How to Make Money as a Stay At Home Mom -

Having a regular 9 to 5 job has its perks, but there’s just so much more you could do if you have the freedom to work in your own time, at least if you’re a solo mom like me.

I’m sure the idea has crossed your mind before, maybe in a passing sort of way. Quality time with the kids, no commute hassle. And even a little time for yourself, finally. Sounds good.

But how to get there? Sure, everyone talks about it, but you don’t really want to ditch your job before you have a solid plan to make money some other way.

Your regular job and home business can co-exist for a while

I’m not saying you have to burn all your bridges to start making money from home. Shifting to being your own employer doesn’t have to be a big, drastic change. You don’t have to shut the doors on your job right away to start doing something on the side.

Think of it this way. You can stick with your regular job a little while longer while you get your home business up and running. It may be a bit of a hassle at first as you adjust, but it can start paying itself off in as little as a couple of months.

Then you can quit your regular job, safe in the knowledge that your bank account won’t dwindle to zero in the next couple of weeks.

There are many opportunities to explore

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to make money from the comfort of your home. Now, I’m not saying you’re going to become a millionaire overnight. You’ll still have to work for your dough.

But if you’re a single mom, I’m guessing that’s nothing new, and you’re not afraid to roll your sleeves up and get things going. Because if you don’t get it done, who will, right?

Yep, I agree. Solo moms rock.

Now, let’s get back down to business.

There’s one thing I’d like you to do before you go over the potential business opportunities I’m about to explore here.

Figure out your strengths, what you’re really good at.

Because let’s face it. If you don’t have the passion, you’ll only make it so far before you throw in the towel.

It’s easy to say you’re going to open up a dropshipping store, but you’ll have wasted all your time, effort, and money if dealing with irate, irrational customers complaining about a non-existent problem drives you up the wall.

And starting up an affiliate marketing blog about cycling when you can’t tell the difference between a mountain bike and a road bike won’t get you very far either.

Anyway, I’m sure you get the point. It’s got to be something you’re passionate about, and something you enjoy doing, if you want to succeed.

There’s a job for every skill and personality.

So sit back, close your eyes (right after you’re done reading this section!), and take a few minutes to think, really think.

Are you creative? Do you have an artistic touch?
Or maybe you’re great at organizing things and getting stuff together?
Do words just flow when you put pen to paper?
Is helping people and solving problems where you shine?

That’s just it. There’s a job for everyone, no matter your skill set and aptitude. And it really doesn’t matter if you haven’t done that kind of thing before.

If you have the interest and you’re willing to put in a bit of effort, you can get there. Period.

So let’s not waste any more time and start looking at what all you can do without ever leaving the comfort of your own home.

Have skills you can trade? Go freelance!

Chances are, whatever you’re doing for your current employer, you can do for yourself.

Are you a copywriter or editor?
Do you do graphic design?
Are you an accountant or other finance specialist?
Are you a qualified counselor or therapist?
Maybe you’re bilingual and can do interpretation and translations?
Transcription, audio, and video captioning are also available alternatives.
Got a unique voice? Voiceover artists are always in demand.

Most skills can be traded online on a freelance basis, even if you don’t want to scale it all the way up to your own agency.

There are many popular marketplaces for freelancers looking to offer all sorts of skills and services. Fiverr, Upwork, and People per Hour are just a few of them.

If you’re a medical professional, there are online companies you can sign up with to start offering consultations via online chat or over the phone.

Physiotherapists, personal trainers, and other similar professionals that work with clients one-on-one can also offer their services online via freelance platforms.

Become a Virtual Assistant

Exactly what is an online assistant, you ask? I’ll tell you. We’re living in a digital world, so lots of companies have had to move their business online to make it work.

And believe you me, there are plenty of little things that need to be done to keep those online businesses afloat and turning a profit.

Like keeping up to speed with social media, for example, somebody’s got to keep those Facebook posts and Instagram pictures coming. Someone has to reply to client messages and comments. And those Facebook events won’t organize themselves.

And it’s not just social media management. There is plenty of work for virtual assistants:

Data entry
Online research
Administrative and secretarial
Sales and marketing
Surveys, mystery shopping, and product testing
And so much more.

But how and where to get those opportunities?

It’s a competitive market, and I won’t lie to you. But there are ways to shave time off the learning curve and get closer to the top of the food chain.

Instead of starting from scratch and going it alone, you can take a hands-on course to learn the ropes and start earning within a couple of days instead of a couple of months.

This excellent course from clickearners will not only explain how to set up your resume, so you stand out above the competition, it will also make sure you’re the first to know about new opportunities in your chosen area:

Various projects and tasks available
Set your own working hours
Work from wherever, all you need is an Internet connection
Suitable for single moms of any age and background!

Check It Out

Great at customer care? Plenty of remote work available!

Do you spend your whole day at work answering customer calls and emails? Or maybe you take regular chat shifts?

Well then, why not take the work home? There are always companies looking for remote call center agents to handle their customer care. Some of these jobs you’ll find via direct Google searches, and others are posted on popular freelance platforms.

With some, it’s about cold-calling and telemarketing. But if you don’t like that idea, there are also several that deal with after-sales service and problem-solving.

All you need is a computer, headset, and a reasonable Internet connection to get started.

Incidentally, even if you’ve never done this kind of work, but it appeals to you, give it a go! Not every job opportunity requires experience, and you can work your way up to better earnings if you’re good at what you do!

Making your own products? Start selling them!

I know what you’re thinking. Nobody is into peddling or vending their homemade crafts. And you can’t really make money doing that anyway.

But you know what? It’s the right idea, and you just need to touch up your approach.

Yes, you can sell your art, jewelry, sculpture, or whatever else you’re creating, if that’s what you’re good at doing. But don’t waste your time peddling at the local weekly flea market, or trying to get a retailer to carry your products.

Go online! And you don’t have to set up a whole big website to do it either. You can sell your stuff on popular marketplaces like eBay and Etsy.

Signing up and getting started is very easy. You can figure out the basics in just a couple of hours, and at the end of a week of researching on the best way to do stuff, you’ll be an old hand.

Want a hassle-free business? Try affiliate marketing!

You’ve probably heard the term a thousand times, but if you’re still a little unsure what it’s all about, I’ll break it down a little bit here.

Affiliate marketing is where you promote somebody else’s product and get a share of the profit on every sale that comes through you.

Usually, you are given a special link to the product you want to promote by its owner/seller, called an affiliate link that you place on your blog or website. Whenever somebody clicks that link, they’re taken directly to the seller’s website to make the purchase.

All you need is people to read your blog and click that affiliate link.

No inventory,
no orders,
no shipping, and
no processing payments.

In short, no hassle.

Once you’re done with the setup, it’s a passive way to earn an income online, and plenty of single moms have succeeded. Some are even in the six-figure league!

So what do you need to succeed as an affiliate marketer?

Start by carefully choosing a niche. It’s got to be popular enough to sell, but not so popular it’s flooded with competitors. Choose something you enjoy and are knowledgeable about.
Build a loyal audience. The best way to go about this is to set up and promote your blog, which should be full of interesting and relevant content targeted at your specific audience.
Find the right products to promote. Obviously, your product has got to be something relevant to your audience: don’t try to sell baby toys if your blog is about jewelry.
Make sure your products are high-ticket: a high-ticket product is one that costs over $1000 to buy, giving you more money from a single sale.
Sales come from traffic. This means you have to have some marketing mojo to get people reading your blog, clicking your affiliate links, and buying!

It sounds simple enough on paper. And the truth is, it’s really not rocket science. There is definitely a learning curve, and it may take a couple of months for the profits to start coming in.

But why not learn from other people’s mistakes and get things done in the quick and easy way?

Take a quick course on affiliate marketing to get a handle on the process.

Itching to get started? Watch this quick 12-minute video to begin earning right away!

If you’re a little bit more old school, like me, you might prefer material you can read through at your own pace.

There is an excellent course on affiliate marketing from ClickBank, one of the biggest online platforms for affiliates selling digital products like ebooks, webinars, and online courses. Go through this course, and you’ll have all the tips and tricks to start earning money through ClickBank immediately.

Another great affiliate marketing resource that offers a lot of invaluable information, much of it for free, is this course, How to Earn a 6-figure Side Income Online.

Want to start your own store? Try Shopify!

Maybe you’re thinking affiliate marketing isn’t for you. You want to sell stuff, but you want to be in control of the process.

Start your own store and get selling whatever products you like, including whatever you’ve made yourself!

There are a couple of things you need if you want to start selling online:

A website to act as your storefront
The products you want to sell
Marketing and advertising, so people know what you have and where to find you
A way to handle product stocking and shipping

Don’t be too quick to write it off as impossibly expensive to set up and way too difficult to manage!

If you don’t want the expense and hassle of inventory, try dropshipping.

As a dropshipper, you’re the storefront selling the products. Your customers place their orders with you. You then send the order over to your supplier, who ships the product out to your customer.

Simply put, you take care of the customer service, and your supplier does the actual stocking and shipping of the product you’re selling.

Your supplier sells the product to you at a discounted rate, so you make your profit by charging the customer more than what you paid for it yourself.

Whether dropshipping or selling your own products, Shopify is a great way to do it.

Shopify is a great eCommerce platform, even more popular than Amazon. And with good reason.

It’s basically an all-in-one software that takes all the pain out of setting up your very own storefront, designed and made the way you want it.

Here is why Shopify is the best choice if you’re setting up an online store:

It’s quick and easy to set up. All you really need is a product to sell. Forget about needing extensive technical skills and development costs. The interface is very intuitive and user-friendly, and there are plenty of video guides and tutorials on everything.
No technical issues. Shopify itself takes care of the website setup and hosting. It’s secure and reliable too, so your store will be available 24-7, and you can receive payments from customers without having to worry.
Your store is automatically mobile-friendly. More and more people are browsing and shopping from their phones. Shopify makes sure your store is responsive, so your mobile shoppers will have a great experience too.
Lots of design options. There are literally hundreds of themes to choose from, so it’s easy to customize your store and brand it with your own unique look.
Plenty of apps to add functionality. Adding more features to your store is easy. Whatever you want, chances are there’s a ready-made app for it, just waiting to be installed.
Marketing tools & SEO help. Having a store is useless if nobody visits and buys your products. Shopify comes with powerful SEO features and allows you to integrate things like discount codes, email marketing, product reviews, and much more.
Payment gateway options. Shopify works with several payment gateways, but it also has one of its own. You can avoid transaction fees and take advantage of lower credit card costs by using Shopify’s own payment gateway.

Conclusion

Making money at home is easier than ever before, thanks to the Internet. And why not take advantage of the opportunity?

More flexible working hours and no commute leaves you much more time to spend with your kids and do the things you really want to do. Even if you don’t earn any more than you would from your regular job, you still have more freedom.

There really is an alternative for everyone, from freelancing and working a full-time, salary job remotely, to setting up a passive side income with affiliate marketing.

Who says you can’t eventually earn a 6-figure income from home? Put in a little bit of effort, and the sky is your limit.