Work At Home

Five years ago, when Connor was just a baby, I got a job working outside the home -- with an actual salary and everything -- using the oldest trick in the book.

I was sleeping with my boss.

Of course, the fact that my boss was also my husband made it less shameful. And to hear him tell it, my writing experience was the biggest factor in his hiring decision.

Either way, I got the job, and for a time, I went into the office every Thursday and played like I was a grown-up. (I even wore real clothes! Cute clothes! Without spit-up or PB&J on them! And I went out to lunch with my boss without a diaper bag. It was like a date. Only we were working!) The rest of the time, I worked from home.

Ideally, that meant I worked while the kids napped. In reality, that meant I occasionally locked screaming, crying children out of my office and hid in the closet so I could finish a conference call.

It was tough. Much tougher than I thought it would be. Working from home meant I could continue being a (mostly) stay-at-home mom while simultaneously earning an income. But it was like trying to balance a bucket of sloshing water on a tightrope.

Enter Mary Byers' new book "Making Work at Home Work." It's stuffed with all sorts of extremely practical ideas to make that balancing act work out. Plus, it profiles scores of real moms who have run the maze of having a successful home-based business and a happy family. Their hold-nothing-back stories are refreshingly honest. (My favorite part of every profile was the question "What's the most mortifying 'mom moment' you've had in running your at-home business?" Talk about blog-worthy stories.)

But Mary's book isn't just about balancing the family-work continuum. Being a successful entrepreneur herself, she covers important topics such as developing a successful business philosophy, setting realistic goals, dealing with demanding clients and maximizing your profits.

To be honest, I signed up to read Mary's book because blogging feels like an at-home job to me. (Only I do it without getting paid! I'm that dedicated!) I wondered how many of her balancing principles would apply to a person like me, who tries her darndest to balance the roles of "Mommy" and "writer."

The answer? There's a lot of crossover. Balance is balance, whether you're working for a boss or for your own satisfaction.

But I found this book has so much more to offer; it's really designed for someone who wants to make money with their at-home career, whether it's someone with a home-based business (like Creative Memories or Pampered Chef) or someone with flex benefits at their corporate job that allows them to work from home instead of their cubicle.

To that end, I have a copy of "Making Work at Home Work" to give away. My only request is that the book ultimately goes to someone who works from home. So in your comment, tell me about the person who needs this book -- be it yourself (because you run a home-based business) or a friend who works from home. It will be interesting to see what kind of at-home businesses are represented.

I'll leave comments open until next Thursday, May 21. The winner will be announced the following day.

(You can also win a copy of this book -- or one of Mary's other books -- AND a $25 Amazon gift card at her book tour site.)

And now I'm off to deal my new boss. She's about 22 pounds with a curly mop of hair, and right now, she's needs to be fast-tracked to a clean diaper. That's one of the best practices of a stay-at-home mom.