[Natasha]

Because I want to create an excellent community that will appeal to as many Work-At-Home Moms (WAHMs) as possible, I kindly ask that you respect these standards. If you cannot, you may be banned and your posts deleted.

1. Please don't use language that you wouldn't want someone else using with your child. This means, for most people, words that are considered profane, derogatory, defamatory, and abusive.

2. Please try to be cognizant of words that might offend another's religious or spiritual or cultural beliefs. One couldn't possibly be aware of every area of sensitivity with every group of persons, I realize. Some obvious examples are using the name of the Pope, Jesus, Mohammad, etc. as ways to be expressive. Many WAHMs happen to be religious of some sort and I really want this board to be a comfortable place for everyone.

3. Please stick to the relevant topic headings, inasmuch as possible. This is a business forum and we WAHMs are busy. No one wants to be wading through posts about what you had for lunch and the weird growth that you found on your back in order to get to answers to their pressing business-related questions. These are fun topics on a different board. I've also added some fun casual forums related to kids, etc. If you want to suggest another category heading, let me know!

4. It has often been said that women are competitive by nature. Given that you may be posting amongst some of your business competitors, it might be hard to not get testy sometimes. But let's prove that adage about competition untrue. Let's show how warm and supportive we are by nature. Be nice, not catty.

5. No affiliate links allowed. I have invested quite a lot of time and resources creating a website and forum to help others. You can help me by respecting my affliate earnings. If you post about a certain service and include a link to that company's website, and the company has an affiliate program to which I belong, I reserve the right to add my affiliate link to your post. It will look no different to readers than what you had posted. If you don't even know what it is that I'm talking about, you're not going to have a problem with this rule!

6. (I have had to be blunt and long-winded here to avoid further embarrassment and hurt from moms who do not understand what I was gently implying. Sorry.) No direct sales or "consultant" opportunities allowed. There are too many scam opportunties out there and I don't want to have to pick and choose which companies I think are legit to have advertising on here.

Also, there are a lot of message boards that already focus heavily on direct sales. I plan to keep PinkPowerSuit.com purely entrepreneurial: women starting their own businesses, not helping someone else's business through multi-level marketing or by being a consultant for someone else's business.

I don't want visitors to have to wonder whether or not the members of this board will really be able to direct them on how to trademark their business or who to go to for logo design. If you are a consultant for something like Four Point Moms or Pampered Chef or something similar, you would not have had to hire someone to make the logo for Four Point Moms or Pampered Chef. You did not trademark the name. And so, you cannot offer the same expertise and experience as mom entrepreneurs.

This is a very specific board for very specific people. If you are the very original FOUNDER of Pampered Chef (example), we would LOVE to learn from your experience.

PinkPowerSuit.com, in all parts, including this board, is for entrepreneuring moms who are starting their very own businesses from scratch, out of nothing, or who have purchased a business from a founder who started it directly from nothing, OR who purchased a franchise. Generally, these women have invested hundreds to thousands of dollars... not $29 for a start up kit. They are women who own trademark for the name by which their business is known.

If you are a consultant, you are bound by a contract that you didn't write or oversee. The moms who join this board are those who would have written the contract.

Direct Sales and other consultant opportunities are not the same category of business. They are, however, often the best opportunity a mom can have. Businesses like Pampered Chef and Usborne have empowered almost countless numbers of moms and have a strong place in our society and economy, and even my home (I was a consultant for Usborne myself.). Just not this little message board.

If you are a consultant or representative for any of these types of businesses, there are many excellent boards out there for you. Thank you for your understanding.

7. Oh, and please no using Stickys and Announcements without permission. They are my way of spreading a message quickly and noticeably. Feel free to reply to any Stickys and Announcements, however!

If you can't keep any of these standards, you will probably, but not necessarily, get a warning before you are banned.

That should about cover it! Thank you very much, in advance, and welcome to PinkPowerSuit.com's message board/forum! I've tried hard to create a clean and well-organized message board without a lot of distracting ads. The more that you give, the more you will get out of it, so come back often.

Please contact me at natasha @ pinkpowersuit.com if you are interested in being a board moderator.

Warmly,

Natasha Clark