Green Mompreneur Own Your Own Business

Earn Money with an MLM

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:08:00 +0000

I have never been a big fan of multi level marketing (MLM) companies, however in a difficult economy it can be a profitable place to invest your time.

What is an MLM? Typically an MLM company will use the general public as their sales force. The idea is that you set up your own business, become a member and start selling to your friends. In addition, you entice your friends to become members under you and you will make commissions on their sales as well.

This can create a great supplemental income for a stay at home or work at home mom. It is a good idea to have many "lines in the pond" or different places to draw an income. This will keep you solvent in a down economy.

There are a couple of things to consider if you decide to go this route:

Is the company or product reputable? A good example is Avon, they have been around for a long time and they are a well known name. Have you noticed that they have been advertising their marketing opportunities of late? They know that this is a great time to build their sales force.

Start up costs should be minimal, if anything at all. Avon charges a nominal amount ($10 ish) and it covers the cost to set up your company. If the investment is great, look closer it may be a scam (or not worth your time).

Look at the contract carefully, if one of your "team members drops out, do you loose their clients? You need to read the fine print!

How will you market your new products, build a website, join networking groups, send out emails. There is a cost to marketing and you need to decide what you are willing to invest. It is a good idea to start with marketing funds and use 10%-20% of your income on an ongoing basis to market your business.

Is this product salable? Will people buy this product in this economy? Do your research and ask around. Sometimes the MLM companies will let you speak with a current reseller.

Do you have to maintain an inventory or can you drop ship directly from the company?Maintaining an inventory can be expensive and you will be tempted to give product away.

Good luck and happy selling!

How to set up an affiliate program

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:21:00 +0000

Are you looking for a cost effective way to not only drive visitors to your site, but increase conversion rate too?
What is affiliate marketing and how does it work? It is quite simple, the affiliate marketing company will set up your affiliates with an account where they can grab the code for banners and links and put them on their site. When one of their customers clicks on the link a bit of code will follow them through the check out on your site and will credit their account with a pre determined amount. This way you are ONLY paying for leads that convert into actual business. This is a more cost effective solution to the google giant where you pay every time someone clicks on the link whether they buy or not. There are a number of options when it comes to affiliate Marketing. Some of the well known business that can set up affiliate marketing programs for you are commission junction and link share. These online businesses require that you have a certain amount of traffic and they are expensive to set up and maintain. Set up for one of these affiliate programs can run $2,500. You can also purchase your own software and install it on your site. This runs $500-$1,200 to purchase and you need to have the technical expertise to install the program. The benefit is that you have the power of running your affiliate program the way that you want to. All of the options offer your affiliates a login and password so that they can run traffic reports and see their commissions grow. On the flip side you will also have access to great statistics. You may be thinking this sounds great, but it is a bit expensive.

I discovered a great, affordable solution that does not require technical expertise, idev affiliate.
The software runs $100-$200, depending on what modules you choose. Now you can install the software on your website and connect it to your shopping cart. Would you like to make it easier on yourself? Set up a separate URL with one of the domain registration companies (about $20 per year). Then sign up with idev and have them host it for you for a small $5 per month. With the hosting they will load the software for you. It is so easy to use and they will provide you with an administrator login to track affiliates and approve every dollar earned. The interface is a professional way to gain credibility as a serious online retailer.

Myaffiliate program is at www.grocerypod.org.

I am so happy with this program that I signed up to be an affiliate for idev, so click on the link if you decide to purchase idev.

If you have any trouble just email me at sales@samicabags.com

Grab your domian name here:

Enjoy your new affiliate program and let the bucks start rolling in.

Welcome 2009!

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:47:00 +0000

An old friend called me yesterday and she shared with me that she found herself in a place in her life where things were just not going the way that she had expected. Those of you who have had to balance a career and children, I am sure that you can relate. She felt that at this point in her life things would be different. After all she has what most people dream of, two healthy children, a loving husband and a challenging but good career. Then why did she feel like she was racing through each day as if it were a daunting exercise and the goal was to get to the end as fast as she could? She told me that she was feeling exhausted an unsatisfied most of the time, left wanting more.

I have to admit that I have been in that spot many times before and it is a very unfulfilling place to be. I call it the “waiting place”. Dr. Seuss describes the waiting place so well in the book Oh the Places You’ll Go! In this well know children’s book, Dr. Seuss describes life and how you can let things can get out of control and it becomes very unpleasant. He also delivers the message that you can move beyond the waiting place to a better life, it is up to you.

2009 could not get here soon enough. In 2008 I fell short of most of my expectations for myself. At the end of 2008 I had a revelation, something great is going to happen in 2009. The definition of great is in the hands of each one of us. Great could be that our new president offers the hope that we need to make a change. Great may mean that we revolutionize the way that we live as a society; simplify, get back to basics, get back to family. Great may be that we carve out some time to care for ourselves in 2009. Great may be that we take joy in the “everyday” instead of dreading it. Great may be a state of mind and not necessarily an event.

I shared my vision with my friend and hopefully it was just what she needed to get out of the waiting place.

"You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way! "
---Dr. Seuss

A Day in The Life of a Working Mom

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:28:00 +0000

Did you hear the sonic boom over Florida last week? No, it was not the space shuttle. It was the Ramos family flying out of the house to begin the day. 5:30 AM, the baby woke up sick. My husband and I began the adult version of rock, paper, scissors to see who would stay home with her. 7:10 AM, I managed to get the twins and I showered, dressed and fed and a load of laundry folded. As I was leaving the house my husband commented that I looked disheveled. What do you mean disheveled? I showered and put on a suit and lipstick and I thought that I looked pretty good. When we got in the car I asked the twins, “How does mommy look today?” They are still at the age where they tell the truth. Carlos responded, “Mommy you look beautiful except for your hair, it goes one way and at the same time it goes the other.” All said with a sweet smile. I got a little mama spit and tried to calm down my unruly hair. I got the twins to before school care and I was off, with 15 minutes to spare, yes! No, my husband called because I had left the GPS at home and I am directionally challenged. There goes the extra 15 minutes that I had gained, oh well. I had a two hour drive to my first appointment, so I cranked up ABBA and sang dancing queen as loud as I could. About an hour into the trip, my brand new van stopped, UGH! You have GOT to be KIDDING me! I was out of gas and my new car alerted me with a TINY red light that was blocked by the steering wheel. I called my husband to get sympathy, not gonna happen because men do not run out of gas. So I called my sister and got ample sympathy. Then I remembered that I had AAA and the sun parted the clouds. I called AAA and in less than 20 minutes they sent someone out to me with gas and I was so relieved. As it turns out I was only about 15 minutes late for my appointment and they signed the contract. The rest of my work day went well. I uncovered some new prospects and renewed some contracts. In the current economic environment this is a feat. I returned to Naples around 7:00PM, picked up the sick baby at the soccer field watching the twins practice. We shuffled home, threw some dinner together, bathed and dressed the baby and daddy put her to sleep. Back to the computer to process the contracts that I had received during the day and off to bed around 10:00 PM. As for the news, I am not that interested in the gloom and doom, sleep is so much more important and ignorance is bliss.

Hug your family today and make sure that you have plenty of gas in the tank for your Thanksgiving plans!

Back to Work

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:22:00 +0000

A few months ago I made the decision to go back to work, so far so good. Through the process of running my own businesses, I was able to develop my business prowess even further. For those of you who are concerned about taking the leap back into Corporate America, fear not. You are still valuable to the workforce, no matter how much time you have been home with the kids. The skills that you will bring are organization and stamina which are huge keys to success in today’s marketplace.

Equipped with my new experiences I am hoping to approach work differently this time around. It is important to put my best foot forward while striking the family-work balance. I was able to return to my previous company which gave me a jump on things. As a home based sales representative I have had many years of experience of self directing, marketing and motivating. When you run your own business, you are directly responsible for your own success. Home based sales people face the same responsibility of driving their business. It is necessary to have an entrepreneurial spirit and discipline to be home based in your job.

I am happy to report that Samica Bags and Corporate Greeting Cards are running smoothly thanks to the work of Norann, a stay at home mom. She is enthusiastic about the concept and enjoys staying at home with her children, while helping to pay the grocery bill.

I guess that my message today is that change happens, go with it and make it work for you. You have what it takes to succeed and as soon as you believe this, everyone that you come in contact with will believe it too.

Co-op Daycare

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:01:00 +0000

At the very most I typically get two hours while Sarah (21 months) sleeps, that I can give my undivided attention to growing and maintaining my two small businesses. I can steal a moment here and there while Sarah entertains herself. Other than that it is late in the evening, in the car rider line or any moment that I can steal. I have been really stressing out lately about getting things done. Finally it hit me, when we were kids (way back in the 70's) my mother and her friends coordinated a co-op daycare at Mrs. Sill's house every morning. I remember looking forward to going to the Sill's finished basement because it was loaded with great toys and painting easels. I went home for our 20th High School Reunion last summer and we were all still talking about Mrs. Sill’s home preschool.

I decided to try this for myself and I convinced 3 of my friends to come along for the ride. One morning a week I have four 2 year olds at my house for 3 hours. This opened up three free mornings a week for me. Imagine what I can do with 9 additional uninterrupted hours? Not to mention the great social and sharing skills that Sarah will learn. Well I had my first morning with all of the kiddies and it was a great success. They were so much fun. We sang, danced, played with Lego’s and had a grand time. Most of them did not want to go home when their mommies came to pick them up. The mommies ended up accomplishing so much and they could not wait to spend time with their kids. This is a WIN-WIN for everyone involved.

When faced with a challenge today, think outside the box or ask you mother what she would do. Our parents have so much wisdom and we rarely take the opportunity to learn from them.

Donny Deutsch the Big Idea

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:26:00 +0000

Well I had my national debut on the Donny Deutsch the Big Idea Show last night. I was beamed in via webcam to ask a question of the panel of professionals. It was a blast and I got a ton of hits on my fledgling website, Samica Bags. The topic of the show was branding, how to become a household name. This was very appropriate for my business because I am trying to be very creative, i.e. not spend any money, to get my brand out there, The Grocery Pod. The Donny Deutsch show focuses on following your passion and offers very practical steps to growing your small business. The show is very down to earth in their approach, which is like a breath of fresh air. They tell it how it is. As entrepreneurs we must always self evaluate and be very honest with our selves. I am learning to have a thicker skin, it is never personal. We just need to make sure that we are checking our ego's at the door in order to be successful. If I am being honest with myself, I can say that it was not my best performance. It has been about 3 years since I have spoken in front of a group so there is room for improvement. However, it felt great to get back in the game and I attained my goal of getting my name out there. One thing that was a complete surprise to me was how nice the entire staff at the Donny Deutsch was. Each and every one of them felt like a good friend. They were very supportive and happy. Thanks to all of you the experience of jumping back into the game was much less painful!

I bet you are wondering how I landed on the show in the first place? Most great ideas start with friends and family. My friend Linda Benjamin has been an enthusiastic supporter of mine for the past 20 years. Linda has patiently listened to every detail of my big "ideas" and I have had many. Linda could feel the passion that I have for the Grocery Pod, so she emailed and spoke to staff at the Donny Deutsch show and sure enough we were selected.

I always try to walk away from each experience with three new things to do, anything more than that can be overwhelming. Here are the three things that I will walk away with and work on based on the Donny Deutsch show.

1. PR on a local level first. One thing that resonated with me was that you need to be a hometown hero before you can go after the big guys. I just sent my first press release to the Naples Daily News.
2. Have a clear mission statement. I have one, but it needs to roll off the tongue!
3. PR on a local level, this is so important at this point in my business that it makes the top 3, twice!

Get out there and start talking up your business today!

Website Hosts Comparison

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:20:00 +0000

Very often people will ask me how to select a web hosting solution for their small business. You will find that with a small business you wear different hats, therefore your web host selection will depend on how much you know about html and how much time you want to spend working on your website as the CEO/Director of IT for your small business. I will be reviewing 2 companies, Network Solutions and Homestead ProStores, due to the fact that I use both and am very familiar with the pros and cons of each service.

I currently use Network Solutions for my card site, Corporate Greeting Cards, Inc. This is an informative site only and I do not have pay options attached to the site because my customers get an invoice. What I like about Network Solutions they provide very easy to use templates so that you can launch your site quickly and easily. This is a great solution if you have a large number of images. I like how they offer a photo album style template for images. You can also use html code if you so choose. If you create a template that you like, you can copy and paste it to other pages.One draw back is that the header and sidebar are not customizable. This is a good thing if you are not very technical because it prevents you from messing up the "wrapper" of your site. On the other hand you are stuck with their design. They offer a huge amount of pages (999) and email addresses (50) with the $12 per month option. I have not used the customer service in a long time, however when I did they were very knowledgeable and around 24 hours a day. This is a huge plus since you will typically work on your website at odd hours.

I use Homestead Prostores ecommerce basic solution for Samica Bags at $24 per month. This is a pretty robust ecommerce solution and is great if you want to set up a store front. They sell this as an off the shelf "template" and you can do things outside the recommended template by using html, however be careful because you can completely mess up a template and recovery is difficult. Should you decide to use the basic functionality, plan on taking some time to learn the software. There are many facets to a store front that you may not realize, store design, cataloging, shipping, payment, reporting etc... Homestead also offers a simple informational web hosting solution that they call quick sites and they range from $4.99- $49.99. Paypal can be integrated at the $19.99 per month level. I will cover paypal integration in another topic, however it was very easy to integrate with ProStores. I am not crazy about the ProStores customer support due to the fact that they will not help you with anything outside the basic offering and they are only available during the day. I frequently use a prostores discussion board and prostores training modules, that I stumbled across and completely rely on it and got some great ideas from other prostore users.

Before you buy consider the following:
1. Do you need a store front or informative website?
2. How many pages and email addresses do you need?
3. What is your budget?
4. What is your comfort level with html?
5. Do they have good customer service offerings? Or do you have to pay extra?
6. Do you need to have a shopping cart or payment solution, if so does the host that you are looking at offer instegrated solutions?
7. Store Front, will you need reporting? Can you export customer information in a usable format?

If you decide to use one of the services that I have reveiwed and you found the review helpful, please click on the links in this blog and I will get a referral bonus.

Good luck in your search for the perfect host!

Biodagradable Doggie Poop Bags

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 11:59:00 +0000

From the moment I launched the grocery pod, the number one reason people will not give up plastic bags is because they use the plastic to pick up their dogs poop. Most of them feel great about this because they are "reusing" the plastic bag. Using something 2 times does not make it a sustainable practice in my mind. We have a small dog, so I decided to research the market to find a sustainable solution. I stumbled across the biobag line of biodegradable bags. I was very impressed at how fast they biodegrade and how inexpensive they are. I like them so much that I added the biobag pet waste as a product line on the Samica Bags website. I also like the fact that I am not using a huge bag for such a small amount of dog poop. My hand fits comfortably inside and is not exposed to the yucky stuff through the split at the bottom of the grocery plastic bags. Those of you who have done this before know what I am talking about. To find out more about the biobag pet waste bags, go to the Samica Bags website.

Thank you for doing your part to save the earth in style!

Got Banners?

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:24:00 +0000

One of the more difficult things in running your own business is deciding when to pay someone else to do something for you. I was sitting down to make some banners for my website so that people could "grab" a link to my site that was well, professional. I had no idea where to begin, so I started to look at my mompreneur networking sites. I always use other mompreneurs when I need to outsource for a few different reasons. Typically you can get a very high quality product at a very reasonable price and they go above and beyond in terms of service. Well I found what I was looking for an it was a bargain. Debbie at Misbeehaven Banners set me up with 3 banners, all for $25 and one of them was animated. That is such a deal when you consider that it would have taken me at least 20 hours to figure out how to make my own banners, not to mention the investment in some kind of software. Debbie was a complete joy to work with.

I asked Debbie to send me a bio for this blog and this is what she said.
My name is Deb Emery and I am married to my highschool sweetheart and have 4 children. My oldest boy is 21, twin boys age 18, and my youngest and only girl recently turned 13. As always, i feel the need to learn constantly. With my love for helping others, i had made my decision as to what it was i was going to do. Back in the early 90's i went back to school and became a nurse. After injuring myself in the late 90's and 2 surgeries later, i have found that working from home is what works best for me. I firmly believe everything happens for a reason and with my inability to go back to nursing, i was eager to find something i could do to help with our bills, and yet be at home for my kids. I began learning how to create banners and buttons, and did it here and there just because it was fun. It sometimes can be challenging. I also took a course on Web Design. Since the late 90's i continue to find new things to learn when it comes to designing. As everything continues to change with technology, there will always be more to learn. I create banners, buttons, logos and much more. I do it because it's fun and i love to help other work at home moms by keeping my prices low and reasonable. And most of all i have gained many friendships over the years, and to me that is priceless.

Debbie Emery
http://www.misbeehavenbanners.com/
Email: demery@frontiernet.net

Remember to tap another mompreneur on the shoulder if you need business services.

Marketing at Fairs or Events

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:13:00 +0000

I was a vendor at the Naples Snow Fest yesterday and it was a great success. This event was a blast and thousands of people showed up for the snow pile, ice skating and other great fun and games. Yes you heard me correctly, there was snow in Naples Florida yesterday. The event is sponsored by Collier County Parks and Recreation and they do such an incredible job. They have this event down to a science. You park at a designated parking lot and are bussed less than 5 minutes away for the free event.

I opted to buy a canopy tent at the last minute and was sure glad that I did. My store served as a shelter from the sun and I could see people pointing at the Grocery Pods hanging from the tent saying, "Look at those bags, how cute". Everyone had the same reaction and I became an expert lip reader. There was this really nice woman with 5 boys from Marco Island that bought a Grocery Pod to carry all of the stuff that the boys had collected at the fair. She slung it over her shoulder and she was off, in hot pursuit of the 5 boys. There were also these cute little girls from England and they just loved the quilted back pack so their mother sent them off to buy fries while she bought the gifts and hid them away so that the girls would not see them.

Quite a few people grabbed the website and are planning on ordering holiday gifts online. Overall the fair was a great success. My favorite part was that I felt as if I were going to an actual jog that I really enjoyed. Can you imagine that? In addition, I did not have to shhh the twins or whisper so that Sarah would not wake up! I have been in sales a long time and realize while I did not have record sales, I was able to connect with quite a few people and expand my network and brand presence. If you choose to start a business, it is important to realize that in the beginning it is a more of a priority to get your name out there in a positive way than it is to make a huge profit. Attending tradeshows, fairs, holiday shows, etc. is a great way to spread the word about your fantastic new product or service.

You've come a long way baby!

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:05:00 +0000

I have always been interested in running my own business. When I was in 5th grade, my friend Jen and I started our first company called Jen and Mo Craft Co. This was the most profitable business that I have run to date. We did not have any overhead because our parents bought all of the goods for us and we made them into product and sold them at 100% profit. You can not top those percentages. We made fuzzy pompoms with google eyes for the top of pencils and braided barrettes with the long ribbon (anyone remember those from the 80's?). We also hand painted barrettes with model airplane paint and the thought of the toxins that we inhaled makes me dizzy. We would spend hours on end creating a very high quality product that we then sold at school to all of our friends! We were doing home parties and direct sales way before they became the rage. I have not lost my desire and drive to create something that people really love.

I have been able to feed my creative cravings with my new bag business, http://www.samicabags.com/. I now offer a round reusable grocery bag called the Grocery Pod. The Grocery Pod is made from fun, vibrant fabrics and helps to keep plastic and paper bags out of our landfills. Not to mention the carbon that is emitted when making the paper and plastic. The Grocery Pod has been well received by consumers and many of them have mentioned that they use the Grocery Pod to carry books to the library, overnight clothes to grandma's house, etc.

Take some time today to feed the creative person in you. You will be surprised at just how much fun you can have!

Mamas Like the Grocery Pod

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:05:00 +0000

A Pod Full of Peas (and rice and cookies and soup and crackers…)

Maureen at Samica Bags has found a way to “save the earth in style” with her Grocery Pods! Samica Bags’ mission is to educate adults and children on using sustainable products.
I love my grocery pod, and I must admit, I was surprised at just how much it holds! It’s made from strong, durable fabric in a variety of stylish colors and patterns. These pods are constructed in a circular design, making the most use of every inch of space. You’ll be amazed at how much these pods hold.

The Samica Bags website is full of information and articles on recycling, plastic bags, and carbon offset. After reading, you’ll definitely want to do your part to cut down on plastic bag usage. I especially like these grocery pods because I do most of my shopping at Aldi (a store where you either have to buy bags, or bring your own bags from home).
These bags can also be used as school bags and tote bags or for packing a picnic lunch and carrying library books. And don’t forget to check out the new unique and stylish handbags while you’re browsing!

Dawn Meehan
Mamas Like is a product review blog that is dedicated to showcasing products and services by and for work-at-home moms.

The Blooming of a Green Lifestyle: An Attitude, a Philosophy, a Mission, a Commitment, a Lifestyle

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:20:00 +0000

Larry Sánchez, Ed.S., M.S.
erostropical@gmail.com

This short article is meant to serve as an introspective exercise regarding the impact of our lifestyle behaviors on the environment and its ecosystems, and as an invitation to consider gathering facts on ¨what’s going on in my home, country and in the world¨ regarding this subject and how to make changes while feeling good with the efforts. It is, also, one of my ways to contribute to a cause that I deem worthy given that it is close to reaching a ¨life-or-death¨ magnitude in some aspects. Literature on environment, including ¨do’s and don’ts¨, from serious scientific and other reputable sources is abundant; please, check it out.

The field of human behavior as well as environmental matters is vast and complex. In all due respect to these fields and to humankind, the briefness of this introspective article is, by no means, the result of oversimplification or simplistic thinking.

Some important factors related to pro environment/nature behavior:
1. Positive attitude and sensitivity: This is one of the first and most critical factors given the possibility of deeply ingrained subjective-affective elements and the potential of this constellation of factors to influence behavior and outcomes. The disposition to engage in efforts related to learning, to change, and to the adoption and mastery of pro environment/nature-oriented behaviors and lifestyle is of utmost importance. This is one of the most important considerations in any behavior modification mission.
2. Perception and way of thinking: A positive attitude can influence the ¨way to see and interpret things¨, a ¨door opener¨ to a universe of potentially desirable behaviors.
3. Philosophy: The above are crucial elements in the ¨brewing¨ or ¨the making¨ of a philosophy on matters such as ¨who am I, how should I act, what is the impact of my behaviors and actions on others¨; the environment; nature; life; quality of life; well-being/thriving and the like. The scope, depth, and consequences of this philosophy could be operant even at a subthreshold level of awareness and/or beyond the capacity or ability of the person to conceptualize these.

Some ¨pro-green¨ considerations (whenever safe and possible when applicable):
1. Moderate, true-to-need consumption.
2. Use reusable products; stretch the useful lifespan of all goods (preferably), recyclables (second best) instead of ¨one-shot¨ disposables.
3. Resort to environment-friendly alternatives, procedures, and chemicals (biodegradables) instead of environment ¨unfriendly¨ resources/alternatives.
4. Maximize use of natural resources instead of artifical ones (ventilation, illumination, cooling, warming, etc.).
5. Patronize ¨Intelligent, Green, Environment-Friendly¨ technology (structure design, solar energy, wind energy, etc.).
6. Adhere to productivity-efficiency criteria and procedures (foresight, planning, organizing, priorities, technology, do the most with the least, save the most, reduce or eliminate waste, etc.).
7. Prior to acting, think: Do I really need to; what are all the related costs, effects, consequences?
8. Segregate waste for disposal/recycling purposes, take it to a convenient collection center.
9. Act carefully to avoid unnecessary use of resources.
10. Adequate operation and maintenance of technology (appliances, vehicles, tools, etc. - switch off instant-on appliances such as (TVs and stereos that do not require continuous electrical feeding).
11. Use ¨gray water¨ (water from the cloth washing machine) for some household chores (cleaning ramps, sidewalks, carports, garages, etc.).
12. Did you know that some solids may take from 400 to 1,000 years to wear out?
13. Did you know that many countries in the world, including the U.S., are confronting serious problems with their landfills and that landfill by-product is mortally toxic?
14. Did you know that mercury level in the water, including oceans, is so high that experts are warning people not to exceed a given amount of consumption of some fish within a given period of time? - pregnant women and their fetus, breast-feeding mother and their children are at a high risk of vulnerability.
15. Did you know that a more-than-desirable amount of the food that you eat is contaminated with dangerous toxics and/or has been technologically manipulated with already-available evidence of serious adverse consequences to the health of the consumer?
16. Did you know that plastic, fishing lines and hooks, balloons, and other products are the cause of health problems, mutilation, and death of many birds, water and land animals?
17. Did you know that down-the-sink drain disposal of used cooking oil is detrimental to water quality?
18. Did you know that fresh water reservoirs, including the U.S., are drying-up at an alarming rate? Today´s concern is about oil; tomorrow´s concern will be about fresh water.
19. Did you know about the rate and extent of pollution caused by motorized pleasure water vehicles, as well as other?
20. Are you aware of the rate of deforestation and its negative effects; have you thought how wasting paper contributes to this, among many other reasons?
21. Did you know that there is wisdom in learning how to ¨read¨ and ¨listen¨ to nature? Doing so amounts to life; not doing so amounts to death. Now, which way will you prefer to go on the life or death predicament.
22. More, plenty more.

The internalization of the above could be the ¨bulldozers¨ to pave the way towards the instilment of habits, routines and a code of values/ethics/behaviors, among other consequences. Moreover, they can play a protagonic role regarding a person’s sense of duty, mission, and commitment eventually comprising an important and desirable ¨add-on¨ to the person’s construct of a healthy lifestyle, including pro environment/nature behaviors.

A very quick glance at Mankind´s track record regarding the environment
Homo Sapiens Erectus has been affecting his environment since his appearance, particularly after his first technological discovery, among other reasons. Notwithstanding the endowment of a superb intellect, Homo Sapiens Erectus is not naturally equipped to adapt to the demands of the diverse environments to which he has moved and settled; hence, survival and thriving are dependent and conditioned to his ability to manipulate resources (technology), and to living in groups, with very rare exceptions.

Shortly after Homo Sapiens Erectus´ appearance, one of the first milestones in the continuum of his impact on the environment was the development of agriculture, farming, animal taming and co-living, and animal breeding, without undermining other events.

At a more recent point in time, the Industrial Revolution and the consequent evolution of ¨hi-tech¨ industrialized sectors throughout the World has, highly probable, been the most outstanding event in the history of mankind to have an adverse effect on the environment. Acknowledging the positive yields of industrialization and technology to date, negative outcomes related to the rampant flourishing, proliferation and diversification of technology, production and consumption of goods and consequent waste and other undesirable byproducts in the absence of controls commensurate to the wide spectrum and level of negative effects have also subjected the world to dangerous epidemic levels of toxicity, contamination, and general degradation of environmental quality. An alarming high percentage of ecosystems are clearly presenting a plethora of indicators pointing to unquestionable adverse effects. The survival of many organisms in the animal kingdom, including mankind, is being ¨mortally challenged¨ since they cannot adapt fast enough to the accelerated artificially induced environmental changes.

The consequences related to Mankind´s life support infrastructure, particularly the wasteful artificial/ convenience/comfort/luxury oriented lifestyles of some social sectors in some countries of the World, pose a taxing and subtractive effect on the quality of the environment and the resources of the World. As an example (among countless ones), why insist on working out a landscape in the middle of a desert to emulate a tropical garden – at the expense of nature and sacrificing other people from precious unrelenting diminishing of resources. A sector of mankind has lost touch with reality and continues to make evident the unwillingness to live in harmony with the environment, let alone the understatement of a crass lack of ethics and respect in its broadest sense.

Contamination, destruction, unnatural changes and decimation/depletion of some resources and inventories is already evident. Documentation pointing to threats to the well-being, thriving, and even survival of Mankind and other species is real and must not be undermined. Suffice it to say that the threat to other species in the animal and plant kingdom poses a real and direct danger to mankind, particularly on survival-related matters such as the food chain, without undermining other considerations.

To a certain extent and compared to almost all the species in the animal kingdom, Homo Sapiens does not live in harmony and equilibrium with his environment and, despite of ranking highest in the intelligence Totem Pole, presents minimal evidence of retribution related to a relentlessly increasing trend of consumption-subtractive behavior and deficient management of resources, including waste and toxics.

For all of the years and generations to come, may Mankind protagonize a giant and active role on behalf of a healthy environment; Nature will more than generously retribute our efforts in an act of gratefulness… naturally.

Please…
help people change their thinking from ¨wilted¨ to green; to act green; and to thrive green.

Elton John Rocks the House

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:36:00 +0000

This past September it was our 11th wedding anniversary and we decided to get tickets to see Elton John and the Germain Arena in Fort Myers. Pedro waited in line for hours and was able to secure tickets just before the show sold out. We did not get great seats and it did not bother us. We were so excited to spend some time together without the children, doing something that we would both enjoy. Who doesn't love Elton John? We made reservations for dinner at the arena and were very glad that we did. It gave us some time to decompress from our hectic lives and eat while sitting down. The food at the arena was not all that bad and we were able to watch all of the people as they filed into their seats. That alone was a great show. Elton opened with an instrumental and he brought the heat from the first note. I was very impressed with his power, belting out familiar lyrics and jamming on the piano for at least 2 1/2 hours. He must take vitamins because I do not have half the stamina that Elton John presented. Elton is the ultimate entertainer and a very gracious leader of a tremendous band. He took the time to recognize every person in the arena and his band after each song. On more than one occasion, I felt that he was pointing directly at me and I am sure that every person in the place felt the same way. I have been feeling a little insecure about my businesses lately and at one point I felt like Elton was singing to me, "Everyone of us has to face that day, do you cross the bridge or do you fade away?". How did he know about my fears of actually succeeding. I have chosen success and I will cross the bridge.
He finished the show with a 2 song encore including, Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me.
We left the Elton John concert with a new perspective on life and met up with our driver Tom. What a nice guy, Tom. Please call him if you live in the Naples/Ft. Myers area and need transportation services. They offer limos and town cars at a very reasonable price and impeccable service. A touch of Class can be reached at 239-597-2329.

In the end our seats were awesome. We were so close to Mr. Elton John and the vibe was unbeatable.

Take some time today to do something special with your significant other.

Crab and Asparagus Dip

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 13:38:00 +0000

Preparation Skill: Easy

1/2 cup sour cream
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 (10.5 oz) can cut spears asparagus, drained and chopped
2 oz. (1/2 cup) shredded fresh Parmesan Cheese ( I use half fresh and half regular)
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
1 teaspoon prepared horse radish
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 (6 oz.) can crab meat, drained (I use bumble bee fancy lump crabmeat)
1/3 cup sliced or quartered almonds (I toast them a little before putting them on the dish)

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, combine sour cream, cream cheese and asparagus; mix well.
2. Add cheese, onions, horseradish, mustard and crabmeat; mix well.
3. Spread evenly in ungreased 1-quart baking dish.
4. Sprinkle with almonds.
5. Bake at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve warm with assorted crackers or fresh veggies.

Tip: You can prepare this dish a few hours ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator in the casserole dish. Just before serving, top it with the almonds and bake as directed.

Deal or No Deal?

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 21:30:00 +0000

In an effort to reorganize (i.e. make some money) with my Greeting Card Direct Mail business, I have been cold calling corporate Human Resource departments. Today I secured my very first phone meeting with the director of HR for a midsize company in Florida. The call was scheduled for 2 pm because I knew for SURE that the baby, who is 20 months old, would be sleeping at that time. At 1:45 pm I began to hear the buzz of the yard guy’s industrial lawn mower and the whirl of the weed whacker at our neighbor’s house. As the noise intensified the dog began to bark and ALL of the red lights on the baby monitor lit up, not a good sign. Now What? At 1:55pm I strategically poured out an entire bag of yogos across the couch. The call was short but informative and I think that I may even get the deal. I did a little skip to celebrate the successful meeting. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of the baby. She looked like a chipmunk with her entire mouth stuffed with yogos and the dog had pooped on the floor. My excitement about my new success was short lived as I resumed life as a mother picking up poop off the floor.

It's All In The Presentation Just Add Sprinkles

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:36:00 +0000

When we were kids my father would always prepare breakfast for us on Saturday mornings. It was not just a meal, it was an event. The four of us would sit at the breakfast bar to watch my father's every move because we did not want to miss the moment that he put in the "secret ingredient". Inevitably we would all miss the moment because in reality there was no secret ingredient. It was a way to capture our attention and get us excited for the meal/event. As we look back as adults, we seem to remember that dad made breakfast for us all of the time. When in reality it was only once a week. He created such a wonderful event for us that we still remember every detail. I had an 8 year old girl for a sleepover last weekend. When she went home she told her mother about the wonderful breakfast/event that she had at the Ramos house. I learned from my father how to create the magic. All that I had given them was pancakes with a few sprinkles and some whipped cream!

5 things that you can do with sprinkles!

1. Sprinkles in pancakes are always a winner, make sure that you spray the pan or the sprinkles will stick. Use sweet sprinkles and you will not need to use syrup.
2. Slice and bake sugar cookies, a can of frosting and you guessed it sprinkles make a great project and snack.
3. Dip pretzel rods into melted chocolate chips (or any flavor) and dip in the sprinkles. Lay on Waxed paper to harden.
4. Cut 4 inch pieces of celery, spread peanut butter or cream cheese inside. Top with some sprinkles and set some goldfish upright to make it look like they are swimming.
5. Buy only one kind of sprinkles (rainbow) that way you do not have a shelf full of stale sprinkles.

Make a special meal or snack for your kids today, they will remember it for a lifetime.

The Hat Parade

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:00:00 +0000

We ran out the door this morning and made it to school just in time for the first bell. (My family will tell you that nothing has changed. I remember when my brother had to HOLD the bus almost every morning for me.) As the twins were stepping out of the car, Miguel asked if I would please go to the vocabulary hat parade at 9:15 today. He had worked for hours to come up with a hat concept that explained the word "thrilled" and he really wanted my support. My knee jerk reaction was to say no and the list of things that I had to accomplish today ran warp speed through my head. All of a sudden two words came into my head, life balance. I have reinvented myself for the 20th (and last) time to achieve life balance and to BE there for my family. I looked deep into Miguel's dark brown eyes and said, "Honey, I will do my best to be there". He gave me a great big smile, the one where all of his missing teeth show, and hopped out of the car.

When I arrived home, I threw in a load of laundry, emtied the dish washer, threw the instant oatmeal into the microwave for Sarah, gave my hair and teeth a quick brush and we were back out the door to the vocabulary hat parade at the school.

The parade was a blast and the kids did a really good job on their hats and when I say kids, I mean parents. The twins were so "thrilled" (which was Miguel's word for the parade) that Sarah and I were there to support them. I would like to give a shout out to the twins teachers, Jessica and Ronda, they do an incredible job with our kids EVERY DAY and very often it goes unnoticed. I appreciate you both!

Make time for something special today!

You Can't Do That RSS Feeds

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:54:00 +0000

My husband and family all know the sure fire way to get me to do something for them, they simply say, "You can't do that". Oh Yes I can. Out comes the very intense and tenacious me and I will not stop until I do what ever it is that I can't do!
There is nothing more annoying than a customer service representative telling me that I can not do something when they REALLY do not know the answer. I will continue this topic because everyday I run into new material. I will tell you How to do things when you are told that you can't.

I called my web host (homestead) to find out how to set up RSS feeds for my blog and news to my prostores website. The rep said those evil words, "I am sorry Ma'am, but you can not do that." Not only did he give the wrong answer, but they called me Ma'am, UGH! In simple terms a RSS feed is a script (or code) that you paste into your web page so that every time that topic is updated it will automatically send the information to update on your site. It is a very useful tool and has many applications. Here are the instructions on how I set up my blog as a feed to my site. Keep in mind that you can do this from many sites.

GOTO www. greenmompreneur.blogspot.com now look for a chicklet on your toolbar that is a small orange square with a dot and two lines. Click the pull down menu and select Green Mompreneur Own Your Own Business-RSS. This will open a window and your feed will appear. Now anytime that you want to look at this feed open explorer and in your favorites you will also have a feeds button. You can aggregate all of your feeds here for your personal viewing. This is great for looking at your favorite news sources all in one place instead of clicking through all of the websites.

To make this feed "usable" for your site you will need to run it through a feed reader. I use http://www.feedburner.com/ because it not only converts the feed to code, but it has some great tracking tools and advertising tools!

Go back to your feed list in explorer and click on Green Mompreneur Own Your Own Business and in the bottom right hand corner click on the hyperlink view property feeds. At the top of the window you will see the address, copy the entire address and paste it in to any Feed Reader. The Feed Reader will then produce a html code that you can copy and paste into the page of your site that you want it to appear.

Let me know if you have any questions on setting up a RSS feed. This is one step to getting your business organized for turn key operation!

Go Boston Red Sox

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:51:00 +0000

I am learning that life is all about the little moments that can very easily go unnoticed each day. I put baby Sarah (1 1/2) down for a nap with her new build-a bear, which was dressed with a Red Sox shirt and cute denim sandals. When she woke up she was sporting the tiny little sandals on her fat feet and Misty the dog had on the red sox shirt. I just about popped a button on my pants because I was laughing so hard. They say that laughter adds minutes onto our lives. In sharing funny kids stories we can all add years on to our lives! Breathe in all of those little moments today and everyday. Well I love that dirty water.....BOSTON you're my home! Go SOX!

Grand Opening Samica Bags Online Store

noreply@blogger.com (The Green Mompreneur) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:23:00 +0000

Announcing the Grand Opening of:
Samica Bags
Online Store
Paper or Plastic? Reusable Grocery Pod™ Please!
One day I just got tired of bringing home over 25 plastic bags from one trip the grocery store. Why is it they use one plastic bag per item? After using the plastic bag for all of 10 minutes, I would put them in my recycle bin and feel as though I had done a good deed for the earth. Inevitably some of the bags would escape their doom of being recycled and fly into the air as the recycling truck was dumping my bin into the back of the truck. Airborne this “urban tumbleweed” would hunt down its prey by acting as food for animals that would then ingest the plastic bag and perish. What about the plastic bags that DID make it to the recycling plant, there is the gas of the truck and the energy used to make that plastic bag usable again?

The reusable grocery bags on the market were, quite frankly, not very attractive. I mean really, I KNOW you are not a plastic bag.

The reusable, fashionable, fabric grocery pod™ was born.

Problem
• According to the Wall Street Journal Americans use over 100 Billion
plastic shopping bags per year.
• The recycling rate for plastic bags is said to be under 5%
• It takes 100 to 1000 years for the plastic bag to biodegrade
• Hundreds of thousands of animals perish each year from ingesting plastic bags
• Paper bags generate 70% more air pollutants in the fabrication process than
plastic bags
• As inhabitants of our planet we are simply cutting down more trees than we
are planting.

Solution- The Grocery Pod™
• Reusable offset your personal carbon footprint on the earth
• Washable and holds 2-3 plastic bags worth of groceries
• We can not forget fashionable, thank you for saving the earth in style!