So let me share some of the highlights of my wonderful vacation with you. We were met at the Kona, HI airport by the travel staff and presented with a real orchid lei. Doesn’t hubby look cute? Shhh, don’t tell him I showed you that photo!

Our bags were collected by the friendly travel staff and we were tucked along with our bags into a taxi and whisked off to our hotel. My first impression of Hawaii was, that it wasn’t what I expected. There was acres of black lava with a few sparse bits of vegetation. We had a great taxi driver who as more than happy to entertain and educate us on the half hour drive to the hotel. He explained black lava is younger, brown lava is older and has started to rust (oxidize). What year each flow ocurred and much more. He also pointed out the Hawaiian graffiti, messages written in white coral which really stood out on the lava. There was even one that said, “JR WATKINS” to welcome us.

Once we arrived at the hotel we were warmed welcomed by corporate staff and Executives, hugs all around. We were promptly checked in and our luggage was delivered to our rooms. We had half an hour to change and freshen up for the welcome cocktail reception. The reception was awesome, we mingled with other associates and Watkins corporate staff, enjoyed beverages and plenty of gourmet treats. Lots of hugs and hand shakes were exchanged as I met up with old and new friends. Introductions were made all around so my Watkins family and my real family members could get to know each other. It was a wonderful way to start our holiday. We headed back to our rooms to unpack and visit dream land as we had an early start the next day.

We started the first full day of our holiday bright and early with an all you could eat breakfast buffet. Then we boarded a mini bus for an island circle tour with our team members. Our driver/tour guide was a wealth of information and he kept us well entertained with his great sense of humor. Aloha cousin! In random order we visited and/or saw:

• a coffee plantation, tasted wonderful Kona coffee, checked out the museum and gift shop.
• the black sand beach and we saw some sea turtles.
• we visited a macadamia nut farm, and factory. We enjoyed some macadamia nut ice cream and purchased some nuts to bring home and share.
• an orchid green house, I love orchids and have some of own that are flowering right now. Found the perfect birthday gift for one of my best friends in the gift shop.
• a bakery, the southernmost bakery in the US! Don’t you just love the smells in a real bakery? Delightful!
• a volcano, I learned lots I didn’t know about volcanoes.
  steam vents, they are hot.
• waterfalls.
• explored a lava tube, it’s dark and damp in there!
• lush tropical forests (like I expected)

One of the nicest things during our day of adventure is the time we got to spend together. I enjoyed chatting and joking with David and Alan my managers and good friends, we have a long distance relationship so it was wonderful to visit in person. I always look forward to sharing special moments with Jo my upline, and dear friend. Of coarse it was just awesome for my family and I to enjoy the day together.

Our family ended our perfect day of sight seeing with dinner at the hotel. The meal was pricey but we were too tired to go farther a field in search of cheaper fare. Besides it’s nice to treat yourself to gourmet food including a decadent desert, shared by the four of us.

Our next day started with a leisurely breakfast, we had lots of time to sample more goodies at the breakfast buffet. We also enjoyed visiting over coffee with our group. The kids booked 2 hours on sea-doos in Kona so we rented a car and headed into town to explore. We poked around some lovely shops, and chatted to a few interesting locals. One fellow made and sold hand woven hats and assorted items, another let us meet and pet his parrot, for a donation! Gotta give them credit for their entrepreneurialism.

We dropped the kids off at the sea-doo rental and headed off to Walmart to buy hubby a watch and some socks for our son. Hubby normally doesn’t shop so he went a little crazy filling up our shopping cart. Note to self, do not take him shopping! I don’t have any photos of the kids sea-dooing but I think they were having way too much fun to take pictures anyways.

So we picked up the kids and headed back to the hotel to get showered and dressed for the Lu’au. You can read more about the lu’au and my excellent vacation in part two. Mahalo, that’s thanks for stopping by.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

My Excellent Vacation Part One

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If you look at yourself and what you know and do, and compare it to all the knowledge and opportunity available in the world, it’s probably a pretty small chunk. There are so many new avenues in business that are open to you; you just have to be open to them as well. While most people resist change, you may find that a lot of these avenues will not only make you more successful, you may just like them more than what you do now.

Willingness to change makes you a better investment to customers and clients. If they only see you as a one-trick pony, they may come to you for that one thing, but that’s about it. But if people see you as adaptable, they’ll have more faith in your ability to keep up with the changing world and be more likely to take a chance on you, or come to you with new business opportunities that might be something you haven’t tried before.

In today’s business market, technology is one of the best resources you can have. And the technology available is changing at a remarkable rate. It used to be that if you were out your business for ten or twenty years, you’d get behind and probably couldn’t go back without learning a lot of new stuff. Now, if you’re gone for just six months, you could be totally out of date. While you don’t need to get the latest or most expensive gadget, you do need to make regular changes and upgrades to the equipment you’re using.

Some of us are just more resistant to change than others; it’s just engrained in our DNA. But just because you don’t like change doesn’t mean you need to be left behind. Small changes can make big differences too.

Instead of turning your life upside down, just start by looking in different directions. Attend a seminar about new ideas or technologies, subscribe to a new newsletter that you didn’t before. By themselves, these are pretty small changes, but when you do them, you might find options of bigger changes that won’t be too hard either.

Don’t change too much. Warren Buffet is one of the world’s richest men. He got there by being fairly resistant to technological change. He invests mostly in stable businesses like insurance and food, rather than more unstable things like dot-coms. The reason? Just because something is new, doesn’t mean it’s good.

It’s always a good idea to research anything before getting involved with it, and to never put all your eggs in one basket – no matter how big an opportunity it is. If you change smart, then you’ll likely find yourself in a better situation.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

Try New Things!

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When you work at a regular job, you your employer gives you specific vacation time that you can take to get away from work place. When you work at home, it’s easy to work through weekends, holidays and even skip vacations. Often, when you try to take a day off at home, you end up working anyways. To really get a break, you need to get out of the office and the house.

I bet you’ve heard of people or media outlets talking about office burnout. This is when you get so stressed out at work, you just don’t want to do it anymore. You’re tired, angry, and disinterested in your work, and sometimes everything else in your life. This not only decreases your productivity, it also can be dangerous to your health.

You don’t have time to take off? You’ll get too far behind on your projects? Before you give up on the idea of taking a break, take a moment right now and think about why you started working at home in the first place. Chances are it had something to do with your family. Whether it was to earn more money for them or to spend more time with them, it’s probably all about them. Now ask yourself, “If you are working yourself so hard that you’re having physical and mental problems, how is that helping your family?”

When we’re used to keeping going and going, it can be challenging to figure out what to do on your day off. However, there are plenty of things you can do for any interest. Like learning? You can go to a local museum. If you like nature, go to your local zoo or park. If you prefer adventure you could take the family canoeing. If you just need to relax you might look into your local day spa. There really are endless possibilities to fit every personality.

Just because you take a day away from the office doesn’t mean you necessarily need to stop working. A fantastic way to do this is to go to your direct selling company’s convention, conference, a seminar or workshop. The beauty of these type of business events is not just that you meet new people and learn things, it’s that they’re often in fun, sometimes exotic places. You can build useful business relationships, learn new techniques and ideas, and have a relaxing vacation all at the same time. If there are none of these events in the near future, why not go on vacation with someone in your field? You can brainstorm, trade ideas, and relax at the same time.

The important thing to remember is that if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else. Taking the occasional day off is a great idea to recharge and refresh yourself so you can get back to being the best version of you.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

Everyone Needs a Day Off

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Home Business Computer

The first line of protection for your computer is getting software to protect it from viruses, worms, and other malicious software that could damage, steal information or even trash your whole computer. While many people spend a lot of money on software programs, there are great virus scanners, and other protective software online for free. And even if you do spend some money, it’s worth protecting your computer and everything on it.

Just because you have protective software, doesn’t mean it’s going to block every threat that might attack your computer. Even if you have protective programs, you still need to be aware of new ways hackers are using to get into your computer and use common sense. There are all kinds of web pages that will alert you to the newest cons and viruses going around and how to avoid them. I also recommend McAfee SiteAdvisor free software which adds safety ratings to your browser and search engine results.

One of the most important things you can do to keep from losing data is to back it up. Here are some common ways to securely back up your files so you still have it in case it’s accidentally lost:

Burning your data onto CDs is a quick and easy way to back it up. However, it can be rather time-consuming and CDs have limited storage space. Also a CD can easily be scratched and damaged and only lasts so much time.

Flash Drives are somewhat similar to CDs. You can easily put information from your computer onto a flash drive and then detach them to store for safety or transfer them to another computer. The difference is that a flash drive is not written once and then you’re done. While most CD drives can add files, they can’t delete them or change the files. Flash drives can be erased and rewritten just like any other drive on your computer.

An external hard drive is a great way to back up large amounts of data. An external hard drive is generally just like the memory in your computer, but it can be detached and put in another space. Unlike flash drives, you can get hard drives with very large amounts of space. Some people think external hard drives are expensive, but if you compare the amount of data they store, they are well worth the investment.

Online data back-up services. The problem with drives that attach to your computer and then detach for storage is that they can often be damaged when your computer is. A virus on your computer can easily transfer to another drive without your knowledge. And if your computer is destroyed in a flood or fire, there’s a good chance your external drive will be too.

The good news is, there are all kinds of online services that will back up your hard drive files for you. They generally cost a monthly or yearly rate for a certain amount of space, so the cost will vary with what kind of business and size of files you have.

Remember that backing up your data once only does so much good. Make sure you back up your files regularly, then keep them in a secure place other wise you will still be in danger of having a major loss.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

Make Sure You Have Secure File Storage

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But if you want to use social networking sites to propel your business to the next level, your best bet is a lesser known site called LinkedIn. It’s a social networking site that is designed just for business-minded individuals like you who don’t want to be bothered with all the useless frills and apps that come with other networking sites. How does LinkedIn work? How do you use LinkedIn in your Business? Read on to find out!

First you set up your profile where you can list your current and past jobs or business positions and education. It’s important to add a photo of yourself and a summary paragraph. You can consider this as your professional elevator pitch.

Next, import your address book so you can connect with people you already know. With your LinkedIn profile and connections that truly represents you and your “real-world” network, you’re all set to get the most out of LinkedIn.

Tip, visit the Answers section, ask a question to tap into the experts you’re connected to and the entire LinkedIn network. Better yet, answer a question to share your own expertise.

Not only is LinkedIn preferable for business users because you don’t have to worry about all the junk, but you also don’t have to worry about all the people that are not relevant to your business. It may be a smaller site, but when it comes to your business contacts and clients, quality is far more important than quantity. Plus, if people are talking to you through LinkedIn, they’re more likely to think you’re a quality contact too.

If you’re starting a viral marketing campaign, LinkedIn can be just the ticket you need to get things going. The best viral products work on already existing networks. LinkedIn is a great network to start your campaign on, especially if your products serve people in business rather than the general public.

LinkedIn can help get you noticed on search engines. These pages actually get pretty high SEO rankings, so taking advantage of that can put you at the top of search engines. When you sign up on LinkedIn, use a name based on your own name, or even keywords that pertain to your business. That way, if someone searches that term, your page will come up.

Find customers. If your clients are regular everyday people, then you might not have huge success using LinkedIn to find customers. But if you cater to people who are in business themselves, then this network is a great place to find new customers. Just check your contact’s networks for people that might be interested in your services and send them a message or a contact request. Just try not to compete with the contacts you’re finding them through; that’s likely to lose you more clients than you make.

Keep up customer relations. In today’s market, customer service is key, particularly if you do business online. If you don’t provide people with the kind of relationship they want, they can find ten other people who are willing to. LinkedIn is a great way to communicate with your customers and help keep them happy. If they’re happy, you’ll not only keep their business, but they may just recommend it to their friends and business associates.

When using social networks to promote your business, it helps to only use one or two instead of spreading yourself too thin. If you only pick one, LinkedIn is a great choice.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

How to Use LinkedIn in Your Business

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Successful Direct Sales Consultant

1. You’ve got to set goals. The truth is it’s nearly impossible to stay focused on your business, if you only consider it as “work”. In order to keep yourself motivated you have to have some type of reward to work towards. So, the first thing you need to do is set some goals. You may want to set a business goal, a financial goal, or a long term goal. Such as something you’ll be able to do once you get your business going; a vacation, new car, college fund or retirement for example. If you’ve been in business for a while, remind yourself of what you started working for. If you don’t know how, here’s how to set goals for your direct sales business. And don’t forget to write down your goals so you have them handy, to keep you on track.
2. You’ve got to take breaks. If you feel like you can’t concentrate, take a break and get yourself back in focus. The same thing applies long term. If you’re feeling burnt out and just can’t get yourself going, why not take a few days off. You can go on a vacation, or just take a stay-cation and rediscover what’s in your own back yard. Once you go back, you’ll feel re-energized and ready to take on any challenge.
3. You’ve got to think positive. For many people positive thinking is a hard skill to master, however it’s one of the most beneficial things you’ll ever learn to do. It can not only help you achieve your goals, you’ll probably find yourself happier and more satisfied in your personal life as well. You can try things like positive affirmations or even meditation.
4. You’ve got to take care of yourself. A healthy mind is fueled by a healthy body. You don’t have to be a pro athlete, but if you eat a sensible diet, get enough sleep and regular exercise, you’ll probably find yourself feeling better and working better too.
5. Last but not least, ask for help. Contact your sponsor or your upline! Why wouldn’t you go to them for help when they can offer you their knowledge and professional experience? You don’t have to spend all your money to hire a business coach when this support system is already there for you at no cost to you. If you aren’t convinced, here is why you need a business coach. If your upline can’t or won’t help go to your company for some coaching.

Good luck coaching yourself for success in your direct selling business!

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

How to Coach Yourself For Direct Sales Success

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The basic idea of affiliate marketing is to set up your web page as a billboard for online marketers. The vendors pay you according to how much business they receive from you, rather than paying a flat fee. This makes good business sense for vendors, because they don’t pay you if there aren’t any sales from your referrals. However, it’s also great for you as an affiliate, because you can earn a substantial income with very little effort if you have a popular web site.

The above not only helps you keep your overhead costs down, but can also help you easily make some quick money to get your business going without having to make a large investment. With affiliate marketing, the payment you receive generally depends on what’s being sold. Vendors pay for a variety of actions, some of these are; price per click, price per sale, a percentage of the sale, or a price per business lead. It all depends on what the vendor is selling and how they choose to run their business.

For vendors offering affiliate programs, the most important factor is your affiliates. While it’s important to keep your customers happy, keep in mind if you don’t keep your affiliates happy, then you probably won’t have any customers. This means not only paying well in a timely manner and giving other incentives, but also establishing and maintaining a good working relationship with your affiliates. Here are some more tips on what makes a successful affiliate program.

How do you find affiliates and/or marketers? Well, there are endless numbers of affiliates willing to promote products out there, as well as numerous businesses looking to have their products promoted. Probably the most difficult part is sifting through all these people to find the quality sites and vendors you’re looking for. You can always find websites on your own and approach them about an affiliate program, but it’s usually faster and more effective to use services specifically designed for setting up web page managers and marketers.

Some vendors automatically set you up as an affiliate when you purchase their products or services. These are my personal favorite types of affiliate programs because I actually use the item/service, know how it works and if it provides good value for my visitors. This way I can recommend it with confidence. All of my recommended resources are this type of program.

There are a variety of types of links affiliates use to promote products, you can read about The 3 Most Common Linking Methods of Affiliate Programs here. Once someone clicks on your links, they can be taken to a variety of places. If you’re promoting a web site, you can link them to the main page. If it’s a specific product, you can link them to the product page so they get exactly what they want, or you can connect them to the storefront so they have a variety of products to choose from. Where it goes depends on exactly what’s being marketed.

You may find it takes a bit of time and effort to get started, but once you do, it can be very profitable and fairly simple to maintain your affiliate programs.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

How Do Affiliate Programs Work?

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The Honest To Goodness Pros of Direct Sales

Direct sales is often misunderstood and has sometimes gotten a bad rap because of this. Certainly, all of the companies are not schemes and many do sell legitimate products of high quality. So it’s important to learn the facts before you make an educated decision. Don’t just listen to people who have failed, talk to people who are enjoying success in the industry. There is something for everyone, from affordable products people use daily to luxury ones on the higher end for affluent consumers.

1. Direct sales gives anyone a chance to be a business owner. Entrepreneurship allows you to realize your dream of working for yourself. How much you make is directly proportional to how hard you work at selling your product to others.

2. Direct sales business owners have the flexibility to set their own hours. It is a perfect proposition for you, if you are retired, a stay-at-home mom with small children, or for someone who wants to secure your future. You can work part-time or full-time as your schedule allows. As a Mom you can spend time with your kids and many people gain a real sense of purpose.

3. Direct sales businesses have low overheads. When you sign up with a direct sales company, they provide all of the tools you will need to get started for a small investment. Most can be started for $500 or less. You probably spend at least that much on shopping for your family. Now, you can start your own business with unlimited return.

4. Direct sales programs offer support for their sales consultants. It can be tough starting your own business, especially if you have no sales or marketing experience. The support of the company and your upline or sponsor can mean the difference between success and failure.

5. There is plenty of variety with direct sales. You can choose a product line you feel comfortable with and believe in. From food to home decor, jewelry to health products there is a business to fit your interests.

The Honest To Goodness Cons of Direct Sales

All that glitters, is not gold as they say. That’s why it is so important to check out your direct sales company and your sponsor before you sign on the dotted line.

1. All direct sales programs are not on the up and up. They can talk a good game but in the end, take your money. If the up-front cost is heavy and there is no support to speak of, keep on moving. On the other hand, if joining is free it’s most likely that you’ll receive no materials to market your business or for basic training.

2. Some direct sales programs have hidden costs you might not have counted on. They supply a starter kit for you to host parties but don’t tell you about the brochures, other products, and any marketing items that you pay for out of your own pocket and are not reimbursed for.

3. Each direct sales program has its own guidelines for earning commission and compensation plan. In an effort to earn money it is easy to lose sight of the goal and concentrate solely on money. You may be able to convince people to buy something once and gain initial earnings but for long term gain, you need repeat customers and business partners.

4. Direct sales companies often offer websites for their consultants. Unfortunately, all of these sites are exactly the same and tied to the main company site. Search engines won’t be able to find you individually and neither will the traffic you need to make sales.

Are you considering a direct sales career or home based business? Be aware of both sides of the coin with this business before you begin. Take the time to do your research to ensure it’s right for you, your goals and lifestyle.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

The Honest To Goodness Pros and Cons of Direct Sales

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The economy hasn’t had a negative impact on my Watkins business, on the contrary my sales have never been better and most of my team members (ie: the ones who are active) are noticing the same trend. Melody

What’s so great about direct sales? Most direct sales businesses can be run from the comfort of your own home. You don’t have to punch a time clock or work a certain number of hours per day but you do need to show up for work consistently. Your schedule for your business is totally up to you. I’ll be honest here, the size of your profits is directly proportional to how hard you are willing to work. Especially in the first year or two while you are getting established.

As such, the control of the entire business is in your hands. Because of the freedom and flexibility if offers, more and more people are taking the plunge into direct sales. Here are a few of the reasons why:

Flexible hours – you work when you want
Part time or full time – you work as much or as little as you want
Simple business plan
Unlimited earning potential
Low start up and overhead costs
Flexible marketing options
Fun to do
No experience required
Reasonably priced products

It certainly may seem like a win-win situation and it can be. You’ll invest less than $500 initially for supplies to get started. This is far less than it costs to purchase a franchise for example, which requires an investment of around $50,000 just to get started.

Direct sales companies offer their sales associates a number of incentives to start and build a business with them. Keep in mind, not all direct sales businesses are the same and some companies are not on the up and up, so do your due diligence before you decide to join one.

The direct selling companies that are well established, have been around for a number of years and are known for their business integrity offer great benefits to anyone who is willing to work hard:

Fair compensation programs
Opportunity to meet new people
Earn free products
Earn free travel
Ability to advance or move up in the company

When money is an issue, who can argue with a type of business venture that wants to see you succeed? Your success is tied in with the company’s and your sponsor or upline’s business as a whole. Ultimately, your success is their success so look for a company and sponsor who offers you the training and support you need to succeed. As you get the word out about your business and the products, more and more people are likely to do business with you.

The possibilities with Watkins excited me. “What if I gave it a try, could I achieve some success?” I discovered the answer is a definite, yes! I now enjoy a nice income every month from my Watkins business. I have advanced up the compensation plan, earned several all expense paid luxury vacations and other free goodies all for doing something I love. Melody

For parents, people who have been laid off from their job or are on a fixed income, a direct sales business can be the answer to their prayers. Your business can supplement your current income or even replace your income from a full time job. While you are working or trying to find a job, you can still be earning money as you sell the products in your spare time. What can you do about the economy? You could find that direct selling is where you want to be.

I realize, direct selling may not be a business that everyone feels comfortable with. If you don’t like meeting new people or talking to a lot of people at one time, then maybe another business idea could work better for you. But, for outgoing, ambitious people, direct selling highlights their best character features.

You’ll discover as a business owner, your confidence level goes up. You are in charge of your own destiny and it feels really good. With each sale, you’ll get a little bolder and more strategic in finding and keeping your customers. When that happens you’ll have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug!

Direct sales offers an opportunity for the regular Joe, an ordinary person just like you to take more control of their financial situation and their life. Don’t let the economy control your life, take control of it yourself. If you need extra money or a new career choice, maybe it’s time to consider direct sales? Check out the Watkins business opportunity and see if it would be a good fit for you.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

The Economy Sucks What Can You Do About It?

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1. I truly enjoy my relaxed daily routine, being my own boss and deciding what I want or need to do each day. I guess I’m not the type of person who likes to be ordered around and I know I don’t like pressure and stress!
2. I enjoy the challenge of internet marketing, learning news things, putting them into action, testing the results and then trying to improve them. It’s my weekly excitement! I know what you’re thinking!
3. I really enjoy helping people, nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing you have a happy customer or seeing a team member “get it” and grow their business. How cool is that?
4. I can put my family first, my husband and children. Even though my kids are grown they still need me, (sometimes) working at home means I can enjoy spending time with them and be there for them when ever I want. It also means I can put taking care of myself at the top of my list.
5. I can live greener and cheaper! Both of these things are important to me.
6. Did I mention I don’t like pressure and stress? Well that includes financial worries as well so I’m very grateful for the income because with out it we’d be struggling at times. Not fun!

This is a Blog Meme for WAHMs started by my friend Kelley who says,“This Is Why I Love To Work at Home” If you are a work at home Mom then tag, you’re next so join in the fun and tell us, “Why you love to work at home!” Don’t forget to link back to this page.

I’m going to tag Donna at 1stVA and a couple of my twitter friends Jalapeno at And Baby Makes 5 and GeekMommy. I look forward to reading why everyone else loves to work at home too.

Melody Thacker jumps out of bed every morning, excited about the bright shiny new day, and the endless possibilities it holds. Her passion is helping others with her direct sales business.

I Love To Work At Home

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