Devoted to WAHMs -Work at Home Moms

Work From Home Momma: How many years have you worked from home?

Cherie: About two.

Work From Home Momma: What made you decide to start a home business?

Cherie: Family reasons.  We hope to start a family and then I will be a work at home mama!

Work From Home Momma: I notice that you have an online bookstore. Exactly what does that entail?

Cherie: I have an online used book store, and I also sell my own books online.  I love books so it's a very fun and rewarding job.  For the used books I scout out garage sales, flea markets, and library sales and then sell the books I find online.  The used book market works somewhat counter-intuitively from the new book market.  Books that are considered odd, rare, or hard to find sell better than the popular ones.  I'm always amazed to see which books are in demand.

I sell the books I've written online as well.  People can order them through large online retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Powells, or direct through my publishing company (BonjourPublishing.com).  

Work From Home Momma: You've published several books of poetry. Was getting them published a difficult process?

Cherie: No, especially now that I've started my own company.  Poetry, especially, is very hard to sell.  (No one buys poetry books these days!)  So I had to come up with a way that I could publish my work and not break the bank.  I published my first two books through an online self-publisher and then published the third one through my own company.  Doing it myself allowed me to maintain control of the pricing and look.  I'm also able to send out review copies and fulfill orders much easier.  I'm now beginning to re-release my earlier poetry books under Bonjour Publishing.

Work From Home Momma: What is your biggest challenge?

Cherie: Now that I'm a full-time writer and bookseller, my biggest challenge is simply finding time to be creative.  I used to work at a "regular" job and then when I came home I wrote as a means of relaxation.  Now, I write as part of my job, so I find that I don't have the time I once did to fit in the creative time.  It sounds silly, since I'm home I "should" have more time for creativity but I don't.  I actually need to schedule it.

Besides that, fitting in time to work on the various projects I have is the second major challenge.  I've always been good at multi-tasking, but now I really need to keep to a schedule in order to balance home and work life.  When I was single it was so easy - I just worked all the time!  haha   Now that I'm married I want to balance my time so I can enjoy my family time as well as work life.

Work From Home Momma: You write for a lot of blogs. How do you find the time to fit it all in?

Cherie: I try and get into a routine where I divide my time between searching for material to write about, updating my blogs, and fulfilling book orders.  I find I can get more done if I carve out time and focus on one thing at a time rather than jumping back and forth between "jobs."

Work From Home Momma: What are your goals for the next year? For the next five years?

Cherie: I have two books in the works I want to publish.  Both of them are so close to finished it's not funny - I just haven't had time to do the final completion and editing on either one.  After that I have two more fiction books in the works as well as a children's book.  Besides that, I'd like to pick up a few more blogs to write for.  

Work From Home Momma: Which one of your projects is your favorite?

Cherie: You may be surprised at this, but my favorite project was one in which I have not made a cent!  It's an essay I wrote for the "This I Believe" series.  I wrote about growing up as the child of an alcoholic, and how that changed the way I viewed myself and the world.  I had a rough childhood but God gave me a strong faith and helped me become a healthy and happy adult.  It was hard work, but I was able to overcome all those negative patterns that alcoholism can cause in families. Whenever I write now, I think about people who were just like me and feeling bad about themselves due to the abuse they suffered at the hands of their parents. Silence and shame are what give alcoholism the power to destroy families, and I hope to inspire people just by breaking the silence and talking about in the open.  That way anyone (kids especially) going through a similar time now might be able to turn their lives around that much quicker.  

I wrote the essay almost two years ago, and it is still the second-most popular on the site out of over 35,000 entries!   Penn Jillette (from Penn & Teller) has the most popular essay, so mine is second to his.  That always makes me laugh, because Penn is famous and everyone knows him!  Whereas no one knows me.  (Which is okay. :)

Work From Home Momma: Do you have any helpful tips or advice you would like to share with the readers of Work From Home Momma?

Cherie: The biggest thing I can say to all women struggling to fit everything in (motherhood, work, paying bills, taking care of their families) is to be kind to each other.  So many times we judge each other if someone stays home as opposed to working outside the home, or vice versa.  Now we have this new phenomenon of moms staying at home and also working (which I will soon fall into as well.)  We're all just trying to do what's best for our families.  Some women work from home because they want to, some because their families rely on their income.  Whatever the reason, we as women carry a big load in life, so we need to support one another. That's why I love your site!

Do you have more than two years of experience in a home business? Would you like to share your story on Work From Home Momma? Contact me at Laura [at symbol] workfromhomemomma.com.