professional title, I guess is Nicole Dean, WAHM. Not exactly a PhD or an MD, but I'm proud of it none-the-less.
I'll give my background some day on how I ended up in this career path, but for now, suffice it to say, it is my calling. I am the very proud owner of ShowMomTheMoney - Work at Home Moms Resource.

In addition to that I have a WAHM network on Ryze. Our goal is Success in Business, Family and Life in 2005. Lofty goals, yes. But, we have to reach high. Which one of the three are we going to leave behind? Business? Not if we need it to pay the bills. Family? Not an option. They are the reason we are working our butts off. Life? What will keep us going if our spirits aren't nurtured? Nope. We have to work on all three. So, we will work on them together.

Anyway, that's the first attempt at a blog. I just turned 32 and am excited to be working on a new project at the same time.

Have a Successful Week!
Nicole