Here are five resources that I virtually could not work without, in no particular order. (I am not affiliated with any of these sites or resources.)

1. PDF Online – PDF Online is a free, online PDF convertor. I use it for creating PDF files of Word documents that I want to be “static” (unchangeable by the person receiving it), such as business proposals, contracts, etc. I also use it when I need to sign a document and send it back to someone. I sign the document, scan it, save it as a jpg, and then use PDF Online to convert it to a pdf file and e-mail it back to the party who needs it. It’s intuitive, easy to use and I’ve found it to be very reliable.

2. Google Docs – I use Google Docs primarily for creating invoices. There are many templates to choose from, you can archive all your old invoices and you can export it as a pdf file for easy sending to the client. There is also a document sharing feature you can use when you need to share a large number of documents with a client or vice-versa.

3. AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) – I use AOL Instant Messenger for consulting and communicating with clients about projects. I don’t hear very well on the phone, and chatting online is often easier than a phone conversation anyway, because you often need to check a file or a part of the site or an online resource. It’s really easy to just shoot someone a link or a file while chatting online with them, and it also creates a “to do” list to refer to so that I don’t forget anything after the conversation is over.

4. WordPress – WordPress, of course, is especially key to my business, since blog and WordPress Help is 98% of my business. Even if it weren’t, I would still build my website using WordPress because of its extensibility, expandability, blogging capabilities, plugins and built-in SEO readiness. It makes creating and updating a website so much easier, and makes interaction with clients and potential clients that much easier through comments, contact forms, etc.

5. Email – Email might sound like a given, but it all depends on how you use your e-mail. Utilized correctly, your inbox can help you be more organized, efficient and save you time. I use my inbox like a “to-do list.” I make sure that clients outline each task they want me to do in e-mail so that a) I can give an accurate estimate and b) make sure each item they want completed is done. Additionally, outlining projects via e-mail creates a “paper trail” if there are ever any conflicts or questions about what was to be done, when it was to be done, etc. It’s a CYA kind of thing. I personally make sure to get an e-mail with what the client wants done in their own words in an email from them to me.

That’s it. Five online resources for this Work At Home Mom. I hope this list comes in handy for someone else as well. Feel free to add your own in the comments!

Twitter Car Battery Saga

I do have AAA, but I didn’t have my card with me that day, so I used the Safari web browser on my iPhone to look up the phone number. I called and reported my location, etc. Then while I was waiting, I Twittered!

But not just about random stuff. I asked if anyone knew how much car batteries run these days. I was pretty sure I needed a new one, but I hadn’t bought one in a long time. The AAA representative on the phone said that the person they were sending out could test my battery and sell me a new one and replace it for me if I wanted. I thought that was a pretty cool deal as long as I could be sure I wouldn’t be gouged!

I got helpful replies from @enjaysauce, @HaDAk and even @AAAauto. @enjaysauce and @HaDAk told me about how much they run, which I really wanted to know right at that moment. And @AAAauto told me a tech could test my battery and sell me a new one and install it for me, if I so desired. I already knew that, but it was nice to see them on Twitter, checking in on their members!

When the tech got there he ran some diagnostics and, sure enough, I needed a new battery. There was corrosion on one of the posts, and he said my battery should have lasted longer than it did. Who knows why it didn’t, but it was a goner and needed to be replaced. The corrosion was just a symptom of some bigger problem with the battery.

So he proceeded to change out my battery, but there was a complication. The corrosion had eaten through the contact that attaches to the post of the battery that carries the charge to the engine. So he very carefully peeled off the contact, which he said was breaking in half like carboard (I believe him, I was watching – in fact, here is a picture!)

It was $141.xx for a replacement battery, replacement contact and the labor (which exceeded half an hour, due to the delicate contact-replacement operation). And because of my Twitter-attained knowledge of the price of an average battery these days, I was ecstatic with that amount. I thought it was extrememly reasonable, and I thought the tech did a great job.

To top it off, the tech saw the Blog Solace magnet on the side door of my car (my Vista Print special, which I love), and asked me about it. He said his wife needed a web site and blog built, and he took one of my business cards.

I’d say that was an all-around successful, social media, networking, modern, 21st century car battery replacement experience! Thanks to all my Twitter buddies and the help that day. And thanks to @AAAauto for following up afterwards to make sure everything was taken care of!

Now the site can use all of the SEO plugins available for WordPress installations and is easily updatable. I just ran the Google SiteMap Generator for the first time, linked it in the footer and added the update services. Now Google will be pinged as to the location of the site map and, with any luck, will come visit and crawl the rest of the site very soon!

The next step is integrating a matching WordPress blog to go with the site, for even more SEO success! I think I have him sold on it!

I just read on Mashable a few minutes ago that Twitter, Facebook and LiveJournal are banding together to investigate a “Distributed Denial of Service attack.” I guess that would explain the problems this morning. I don’t use LiveJournal, but when both Facebook and Twitter were having problems, it did seem a bit odd.

I’m still actually having a bit of trouble on Twitter, but that comes with the territory. I do see the “Fail Whale” less and less these days, but it can be slow. It will be interesting to see where these DOS attacks were coming from. It must be from the Anti-Twitterati!

But I made it through that. My son started school, the large blog was launched, and more business was pouring in. I’ve had some very short periods of slowness with my business since then, but they are always short-lived, and I wind up with almost more business than I can handle very soon after every dry spell.

My very first client is still a regular client, as is the Seattle attorney who hired me to finish his web site. I have many regular clients and gain new ones all the time. My biggest client ever is now working with me on business development, and there are some exciting changes in the wings for Blog Solace in the very near future!

What is amazing to me is that, yes, I worked and educated myself and was prepared for this opportunity. But currently owning a successful back end web development business would not have been possible if I hadn’t been *forced* into it. If Kindercare had been the right place for my child, or if adequate care for him had ever appeared, I would be an Administrative Assistant right now.

Instead, I’m a Work At Home Mom who owns her own small business, and the future is bright! That’s how I accidentally started my own business and became a WAHM. I guess it’s a lesson in making sure you never stop learning and being open to change, following your passion, recognizing opportunity when it knocks, and following through on it no matter how hard it is.

Never give up!

So I decided that even as much as I hated the idea, the time had come to put my son in daycare and go back to seeking an Administrative Assistant position. I knew I was over-qualified for that position by then, but that I would never get a web development job without a college degree.

So I took $200 and took my son to Kindercare on a Monday morning and started my job search in earnest. I went back to Kindercare to pick him up on Monday evening, and, with apologies, they handed me back my check and told me they could not keep my son. It was not safe for him there, and he needed to be in a specialized environment.

I spent a huge amount of time after that attempting to get specialized care for him that I could afford, trying to get help from the state (he was diagnosed as Developmentally Disabled when he was 4) and hitting brick walls every time I sought out help.

Time was passing and rent and car payments were coming due. I had to borrow money from my sister, and right when I was to the point of desperation, a large job rolled in. I decided to work as hard as I could and get through the summer, and when school started I would be able to concentrate even more on getting new business.

Taking care of my son while trying to work on my business was not very effective and beyond frustrating. But it was my only option. I fought through having almost no money, caring for a constantly-interrupting and behaviorally challenged child and trying to develop a large corporate blog from the ground up all at the same time. I’d say August of 2008 was probably the hardest time in my life.

AND FINALLY, SUCCESS . . . [READ PART 8] . . .

That was in early February of 2008. Over the next month or month and a half, I scoured all the cities on Craig’s List looking for WordPress gigs in the Computer Gigs section on Craig’s List. And they were out there! An advanced theme customization for a stocks web site built on WordPress in Austin TX, some layout changes and customized widgets on a sustainable gardening blog in Washington D.C., a real estate blog in Florida… The list goes on.

Lot’s of small to medium sized jobs paying me actual money to do something I absoloutely *love* to do! I was in heaven! During a bit of a lag in business, I posted my first ad in the Computer Services section in Seattle and got my first really big job. It wasn’t even WordPress. It was finishing a web design that some designer had desserted for the owner of a Seattle Law Firm. That job drove home that this business was real, multi-faceted, was something that I could do and was booming.

This was great for a few months, but then a very slow time hit. As in hit the wall! Business just stopped for a few weeks, and I was scared. My instinct was to ride it out, but with a young child counting on me, I felt the responsible thing to do was to go back to work.

FORCED TO RIDE OUT THE SLOW TIMES [READ PART 7]. . .

So as I did all of this as a hobby, something else was happening concurrently with that. I lost my job as an Administrative Assistant and my developmentally disabled son was becoming harder and harder to deal with. I was not able to find a new job for about 6 months after losing that Admin job. I was on food stamps and unemployment and absolutely desperate.

So I started poring over Craig’s List ads in every city in the country looking for *something* that I could do to make a few extra dollars. I was looking in the Computer Gigs section for something like data entry or something like that – I didn’t know what I would find. I just needed to find *something* I could do and do quick and get a paycheck.

Low and behold in the San Francisco Computer Gigs section of Craig’s List section I found an ad asking for “WordPress Help.” What??? WordPress? Hey, I can do that! The pay was listed as “A Little Moo-La For Your Latte.” I didn’t know what that would equal exactly, but it was more than I had at the moment, so why not give it a shot?

The need, as it turned out, was for a customized widget for the sidebar on a blog for car enthusiasts. The pay wound up being approximately $20. I had done that particular thing before, but there was something unique about the theme this site was using that made it a bit of a challenge. So I think I spent about 3 hours earning that $20, but I didn’t care. I was ecstatic! I had $20 in my PayPal account headed towards my bank, I had learned something new about WordPress, and I had hope! An opportunity was knocking, and I wasn’t about let it go by.

TURNS OUT THE NEEED WAS OUT THERE JUST WAITING FOR ME TO FILL IT [READ PART 6]. . .

Diary-X was gone, but my Diary habit was well-developed, and I really missed it! I tried making my own site, but the dynamic nature of diary entries made it impossible for me, as all I had were HTML/CSS skills and no programming skills to make something work dynamically.

I tried a couple of different options for self-hosted installations of blogging software, and wound up liking WordPress best. WordPress is a wonderful, beautiful, clean blogging/content management application that gets installed on your own web server. It’s easy to install and has a web-based dashboard where you can write new blog entries with the newest entry appearing first on the front page of the blog. Every time you create a new entry, the new one appears on top, dynamically! It also automatically creates archives by month, categories, tags, etc.

The way WordPress does this is by combining HTML, CSS and a new (to me) ingredient: PHP. PHP is a programming language created specifically to affect, organize and render web pages in HTML and CSS.

So I had one more thing to learn! You don’t need to know PHP (or even HTML or CSS) to write entries in your WordPress blog. But if you want to configure or create your own theme and make customizations to widgets and the layout, understanding at least a little bit about PHP is necessary and a strong understanding of HTML and CSS is critical.

And I wanted to have my own theme for my blog. Boy did I! It was a pride thing – no pre-fab themes for this self-taught handcoder who works in notepad and considers Dreamweaver and Front Page to be products of the devil!

Anyway, struggling through, and eventually learning, the ins and outs of WordPress as pertains to PHP and paths to the theme and how the widgets and plugins work really started to give me an edge when it came to all things WordPress. I even gained some some web server knowledge and understanding that helped me troubleshoot some frustrating issues when it came to upgrades and other problems that would pop up.

ACCIDENTALLY FINDING A NEED AND FILLING IT [READ PART 5]. . .