About five years ago, when I started my first business providing SEO content to businesses, I realized I needed a website so that people could find me. I also needed an online portfolio with samples of my writing, an explanation of the services I provided and my rates. I knew absolutely nothing about building a website, so I asked around a couple of forums and found someone very cheap. I didn’t have much money, so cost was a major factor.The website was a simple, professional design and I was quite happy with it.

A year later, I needed to update the services I provided and my rates. There was just one problem – I didn’t know how to change the content on the website. I had no idea what type of platform she used to build my site. Bottom line: I needed to contact the webmaster in order to change the content. Unfortunately there was another big problem: the webmaster was nowhere to be found. I was stuck with a website that offered clients services and rates that I no longer offered.
So now I needed a new website, and this time it needed to be able to control the content myself. I poked around online and found a free website builder. The pros: My website information was back online and up to date. The cons: My website promoted the sale of the website templates fee-based products, and the site’s coding resulted in terrible SEO ranking in the search engines. I continued to research options and finally settled on WordPress, and I haven’t looked back.

WordPress is one of the best free blogging software programs available to both technical and non-technical online entrepreneurs.

For the purposes of this article, I’m speaking of the WordPress blogging software that you can install from within the c-panel of your web hosting company.

In what follows, you will learn many of the benefits to using WordPress for your website/blog:

1. You do not need to know computer code – such as HTML and PHP to create your own site. This means that you can get your site up and running very quickly, even without this knowledge.

2. WordPress is not only for bloggers – You can use WordPress to create very attractive websites with static pages that don’t even look like blog pages. You can even use WordPress to create a website with a separate blogging section on it. Furthermore, you can use it to create e-commerce sites.

3. Numerous free WordPress plugins are available – These plugins allow you to do so many other things to your WordPress site. For example, there are plugins that allow you to add photo galleries to your site (NextGen), ones that increase your exposure in the search engines (All-In-One SEO), others that allow you to control the appearance of your site (Exclude Pages), and so many others.

4. Excellent paid WordPress plugins are also available – You can find some good paid plugins such as the WP-Estore, which allows you to create an E-store and sell products on your website. Again, there is no fancy code needed to set this up on your site. Pretty Link Pro is another paid plugin that allows you to redirect and cloak your links to decrease theft of your affiliate links.

5. WordPress is used globally – Because WordPress is so well recognized throughout the globe, it is easy to find programmers online who are familiar with it, and can make any desired modifications to your website.

6. It can save you a lot of money – If you have some time and the desire to learn how WordPress works, you can save a lot in hiring a website designer. In addition, once you learn WordPress, you don’t have to hire someone every time you need to update your website or blog.

7. A number of WordPress themes are available – Many themes have been created; some are free while others are not. The various themes allow you to set up the appearance and layout of your site. There are also inexpensive software programs that you can purchase to create your own WordPress themes from scratch, without needing to know HTML.

8. WordPress is SEO-friendly – WordPress contains many built-in search-engine optimization tools. For example, you can use keywords in the permalinks/URL’s of your posts and pages. You can also categorize topics, and use tags in order that search engines can better index your site.

WordPress offers many advantages when building a website and/or blog.  Technical and non-technical people across the globe find it suits their needs and is quite user-friendly.

Are you serious about creating a home-based business that you can run from home? Then let me share an important secret for success: Having laser sharp focus is crucial to your long-term success.

Having a good idea and sticking with it until it either succeeds or fails is actually a vital skill – A skill that many entrepreneurs unfortunately lack and fail as a result.

Results Come with Persistence, Not Singular Spurts of Effort

Entrepreneurs often feel powerful spurts of desire, of determination, of feeling like they’re willing to do whatever it takes. Feeling that way for a few days or weeks isn’t an uncommon feeling.

However, to really succeed you need to be able to stay motivated and inspired about what you’re doing for months and years at a time.

Business is not a short term game. You have wins and you have losses. It’s a matter of persisting through all the ups and downs to the final result of real success. That takes time and focus.

Improve Your Focus With Productivity Systems

Your habits play a big role in how focused you are.
One habit that many successful business people have is planning their day at the beginning of the day. When you wake up, the first thing you do is get out a sheet of paper and write out exactly what you want to accomplish today.

Then, write out what you want to accomplish this year. Then your five year goals, your 10 year goals and your 25 year goals.

If you have inspiring goals set, this will help you stay focused on both the short term actions and the long term picture. Doing this every day will help you stay totally motivated to do what you need to do to succeed.

Be Focused, But Stay Flexible

As an entrepreneur, it’s important that you’re able to adapt to your environment and do what’s necessary to make your business succeed. This and staying focused may sound like contradictory concepts, but they’re actually quite complimentary.

Most experienced business people agree that business seldom goes as you expect. If you have one plan to generate traffic, one plan about what to sell, one plan about how your business should look and you’re not willing to change strategies, chances are you won’t make it in the long run.

However, don’t confuse flexibility in strategy with actually bouncing around completely different paths. If you bounce from trying to do PPC affiliate marketing to trying to be a top blogger to trying to trade Forex online, you are certainly destined to fail.

On the other hand, if something isn’t working then don’t bash your head against a wall trying to make it work. Instead, be willing to be flexible and adapt. Being able to hold both focus towards a goal and flexibility in the method of getting there is crucial to success.

Know your goals. Know what’s important to know. Know what you need to do on a day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year basis. Stick to your plan and stay focused.

Do you enjoy traveling or talking about places you’ve been? If so, you can start your own halal travel website. This type of niche website has the potential to make a good income. Best of all, you can easily start it from home.

What is a Halal Travel Website?

A halal travel website focuses on a specific location in the world. It provides all of the information a Muslim visitor might want to know. If you live in a destination city or region, then you can create a site about your home town. You can also choose an area that you love and build your information around that location.

For example, if you’ve been to Honolulu, Hawaii a few times and enjoyed your time there, then you might create a website about all of the Halal places in Honolulu that would interest Muslim Travelers. You’d highlight local masjids, activities, halal restaurants, halal hotels and places to stay. You might also provide reviews, maps, halal travel travel information (maybe recommend a Halal travel travel guide if there’s one in the area?), and itineraries. A halal travel website is essentially an information website. You provide information about the area. You can include articles, videos and an abundance of travel and travel planning resources.

How Does a Halal Travel Website Make Money?

The key to a successful and profitable Halal travel website is to choose a destination that is in demand but doesn’t have too much competition. You could also specialize in a travel topic like halal hotels, halal restaurants or a hala cruise for example. Narrowing in on a specialization, or a niche, will help you attract targeted traffic. This will result in more profits for you.

The profits will come in the form of selling advertising space to businesses that have the same target audience you do. You can also earn money from pay per click advertising programs like Google AdSense. Much of your income may come from affiliate commissions. For example, you might choose to be an affiliate for a halal tour guide organization or travel agency. Each website visitor who clicks on your link to the company and makes a reservation earns you a commission.

How Do You Get Started?

There are really only three things you need to get started. You’ll want to research and find a travel destination that has a good demand and not too much competition. You’ll also want a solid business plan. In your plan you’ll outline who your audience is, what your business goals are and how you are going to reach those goals.

Finally, you’ll need a website. Consider a theme based website like WordPress. They’re easy to set up. They’re inexpensive. And they’re easy for your visitors to navigate.

If you enjoy traveling and talking about the places you’ve been, consider starting your own halal travel website. It can be a fun home-based business business to own and a great way to build residual income.

I’m setting the bar for my business goals higher this year. One of my biggest goals is to grow a passive income stream to my overall business. Passive income is money you are not directly involved with creating.

I love that I’ve been able to earn a living working at home. The downside is the more clients/projects I get, the more time I spend getting everything done. Bottom line: if I don’t do the work I don’t get paid. I want to be able to reduce my actual work hours and spend more time with my family without earning less. There are quite a few bloggers who have successfully turned blogging into a money earning business.

With passive income, your direct involvement is not required to earn profit. I’d love to be able to do it by blogging which is what lead me to the ebook “Publicity Spark, a website providing information and education on all things public relations. Ponn is also the founder/publisher of American Muslim Mom.

Affiliate marketing allows you to make money online by boosting awareness of businesses and the products or service they sell. When you promote a product or service, you earn a commission in return. Commissions can either be a percentage of the sale, or a fixed rate.

Ponn and Janet’s ebook does a great job of explaining affiliate marketing in simple language for those who may not be familiar with the term. The ebook is specifically written for bloggers who would like to turn blogging into a profitable venture. The ebook with an explaination of affiliate marketing and provides step-by-step instructions to generating an income.

The first step in the guide is titled “Change Your Mindset.” Here’s where Ponn and Janet explain how critical it is to think of your blog as a business from the onset. They encourage readers to understand the real money-making potential of blogging, and to take a strategic approach to building a foundation for long-term residual income.

Ponn and Janet also discuss the importance of being transparent and honest with your readers, and I agree. I have purchased lots of recommended products and online. I don’t like the overly hyped sales approach. If someone I know and trust makes a suggestion, nine times out of ten, I can make the purchase with confidence that I’m getting what I’m paying for, and that’s important to me. You should always be 100% honest when reviewing a product/service of making a suggestion about a product or service.

The authors use Ponn’s American Muslim Mom blog as an example throughout the book which gives readers a realistic point of reference. They show how Ponn has turned her own blog into a profitable business following the steps outline in the book, and you can too.

The success of affiliate marketing greatly depends on putting effort into building a trustworthy relationship with your readers and the subscribers on your list. If you establish a good relationship with your readers, a reputation for honesty and provide them with relevant, useful information about products/services you know about, it can be a win-win for everyone.

Success with affiliate marketing via your blog also depends on building a decent level of traffic to your site as well. I say this to drive home the point that there is work required even when building a residual income stream with your blog. You can’t just sit back, do nothing and watch the money come; but as you put key systems in place, less hand-on work will be required.

When I first decided to start my own business, it didn’t occur to me to seek out a mentor. Looking back, I realize having someone with experience to turn to when I needed guidance would have reduced the learning curve dramatically. I had been employed by various companies since the age of 18 and understood very little about what it really took to be self-employed.

I logged in lots of time lurking on blogs, websites, forums and reading “how to” books. Some of the information I collected was helpful, but most of it was either vague or regurgitated from another source. Eventually I discovered a way to earn the income I needed, but a mentor might have made the process progress more smoothly and happen more quickly.

If you’ve been thinking of starting your own small business but have no idea where to start, a mentor may be just what you need. Here are some tips to help you find the right small business mentor for you and your business:

Understand how to work with a mentor

I speak from experience when I say don’t contact someone asking them to be your mentor if you’re not willing, or able, to do the work. If someone offers to take time away from their business to help you start or develop yours, respect their time by doing what you say you will when you say you will. Nothing is more frustrating than carving out time in your busy schedule for someone who is only putting forth 25% of the work and research necessary to meet their goals.

Contact trade associations

There are several benefits business owners receive from memberships to trade associations. Some even have mentorship programs available. Even if an association doesn’t have an actual mentorship program in place, you can still reach out to fellow members by introducing yourself and asking for advice or direction. Most entrepreneurs are more than happy to provide assistance when asked. Having another business owner available to answer questions and offer guidance is great, but if that business owner is a member of the same trade association as you and happens to serves the same market (or operates in the same profession), you’ll receive much more invaluable advice.

Find someone within your network

Think of all the people you know – family, friends and acquaintances . Do any of these people work for themselves in some capacity? Do you attend meeting locally for small businesses, participate on industry forums or social media? Then you probably have a wide network of valuable contacts at your disposal and you need to start making contact and building relationships.

Offer to work for free as an apprentice or work as an intern

I know this is not the ideal for a lot of people, but it’s an excellent way to get the hands on experience you need and meet people who actually do what you want to do for a living. I interned with a pretty well-known Internet marketing expert about six years ago when I first started building my own web-based business. There was so much I didn’t know, and when an opportunity was presented allowing me to learn from someone I respected who had her own thriving, successful business, I jumped. I knew that even though I was working for free that it was temporary. The knowledge, information and skills I’d get from the experience would more than pay off.

Speaking from personal experience, as someone who has been approached by individuals seeking a mentor relationship and guidance with things like getting a business up and running, bringing in new business, the best advice I can offer to someone seeking a mentor is to make sure the person you contact is qualified to offer advice. Do they already operate a successful business? If not, how can they help you? Before approaching anyone, make sure you do so professionally. Have some sort of business plan (even if it’s only one page long) with measurable goals for your business. Do some research on your target market. Who will be interested in buying what you sell? Most important, be committed to your idea and what it takes to turn your vision into reality.

My husband and I just celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary, alhamdullilah. Allah deserves all the praise for providing us with a harmonious marital and family union, but I also attribute being able to remain in the home while pursuing my professional goals and dreams as a contributing factor. Having my own business has provided me with a creative outlet, financial stability and a means of developing myself professionally while simultaneously managing our home and being a constant presence in our four children’s lives as they grow.

Because my work-at-home experience has been mostly positive, I enthusiastically encourage other women interested in earning a living working at home to go for it. It’s a lifestyle that can be so enriching and rewarding for you and your family. However, for some running a business from home can involve a good deal of stress which left unchecked can lead to marital and family problems.

This article describes the ways running a business can negatively affect a marriage. It discusses things like failing to make time to regularly connect with your husband and children, dealing with a spouse/family members who don’t believe in your business idea or think it’s a waste of time, becoming overwhelmed by business duties and financial issues can all take a toll on even the strongest marriage.

Before you embark on the path of self-employment, make sure that your house, literally and figuratively speaking, is in order. Take steps to plan your foray to entrepreneurship carefully to ensure a successful experience.

Communicate with your family – talk about expectations

Discuss with your spouse what working from home and starting your business means to you both personally and professionally. How do you think working from home will benefit your home life? How will it benefit your family? How will it benefit you professionally? What will you need your family to do to help you succeed? Will you need your husband to help out more with the household chores or caring for the children? You’re your husband expect you to work on your business part-time, or not to work on weekends? Will you need the children to help out around the house more? It’s really important that everyone knows what to expect and what’s expected of them.

Schedule quality time

One thing I’ve learned after seven years of entrepreneurship: running a business can be unpredictable. I can’t tell you how many times I instructed my husband make a Subway run because I had to handle an issue that ran into our dinner time, or found myself unexpectedly pulling an all-nighter. In the early days, when you’re excited and on fire about your business, you feel like you could work non-stop. Be careful – that’s a recipe for burnout, not to mention too much time working on the business means you’re neglecting something very important – your family.

Don’t assume you’ll work normal nine to five hours and spend evenings and weekends relaxing with the family. Sometimes you’ll have to schedule and plan quality time. Don’t neglect this – ti’s too important!

Take care of yourself

As a wife, mother and business owner, there are a lot of people constantly relying on you; but you’re no good to anyone if you’re run down, burned out or sick. Make sure you get enough sleep at night, eat regular, healthy meals and exercise. Take time off periodically to relax and have fun. All work and no play is NOT a balanced life.

How do you protect your marriage and family life from the stress of running a home-based business?

This week was a hectic one for me: client projects, coaching clients, a Skype meeting with my own business coach (that’s right, the learning NEVER stops), administrative business tasks, doctor appointments and taking my mother to run her weekly errands. The week ended on a high note however – an amazing, potential joint venture opportunity literally fell into my lap thanks to time and energy spent networking and connecting with others in the work-at-home niche. I’m making dua’ that things work out, if Allah determines that the opportunity is best for me; but even if it doesn’t, I’m definitely open to the idea of joining with other businesses for joint venture projects in the future, insha’Allah. I think other businesses could benefit from this type of partnering as well.

What is a Joint Venture?

About.com has one of the best definitions of this type of partnership: “A joint venture is a strategic alliance where two or more parties, usually businesses, for a partnership to share markets, intellectual property, assets, knowledge and, of course, profits.”
Businesses with identical, or complimentary markets, products and services come together to provide a product or service to markets they may not otherwise be able to reach without making significant investments (time and money). Here are a few examples:

• You make your own all-natural skincare products and for a joint venture agreement with a local salon, or natural health shop, to carry and sell your products to their customers.
• You bake deserts and form a joint venture relationship with a local restaurant who agrees to sell your sweet confections to their customers.
• If you’re a copywriter, you could write an ebook about creating persuasive content for business websites, and have a successful web design firm sell it for you.

How to Set Up a Joint Venture

Not everyone will make a good joint venture partner. As with any important decision, it’s important to do your research and ask probing questions before initiating a partnership. You want to team up with a business that’s serious and already has a track record of success.

It’s also important to have a contract agreement in place that spells out every detail of the arrangement – from the role each partner will play and how much each person receives from sales, to how you’ll be paid and how often. You’ll also want to clarify intellectual rights, etc. It may be wise to seek legal advice when making this type of arrangement.

Pros and Cons

It would be dishonest for me to only discuss the pros of entering into a joint venture relationship. The fact that you can penetrate new and/or larger markets, the ability to collaborate together on business decisions and finances through this type of business relationship is certainly a plus. However, the potential for fitna does exist. Conflicts and disagreements can occur. You may have differences of opinion about how to managing business activities, promote or enhance profitability. These are the details that need to be hashed out in detail in the legal agreement.

Have you ever participated in a joint venture? If so, what was your experience?

A few months ago, I posted here that a well-known coach was searching for a general transcriptionist to help out with transcribing her teleseminars and other tasks. Although the position was quickly filled, I received a number of emails and DMs via Twitter asking about it. I even met an incredible woman via email who as a single mother has built quite a successful home business working as a professional transcriptionist. Learning about her success inspired me to explore this potential home-based business idea a bit further.

Transcription is a service that has the potential to become a profitable home business. Believe it or not, general transcriptionists are in demand to handle these sorts of tasks :

• Medical Office Transcription
• Psychiatric Evaluations
• Recorded Statements (Legal)
• Insurance Claims
• Teleconferences
• Teleseminars
• Interviews

Medical and legal transcription typically require specialized training to master the complex terminology. Medical transcriptionists also need to know how to transcribe medical data and hospital records. Legal transcriptionists testimony, depositions, interviews, etc. It’s much easier to become a general transcriptionist. You can choose from a variety of different projects.

Basic equipment requirements for home-based transcriptionists are:

• Computer
• High-speed Internet
• MS. Word
• Headphones (optional, but can make it easier to hear so you can transcribe more accurately)
• Foot pedal (optional – you can get started without a pedal and rely instead on transcription software; but eventually you may want to invest in a pedal will help improve productivity by helping you work faster).

Most audio files are now delivered as digital files.  Downloading a transcription software program makes it easy to get started. Accuracy is very important when working as a transcriptionist. You’ll need good grammar, spelling and proofreading skills. You should also be able to type a minimum of 65 words per minute. You can find several typing tutorials online to help bring your typing skills up to speed if necessary. The transcription process isn’t just about listening and typing what you hear. Sometimes there’s a fair amount of research involved as well.

The best way to gain experience is to start working with companies that hire transcriptionists as contract workers. The rates and requirements will vary from company to company. Here is a list of companies that hire transcriptionists:

•  Tigerfish
• Rapidtext
• Ubiquis
• TASK Transcription Services
• Morningside Partners
• Neal R. Gross
• Cyberdictate

As you gain confidence, accuracy and speed, you may eventually consider branching out and prospecting for private clients on your own. You can make more money without a middleman. Building a reputation as a reliable, productive worker can also lead to more business via client referrals.

If you work as an independent general transcriptionist, share your self-employment experiences.

There’s a brand new social media website in town that’s targeting the Muslim community’s unique networking needs. UmmahLinked is specifically aimed at helping individuals and businesses make meaningful connections within the ummah (Muslim community). Their simple tag line “Care. Share. Grow.” Really appeals to me.
I’m still pretty new to the site (I just signed up today), but I find it easy to navigate and full of good information. There is a business directory, a blog full of informative, business-related articles, IM chat features and more. You can share various formats of content easily. It’s free to join (although certain aspects of the site may be fee-based according to the FAQs. I encourage you to consider joining this social media website and start networking and connecting with others within the Muslim community today.

I’m so excited to be able to bring you a bonus interview today, alhamduillilah! Ponn Sabra, the founder and publisher of American Muslim Mom, was kind enough to share how she began working as a professional blogger, growing her own sites. I have the utmost respect for Ponn – it is inspiring to see another Muslim sister creating such a prolific presence online. I am so happy to see so many sisters creating a strong online presence and representing our faith, masha’Allah. American Muslim Mom is definitely an ezine that embodies the true spirit of Islam and sisterhood.
Several sisters have contacted me by email seeking advice about how to get started blogging for profit. I think Ponn is an excellent source of information on this topic,  insha’Allah . You’re sure to get a good dose of inspiration and motivation from her interview responses.

How long have you worked as a professional blogger for your own
sites?

Since 2005.

What were you doing professionally before you started blogging
full-time?

The year before I started blogging professionally, I was a foreclosure and
short sales real estate agent and specialist, and freelance writer. Prior
to that, I was a public health official since 1998; and published writer
since 1995.

What motivated you to start blogging as a business venture?

After a life-changing car accident in 2004, I realized that I wouldn’t hold
off anything anymore, such as my dream of writing a book. So, I wrote a
business networking book for women in 3-days while in bed. Rather going
through the small press publisher who solicited the book, I was actually
blessed to be published traditionally. While my book was being published, I
entered the online world in January 2005 simply to promote and publicize my
book in the most cost-effective and time-efficient way.

Alhumdulilah, Masha’Allah, 9 months of hard work, dedication and many
mistakes on the book’s debut release date, my book was a best-seller on
amazon.com. I immediately became a well-sought after online freelance
writer, Internet Branding Consultant, and became a debut columnist of
Entrepreneur Magazine’s women’s site. Blogging was the main platform I used
to share my journey and written works.

Can you share some of the ways you generate profit from your blog?

First, I use the blog platform (specifically WordPress) to host a series of different types of websites. For example, I have my main blog network, AmericanMuslimMom.com, which has two separate blogs “channels” connected by one-brand name. The Muslim Homeschool Channel of that site is: MuslimHomeEducation.com. I have an online gift guide or catalogue at EidGiftGuide.com, PublicitySpark.com  is a co-owned online PR (Public Relations) and Social Media information products store. This is where my partner and I relieve all our SEO secrets that we use to catapult our individual businesses and that of our clients since 2005. I use PonnSabra.com  as a stand-alone website for all my businesses to refer Press to and generate leads into my mailing list. As you will see by the list of the various sites, I have other blogs as well.
Direct sponsorships & online advertisements, affiliate marketing of hard products (like my book, “Empowering Women to Power Network,” but mostly information products, and online services I use and love; Information product development, affiliate management, Internet Branding consultation to design, conduct and/or run their social media campaigns, Paid blogging, vlogging and speaker,  Online Publicity & Search Engine Optimization work, and online freelance writing.

It’s important to note that I do not seek out work or pitch for jobs anymore; meaning I do not actively promote myself as a freelance writer or consultant. All jobs, sponsorships and advertisement come to me through my multiple blogs, my network. By “publicizing” myself in various online venues, I am seen as an “authority blogger” and sought out. There’s a significant difference in that I am not a service provider, I am an online business owner who manages multiple websites (i.e. blogs), staff, outsources, contributors, etc.

What kind of education, certification and/or training background do
you have?

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, and a Master in Public Health degree in Health Care Management and Administration. I was the youngest appointed public health official in the country once I completed my Master’s thesis, and the 2nd highest paid position in the country with the largest staff and number of programs; masha’Allah, God has willed. Therefore, I was public speaking throughout the country, media, and overseeing all business aspects from human resources (hiring, firing, credentialing), to applying for and managing grants from $15K to $3M. I was published the most prestigious academic journal twice for my unique research, and I networked hard and long for these unique opportunities to avail myself at such a young age. In doing so, I catapulted my career, so when my first daughter was born I was fortunate to rely on my husband to leave this work with the confidence that I had the skills and abilities to run multi-million-dollar business.

Masha’Allah, my husband and I have run and closed down multiple multi-million dollar businesses to date, so we a blessed to live a life a convenience to travel, homeschool and most of all live our life based on the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad, sallallahi alayhi wa salam, and worship Allah subhanallahu wa Ta’ala. I believe it was the collective life experiences that Allah destined me and my family the lifestyle we live because we have always worked directly in the Name of Allah regardless what kind of work I was doing at any time. Therefore, I feel honored, blessed and humbled, that Allah gave me the opportunity to release and grow the American Muslim Mom brand.

When you’re employed by someone else, there is structure already in place for you to follow. As professional blogger, you have to come up with your own work schedule and way of getting things accomplished. Has this ever been a challenge?

The biggest challenge was getting my husband behind me. He has supported and motivated me as my business partner in every single business venture except blogging. It was seen as a mere waste of my time, but knowing I’m a professional writer by trade and a life-long journal writer; he knew I needed a writing outlet; however, he preferred that it not to be so public via the Internet. He was mostly concerned about my health, because 3 months into my physical therapy (from my car accident) I was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder, and it was devastating for our family. Masha’Allah, I took much time offline due as a cause of it; then 2009 changed our lives again–I opened an Islamic academy, he went to Hajj and as a cause of that, American Muslim Mom was born. This brand was changed our lives, especially rebranding in 2010 and writing my “Balancing Life as a Muslim Mom” ebook–it’s something my husband feels I was destined to do…rather than simply writing for women entrepreneurs and business owners. This is why I wrote [an] article [about] having your hubby support you.

What resources (blogs/websites, software, books, etc.) do you recommend for someone considering starting their own blog for profit?

Please check out my Online ToolKit on http://PonnSabra.com<http://ponnsabra.com/>where I have detailed descriptions how I use individual products, services and memberships to grow my online business (ie blogs). However, I highly recommend my mentor, Kelly McCausey! I’ve come full circle with her. I started off with her in 2005, but went in different directions after my book was released. However, I returned to her in 2009, when I launched my mommy blog http://AmericanMuslimMom.com <http://americanmuslimmom.com/>. Over the past 2.5 years, my blog’s traffic increased so much that it’s now a blog network, and my income increased so much that I was able to re-invest and launch multiple different online businesses. I owe a great deal of my success to Kelly’s advice and guidance, which I detail the most important products and services at http://PonnSabra.com<http://ponnsabra.com/>.

I know many people buy products, try to become a student of a mentor, and only have bad testimonials of “I just wasted my time and money”. However, my reply is “they just wasted their opportunity”. It takes time and money to get something, but it takes even more time, effort, belief and faith to take action and make an opportunity for one self. In Islam, we are haram (prohibited) from wasting ANYTHING, such as time, money, or resources; therefore, I never buy anything until I finish using (reading and implementing) the previous product and made sure I find some benefit from the time, money and resources used.

I love Kelly’s quote, which is the tentative title of her upcoming book, “You CAN do it, IF you’re willing to do it!” Just like in Islam, you’re not a Mu’min (true believer) if you don’t act upon the knowledge gained from the Qur’an and Sunnah. You’re simply a Muslim by name, however only Mu’minyn (true believers) will elevate their ranks in Jennah (Heaven), Insha’Allah Ta’ala (God willing May He be Glorified).

What advice would you give to someone interested in becoming a professional blogger?

Have faith in Allah. Consult and discuss with your husband or wali (guardian). They just start blogging. Don’t stop. Don’t doubt yourself.
Work wisely (not just hard). Be patience. Enjoy blogging! But, learn the ”profession” of blogging, if making an income is your goal.
When in doubt, just keep typing and don’t forget to hit the “publish” button. My 11 year old professional blogger and daughter recently published a thought-provoking post which was a fresh new way to look at blogging (on http://KidBloggersClub.com), which I never really thought about until she told me so innocently. So, my last advice would be to follow my girls’blog, become a mommy and kid blogging team, and be wise enough to learn from your own kids too.

Insha’Allah, God willing, this interview encourages many more Muslim Mommies to join me in the blogosphere, as our voices are much needed. I’ve talked about the grave need for devout Muslims in America to start utilizing blogs, vlogs, and podcasts so our voices are heard. I’d love to help you on this journey! Please feel free to comment below with your questions and concerns, insha’Allah (God willing).