I went out before my trip north this summer to visit my dad and I bought a cheap laptop computer. It’s an HP and it does the job, but it’s weak when it comes to gaming or other programs that might take a lot of power. I was looking at my dad’s Sony Vaio and wondering if I should have shelled out just a little more money for something more powerful. I waver on that issue. I like that I was able to walk out of the store with a laptop for right around $300 – one that cost so little that I skipped the extended warranty and just told myself I would replace the thing if anything happened to it. I like that it cost so little that I do not get nervous about my 6-year-old who is sitting on the bed playing with the laptop as I sit over here on the desktop PC.

Do I dare to load Photoshop on my laptop, though? It would probably buck and scream and start to smoke. I am pretty sure the district will not be giving me a computer when I get a teaching job (unlike Pasco County), so I will probably be taking the cheap HP to school with me. I won’t be too concerned with damage or theft, but will it do the job if I need to load a lot of new software?

The job market is just plain. I never thought I would be swept up in the firestorm of layoffs and cutbacks that are tossing so many people into financial turmoil – but I did. A few weeks ago the school district sent out letters to those of us being cut due to lack of seniority.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, because I pointedly made a move to change careers three years ago. I went back to school and got certified to teach. I know my new career is not over and this is just a bump in the road, so I have decided to take the time that has been handed to me to do even more coursework.

Teachers are a group of people who enjoy learning. Therefore, teachers are continuously taking classes, going to trainings, and voluntarily adding to their knowledge base. Often, at their own expense and on their own time. I’m taking a series of courses on how to teach reading right now. And, I am looking for other courses that will add to my knowledge and make me more hirable for my next interview. My preference, due to being a single mom, is to take my classes online.

No matter what your professional field may be, continuing to add to your knowledge base is always a good thing. Not only will you stay on top of the most cutting edge Job skills and theories in your field, you will position yourself above other job candidates when you are up for a new position.

Of course, your resume will reflect your degrees and additional training, but now there is also another way to showcase your expertise. Learn.com recently launched a program called Skill Score. Think of it like you would a credit rating. Your Skill Score will directly reflect your skill, knowledge, and job readiness in any given Job Profile. You can take courses that increase your expertise in a particular field or access continuing education courses for fields such as nursing, teaching and accounting. You can even earn entire certifications.

Employers will ideally be able to look at your Skill Score and use it as a valuable tool in the hiring process. It is a simple indication that you are actively seeking to gain new knowledge and keeping ahead of the pack. A Skill Score is a measure of your potential worth as an employee.

I decided to check out how Learn.com’s system works by signing up for a free account and taking a course. Now, it looks like Education is not yet available as a Skill Profile or a Course category, but I have faith they will adding it soon. Just take a look at their IT category and you’ll understand why I say that. It’s full of amazing courses and other categories will follow suit.

In the meantime, I poked around a little more and in the Business section I found an entire category of coursework on Instructional Design. I’m not sure why this does not come up when you search “education”, but it should. More and more schools and businesses are offering training and coursework online. Even when looking for a teaching job, I am seeing more opportunities for people who know how to design courses that are being offered on our state’s virtual high school platform.

One of the Skill Profiles that interests me is Human Resources, Training, & Labor Relations Specialists. Based on my career before teaching, this is the area I am now looking for work outside the schools. Now that I have been in education, I see that training and instruction is my passion. Once you sign up for a particular Skill Proifile, you simply begin working through the courses. It’s all planned out for you.

Since a lot of employers will see my skill set as suited to HR, but look at my lack of experience in the field, working through my Skill Profile will show me where I already have strengths and where I need to focus on improvement and skill aquisition. This is going to be a more valuable tool for me than for anyone interviewing me

Another series of courses I’m excited about is the package that would give me an entire year of access to course work in Instructional Design. The cost is amazingly reasonable. And, if you only want a 6 month access window, you will pay less than you would eating out at a fast food restaurant for 2 adults and a child. I kid you not.

Instructional Design has five separate courses – Design Concepts; Analysis and Objectives; Evaluation; Planning and Implementation; Process, Needs and Roles. These are the kinds of skills I really want to be able to add to my resume. I’m looking forward to the additional confidence these courses will afford me when it comes time to apply for instructional jobs that may have been out of my comfort zone before.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: online learning is such a gift. As a single mom, I can be here at home with my daughter and still continue to advance my learning, add to my qualifications, and ensure that I stay at the head of the pack in this tough job market.

…, just not in Florida.

I’m stuck in Florida. At least until my daughter is 18. I cannot imagine her father being alright with us moving away. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, because the job situation here in the schools is horrific. I suppose I thought it was like that everywhere.

It’s not. When I was up in WV visiting family, I took the time to check out postings in various counties. In the county where my dad lives there are already posting for at least 4 high school level special education teachers. In the town where a lot of my family lives and at least four of my relatives teach – they have already posted job openings for 5 high school level English teachers and 4 high school level special education teachers.

It’s enough to make me feel like drawing blood, I tell you. I want to pack it all up, find a cross country moving company and just move to a place that actually has the money and desire to hire teachers. Instead, I am stuck in a district that has cut almost 1000 instructional and support jobs during the past two school years.

I know the courts like to see children living close to both parents, but at what point so they become sympathetic to the fact that the mother is struggling to support the child. Sheesh.

About three years ago I decided to make a complete career cahnge. I left an exciting career in graphic design and went back to school to get certified to teach. Why? I had always wanted to teach and at that time, only a few short years ago, the job market was wide open – especially in the field of education.

I am sure you can imagine what ahppened right around the time I was ready to look for work in the education field? Yep, the bottom dropped out of that particualr market. I am still struggling with getting off to the running start I envisioned for mysrelf. At my age, it feels quite odd to start over only to find out that the start is so sputtering.

I was talking to my step-mother today and she was stressing how most computer fields are still stable. She said that, of course, you need to make sure you get training in the specific fields that are still in demand. One of the upsides of getting training in most e-business skills is that a lot of the training can happen online.

One of the areas that is in hot demand is IT Security. As more and more people gravitate to doing more of their shopping, banking, and business online, hackers are ramping up their efforts to swoop in and find weak spots to hit for their own profit. The foil to that problem? Ethical Hacking and the need for Certified Ethical Hackers. An ethical hacker is essentially someone who knows haw to think and act like a hacker so that they can pinpoint the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in a system. They can use the same tools a malicious hacker uses in order to design a system that stays one step ahead of the malicious hacker and ensures the security of that system.

EC Council is on top of the tech careers that are still in demand. They offer certification in -Security Fundamentals, Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing, Computer Forensics, Disaster Recovery, and Secure Programming. Their iClass program is not some shoddy, self-paced bundle of canned lectures. Rather, it is live and instructor-led – while still available from the comfort of your home or office via the internet.

I only mention this, because being in a relevant career field really appeals to me and I am willing to bet money that it matters to you as well. We are in tough economic times and we are all sitting helpless as we watch so many fields that always seems absolutely essential take massive downturns. I want to make sure I am doing something that people still want to pay me to do and IT Security appeals to me in a real and germane way.

A couple of years ago, sales jobs were a dime a dozen. Anyone could have snagged one, since the companies were desperate for people to come in and work insane hours for crappy commission pay.

Now I look in the want ads and see sales jobs where the employers can actually ask for previous sales training and experience, because the job market is so ghost town right now. People with tons of experience in much more skilled professions are thrilled to get sales jobs just so they can stay afloat in this economy.

Depressing, huh?

OK, so it’s not doom, really. However, Saturday I got the dreaded letter from the school district informing me that I have been terminated. On the bright side, it’s not due to my job performance. On the dark side, I am still trying to get used to working in a system where seniority is more important that job performance, effectiveness in the classroom, and talent.

My boss is livid. When someone like me is let go to make room for someone else in the district that lost their position and has more seniority, the school gets no say at all in who is placed with them. She told me that the last two people they have been assigned to them have been useless. They are essentially dead weight in the department. Those of us who she has interviewed and hand picked end up picking up the slack. It’s good to know I was appreciated.

I went through the tears and panic over the weekend. Today I have been able to let off some steam with my co-workers. I feel a lot more ready to face the months ahead now. I may very well be placed quickly in another position. Or, there might be an instructional position out there for me. That is what I really want anyway. Still, I wanted to be the one that decided I was leaving for another position. I did not want to be forced out by circumstances and the fact that I am just a name on the list to the people at County.

Pray for me.

In a world where all things are supposed to be equal, I still see how much harder women sometimes have to work to make a name in the professional world. I enjoy celebrating those women who have made it in the eyes of society. I think of the female news anchors I worked with back in the late 90s, or the women I worked with who made it to the top position in one of the marketing and public relations firms I worked with a few years later. I have worked at women-owned business and for women who have taken over businesses. Each time I look to see what qualities those women have that I might emulate.

Look at CBS news anchor Laura Diaz, for example. Right out of college, Diaz began conquering the Southern California news market, moving quickly into a full-time anchor position at a top network affiliate. By 1997, Laura Diaz made history when she was made lead female anchor for that station’s 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. If you know anything about television news, you will understand just what kind of coup anchoring those timeslots is. Additionally, her new position meant that she was the first Hispanic woman to anchor weekday newscasts at an English language television station in Los Angeles.

In September 2002 anchor Laura Diaz joined Los Angeles’ CBS 2 for their 5 and 11 p.m. newscasts. She represents both women and the Latino community, while still making a connection with the community as a whole. When you consider that Diaz came from a family that spoke little English, the importance of her accomplishment of disseminating the news to an English-speaking community is evident.

In addition to her anchoring and field reporting responsibilities, CBS’ Laura Diaz also finds the time to serve on the advisory board of trustees of “The Joyful Child Foundation.” The foundation works to organize neighborhood watches around the country and keep child predators off the streets.

When you hear “Laura Diaz, CBS Anchor” – it is generally a clear indication that you are talking about one of the leading Hispanic news anchors in the nation, not just in Los Angeles. Her career is a celebration of being a woman in the completive field of television news.

Learn more about Laura Diaz here.

I used to do a lot of mystery shopping. I never looked at it as a way to make money, and if anyone tells you that it’s a good source of income they are lying boldly to your face. It is, however, a great way to cover the expense of a nice meal out or to make a little money – enough for a little gas or a treat. Mystery shopping is fun and gives you the opportunity to more highly hone your powers of keen observation and attention to detail.

I’m taking the last half of my Christmas break off school to update my mystery shopping accounts. Most of them list my information from two moves ago. I’ve not mystery shopped in a couple of years, save for the occasional movie theater shop for one of my favorite shopping companies. But, with a summer on my horizon that will likely be spent NOT working fulltime, I am eager to do a few fun shops.

The mystery shopping community is a highly secretive, highly competitive group of people. I am not talking about the mystery shopping companies, but rather those who mystery shop. All you need to do is spend even a little bit of time on any of the mystery shopping forums online to see how hostile some people get if anyone asks a question like which mystery shopping company has an account for Disney or Ruby Tuesdays or Sprint – or any other account. I suppose the major reason for this is that shoppers feel like the more people in their area who know about particular job information, the less work they might get.

I’ve always shared information freely with my friends, both local and distant. I can only hope that one day someone will share as freely with me. After being out of the circuit for two years, I am finding that some of the companies I worked with are not longer in business, that other no longer have jobs in my area, and that some of the jobs I liked doing the best must now have their accounts with alternate companies.

My daughter loves her Barbie dolls, as well as the similarly-sized princess dolls put out by the Disney Store. She has always wanted me to buy her Bratz dolls as well, but I have been reluctant due to the fact that the dolls portray girls with too much makeup, belly shirts, and high heels.

I gave in this Christmas and got her a Bratz Chloe Styling Head Torso. She wanted a styling head and this was the best price I could find (a mispriced item I got for $14.99 – about half of the retail.)

Interesting, then, to read the news that there may be an end in sight for the Bratz line of dolls.

MGA Entertainment Inc., who produced the Bratz dolls, has just been told by a federal judge yesterday that they can no longer make or sell all 40 dolls in their Bratz line. That includes the abovementioned Chloe. This is a response to Mattel’s claim (Mattel makes the Barbie line of fashion dolls) that Bratz creator Carter Bryant developed the dolls while still employed by Mattel.

Mattel and MGA have been fighting about this for years. Lately, the question the court has been wrestling with is whether only the first generation of Bratz dolls infringed on Mattel’s copyright or whether all the dolls in the line were in violation.

MGA will be allowed to wait until after Christmas to begin removing all Bratz dolls for retailers’ shelves.

So, now the question for consumers is: should we run out and buy a few dolls to keep put away in boxes and kept as collector pieces?

I’m happy with my recent career change, but I have to admit that sometimes I miss my old industry. Although I worked as the director for the art department for my old company; that company was a manufacturer and I absolutely loved the science and technology surrounding the business. These days, you’ll actually find me reading a magazine on plastics or architecture before I’ll pick up a book on graphic design. I love the prospect of new information – the learning process and the feeling of acquiring new knowledge.

My latest informational passion is architecture, as evidenced by my mention of preferred reading material above. It started when I was still married and we had grand plans to build our dream home. I started getting interested in design and construction trends, the move to green materials, and how the industry was compensating for the shortage of some raw materials and their accompanying price hikes.

I started seeing a trend in metal roofs. They last longer, they look cool, and the ideas is that it is sustainable. I saw that the trend had moved also to a point of design – the decorative touches you see around the house. Perforated metal is turning up as lighting covers, ceiling and wall panels, balcony guards, and more. It’s modern looking, clean, easy to maintain, and long lasting. Sheet Metal Stamping can provide a plethora of cool ornamental patterns.

Of course, that is just the decorative use for stamped metal products. More traditionally you see the product in appliances (think your dryer drum), automotive equipment (grilles and guards), medical equipment, and more. I’m endlessly fascinated that a product that has so many industrial type uses has trended toward something that’s in high demand for decorating your home.

When I was selling books and collectable magazines on eBay, I generally stipulated that I would only ship to buyers located inside the continental U.S. It makes things easier for m and eliminated unknown shipping costs and a lot of extra hassle. I know that most of my friends who still on eBay use the same stipulation.

However, the internet is the ultimate global market and when you leave out every single person not located in the United States, you are cutting out a significant number of potential customers.

Here is a great solution to that conundrum: Shipito.com is a package forwarding service that allows people outside the U.S. to bid on and win U.S.-only auctions and use the Shipito warehouse address in California. The buyer is notified when their package arrives at the warehouse and then they make arrangements to have the package forwarded to their actual address. Shipito uses USPS Priority, Express or FedEx.

If you sell on eBay and don’t want to ship internationally, you can refer your customers to the service and pick up a nice commission in the meantime by using the Shipito affiliate program. So, it’s a win-win situation.

Thank goodness for promotional items. I think almost my entire collection of pens and pencils here at home is comprised on things that have been away as freebies by various companies to promote the company or a medication or a maybe an event. And while my first loyalty lies with the concept of frugality and all things free, I will admit right here and now that the promotional items have done their job. I found my last plumber by calling a number on one of my pens and I found my last yard guy on a magnet someone gave me.

When I was working for my old employer, a manufacturer of plastics bags, I actually enjoyed the ordering of promotional items for our trade shows. I’d look to people I knew who attended a lot of trade shows to keep me up to speed as to which items were the most popular and the most likely to be kept instead of just tossed out once a person leave a shows. Little gel-filled stress balls are popular, as well as travel cups, water bottles, and t-shirts. Everyone loves good food-related promotional items, but they don’t tend to be kept on someone’s desk for years on end, so they are not the best choice if you are on the business end of the deal.

Even the smallest of businesses will benefit if you can make sure you are all set up to accept credit cards. I work with hundreds of women a year who are working to start small businesses in the crafting industry. One thing most of them will agree on is that you cannot limit yourself to accepting cash and checks. In fact, even if you accept payments via Paypal, you are limiting yourself when it comes to flexible credit card processing.

OnlineChecks offers merchant services without fees, contracts, or even the cost of a credit card machine. Yep, you get a free credit card machine to keep. And, when you use OnlineChecks, you don’t have to wait for a lot of lag time to get your cash. You can process a credit card order today and have the cash by tomorrow. The merchant account has no annual fee and a surprisingly low transaction (a LOT less than the fees charged by Paypal).

Best of all, you can try the free merchant account service free for 30 days. You’ve got nothing to lose.

I have a website that offers free hair bow instructions and overt the course of the five years I have had the site, I have worked with countless women to help them get their small businesses up and running. Granted, I cannot be there physically, but I often help walk people though getting their crafting business online so they can begin selling to an international client base.

It’s always exciting to see even one more mom discover a way to stay home with their children at the same time that they are able to help provide financially for their family. And, it’s thrilling to hear a success story when someone realizes the craft items they love to make for a hobby can actually turn a tidy profit.

Choosing a web host is one of the first steps in getting your website online. It will be something you do independently of choosing a business name, a domain name, or even the design of your website. The hosting account is what you will buy so that your website has space on a server to store your site’s pages and files.

You need to find an affordable host that has a long-running good reputation, reliable uptime, and above all – fantastic customer support. A lot of what made me choose the host I personally use is the fact that the customer support folks are located right here in the United States and are available day and night. I cannot tell you how many times I have called or chatted with support in the middle of the night on a weekend.

One great place to begin is by looking at a site that offers hosting rating and review articles. WebHostingRating.com has tons of reviews, overviews, and articles. You can sort reviews by category (Windows hosting, dedicated hosting, reseller hosting, etc.) or rating level. It gives you an easy way to compare several hosting companies and see things like monthly fees and bonus features in all on one page, side-by-side.

Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions about choosing a host. In the meantime, take a look at the site I linked. They are a good springboard for your decision.

I know you hear the same commercials that I hear. There are people telling us all of the time that making money online is as easy as admitting the desire to do so. People attest to the fact that you can make thousands of dollars a week with just a few hours of work a day.

I am here to tell you that there is indeed a lot of money to be made online, but the people who are successful spend a LOT of time making their small business opportunity work for them. I’ve heard of people who admit to being online 20 hours a day!

I make a modest amount of money online, with very little time spent. Most of my income is passive and I put the gears in motion over a year ago. I maintain my websites, keep things fresh, make sure I am not breaking any rules, play on the “up and up”, etc. However, I am certainly not sitting on a bed of hundred dollar bills, tossing them in the air, awash in wealth. No, I would say that annually I bring in as much as someone who works a decent part-time retail job.

If you have the time to invest in getting your websites established, putting money-making systems into place, and continually building your knowledge, then you can indeed make enough money online to actually work from home. So, here is my encouragement for those of you who want to invest the time:

• Find some great webmaster forums and read everything you can that is written by those who are successful.
• Don’t be afraid to test out programs and ad networks. Discard what is not working and keep looking for what does.
• Design and re-design your website until you find the look that works for you. Layout, navigation, colors, etc can sometimes make or break the perceived credibility of your site.
• Don’t recreate the wheel. If there are 100,000 other sites offering information on Hannah Montana or Ford Mustangs, keep looking for a niche topic until you find something that is mostly unexplored. Being unique on the internet is a HUGE commodity.
• Learn what it takes to get to the top of the search engines for the keywords you desire. However, make sure you do it the right way. Don’t; break any rules, because all that will due is get you blacklisted in the search engines in the end.
• And, above all, be patient and understand that money is not going to start flowing into your pockets overnight, or maybe not even in a week or a month or a year. My biggest earning website took about two years to start earning good money.