Most WAHMs are on a tight budget when starting out, but this doesn’t mean you can’t get a great word processing suite. If you’re not willing (or able) to fork out the $324.99 for Microsoft Office Standard 2007, then you’re in luck! There is a great open-source, FREE program suite available for you – OpenOffice.org 2.2!

Here is a review by CNET.com:

“An increasingly credible rival to MS Office, OpenOffice.org includes powerful applications for making text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, diagrams, and databases, as well as HTML and XML documents. Not only does it let you edit basic documents, such as letters and faxes, it also handles complex and multipart documents with bibliographies, reference tables, and indexes.”

Download it and give it a try! Hopefully it will help you manage your business tasks a little easier. Feel free to leave a comment about how OpenOffice has, or hasn’t, worked for you.

As a WAHM you know the importance of quality image editing. Good pictures can really help boost sales and bad pictures, well, not so much! I have checked out the following editing services and find them all to be easy to use. These are a great resource for those not wanting to download a program. Be sure to check them out!

http://www.picnik.com/ – This was my favorite due to the fun interface!
http://snipshot.com/
http://pixenate.com/

Congratulations on starting your new business! Whether you’ve been selling for years or are a an enthusiastic new WAHM, it is very important to have your policies in place. They will serve as a guide for your customers in how you operate your store and sales. Not to mention, help protect you and your sales!

Michelle of Elemental Muse has created a very useful free worksheet with guidelines for creating your policies page. Please take the time to read through it and implement your own policies before you sell your first product – you won’t regret it!

Creating My Policies Page: Checklist of areas and situations to consider including in your policies page. Plan now and save yourself frustration later.