You know what I'm talking about. You hop around the internet landing on other awesome blogs, and you think "why can't mine be that {insert adjective here}". I'm totally feeling it right now.

Aside from the commandment instructing us not to envy our (blogosphere) neighbors, kicking yourself for not having a blog "just like theirs" just makes you feel bad!

Don't get me wrong. I don't want a cookie-cutter version of somebody else's blog - that just wouldn't be any fun at all!

So what can we do to get over the green-eyed blog monster?

Learn from your favorite blogs.
Take a few ideas that you love, and implement them on your own blog. I'm not talking about copying their content of course. But maybe you love that they use a certain fantastic widget, or that they participate in a certain meme. What's stopping you from using that same widget or doing the same meme?

Invest some time into your blog.
Sure, you may want to change the theme or make a few tweaks to make your blog more aesthetically pleasing, but the one thing you should focus on is CONTENT. Post as often as you can (daily if at all possible), and talk about something interesting to other people. Did you catch that last part? Interesting to other people. Sure, it's important for you to know how often your baby poos (and all the descriptive details that we just won't go into here), but it's hard to build a faithful following if that is the extent of what you write about. :)

Find out what others are interested in by checking out forums in your niche. If there's a lot of conversation revolving around a topic that you're knowledgeable about, why not write a blog series answering people's most common questions?

Start a discussion with some of your favorite bloggers
Seriously. Find them on Twitter, or use the contact form on their blog. Better yet, leave a meaningful comment on their posts. Let them know how much you love their blog. Who knows, maybe they're doubting the worth of their own corner of the blogosphere?

Another way you can get their attention and bring them to your blog is to.....blog about them. Link to one of your favorite posts on their blog and write a little bit about why you love it and how it affects you/inspires you/makes you laugh, etc.

If you're using Wordpress, you have the option of sending a trackback to their site so they know that you've linked to them. You can also leave a comment on that favorite post that you referenced letting them know that you were moved enough by it to mention it on your own blog.

If you're coming from iFellowship, welcome and thanks for stopping by! Please leave me a comment so I'll know to visit you back. Also, don't forget to visit our host site, Seeds of Faith. Thanks!

Have you been looking for a way to earn money from home? Why not create your own a business around your skills and strengths? This will allow you to create a work schedule tailored to the needs of your family.

People that are proficient in web design can find work pretty easily. Many people want to an online business presence but don’t know the first thing about building a website – just visit any work at home message board and you will see many posts asking for help! There is also a lot that you can do with this in your local community. Find out more about Becoming A Blog Consultant.

Are you creative? How about marketing your services as a graphic designer? Many people need help designing logos, website headers and buttons.

If you enjoy writing, you can find work as a copywriter – the person who writes the information you read on websites.

If you would rather work offline, there are still plenty of opportunities for you. Just market your services creatively – let businesses know how you can help them. For instance, if you were a teacher, you could coordinate lesson plans for local daycares and call yourself an “Educational Consultant”. If you have experience managing a restaurant, you can turn that into a “Catering Consultant” and help caterers and restaurants come up with new recipes or help brides plan their wedding menus.

Are you good at crocheting, knitting, sewing, or scrapbooking? Hold classes to teach other people your crafting method. Ask your local craft shop or library if you can hold classes there.

Don’t forget you can also sell your handmade crafts at online places like Etsy and Artfire. Or you can sell your products in local craft fairs and through word-of-mouth advertising.

Moms are expert organizers – offer up your skills as a “professional organizer” and get paid to clean out closets, attics and garages. Do you love planning parties? Many busy parents would hire you to take care of planning their children’s parties. You don’t have to limit yourself to kids’ parties, though. You can also hire yourself out to plan retirement parties, anniversary parties – even weddings!

What about making meals for busy professional in your area? You could charge them for the cost of groceries, etc., throw a meal in the crock pot in the morning and drop it off to their homes at dinner time. Alternatively, you could create freezer meals for them at the beginning of the week that the families need only defrost and heat up as needed.

As you can see, there are many ways to turn your skills into ways to work from home. Once you decide on something to do, get out there and let everyone know you are available for hire! If you want work, sometimes you just need to ask!

Sometimes, being a work at home mom can feel like walking on a suspension bridge with missing planks! Your laundry is staring you in the face while you're working, and oftentimes your kids are, too.  When you're doing the laundry or playing with the kids, oftentimes your mind is on your business.

Balancing your work-time and your family-time can be overwhelming sometimes, but by following a few simple tips, it can be done.  AND you get to keep a shred of your sanity as part of the bargain.  :)

You have the ability to set your own hours, so take advantage of that right now. If you can handle some tasks at “odd hours” of the day, you will have more family time during the day. Are you a morning person? If so, try to get up an hour before your family to take advantage of some “quiet time” to focus on your business; night owls can take care of emails and other administrative tasks after they have put their children to bed.   (Just don't  stay up TOO late, especially if you need to be up and "on" for the kids first thing in the morning!)

If you pick your children up from school, use the time you spend waiting for them to return customer phone calls.  A wireless headset for your cell phone will allow you to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road if you make calls while driving.

I once did a Service-based home business, and we received our training via emails and training websites.  If you are in a similar type of business, print out your training info and stash it in your purse.  You can take it out while you're sitting in the car waiting for the kids (with the car in "Park", please!), in line at the Supermarket, or even while you're waiting at the doctor's office.

During the week, when schedules are busiest, plan quick and easy dinners. Let your kids help out in the kitchen while you cook – you’ll be spending time together and teaching them skills they will need. There are plenty of cookbooks out there dedicated to “kid friendly recipes” if you need some inspiration on what to make.  Also remember that the Crock Pot is your friend!  You can put a whole chicken or even a lasagna in some of the bigger crock pots, and you don't have to worry about trying to cook and simultaneously distract cranky, hungry kids (or husbands!).  Try planning your meals at the beginning of the week (this saves you time and money!).  If you need some additional meal-planning tips, try an online service like Dine Without Whine - A Weekly Menu Plan & Grocery List Delivered To Your E-mail Box or Menu Planning Central.

Get the kids involved in your business as much as possible. Smaller children can put stamps or mailing labels on envelopes;  older children can help hang flyers; and teenagers can take on some administrative tasks like data entry.  This method allows you to have a little extra "face-time" with the kids while they're doing these tasks for you, and will hopefully free up some of your time that you can invest back into the kiddos.  Which brings us to the next tip:

Set aside some time each day to spend with your children with no distractions (that means no phone and no computer!). You don’t have to go anywhere special; the time can be spent reading a book, playing a game, or spending time outside together. The point is just to let your children know that they come first, and the business comes second.

Remember – you became a work at home mom so you could spend time with your family. Don’t forget to take some time out to enjoy them!

Many people assume that work at home moms have it easy. If you've ever lived a day as a WAHM you know that that isn't always the case. There are children to take care of, a house to clean, a dog to walk, groceries to buy, dinner to cook and dishes to wash. Psht! How's that different from the life of any other mom, right? Well, on top of all of that, there’s that business to work!

It may not be easy, but it isn’t impossible, either. By using some simple time management tricks, a WAHM can find time to get the important things done without having to be "SuperMom". One thing every WAHM should have is a planner. This can be a fancy-schmancy electronic planner, or it can be a simple paper day-planner. Always make sure you schedule your family time first! Then schedule in the time you are going to work your business. Once you have your “work time” scheduled, make it a priority to stay focused on your business during those hours. It is very easy to procrastinate when you are a WAHM.

If you are on Twitter, Facebook, etc., it's easy to get sidetracked very quickly. Social media is a very important method of networking, and I am in no way discounting that. But if you find yourself Tweeting a lot about things that really don't pertain to your business or surfing the internet for non-business purposes, set a timer for yourself. Give yourself 15-minutes to "play". Once the timer does go off, make sure you adhere to your time restrictions and get back to the money-making aspects of your business.

If your work requires you to do lots of different tasks, instead of bouncing from one thing to the next, try to group similar tasks together. For instance, if you are in a direct sales business and you have a team under you, designate one day to be your “training day”. Instead of helping various team members throughout the week, schedule all of your mentoring sessions for one day. Set aside an hour in the morning and an hour in the late afternoon to respond to email and/or return phone calls. By scheduling that time in, you will find that you are able to get more work done and feel less scattered.

You might also consider outsourcing some of your activities. If you find that you are spending too much time on responding to email, returning phone calls, or updating your website, hire a virtual assistant to do those tasks for you. This will free your time up to work on your business, and by spending more time on the parts of your business that actually bring in money, you will be able to increase your profits.

You can also save time by setting aside a block of time each week to do your “regular” errands, such as grocery shopping, going to the post office, etc. If you plan your meals for the week and go to the grocery store once, you will save lots of time during the week by not taking those daily “quick trips to the market” (you'll save a lot of money this way too!). And while you are planning your meals, try to schedule a few days where you cook everything once, but spread it over more than one meal. For instance, you can plan on having spaghetti on Monday and tacos on Tuesday. So, on Monday, brown the hamburger you will need for both days. On Tuesday, half of your work will already be done. And if you are making a meatloaf or lasagna, make two and freeze one for later.

Most importantly, do not feel as if you have to do it all by yourself. As much as we would love to be (or think we are) SuperMom, we can't get it all done on our own. If you have a spouse or significant other, ask them to chip in on household chores. Children love to help out, and depending on their ages, there are many tasks that they can do, be it around the house or even with your business. And when it is all said and done, don’t forget to take out some time for yourself. Everyone needs a break– WAHMs included!