With My Hand to the Plow

Lately I have days that I work until 2-3 am. I hit the bed hardly able to walk (literally). These are usually days that either I have over-committed myself or something has happened that day that puts me way behind.

All of my married life I have had some sort of home industry going on. Cakes and catering for family and friends has been great. I’ve quilted, I’ve done in-home day care, established and directed a church kindergarten, cleaned houses, started this website, written e-books, produced videos… the list goes on. Different seasons of life allowed for different avenues. The main thing was I always wanted my kids with me.

A Place for Women to Thrive in Business

Home should be a natural greenhouse for feminine industry, a place for women to thrive in business and still embrace the calling of home life.

Blisters are still made.

Struggle and toil still happen and hearts are still broken.

Income is still earned and bills still paid.

But the rewards are unfathomably greater and the success sweeter.

The women here don’t have time for meaningless gossip and water cooler chats, because they have a foundation of purpose and a far reaching vision. They are more than just wage slaves, they have the freedom to take risk.

What would you do if all the money was gone?

Some of you may have been there before.

Some of you may be there now.

Some of you hope to never be there.

It’s the place when hard financial times hit. They may come from an un-expected catastrophe or maybe from job loss. These situations can empty your savings before you know it and leave you questioning the future… questioning everything.

So how do you respond?

How do you prepare for these times?

From Simple Cake Decorating to Cash!

Learning to bake a cake correctly and then learning the simple skill of basic decorating can lead into a great way to make money. Not to mention, you save money making your own cakes.

The same decorating techniques that are used in making a wedding cake are the same as a regular birthday cake, with the exception of learning how to stack them.

Wedding cakes are where the money is at!

The Work of Our Hands - A Two Wedding Weekend

One of our family income streams is catering.

It’s small scale.

The big money maker are the cakes,

but with that comes TONS of stress!

For the first time I took on two catering jobs on the same day.

I knew we could do it if I planned really carefully!

This was only because I have enough adult kids that really want to work it! For years my kids have been drug along to many catering jobs (usually with pay), their heart not always in it, but they had to do it none the less…because we are a family and this is what we do. But now after years (a life-time) of training, they are truly skilled and are willing to be a part, and they are making some decent money; that’s always a good motivator! And now to have a capable son-in-law we can do more. I was able to leave one adult (married) child at home with the young children. One adult child at one wedding, along with 2 hired teen-aged friends. And then Jeff, my very skilled son-in-law Josh, and myself worked the second wedding. We did 500 servings of food!

How to Build a Family Economy - Dandelion Threads/Giveaway

Today I’d like you to meet my friend Mim. I asked her to share a little about her online business she runs from her home. Don’t miss the giveaway and discount below.

I am mum to a busy little boy, wife to an incredibly handsome hubby, and keeper of our happy little home. Since the birth of our son I have been dipping my fingers into various creative ponds, including quilling, card-making, sewing, gardening, knitting, music and baking - not all as successful as some!

Economics 101… yard sales and hard earned money.

Today was another real life lesson in economics.

The children had some money they had worked for and they were ready to hit the yard sales. They could only buy what they had money for, and Olivia made sure EVERYONE haggled for the lowest price! And if the seller would not come down Olivia wouldn’t let them buy it. 😉

Peach scored some new shades for 50 cents! She lost her last pair so she had to replace them herself.

Free Enterprise

I love my little entrepreneur. I hear him from the other room trying to strike a deal with his 89 year old great-grandmother, he offered to tie her shoes for $1. Then his 9 year old sister scolded him for taking advantage of the elderly family member… and then says she will do it for 50 cents! Free enterprise is alive and well at the Brodock house!

Don’t constantly shower your children with all the material things they want or always pay for them to be involved in every club, activity and team. Let your children pay for some things, I promise you, they will get real creative and industrious! Great economies are built by families that know how to work!

Great Economies are Built by Families Who Know How to Work

“Great economies are built by families who know how to work, and who will invest the thousands of hours and 15-20 years required to train their sons in the character trait of diligence. Nations are built, one son at a time. And nations come apart, one son at a time.” ~Douglas French

We had a wedding to cater Saturday night, actually, this was Olivia’s job and I worked for her this time. To be honest it was nice to step back and let her much younger mind and body handle the pressure. 😉

Website Course for Free

If you ever wanted to know how to design a website here is a solution. A Microsoft programmer is offering a course at no charge.

This would be great for your kids too. Anything that can increase their skill level is good. Anything that can increase their ability to work from home is even better!

“Combine these skills with online marketing skills,

and you will always eat.”