"join the family"

Can you believe it has been a year nearly since the Work At Home Mafia came on the scene? Wow, we have certainly put a dent in the job forums in that time. We have one of the best reputations online for having friendly supportive members. With over 6,000 job leads posted we have helped 100's of our members find employment. And our members have found positions from places ranging from Hilton to Huffington Post to GoDaddy and more.

To celebrate we are having a week dedicated to our first birthday leading up the big day on March 10th. So starting on Monday, March 2nd we will be qualifiying people for the giveaways to our members. All you need to do is log in and you are automatically in the drawings.

To also qualify for the drawings you can also mention the Work At Home Mafia on your blogs this week too. Just email Kim @ admin@workathomemafia.com with the link to your blog.

The prizes so far include:

Can you believe it has been a year nearly since the Work At Home Mafia came on the scene? Wow, we have certainly put a dent in the job forums in that time. We have one of the best reputations online for having friendly supportive members. With over 6,000 job leads posted we have helped 100's of our members find employment. And our members have found positions from places ranging from Hilton to Huffington Post to GoDaddy and more.

To celebrate we are having a week dedicated to our first birthday leading up the big day on March 10th. So starting on Monday, March 2nd we will be qualifiying people for the giveaways to our members. All you need to do is log in and you are automatically in the drawings.

To also qualify for the drawings you can also mention the Work At Home Mafia on your blogs this week too. Just email Kim @ admin@workathomemafia.com with the link to your blog.

The prizes so far include:


































Amazon Gift Cards
and more... the list is growing.

If you would like to sponsor or donate a gift from your home business in the Week of Mafia, then please contact Kim at admin@workathomemafia.com

Question: What makes a good WAH company?

Answer: There are many factors that make a company a good company to work for and I'll list a few of the most important factors.

Pay - no one wants to work and not be compensated so look for a few of these factors on the Mafia forum and see if these issues are addressed.
Do they pay on time?
Are paychecks correct?
Are people commenting about payment issues on the board

Comments - are you seeing any positive comments about a company. Do you see a variety of comments? I mention this because one company is notorious about having their HR personnel and supervisors seed message boards with praise from the company. If you look at more then one board and it is the same person over and over, ask questions to your fellow WAH members.

Communication - are you able to reach HR or other personnel with a company?

Style - I don't mean fashion when I say this but how does this company treat its ICs or employees. Do your research.

I am so happy to be able to relaunch the Shop At Home Mafia after a 4 month absence from the internet. In order to help all our members out during these trying financial times, I felt we all need all the deals, discounts and coupons we can find to stretch each dollar.

Many individuals who work at home are trying to find a niche market where they can showcase their skills and abilities to their fullest. Several members of the Mafia website have found their niche in writing and submitted artwork for greeting cards. This, however, for most is a supplemental income at first and a great way to express yourself.

In order to gain entry into this field you need to carefully read and follow submission guidelines for company and be as original and creative as you can be. One of the easiest methods is search for the websites of greeting card publishing houses. Contact the company and request guidelines. I have been updating both the website and the WAH Company list for art submission sites.

Here are some popular greeting card sites to help you get started toward your niche position:
Here are some popular greeting card sites to get started:

* American Greetings
* Avanti Press
* Blue Mountain - writings@sps.com
* Card Makers
* Comstock Cards
* DaySpring
* E-Cards
* Freedom Greeting Card
* Gallant Greetings
* Greeting Card Association
* Hallmark
* Kogle Cards
* Oatmeal Studios
* Palm Press

Hopefully, after reading and building your portfolio, you will be able to expand into the greeting card market.

As we collectively groan at our most dreaded task of the year, I wanted to share some free and great resources with the Mafia members to make this tax year a breeze. There are so many great programs and resources out there and with a little research, we can easily save time and money by using them.

Turbo Tax has come out with a free Federal edition that according to their website was designed for people who have simple tax returns and don’t need much tax guidance, regardless of income level. TurboTax Free Edition is the easy way to get free tax preparation. It searches for all the tax credits you’re eligible for to get you the biggest refund possible, guaranteed.

Now if you prefer to use another program, many of our members swear by the ease of use of TaxAct which states it has everything that you need to file free online tax returns is included at no charge - prepare your federal return, print your return, and take advantage of free online tax filing with e-file for a refund in as few as 8 days. TaxACT is the pioneer of free online tax filing.

If you want more variety then the free editions provide then check out all the great deals on Buy.com and GET YOUR REFUND NOW! Tax Software Store - exp. 04/15/09

Always remember if you have any questions to check out the IRS website which has tons of great resources, tutorials for everyone. I especially love the great reference material especially for home businesses. Several of their publications are linked in our Tax Questions/Issues section of our forum. As we draw closer to tax time we will be devoting more discussion to it both our site, newsletter and upcoming radio show.

I am sure most of you are confused to see a work at home site talking about the Super Bowl but I am mentioning it for two reasons. One is my Steelers are playing in it and secondly, there is a wealth of work at home related and freebies that tie into the Super Bowl.

If you are not already a member, House Party, is a great site that ties into great sporting events, tv show premieres, products and more. I was one of the lucky members to be selected to host a Velveeta Game Day Party. The party packs they send are incredible and it is going to amp up my Super Bowl party this year with all of the great freebies and recipes included.

Another tie into WAH is Live Ops. You may not realize but you may be ordering your pizzas for your party from a work at home operator there. The list goes on to include ShopNBC, HSN and QVC.

If you are traveling to the game itself it is likely a WAH worker took your hotel reservation, rented you a car or gave you roadside assistance if needed. People just do not realize how much the work at home community affects daily life now. Just something to think about.

In order to consolidate all of our fantastic freebies, incredible deals and money saving coupons in one area, I have merged the Freebies and Shops into one site now.

We are pleased to announce the winning submission voted on my our members was Work At Home Mobcast. We awarded the winning entry $25 Amazon Gift card. Stay tuned to the Mafia for our weekly radio show.

I am bringing back our internet radio/podcasting to the Mafia but just was thinking since everything else is all new and updated now we needed a new name.

So hence the contest. Submit your entries on the thread on the forum for the best name for the weekly radio show.

I will post my favorites and allow the members to vote on them. The winning name will receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card for their efforts.

I have added some great deals and savings for your home office from 40-60% off on routers, wireless devices, headsets and laptop components. Not to mention all of the great savings on everything else you might need!

MyBlogLog’s Recent Readers - The widget lets you see the avatars of recent visitors to your blog, provided they are also members of MyBlogLog.

Mashable - get the latest social networking news from Mashable.

Flickr Flash Photo Stream Badge - display images from your Flickr profile with a handy Flash photo stream.

Preview Anywhere - see a live preview of outgoing links in a small popup which activates on mouseover

Twitter Badge – A Twitter badge is the ideal counterpart to your blog. It displays your recent tweets.

Digg News - display the latest Digg links on your blog.

FEEDJIT - real time traffic data directly in your blog’s sidebar.

LineBuzz - inline comments for your blog. Very handy for blogs with frequent lively discussions.

Flixn - display a stream directly from your webcam to your blog.

3Jam - lets your visitors send messages to your mobile phone, without them knowing your phone number.

Jaxtr - with Jaxtr, your visitors can actually call you to your mobile phone; again, your number stays private.

LinkedInABox - show off your LinkedIn profile. Perfect for personal blogs.

Box Widget - enable visitors to use box.net’s online storage directly on your web site.

ClockLink - display time in various time zones with these nifty Flash clocks.

Film Loops - display the latest loops from your FilmLoops account.

WhoLinked - show your visitors which sites have recently linked to your web site.

Criteo AutoRoll - displays links to blogs similar to your blog.

Bitty Browser - embed a cute, fully functional mini web browser to your blog.

Leafletter - create a mini website and embed it into your blog.

WikiSeek - search Wikipedia with this simple widget.

FeedCount - show off the number of visitors to your blog with this handy little button.

Technorati Link Count - display the number of links your website has from one of the biggest blog authorities - Technorati.

MyPageRank - another good way to show off your Google PageRank.

CheckPageRank - in addition to showing your PageRank, this widget also shows your Alexa ranking.

BlinkxIt - embed a link to related videos directly into your website.

Skype button - display your Skype online/offline status on your blog.

del.icio.us Tagometer - display how many times have del.icio.us users saved your page.

del.icio.us Linkrolls - this badge shows your latest bookmarks from del.icio.us.

Timelines – create a timeline

PollDaddy - PollDaddy lets you create beautiful polls in no time, and display them at your blog.

Vizu - another poll-making widget,

Now Playing - if you got to share your current playlist contents with the world, Sigamp will do the trick.

BuzzBoost - display headlines from your RSS feed on any website.

LibraryThing - show off the latest books you have been reading.

Now is the perfect time to finish out 2008 on a high note as work at home professionals. We need to close out the year for tax purposes and prepare for the upcoming year by doing a few very easy steps.

1. Have you donated to charities for tax purposes? If not, be sure to donate asap and make sure you have the documentation to support your deduction.

2. Work smart. Take advantage of time management tools and software to revamp your work habits and make the best use of your time.

3. Consider your tax status - review the advantages of licensing as a business or incorporating. We have several excellent links to sites in our How To Start A Business thread.

4. Review and revise your resume. We are finalizing a resume review service and will be launching it as part of the new Mafia.

5. Organize - not only yourself but your work area. Any purchases you make in supplies can be deducted if done prior to the end of this year.

And finally and most importantly, a new year and a new attitude. Let us all start 2009 on a positive note and use the resources available to become the best work at home professionals, we can become.