Flexible Jobs For Stay At Home Moms
When you become a new mom, the idea of keeping your old 9-5 and going into the office everyday sort of loses its appeal, for a lot of reasons. Maybe you can’t afford the childcare costs that it takes for someone to look after your kids while you’re away at work. Maybe you don’t want to pay someone else to watch your babies.
But if you quit your regular job, you’re left with a lot of questions. For some people, shifting to a single-income family just isn’t a viable option. You’ve got bills to pay, and now there are even more mouths to feed, so losing that second income just isn’t an option for some people. And for single moms, that can be even more stressful.
You want to know that you’ve got financial options if you decide to quit that 9-5.
But What Can You Do?
Working from home seems like the obvious option for a lot of people. In general, these jobs tend to be more flexible in terms of working hours. You get to stay home with your kids, and you can even keep up with other things you need to do around the house!
But the problem is that many mothers don’t quite know how to get started. After all, with so many possibilities out there, how can you know where to begin?
That’s where I’m stepping in with this list. Being able to juggle your family life and your professional life shouldn’t be an exhausting task, so to make it a little easier, I’ve made a list of the jobs I think will be the best for stay at home moms. So, let’s get started!
Why Work from Home?
When you’ve got the added responsibility of family life, the idea of going back to your regular job may seem a little daunting, or it may be downright impossible. When you factor in commuting times, you may actually be away from home for as much as ten hours a day, and with kids at home, that doesn’t seem like a very nice option.
Some moms feel financially stable enough to be able to give up on their old 9-5 and become a stay at home mom, but even if you don’t feel like you need that second income stream, having a little extra cash on the side might be good for you.
Working from home on the side while you’re being a full-time mommy has a lot of benefits. Not only is the extra cash on the side a big benefit, working from home can be good for your mental health.
Having something that you can work on, giving you a routine and goals to achieve, is good for your mental health and can prevent you from feeling restless, anxious, or depressed!
So, without further ado, let’s get down to the jobs you can do from home while juggling being a full-time mom.
List of Jobs
#1 Blogging
Blogging is probably the most well-known way of making money from home as a full-time mom. For one thing, blogging (or vlogging, if you prefer a visual medium) connects you with a whole network of people just like you.
Blogging lets you explore your interests, and it connects you to people who have the same interests. The best part about it is that you can blog or vlog about anything that takes your fancy, so it’s more like a passion project that makes you money than an actual job.
But that doesn’t mean blogging is easy. In fact, it can be quite difficult to make money at first, because it’ll take you some time to build up your audience. And that audience? That’s the most important part. Especially in the early days, you should take time to build a connection to your audience, to make sure they keep wanting to come back and engage with you.
Especially when blogging and vlogging has become so saturated with other likeminded people, you’re going to have some competition, so you’ll want to make sure you really stand out. Let your personality really shine through in your blog, and your audience will be more likely to enjoy your content and keep coming back for more!
Once you’ve built up that audience, you can begin making money through using ad traffic to your advantage. It can take a while for that revenue to build up over time, but don’t let that discourage you!
If you’re interested in starting a blog using your experiences as a mom, then check out this article:
#2 Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money when you pair them with a successful blog. Affiliate marketing involves promoting sponsored items to your audience. Essentially, with every purchase, you make a small commission.
The most effective way to make money in this way is to sell things that directly relate to your blog’s content. For example, if you blog about veganism, it’s probably not going to make sense for you to be promoting anything to do with cooking meat.
If you’re interested in using affiliate links to make some extra money on the side, this comprehensive course on getting started with affiliate courses can help you get started and make the most of it!
#3 Freelancing
Now, this is going to be the biggest section, so let’s get it out of the way first. Essentially, being a freelancer means that you’re your own boss. You seek out clients, manage yourself, and deliver work. You’re in charge of how much or how little work you do, and there’s no pressure to pick up jobs you don’t want to do!
Freelancing does come with some financial insecurity – you’re essentially a gig-based worker, so some months may see your work dry up considerably, and the next month you may be swamped with offers!
If you’re interested in freelancing, there are a few different sites out there for you to look into joining. Two of the most popular are Fiverr and Upwork, which both have their own positives and drawbacks. If you’re looking into freelance writing, it’s worth doing your own research on these sites.
There are a lot of different options out there when it comes to freelancing, so we’ve broken it down into a few different categories for you.
#4 Writing/Editing
It is an excellent option for anyone who went to college and has experience churning out essays or reading over them. There are a lot of jobs out there from researchers and academics who need someone to proofread their journals for any grammatical errors.
There are also a lot of jobs in other areas. You can find yourself a freelance job writing for an online newspaper or blog. The benefit to doing this over starting your own blog is you’re talking to an already established audience, rather than trying to forge your own.
One of the most popular ways to make money as a freelancer is to ghostwrite fiction. If you’re good with words, but you don’t have a story you want to tell, then tell someone else’s!
Freelance ghostwriting can be a great way to earn money. Clients will generally give you a plot, characters, and a general idea of what they want to see, and your job is then to bring them to life.
#5 Photography, Painting, And Design
For anyone with a creative streak, this option might be worth some serious consideration! You can quite easily set up a blog or website dedicated to showcasing your art and offer to work on commission.
The best part of this is that you can end up working on designs that you may never have thought of originally. Clients can ask for a range of different projects to be completely in a diverse selection of different styles or formats, which is great to get those creative juices flowing!
Many people do art as a hobby, but few people actually decide to capitalize on their skill and use it as a way to make a little extra money on the side. Take a look around for any sites looking for artists or designers!
#6 Transcription and Captioning
Sure, a lot of captions are auto-generated, especially on YouTube and the news. But we all know how inaccurate those captions can be, and that’s one of the reasons why captioners are so in demand.
Transcription is in demand for a similar reason – people who can accurately transcribe lectures and meetings into comprehensible and accurate notes are necessary for businesses.
If you’re interested in either captioning or transcribing, you’ll need a few things to get started.
Both jobs will require you to have fairly good quality headphones (a small but necessary investment). You’ll need a good internet connection because you’ll either be listening to audio clips or watching videos.
Generally speaking, if you end up working in either transcription or captioning, you’ll need to have a very good typing speed. You’ll want to be up around 75 words per minute, and for some people, this can be quite a jump – the average typing speed is around 40 words per minute.
#7 Sell Crafts
If you’ve got a creative streak that comes out when you’re making things with your hands, then you might benefit from opening up an Etsy store or a redbubble store.
If you’re someone who creates graphics or prints, redbubble may be a good option for you to look into. Essentially what you can do is sell designs that can then be printed onto a variety of different items, including clothing, stationery, and mugs! If you like the idea of making a lot of designs that are versatile enough to be printed onto a lot of different things, consider a redbubble account!
If your interests lie more in crafts, then Etsy is probably the right store for you. Etsy has pretty much everything you could ever dream of available, so no matter how niche your interests are, you’ll almost definitely find a market for your crafts.
Another option is to set up your own store using a platform like Shopify.
Shopify is one of the most popular ways to create your store and it’s a lot easier than you think and it’s a great way to start selling online.
#8 Online Tutoring
If you’ve got any kind of teaching qualifications or experience, then online tutoring is a great way to make a little extra cash on the side. Generally speaking, you won’t have to work hours that are too long. As you’ll be tutoring kids most of the time, the hours will be reasonable too – no midnight study sessions!
If you’re interested in teaching or tutoring, but there’s no subject that you feel like you’ll be really interested in teaching, then why not your native language? There’s a lot of demand for online teachers to help people abroad develop and improve their English skills!
Generally, if you’re tutoring, you’ll probably find yourself working for an hour or two at a time, paying by the hour. If you’re interested in this as a potential career move, you can either go freelance, or you can work through a company, which will help to pair you up with clients.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, you’re likely to be facing a lot more competition in this particular job area, though. A lot of other people have had the same idea and are capitalizing on more people studying at home. If you choose to tutor online, make sure you stand out!
Tips for Working from Home
Now that we’ve given you that list of jobs, you might just be wondering how on earth you can get started and be really successful. To give you a helping hand, we’ve compiled a nice list of all of the ways that you might be able to get a boost out of your at-home job.
Be Realistic About Your Skills
We’ve all got different skills that make us great candidates for different jobs, but there’s no point in lying about those skills to get a job we aren’t actually qualified for. Before you start actually applying for work, it might be a good idea to take a quick inventory of the different skills you have and the jobs that those skills might allow you to apply for.
It’s no use applying for jobs you’re unqualified for. You’re more likely to get stressed out by the work, and you’re less likely to deliver projects to the best of your ability. Making sure you’ve got a clear picture in your head of the kinds of jobs you’re best suited for is the first step to success!
Work on Your Skills from Home
Now that you know which skills you’ve got; you should also have a pretty good idea of the different skills that you may want to work on.
Perhaps you’re a really good artist, but your skills in the finance department are a little lacking? Maybe you’re really good at blogging, but kind of rubbish at SEO?
Luckily for you, there are heaps of online courses that are great for working on your skills. Building up a portfolio of diverse skills makes you look like a far more attractive candidate for different jobs, meaning companies or clients are more likely to want to work with you!
Skillshare is a really popular website for doing this. Although it costs to have a subscription to use their services, they’re very popular sponsors on YouTube. It means that you’ll probably be able to find an affiliate code really easily to get a discount.
Another great site for building up your skills and knowledge is EDX. This site gives you a whole host of really fantastic online courses from leading universities – and the best part is they’re free!
Building up your skills and knowledge through free online university courses isn’t just a great way to make yourself more attractive to potential clients, though. It’s also a really easy way to make yourself more knowledgeable in your niche subject. It is especially useful if you’re blogging/vlogging on a particular topic!
Understand That You May Not Be Making Loads at The Start
We know that you’re probably already revved up and ready to go, but it’s important to remember that it can take a long time to start seeing some serious money coming in from doing this.
Especially if you’re making money through blogging, affiliate links, and other methods that require you to have quite a big following, it can be tough at first to see any kind of money coming in.
It’s important to remember not to get disheartened right at the start and to keep pressing on. Your follower count will steadily grow with time, and then you should see money begin to come in. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there, and we know how tough it can be right at the start!
Try A Couple of Different Methods to Get A Feel for What’s Right for You
If at first, you don’t succeed…
There might be quite a few jobs on this list that interest you, but after trying them out, you may end up realizing that they really aren’t right for you, and that’s okay! Not every job is going to fit with your lifestyle, and you may end up realizing that the payoff for doing those jobs isn’t worth the time you’re putting in.
One of the best things about working from home is the flexibility of it. You can spend time trying out a few different jobs to get a feel for which one is right for you. It might take a while, but that’s why there are so many on the list!
Keep Organized
It’s time to get back to basics, ladies! The one perk about working in an office is that it’s a lot easier to stay organized – after all, there are fewer distractions than there are at home.
If you’re planning on working at home, you must organize your work life and home life efficiently. Getting organized will not only help you to work more efficiently, but it means that when distractions do come up (and trust me, they will!), you’ll be better equipped to work around them.
Making sure that you have a perfect working space free from clutter is a great first step to helping yourself get organized to work from home. After that, it’s a case of making sure you’ve got some way of noting how much time you’re spending on your different jobs and making sure that your home life is organized too.
Keeping organized makes your life easier, and it means that you’re less likely to get stressed and overwhelmed with this new job, no matter how busy you are!
Be Realistic About The Amount Of Time You Can Spend Working
Listen, we all want to believe that we’re some kind of super-mom who can juggle looking after the kids, keeping the house spotless, and a full-time job. We all want to be that mom, who managed to look flawless while she manages all of that.
The reality, though? We’re not that mom. For the majority of us, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to juggle looking after kids and a full-time job, on top of everything else that you have to do.
The amount of time you can actually spend working will depend on a lot of factors. The more children you have, the more time you’ll be likely to spend chasing around after them, which can cut into your potential working hours. The younger your children are, the more time and attention they’ll probably need (until it comes to nap time, of course).
Other factors like your other responsibilities outside of work will also impact how much time a day you can spend working. One of the first things you should do if you’re considering working from home is to seriously look at how much you have to do in any given day, and then work out how much time you can actually devote to working.
Conclusion
I hope I’ve given you some inspiration for starting to work from home with this list! It took me a long time to realize that being a stay at home mom didn’t necessarily mean I couldn’t work for myself, but I’m glad I came to realize I have these opportunities!
Working from home is a great option for moms, and it’s one that I’d encourage you to take up if you can. Hopefully, with this list, there’s something out there that you can find that works for you, your schedule, and your growing family!