Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family under One Roof [Paperback]

Mary Byers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

As of 2004 nearly three million self-employed women worked at home, and women continue to start home-based businesses at twice the rate of men. Many of these women left the workplace by choice in order to stay home and raise their children. And though their numbers increase each day, resources for this growing market of entrepreneurs are scarce. Making Work at Home Work shows moms how to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set without sacrificing their families. It covers important topics such as developing a successful business philosophy, balancing time between work and family, setting realistic goals, and handling the challenges of being both "Mommy" and "CEO" while running a profitable home-based business. In addition to including her own experiences, author Mary Byers profiles real moms with home-based businesses who offer their hard-won advice.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Mary Byers motivates us to fully embrace how we can manage excellent mothering and effective work at home."--Elisa Morgan, CEO, MOPS International If you're struggling to balance your home business and your family, you're not alone. Mary Byers has been where you are and shows that it can be done! She will challenge you to face important questions, such as: How do I fit my business into my family life? How much income is enough? What are my priorities? She'll also teach you how to •schedule your time effectively •manage your business expenses •know when and how to take a break •avoid strain on your relationships •arrange effective child care when needed •plan for the future and retirement •work smarter and make more Whether you're a small business owner or work in direct sales, home business success is a reality! Keep your professional and personal lives in harmony with Making Work at Home Work. "By following the guidelines in this book, I've reduced my workload from 40 to 30 hours a week while increasing my net income by nearly 30 percent! I'm less stressed and able to take better care of myself physically. Mary has helped me take back power."--Sharon Hewitt, owner, sharonIDesign Mary M. Byers successfully juggles both a freelance corporate writing and speaking business and her responsibilities as a wife and mother of two school-aged children. She is the author of The Mother Load: How to Meet Your Own Needs While Caring for Your Family and How to Say No . . . And Live to Tell about It.

About the Author

Mary M. Byers successfully juggles both a freelance corporate writing and speaking business and her responsibilities as a wife and mother of two school-aged children. She is the author of The Mother Load: How to Meet Your Own Needs While Caring for Your Family and How to Say No . . . And Live to Tell about It. She is also a columnist for two professional trade journals and edits two others. Byers lives in Chatham, Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Revell (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800732758
• ISBN-13: 978-0800732752
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,366,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I started writing when my kids were preschool age. I woke before them to write each morning. Sometimes, I even wrote with them on my lap! Now that they are school age, it's much easier to meet my word count goals.

The things I write about are things I'm interested in learning about. My first book,The Mother Load, is a reflection of my own quest to learn how to care for myself while caring for my family. My second book, How to Say No...and Live to Tell About It, is the result of me learning how to say no without guilt. I wanted to share what I've learned. I'm sure my next book will also be about a topic I'm interested in researching.

My main goal in writing is to encourage readers to be different tomorrow than they are today. If I can do that in some small way, I've been successful.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Work at home or home at work?, May 26, 2009

By 

Deena Peterson "The Deena" (Marysville, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family under One Roof (Paperback)

As a blogger, I do all of my work from home. Or, at least I TRY to. But making time for work amidst the mothering and wife-ing I do can make me crazy. That's why I was so excited about Mary's book!

"Making Work at Home Work" sounds like a no brainer...until you've tried to do it. My husband recently retired from his government job to pastor full-time, and he's found it to be a struggle as well.

Mary gives sound and wise counsel in her book that is easy to follow. Part One discusses how to save your sanity, with chapters on being honest with yourself and a lot of self-examination. I found this especially helpful as I tend to allow my family life to blur with my working life...

...because I don't set boundaries and I don't treat my work as work...

Part Two is filled with wisdom on Preserving Your Profit. If you're running your own business or offering a service from your home, this section is a MUST READ. Mary has truly done her homework, and she graciously shares her insight and counsel in easy to understand and read chapters.

I also loved the work-at-home mom profiles, especially Amy Peterson's---and NOT because we share the last name! By adding real life examples, Mary just gives her book more credibility. Not that she needs more with me!

"Making Work at Home Work" isn't just informative, it's enjoyable reading. That makes it worth a five out of five bookmark rating from me, with a tiny filing cabinet as a charm. Don't file this book away...read it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars working at home is hard!, May 8, 2009

By 

readaholic (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family under One Roof (Paperback)

I really enjoyed her writing and insight she had given so I thought this book, Making Work at Home Work : Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof would be a great chance to see what other insights Mary has to share with us! I like that she writes on a basic level that appeals to me - it's as if we're having coffee and we're discussing it together!

Mary picks a great topic with this book and it's something that I've tried and failed at or struggle with now to do, or give up and try again -- which is of course to work for pay at home, while raising my children. Let's see what have I tried... I've done Avon, I've done books, health products, and of course my never ending attempt at peddling my art! Of course there is that freelance graphics stuff I do.. hmmm add the computer stuff on there.. and I've probably missed a few things, but you get the picture. I've had a hard time just "being" home with the kids (and I say that with no disrespect because I know being at home with the children and doing it successfully is one of, if not the hardest job on the face of this earth and I don't know why I torment myself with trying to throw on another project!)

The book is broken into two sections; Section 1: Saving Your Sanity and Section 2: Preserving Your Profit. Each section highlights different women and her insight to what she's learned through it all.

Mary includes a lot of research and has personally worked through a lot of the issues herself, which provides her with some great insight to the challenges and issues working at home mothers face. I appreciate Mary's insight and honesty while addressing the subjects. She admits that finding balance was "sorely lacking" in the beginning, which really gives me hope! I'm not the only one!

I really appreciate the first chapter quote:

"...when you think of yourself as an at-home CEO, you're more likely to manage your business like one. You'll control it rather than letting it control you."

I know several ladies (myself included) who have let their work get out of hand because they used some of the points that Mary brings out her book... thinking we're not worth the credit, oh it's just "extra", or I just enjoy the work.

If we're going to run a business we need to act and think like we own it because we do!

In chapter two Mary hits the heart of the problem (for me anyhow!) - Why are you working? Some of the reasons people said were:

* mental stimulation, income, extras, wanting a break, feeling pressure, enjoy meeting others...

It was really interesting to see that list because I see a lot of reasons why I want to work in that list and never really vocalized it before. It sure helps to understand why you want to work!

I could go into a lot more detail because this book is full of useful information, but all in all, I think this book is an essential tool for anyone who plans to work at home and make it work. It will give you a lot of tools and advice that you're not going to find in regular business guides or even business school (university doesn't cover this, unless it's changed since I went!)

What I love is that Mary in all her wisdom, even included a "quick and easy dinner recipes for work-at home moms" in the appendix. I have to laugh because only a mom whose "been there" knows how much we need this!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making work at home work!, December 23, 2009

By 

Ellen P. Lafleche-christian (Vermont, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family under One Roof (Paperback)

Many people would rather work at home than leave the home every day for work. I know that I would certainly rather stay home with my family each day than go to work at an outside location. However, working at home brings with it a whole new set of challenges.

I've been both a work away from home mom and a work at home mom. When my daughter was born, I went right back to work full time in an office. When my son was born, I stayed home for 18 months. I also stayed home for a year while I was homeschooling. I'm now working about 3/4 time out of the house and 1/4 time at home. My goal is to stay at home full time once we can manage by growing my blog and turning it into a work at home business.

Mary M. Byers showcases twelve work at home women and their businesses and talks about what they've learned about working at home. She also teaches you how to schedule your time, manage business expenses, know when to take a break, avoid stress with your relationships, manage childcare when necessary, plan for the future and work smarter so you can make more.

Making Work at Home Work is a great tool for the work at mom whether you own your own business or you are a direct sales representative. For a bloggers like me who are trying to manage an income from our blogs, her ideas helped keep me on track and motivated.

I really love the Appendix that she included that's filled with quick and easy dinner recipes for work at home moms. What a huge help when we are pressed for time or working on a deadline. I can't wait to try the creamy lasagna recipe!

If you're a working mom who's struggling to make working at home work for you, I highly recommend that you read this book. Mary Byers will get you started on the path you need to follow to be more organized and successful.