Making Money From Home: How to Run a Successful Home-Based Business

This is my first book to review for the Tyndale House Blog Network. I will start this review off by telling you all that I was certainly not the target audience for this one. However, Donna Partow still does a great job of compiling information and practical tips to starting a successful home-based business.

Audience: Women; primarily stay-at-home moms or those who are considering it.
Readability (on a scale of 1-10): 7, this is more based on just the amount of information that is being presented. The reader must allow a little processing time.
Take-aways: I came away from reading this book with the knowledge and tools to strike it out on my own in the business world. Not only does Partow do a great job of sharing these basic business ideas, but also inspires the reader to action. The book also includes check-points, review questions and practical goal setting opportunities making it a valuable resource even after the first read.
Overall Assessment: In Making Money From Home, Donna Partow provides detailed information to starting your own home-based business. She does a great job setting out the framework for creating all the basics of a business; from choosing the right business field to selecting a valuable business name to finding the best business structure for you. Partow also explains how to effectively balance your family with your new business endeavor. A great resource for anyone looking at starting their own business, especially stay-at-home moms.

This book was provided free for review from the Tyndale House Blog Network.

I just received my first book for review from Tyndale House Publishers as a member of their blog network. Be sure to stay tuned for book reviews and such every few months. This should be an interesting endeavor for me, someone who usually struggles to read, but it’s a challenge I hope I can rise up to ;^)>

For more info on becoming part of the Tyndale House Blog Network visit their website:

It’s time again for Would You Rather Wednesday! This week’s “Would You Rather” is inspired by my friend Sam Frederick’s weekly installment of “Confessions.” Sam’s wife Dana posted that she is “addicted” ;^)> to the Twilight series. My wife, Denise, and mom have both jumped on the bandwagon also. Twilight has also begun to make movies, similar to other famous book series like, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

So, would you rather…

Read the book or watch the movie?

For me, as long as I don’t read the book (which is about 99% of the time) I would much rather watch the movie. Books also have a curious way of putting me to sleep.

So which is it for you?

So it’s been a little bit since my last post. Figured I should probably update this thing. Hopefully I will be able to make some more frequent updates and visual changes in the coming weeks.

Today I came over to my parents’ house; this has been my routine for the past 2-3 months on Wednesdays.  On Wednesday mornings I come over, give Dylan a hug before he heads out to school and wait for the little man to wake up. Until that happens, I usually end up with about an hour or two of surfing the web and reading blogs that I usually miss out on since Niece and I don’t have internet at our apartment. Just means frequent trips to visit the rents :^)>

Anyway, back on topic. I visited my friends over at Collide Magazine, if you’re interested or on a team of designers/tech folks for a church, they have some awesome resources. On the front page this morning I found this article entitled “The Idiot’s Guide to Church Burnout.” I was curious, having had this feeling of “burnout” in places that I’ve served. Here are some key points I took away from the article or I have experienced:

• Burnout was never something I saw coming

But it hit me like a ton of bricks. I loved being at the church, with my friends, “serving the LORD,” stacking chairs (a little Tim Hawkins reference…Click here to “get it”) I never thought that I could, or would, become burnt out.

• The root cause of burnout had nothing to do with being tired, overworked or underpaid

This was the one that really disturbed me. I had no idea what was causing me to be burnt out. These are the three big things that usually cause people to become worn out or just want to quit altogether, but none of them fit for me. Was I tired, overworked and underpaid? Sure, but that wasn’t the biggest issue. As the author of the article, Gary Molander, puts it, I wasn’t “living the exact dream God [had given me], while making a difference in the world.”

Here are a few things that I experienced while I was burnt out (points from the article, but I totally experienced these)

• I lost grace

I also lost patience…with everyone it seemed. I couldn’t help but be frustrated with everyone and everything.

• I dreamed of other occupations

I thought that if I could just work “there” or work with “those people,” my burn out would go away.

• I didn’t believe anything noteworthy was being accomplished

I honestly couldn’t see that I was making any difference at all. I felt like I was at a dead end and the end was nowhere in sight.

There was one thing from the article that really jumped out at me and I have to share, just in case you have time to read this but not the other article.

• “I discovered that I needed to stop following the principles of Jesus and start following His person”

This one is still something that I am dealing with. It’s easy to know all the right words to say and do, but when it comes down to it, who is Jesus. Not just who you know him to be from the Bible or historians. But who is he to you? That’s a question I wrestle with daily, knowing that the answer is worth the time I spend thinking on it. Which do you follow, the principles of Christ or the Son of God? (I know they are linked, but only one is really worth following with all of your heart)

Well, those are my experiences and things I took away. Go read the article, if you haven’t already, and tell me your thoughts!

This past week I heard the challenges of everyone around me doing ministry to “take risks,” “be a fool for the cause of Christ!” I was listening to some Starfield and felt the lyrics continue to convey that message. Here is Tumbling After:

The other day while I was driving home my world was shaken
It occurred to me that I had left too many risks untaken
I’m always sitting here just waiting for a revelation
Is it ever gonna come?

All this searching yet my destiny is still unfound
Makes me realize this world will always let me down
So it seems that the only hope I ever had
Was everything that You are

I’m falling down
Tumbling after You
I’m overwhelmed
Tripping over simple truth
In all I’ve found
There’s nothing that’s more beautiful
Than what I’ve found in You

You could always see right through the front I’d offer You
Not believing my excuses, waiting for the truth
When You could have turned Your back
And walked away from me
You, You picked me up instead

So we’ll turn another page and change the way I look at You
And maybe I’ll begin to understand what You went through
Not content to leave me wandering and unaware
You took my hand instead
Yeah, You lead me to the edge

You’re everything that I ever needed
Now I wanna believe this time
That You would love me
That You would say I’m Yours, I’m Yours, I’m Yours

So the first verse was what really caught me.
“driving home my world was shaken
It occurred to me that I had left too many risks untaken
I’m always sitting here just waiting for a revelation
Is it ever gonna come?”

So a question, how many of us would admit that in your life you are paralyzed at times by waiting for the long awaited, “GO HERE!” command? I know that it has characterized a lot of my ministry and life. But I’m working on being intentional about changing that aspect of my walk. So has your life/ministry been characterized as paralysis by analysis? If you are still in this stage what steps could you take tostep into risks instead of standing still through them?