November 30th, 1999
About Gayla McCord
Greetings from Indiana The home of The Indianapolis 500 - The Brickyard 400 - The Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl Champions 2007!!!! The Indiana Pacers and me, Gayla McCord! Who knew I could have so much fun earning a living!?! (link)
In July, 2000 I began working from home full time via the Internet and have never looked back. It wasn’t until March, 2004 that I stumbled on blogs and became hooked on the concept. At first I found it a form of therapy in the absence of human contact from being a work at home mom. Quickly that therapy turned into seven blogs and then seven became 13 before I knew it each one focusing on varied topics I am passionate about. Note: I am self diagnosed ADHD and without a doubt OCD. 
When I read that Jeremy, Darren, Arieanna and Duncan (all very popular and well known bloggers were forming b5media (link) - I knew someway, somehow - I wanted in! Never in a million years did I imagine I would become a Hollywood Gossip Columnist of sorts and now I have the pleasure of tracking celebrities and their love lives on CelebAmour (link). How fun is that?
Through b5media - I’ve also found a way to put all those dreadful years of dating to good use and now write for Dating Dames (link) - along with a beautiful and wonderful co-dame, Sasha Manuel who writes from across the pond. Blogging does make the world seem a much smaller place at times.
November 1, 2006 - I’m the brand new editor of Super Nanny Rules - I’ll be providing highlights on Jo Frost and the widely popular television show each week and in between times, I’ll be having fun with lots of parenting tips and classic parent moments.
Update June 20, 2007 - I’ve been selected as Channel Editor of The Family and Relationships Channel of b5media. It’s a great honor to be working right alongside some of the bloggers I admire most.
Update November 2007 - The channels formerly known as Family and Relationships, Home and Dining and Arts and Design have been merged into one mega channel called Lifestyles. I’ve been given the opportunity to become Channel Editor to this amazing mega channel! I’m so excited!
Stop over and say hello!
Being Mom:
The one aspect of my life that I find most rewarding and most challenging is being a mother to my twin boys, Trey and Dakota (Coty). They are 15-years-old and having been a single mother for 8 of their 15 years (their father isn’t in the picture), I can take a great deal of pride in knowing that I am the one person that can take primary credit for the wonderful young men they have grown to be and are becoming.
Since my children were born, I have held few jobs I’m a creature of habit and don’t adapt well to much change. The most important requirement to me was my children. I wanted to be the one to raise them, not some daycare or babysitter that had little interest in the adults they would grow to be. I am the one person that has a vested interest in their life and it’s my hope that I raise them to be responsible adults rather than a long term liability on myself. No Bums Allowed!
Being in a blended family has brought with it more pleasure and challenges then I’d ever
dreamed. While learning how to balance being a mom, stepmom (Ariel 16 and Denton 14) and a good wife to my beloved High School Sweetheart, Rusty - I developed a blended family blog as a form of both therapy for myself and for others who may be in that learning process with me.
Following my divorce - I took a position as a bartender at a local country, hole in the wall bar. I felt it was my only hope at finding my mouth! I’d always been a painfully shy person. In my mind, if I placed myself in a position where I HAD to talk, I’d probably learn. It worked! It was that bar tending job that supported my boys and I for nearly two years when I decided to take a job as a buyer for a convenience store chain.
Where I learned about marketing and sales:
Being a Buyer was great. I learned so much about the marketing world and what sales tactics work and which ones made me cringe. The one thing that was sorely missing in that job was the time I wanted so much to spend with my kids. They were growing so fast and I was missing precious time that I would never get back.
Becoming a Work at Home Mom:
When my boys were 6 and starting Kindergarten, I realized I didn’t want to lose anymore time with them. I took a leap of faith and began working from home. I worked for a niche dating site for two years which spawned several other opportunities. However, I found having to beg for pay was more stressful than I really cared to deal with so again, I dropped to my knees and prayed.
I consider myself to be a very spiritual person and rely heavily on my faith. God has not let me down, ever. Over the last few years, I taught myself web design and have learned so much from successful pioneers on the net such as Jeremy, Duncun and Darren. It’s through the lessons learned that I have been able to afford to be mom first. The one job I always dreamed of doing.
That’s when I came to write for b5media
I am blessed in a way that I am able to afford a life that keeps me and the kiddos, happy, healthy, warm and full. And never in a million would I have dreamed I could make so much more money writing about things I enjoy rather then being dependent on someone else in a job I detested. I much more now then I did when I had a private office with my name bronzed on the door. Who knew?
It’s my greatest hope that I can help encourage anyone who needs that extra boost to take that leap of faith and begin writing. You don’t have to be a scholar to have something important to say or say something that others will want or care to read - I can teach you how!
The internet has provided me a comfort zone in which I don’t have to alter who I am. I’m still painfully shy in public when faced with real people, however, through the internet, it’s easy to paint a portrait of assertiveness with colorful commanding words.Lastly, I love parenthesis and hyphens. I write with them because I speak with them. Those who know me online say they could pick me out of any crowd because I type exactly as I speak.
The ONLY Prize I’ve Ever Won - I won rounds 1 and 2 on Everyday Hogwash Blog Contest which placed a cool $1,500 in my pocket with a little rant about my missing pop tart! I guess that makes me a prize winning author now - Kewl!
Email: Gayla@MomGadget.com
Yahoo IM: gaylamccord
Skype: gayla_mccord
and on MyBlogLog at: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/Gayla/
Professional blogger for Hire Gigs ~
I’ve recently had the pleasure of joining the Just Paper Roses team and help them by maintaining their blog. Jeff surprised me with my own batch of paper roses that have my name on them. They are truly a beautiful gift and one I will treasure! I’d recommend Paper Roses even if I weren’t part of their team!
I’ve also had the honor of helping out with developing a few county websites be sure to check out their links below -
The Rusty Pumpkin Poultry Farm (this is my husband’s website)
If you’re interested in Graphics, then you’ll want to visit my Go To Girl for all the design pretties I have. Shelly does an AWESOME job and I’m sure you’ll be pleased with anything she works up for you.
Website Graphics by SCADesigns - http://www.scadesigns.com/
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