Best Software for Small Business

Need Virtual Assistant Software Tools?

In today's world, if you're a small business owner and you don't have a virtual assistant, you probably should. More than likely, you also have marketable skills you can use to work remotely from home as an online virtual assistant. As a small business owner or independent contract worker, the only thing holding you back, is your knowledge of the many tools available to make the work easier. So, what is the best software for small business? Keep scrolling for our favorite picks for tools to use with a virtual assistant. 

Tip: Use these tools to teach your homeschooler and they'll have the skills necessary to set up shop at UpWork, an online site for freelance work. If you're tech savvy, you may already be using some of these online software options.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

5 Best Online Sites or Apps for Software for Small Businesses

• Google Docs -  Google Docs does everything Microsoft Word does and then some. In the brick and mortar world, Word is king. Most businesses expect their employees to know how to use it. They probably bought it years ago and keep paying for upgrades. However, Google Docs offers many features that make it stand out from similar publishing software programs.

It's all in the cloud. Your documents live in the cloud. When you're working with people who require Microsoft Word Docs, simply convert the Google Docs with a click of a button. You can also save your documents as ePublications, PDFs, and RTF files.

Another great feature of Google Docs, is that you can leave comments and other markup on the    document. If you're working with someone on the other side of the world, they can check in at their convenience, read your notes, and make changes or suggestions any time of the day or night. If you're in the same time zone, schedule a time to work together and you can do a live text chat right inside the document. This feature is also nice when your homeschooler is writing a paper and needs some incentive or a little collaborative help with editing.

• Thermostat -  If you want to create professional User/Customer Surveys, thermostat is your new best friend. You can create one survey per month with their free option, but if you really need to collect data for your small business, upgrade to the paid version. These surveys will help your engagement and marketing teams (ha, you- if you're a really small business) understand how your customers interact with your online products or gather any type of data you may need to collect.

• PicMonkey -  If you're somewhat technically challenged and need to do simple graphic design or overlay your logo or other watermarks onto your image, PicMonkey is your best friend. The free options is more than enough for a casual user, but if you regularly do images for social media, you'll want to upgrade to the paid version which is under $10 per month. There are similar options out there, but they have a bigger learning curve. PicMonkey is extremely user friendly. This online graphic software also works for homeschool digital art projects.

• TeacherSherpa - Continuing with the graphic design theme, if you're a teacher, a retired teacher, a soon to be teacher, or a homeschool parent who creates lesson plans, TeacherSherpa offers an online software tool to help you create lesson plans to sell online. The creation tool feature is free to everyone and includes fun, education related clipart. The best part? You can create lesson plans with TeacherSherpa's online editing software and upload them to sell on their site or similar sites that sell teacher resources. If you were thinking about a small online business to sell lesson plans or similar items, this software is what you want.

• MailChimp - You've got your word documents, your customer surveys, and your digital graphic software, now you're ready to create an email newsletter campaign. There are many subscription newsletter options out there, some are very inexpensive, some are free, and some are way too complicated for the Average Joe to use with out getting frustrated. As a small business owner,  you're an Average Joe. Unless your mailing list has thousands of subscribers, use MailChimp's free option. With MailChimp, you can easily create professionally looking newsletters with their free templates. Add in the graphics that you created with the best free digital design software mentioned above, and no one will ever know that you're tech challenged. Now you can even create free landing pages with their templates.

Hopefully, these recommendations for the best software for small business have motivated you to get started. Don't fear the tech in the cloud; embrace it! You'll be surprised how easy it is to become a virtual assistant or to work with a virtual assistant, once you take a little time to learn some new software.

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Ways to Make Extra Money at Home

Need an Online Side Job?

Whether you're self-employed, under-employed, or just always looking for more cash, there are many legitimate ways to make money at home online. As a self-employed entrepreneur, I've tried many different side gigs. I've always got a bunch of irons in the fire trying to find one that is the best return on my time invested. Some things pay well, but are tedious and stressful. When that happens, it causes a shift in my mood. I'd rather do something that took less time and caused less stress. I mean who wouldn't? If you're looking for ways to make extra money at home read on for a list of things you can do as a side job online.

This post contains Amazon and other Affiliate links.

Need a side gig?

Ways to Make Money Online

When working online, you never have to leave your home. Let's get real, you never even have to leave your bed! Unfortunately, you do have to have some marketable online skills. However, there are a range of activities for the amateur to the professional online entrepreneur. So, if you're hoping to become self-employed or to add a little extra cash to your monthly bottom line, it might be worth it to brush up on some English grammar lessons, Microsoft skills, and understand how social media is beneficial to your bank account.

• If you're a teacher of any sort, including a homeschooling teacher/parent, you can make money by selling your printable lessons online. #worksheets People don't have time to create these and they appreciate the work being done for them by a professional.  Some great sites to start selling your teacher resources are TeacherSherpa.com and TeachersPayTeachers.com  Each website is reputable, and as an added bonus, you can sell the same items on each site. They work sightly differently, so go for it and see which one works best for you! If you're a serial entrepreneur like me, you'll continue to do both.

• Do you have some random skill? Something you're an expert at and can do quite well in a very short amount of time? Maybe you're a freelance writer, a musician who does jingles, you were born with a great voice for voice overs, you're an amazing cartoonist, skilled at graphic design, or perhaps you can write a kick*** cover letter and resume. Whatever your marketable skill, you can promote it on fiverr.com. Just offer something for $5 and you can add additional fees or add-on work. I haven't sold anything over there, but I have used the service many, many times!

• My first venture into the making money online came via UpWork. Back in the day, it was known as Elance. With UpWork, you can charge whatever you want. The more skilled you are, the more you can make. I started out low-balling bids on jobs until I gained confidence in a particular subject. Now, I work as a consultant and bid a much higher wage.  I work as a freelance writer, SEO specialist, and social media marketer. However, you can find jobs for draftsmen, architects, interior designers, product testers, reviewers, and virtual assistants. Sometimes, you can even find work offline.

More ways to make money online.

• If you're a blogger or anyone with a large online following, you can do a search for sponsored social media posts. You've heard of celebrities getting paid to post on their Twitter and Instagram? You can do it too! This is my favorite side gig. It only takes a few minutes to complete and the pay out can be just as good as a sponsored blog post. You decided what pay you want. Your stats, engagement, and follower count play into it. Anyone can do it and earn $1 to over $1000 for a short post.

Learn how to get sponsored posts on Instagram.

• If you are still uncertain about what type of job you would love to do at home or what profession is the most suitable for you, it's important to keep an eye on new trends and analyze different open positions and their requirements. In this case, you can use the best job search websites. For example, you can have a look at the work-from-home vacancies listed on Jooble. Filters such as location, date posting, salary, work experience, and work employment will help you speed up your search and find the most appropriate vacant post in the long run.

• Write a how to manual, a comic book, or a full-fledged novel! Using Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing tools, you can create book covers, upload content, and sell your book on Amazon. I've done this several times now. The key is quality. This is a pretty hefty time commitment. However, once you've done one book and created a template, it becomes easier. This is not for the faint of heart, the easily stressed, or the perfectionist. If you're any of those things, do the book, but pay someone to set it up for you. Here's one of my best selling Amazon books: Circle Time Activities. Tip: I also have versions of this book available on TeacherSherpa and TeachersPayTeachers.

Now, once you've created your own ways to make money online, you'll need to promote your business. You can do this yourself through boosting Facebook posts, running ads in Google AdWords, Pinterest, Twitter, or Instagram,  or enlisting a digital marketer to help. Pick me, pick me!

Still looking for more ways to make extra money online? Check out this article from the PennyHoarder.

Pin it!

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How do you Keep Kids Happy on Rainy Days?

A Guide to Keeping Your Kids Happy on Rainy Days

For adults and teens rainy days are great: you have the perfect excuse to stay inside, curl up on the couch and catch up with your favorite TV show or video game. Yet for little ones, rainy days force them to face the prospect of one more dreaded day stuck inside the house. When you use this guide to keeping your kids happy on rainy days for tips and tricks, rainy days don’t have to equal boredom for the kiddos!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Howdy Partner! Mayhem in a Cowboy Costume.

Boredom Busters for Rainy Days

Click through the links below for fun activities on how to keep kids happy on rainy days.

Get Creative with Painting

Painting doesn’t have to be just painting anymore; try some fun ideas, like painting with spaghetti, or paint rocks to look like ladybugs (on a drier day before the rain started, of course) or try finger painting in a fun new way. If you're up for it, let the kids try face painting with you as their model!

Maybe you have a designated kids' playroom and you want to get creative with a spare bit of white wall that's just begging for a splash of bright color. You can always paint your wall like a chalkboard and let the kids go wild!

If you're organized, you can prep for rainy day activities during the summer by collecting interesting seashells at the beach or walnuts in the yard, and saving them for a rainy day when you and the kids can paint the shells all kinds of creative ways!

Entertain All of Their Senses

As you know, younger kids are receptive to nearly anything entertaining, so don’t underestimate the power of visual and aural stimulation. Whether it’s a colorful cartoon on the TV or sound waves making the floor vibrate with their favorite childhood tunes, you can use this stimulation as a spin off for a drawing activity like this cartoon anime lesson.

Oh, how times have changed!

Also, you may want to consider investing a little more in home tech equipment for a true all-round experience; for example, thewireszone.com has a great range of audio and video equipment, including amplifiers to really fill up the house on those gloomy weather days. With all those beats pumping though the house, you'll be up dancing on the ceiling! Seriously though, dancing with your kids is the best rainy day boredom buster ever!!

Use the Furniture to Your Advantage

If you have a large living space with plenty of couches and chairs, consider building a lion's den or a makeshift maze for the kids. You can move the furniture around and even drape the furniture in towels and bed sheets to create a cozy tent or tepee area for the kids to crawl into and stay quiet for a while. Ask Alexa to read a story while you catch up on some chores.

Decorate with Fairy Lights. Photo Credit: Amazon

Add a sensory element by placing toys and books inside the blankets and light it up with funky fairy lights to make it a space the kiddos will never want to leave (until the sun comes out, of course.)

Catch up with Chores

It doesn't sound like the most fun thing to do, but if you have a whole bunch of household tasks you need to catch up with – and a rainy day just so happens to present an opportunity to do just that – then make the kids pitch in and get all those chores done together.

Need some motivation? Here are some printable chore charts for kids to help you keep track of their progress and work toward rewards!

Turn ‘matching up odd socks’ into a fun game with a prize, or maybe get creative in the kitchen if you have food that needs prepped, and let the kids help whisk up dinner!

You can also turn chores into competitions! Promise a special treat for the winner of ‘who can tidy the front room the fastest!’

How cool is that? Using chores as rainy day boredom busters is a great way to teach kids that helping around the house can be fun!

Play Dress Up in Costumes

You don't need a trunk full of costumes to play dress up with kids and keep them happy on a rainy day. No Ma'am, just raid your closets for old clothes, ties, and bandannas. In the picture above, we raided Grandma and Grandpa's closets for an old vest from the 70's, a gun holster, and an Australian Outback hat. Voila! Instant cowgirl costume.

Making costumes can keep kids busy for at least an hour on a rainy day. Once the costumes are complete, it's time for some good old fashioned pretend play!

• Use Cotton Balls to Make a Sheep Costume
• No sew Nativity Costumes
• Ideas for Easy Halloween Costumes
• Pretend Play as a Doctor or Nurse
• Make Costumes from Cardboard Boxes
• Dress up like a Chef
• Pretend Play at a Bakery with a Cool Cardboard Stove

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Maximize Family Time on Holiday

A Guide: Getting More out of Your Family Vacations

Are you tired of going on the same old vacation year in, year out? Sure, the pools, the hotels, and the sun are always nice at the time, but do you ever feel yourself longing for something a bit different? Maybe you just want your kids to experience some different things, rather than just the run-of-the-mill package beach vacation to California or Hawaii? If so, you may want to maximize family time to get more out of your family vacations. How can you make your vacation more of a bonding experience?

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

Keep scrolling to find ideas on how you can enjoy holiday vacations and make lasting memories with your family.

Buy a Boat

Been there done that. Boy, do we recommend doing it if you can. There truly is nothing quite like being out on the open water, especially when you’re with your partner and your kids. For one, being able to get away from the hustle and bustle of people back on land for a few days is a great way to detach yourself from the stresses back home. It’s also a great way to get your kids to see that there’s more to the world than just buildings and technology. If you’re willing to go all out to better your family vacations, then, you should seriously consider buying a boat.

You can ski behind a boat, pull the kids on a tube or a body board, work on your tan, hunt for turtles, and go fishing. It's a great way to bond with the kids and maximize family together time! Another great way to bond with kids in a boat is to go long beach whale watching or some other marine adventures. We actually took a boat ride across the bay from the Marine Museum to Downtown Clearwater, Florida. The boat ride was the best part of the adventure and we saw a few dolphins along the way.

What you should know before taking a cruise.

You should know, however, that this is never going to be a cheap venture to take. Generally, boats tend to cost a lot of money — new pontoon boats, for example, can fetch anything from $18,000 to $60,000. Fear not, though, as there are specific loans that you can take out to cover this kind of expense — there are even lenders that offer bad credit boat loans, meaning you need not worry even if you have a bad credit history. The point is, if you’re serious about buying yourself a boat and vacationing on it for years to come, you need not necessarily let your finances stop you. The bills will always be there, but the family won't. Kids grow up and move away. Boat together while they're still young!

Draw up a Holiday Schedule Before you Leave Home

If you’re really on the ball, you should consider drawing up a holiday schedule before you head out on a family vacation. By doing so, you'll save yourself from wasting precious vacation moments deliberating how you'll be spending your day, as your schedule will already be laid out for you. This means less time deciding and more time getting more out of your family vacation. It also gives everyone something to look forward to. You may want to check out these tips for traveling with kids.

Don’t Get Stuck in One Place

Face it, in the past, you’ve probably been guilty of plonking yourself down in your hotel and barely venturing away from it for the whole two weeks straight. There’s nothing wrong with this! Of course, you deserve a relaxing break. However, if you really want to get more out of your family vacation, you'll have to venture away from the resort. Don’t get stuck in one place, no matter how tempting is - get out there and see more of the destination that you came to see! And when you do, don’t forget to bring your camera along.

You may also want to wear some cool t-shirts to help keep track of everyone while you're out on excursions.

Tips for busy families on the go.

If you want to maximize family time and get more out of your next family vacation, follow our Pinterest board for more family travel tips and check out the links recommended below.

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Summer Homeschool Projects to Get Your Kids Outdoors

Outside Projects for Homeschoolers

When the days are warmer and longer, the beautiful sunny weather makes homeschool lessons more and more difficult to do indoors. Why sit inside and stare at textbooks when you can teach your kids some lessons in the great outdoors? We've got summer homeschool projects to get your kids outdoors and enjoying the fresh air. Read on for homeschool activities you can do outside with the kids!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Whether you’re teaching homeschool science, math, or life skills, we’ve compiled a list of some homeschool projects to get your kids outside and learning at the same time!

Grow a Kid-Friendly Garden

Gardening with kids is educational and a good mental and physical workout. Not to mention, digging around in the dirt and planting some flowers with your kids is just good old fashion fun! The internet is full of all sorts of different gardening lesson plans, and you can make this homeschool project as simple or complex as you want.

Photo by Nikoline Arns on Unsplash

However, sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to get your kids engaged in a project. Start by building a raised garden bed that is all theirs. If they’re old enough, have them help you put the bed together. This gives them the opportunity to explore their carpentry skills! Next, plant some easy-to-grow vegetable seeds or starts such as beets, potatoes, tomatoes, green onions, beans, and kale.

When the time comes to harvest your plants, you’ll be able to teach your kids a bit about the food industry, and they’ll make the connection that all the vegetables and fruits they eat have to be grown from seed before they make it to their plate!

Education-Based Nature Hike

Hikes are one of the best parts of summer. They get your heart pumping, work up a good sweat and the view at the top of the mountain is always breathtaking. While hiking will definitely fulfill your kids’ PE requirement, it’s also a great time to explore your area’s local climate! Depending on where you live and where you choose to hike, there will be a few different homeschool lessons you can teach. Check out this list of ideas to get started!

Do a Beach Treasure Hunt

As a kid, you probably remember going on a field trip or two to the beach to look for seashells and hermit crabs. The beautiful weather is a great excuse to go do a little hands-on marine biology lesson!

Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash

Create your own treasure hunt and have your kids explore the area to find everything on the list. Not only will they learn more about your local environment, but they’ll burn off all that energy by running around trying to collect all their items!

Outdoor Art Projects

Your kids love art projects. They’ll love them, even more, when they get to do them outside! There are a variety of different art projects that utilize plant material to create something beautiful. Some tried and true classics include painting rocks, sun prints, and nature sculptures.

Visit Some Local Historical Landmarks

Who says history lessons have to be taught out of a textbook? Take your kids on a trip to some local landmarks to teach them a little bit about your town’s unique history.

Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

Get in touch with your local museum to see what programs they have going on for kids during the summer. Or, take a day trip to your state’s capital or nearby national or state parks.

Tried and True Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano

Sometimes the classics are hard to beat. Kids love watching stuff explode, but having to clean up the ensuing mess may be a turn-off. Take the mess outside and teach them a little bit about chemical reactions with a baking soda and vinegar volcano. There are hundreds of tutorials on the internet, and this project can be as simple as using a 2L bottle or as complex and crafting a paper mache volcano to go along with the experiment!

Build a Compost Bin

I didn’t realize it at the time, but when we built a compost bin in my 7th-grade science class, I learned so much about building healthy soil and the benefits of compost! Not only will building a compost bin give your kids some experience with woodworking, but they’ll have the first-hand experience of watching kitchen and yard waste turn into a valuable soil additive.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Finish off the lesson by having your kids add your homegrown compost to the garden and observe how the plants respond. Have them predict ahead of time what they think will happen and then help them keep a log of the plant growth and changes.

Bird Watching and Identification

During lunch, take the opportunity to sit outside and do a bit of bird watching! Install a few bird feeders around your yard and you’ll be surprised to see how many of them flock to the seeds. If you can get close enough, you can even make a project out of identifying them. Find a local bird guidebook and have them check off all the different species they find. Or, get out of the house and visit a bird sanctuary.

Take Your Regular Lessons Outdoors

Sometimes getting out and enjoying the outdoors is as easy as taking your regularly scheduled lesson plan outdoors! Establish an outdoor area that your kids can study at without baking in the sun. Consider installing a hardtop gazebo and building a high-quality outdoor table that your kids can comfortably study at.

And when the school day is over, that same gazebo and table can offer your guests a place to hang out on those long summer nights. In the rainy season, you can still use that outdoor space to complete messy projects that you don’t want to do indoors.

What projects are you planning for your kids this upcoming summer? Let us know in the comments below!

Bio: Leigha Staffenhagen is the managing editor of Insteading.com, a homesteading and sustainability site focusing on everything from gardening and raising chickens to tiny homes and off-grid living.

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Traveling with Children

Tips for the Perfect Family Vacation

Traveling with children can either be great fun or really hard work, so a bit of advanced planning goes a long way to making sure the trip is stress-free. How do you successfully plan the perfect family vacation? Keep scrolling to see our tips on traveling with kids.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

What Makes a Good Family Holiday

The answer to what makes a good family vacation depends on what kind of family you are as a whole and the ages of your children. If you’re a family that loves being outdoors and at one with nature, then tent camping and mobile home getaways could be perfect for your family. However, if the thought of anything outdoorsy as a family fills you with fear, then something like an all-inclusive family deal in Florida could be ideal.

The age range of the family is also vital when considering where to take your next vacation as two younger children around the same age are going to be easier to entertain on beach vacations. Having older children can  mean activity holidays or trips where they have clubs to entertain the children while you do a bit of sunbathing.

What you don’t want to do is try and mix too many things together on one trip, such as, trying to incorporate a safari trip with a sightseeing outing when the children are very young, as they are going to lose interest and it will make for a highly stressful trip. Believe me, been there done that!

Stress-Free Travel

The options on how to get to your travel destination all need to be carefully considered because, with children, you need to think about whether they are old enough to travel long distance without having to stop every few hours if you drive, or if they can withstand a 24-hour flight.

The benefits of flying are that the journey can be broken up into sections such as a car trip to the airport, hanging around the departures lounge for a while, spending time on the plane, and then renting a car from Advantage Car Rental to finish the journey at your destination.

Taking a boat or a ferry is always great with kids as the excitement of floating across the water keeps them entertained while you get ready for your vacation to start.

A train is also another great option as you can travel at high speeds across country while not having the expense of plane tickets or the worry of bus timetables (if you decide to go down that route.)

Plan the Food

A significant consideration when planning the perfect vacation is what food choices you'll provide for your children. There are a variety of food plans when on vacation, some harder than others. If you are taking a trip where all-inclusive food and drink is on offer, be sure to thoroughly research if the food offered is child-friendly and if they abide by dietary requirements and food intolerance rules. Many theme parks offer these type of meal plans.

Whether you decide to drive your car or choose a car rental, taking all of your own food and snacks is a great and cost-effective option. It means you know exactly what snacks the children will eat and that they will actually eat it, plus you save money as you only buy and take what you need. However, this is only available to you if you have enough car space and if carrying around all those food selections is not too inconvenient.

If you plan to eat out, make sure that you research all of the available restaurants nearby before you book your trip, as there’s nothing worse than getting to your accommodation after a long journey and finding there is nowhere to eat.

Family vacations are where many amazing memories are made, and with a little forward planning, you can design the perfect trip to fit around you and your children's needs. For more fun family vacation ideas follow us on Instagram.

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