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The Ultimate Guide: How To Make Money As A Stay-At-Home Mom

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There are many legitimate ways to make extra money from home for stay-at-home moms.

And I am putting together this beginner’s guide because I really wish I had something like this to help me save time and point me in the right direction when I decided to work from home.

Benefits of Earning Extra income As Stay-At-Home Mom

  • You can contribute to household income
  • You can provide for your children and yourself
  • You have money for your own personal expenses
  • You can be financially independent and secure
  • You keep your skills & knowledge current and stay relevant
  • You can start building a retirement fund, so you can retire early

1. Freelancing Online

If you have a marketable skill, you can work as a freelancer online by turning your skills into services that other businesses already want and are willing to pay for.

Selling services is actually one of the quickest ways to make money.

It is all about solving problems and providing value for other people.

So, what skills do you have that can be turned into a service that is already in demand?

What I want you to do now is to take out a piece of paper to write down what skills or knowledge you have.

If you could, please write down at least 10 things that you are good at.

If you are struggling to come up with ideas, it helps to take a look at the following:

  • Books you usually read
  • Activities you do in your free time
  • Websites you frequently visit 
  • Tools you often use
  • Results you’ve gotten for yourself or others
  • Subjects you have studied in college
  • Certification you have obtained

Also, you can ask your friends and family what they think you are good at. 

Once you have identified your skills, I would like you to think about what problems you can help other people solve with each one. 

Here are a few examples of how you can turn your skills into service.

Let’s say if you are good at graphic design, you can help business owners design their marketing collaterals such as posters and brochures. 

Or if you know how to do content writing for blogs, you can help companies write blog posts that generate a lot of organic traffic to their website. 

Or if you have accounting and bookkeeping knowledge, you can help businesses take care of their accounting and bookkeeping. 

If you are still not sure about how you can turn your skills into a service that is in demand, you can take a look at the screenshot below of all the services being offered by freelancers on Upwork. 

Note: Upwork is a freelancing platform where businesses and freelancers connect and collaborate remotely. Once you know what service you can offer online, you can easily create a profile on Upwork and start applying for the relevant online jobs available.

Now, how do you get clients online for your services?

One of the best ways is to create a profile on freelancing platforms and then you list your services there.

For some platforms, they also have a job board where you can find all the latest relevant jobs you can apply for.

Freelancing Platforms & Job Boards:

Skills You Can Learn To Make Money Online With Freelancing

If you don’t have the required skills for the jobs, the good news is that you can always learn a NEW and in-demand skill.

Here are some of the top freelance skills that are in demand (the screenshot is taken from Upwork):

As you can see from the picture above, graphic design skills, writing skills, social media marketing skills, proofreading skills, and video editing skills are among the most sought-after freelance skills.

If you are interested in picking up one of the skills, below are a number of useful courses that you can take and go through at your own pace. 

Read Also: Case Studies: How I Made $100 Or More Online In A Day

2. Start A Blog

Starting a blog is a proven way to earn an income from home. Many stay-at-home mums have done it and you can see real-life case studies later on.

So, how can you earn an income from blogging as a stay-at-home mom?

There are a lot of ways to monetize your blog, but here are the three most popular ways of blog monetization:

  • Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission by promoting other people’s products or services.

To get started, you need to find an affiliate program that you want to join and then sign up as an affiliate.

Once your application is successful, you will get your affiliate link which is used to track the number of sales you make.

How it works is that whenever people make a purchase using your affiliate link (at no extra cost to them), you will get paid a commission.

Let’s say that you start a breastfeeding and parenting blog such as KellyMom.com. One way to make money from affiliate marketing is to first apply for Amazon Affiliate Programs and then promote the breastfeeding products such as breast pumps and nursing bras.

  • Advertising

You can also make money with advertising on your blog. You can get started by joining a display ads network(e.g. Google AdSense) or ads management company (e.g. MediaVine).

When you sign up with one of them, they will take care of the display ads for your blog for you. All you need to do is to drive as much traffic to your website as possible. More traffic equals higher ad earnings.

Let’s use the same example above.

You have a breastfeeding and parenting blog, and you have a decent number of monthly blog visitors on your blog (note: there is a minimum requirement to apply with Display Ads Network and ads management companies).

For MediaVine, you need to have 25,000 pageviews in the past 30 days to qualify. In other words, you probably need about 800 visitors to your blog every day.

If you meet the requirements, all you need to do is just fill up an application form here: Apply To MediaVine.

Once they have approved your application, you are all set to make money from ads from your blog.

  • Sponsorship

If you have a big engaged audience, you can negotiate sponsorship deals with companies who want to reach the audience on your blog.

Let’s use KellyMom.com as an example again.

This “Sponsors” page from KellyMom.com details what it will provide for its sponsors in exchange for a one-month sponsorship fee of $3000.

The reason why KellyMom.com can command a premium rate is that it has over 3.5 million page views per month and over 1.4 million users per month.

 

 

3. Start A Coaching Business Online

If you love to help people, coaching business could be a good fit. There are a lot of advantages to starting an online coaching business. 

Advantage #1: It’s Quick To Get Started

If you are starting a coaching business, you can get started quickly even without any website.

How does that work?

You can establish yourself as an expert in a specific area by either answering questions on Quora or giving value for free in relevant Facebook groups.

For example, if you know a lot about SEO, you can go to Quora and answer as many SEO related questions as possible.

The more questions you answer, the more exposure you get and the more people you reach.

In your mind, you might be thinking that you are giving advice away for FREE.

That’s where you need to have a change of mindset.

Give first before you take. 

It works wonders in business and other aspects of your life as well.

When you give value for free, you gain trust and establish your expert status.

If they ever need to hire help in your area of expertise, you would probably be the first one they reach out to.

Advantage #2: Little Startup Capital Required 

You can start an online coaching business with little or no money. When you are offering online coaching, all you need to have is a working email address or Skype account to get started.

A website is a good-to-have because you can use your website to build an online presence and establish authority in your niche.

Typically, you can get a decent professional website set up under $50.

Here’s what I recommend.

Below is the web hosting plan that I am personally using:

Bluehost is the BEST web hosting for beginner bloggers for a few reasons:

  • FREE domain name
  • FREE SSL for your blog
  • 99% server uptime (i.e. your blog is up 99% of the time)
  • Fast website load time

Register Your FREE Domain Name with BlueHost Now

Advantage#3: Recurring Revenue

When you create an online course to sell or choose an affiliate offer to promote, you are likely to get paid only once. To make more money, you will need to get new buyers and make new sales.

With an online coaching program, you can avoid this problem by using a monthly recurring revenue business model.

You structure your online coaching program in such a way that your clients would pay you on a monthly recurring basis until canceled by either party.

When you focus on getting recurring clients, you are no longer starting each month with zero revenue.

It can take a lot of pressure off you.

Even if you are not getting any new clients for the month, you know for sure that you will still have income coming in.

That is the beauty of a recurring revenue business model.

4. Create & Sell Online Courses

Creating and selling online courses is another proven way to make money from home (and even on autopilot).

If you have something to teach or a solution that can solve other people’s problems, you can create an online course and then sell it.

It might take some time to put it together. But the good news is that you only have to do the work once. Then you can sell it over and over again.

The best part about digital products is that you have almost zero cost and you don’t need to worry about inventory and shipping.

Once your clients make the payment, they can access it instantly.

For example, I have been selling my own online course “Service Arbitrage Pro” for the past few years.

The reason why I created an online course on teaching people how to start their own service arbitrage business is that I have done it myself and gotten results doing it.

What I love about this business model is that everything can be automated from lead generation to sales to product delivery.

5. Get A Work-At-Home Job

Thanks to technology, it has never been easier to work from home. 

An increasing number of companies are also offering flexible home-based jobs to appeal to job seekers who want a more flexible work schedule. 

If you do a simple Google search for work-from-home jobs, you will see job portals with many remote job listings. 

One of the most well-known job portals for flexible remote jobs is FlexJobs. 

Here is how you use FlexJobs and generate a list of flexible 100% remote jobs that are a good match with your existing skills. 

First, you click on “Jobs” at the top left corner of the homepage.

Next, you click on “Advanced Search”.

Then, use the Advanced Search Options to help you refine your search.

For remote work level, you should choose 100% remote if you only want to work from home. 

For other fields, you can choose the appropriate option based on your career background.

For example, if you are good at writing, then you select “Writing” under the “Job Category” and also “Flexible Schedule” under the “Schedule”.

After you click “Search Jobs”, you will be brought to a page displaying all the jobs that meet your criteria. Here’s the screenshot.

One of the most trusted job portals for work-from-home jobs is Flexjobs .

After trying all the other job portals out there, I highly recommend Flexjobs for the following reasons:

  • It has been successfully helping people find jobs for 10 years with tons of success stories
  • It’s the largest job website for curated remote work from home and flexible jobs.
  • It hand-screens every single job and company for legitimacy to give you a clean, ad-free and scam-free job search. 
  • It has professional job listings in over 50 career categories ranging from entry-level to executive, freelance to full-time, and local to global.
  • It works with all the reputable and well-known companies such as Apple, Dell, PWC, SAP, and Salesforce
  • It also offers you excellent job searching resources such as one-on-one career coaching, resume review, expert skills tests, video introductions, and more to help you find your dream job

Here are just some of Flexjobs’ customer reviews:

 “I was hesitant to subscribe considering the cost relative to other job boards, but it worked out well. FlexJobs was well worth the subscription price. It provided the best selection of telecommuting positions, and I ended up getting hired within the first month.” – Paul C, Bainbridge Island, WA

“I applied to over 130 jobs online (on other sites) and had given up trying. I honestly had no success despite having what I considered related experience, an accredited course, and a national certification exam. I only applied to approximately 10 to 12 jobs on FlexJobs. It is the best resource for flexible work. I’ve never been happier with my career! ” – Jean B, Jefferson Township, PA

“I have found two well-paying freelance editorial positions through FlexJobs. I have been a freelance writer/editor for about 15 years, and there are myriad of job boards out there flooded with people looking for work. Many companies also offer terrible rates for highly skilled work, which undermines the publishing industry. I see very little of that on FlexJobs. I can understand why people are reluctant to pay for job boards, but I think the small fee is well worth it. I highly recommend it.” – Meghan G, Frederick, MD 

However, Flexjobs operates as a paid subscription service compared to other job portals.

The main reason is that there are TOO MANY SCAMS out there when it comes to online jobs.

To make sure that ONLY legit online job opportunities are listed on Flexjobs’ website, its employees will personally verify each and every job listing.

For me, I would rather pay a small fee to access all the verified legit job listings than have to do my own research on every job listing that I see.

The time saved is worth so much more.

On top of that, it can help me get hired much faster because I can focus on how to perfect my resume and prepare myself for the job interview instead of worrying about if the company I am applying for is legit or not.

So, how much does Flexjobs subscription plan cost?

It has four different pricing plans:

The best part is that all Flexjobs plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee. 

If you are serious about finding an online job, this might be the best investment you could invest in yourself.

Try Flexjobs Risk-Free Now!

  • Virtual Vocation
  • Skip the Drive
  • WeWorkRemotely.com
  • Remote.co
  • JustRemote
  • Pangian
  • Remote OK
  • Working Nomads

Home-Based Jobs That Almost Any Mom Can Do

JOB #1: Teach English Online 

If you are a native English speaker with a Bachelor’s degree, you can apply for online teaching jobs to teach English as a foreign language to children in China.

If you have a TEFL certificate, then your chances of getting hired will be much higher. 

There are quite a few reputable online education companies such as VIPKid and QKids.

When you work with them, you can work from home and set your own hours.

All the lesson plans and teaching materials are provided, so you don’t have to come up with it yourself.

The average hourly rate is about $14 to $22/hr.

Here are the links to find out more about how to apply and how it works:

VIPKid FAQ 

QKids FAQ  

JOB #2: Search Engine Evaluator:

Search engine evaluators are basically human fact-checkers on Google’s algorithms.

They give feedback on search results to make sure that they are accurate and relevant to the searcher’s intent.

Google calls this work-at-home job “ads quality rater”.

However, Google doesn’t do direct hiring for these jobs. It hires through outside employment agencies.

Below are two reputable companies that hire for search evaluator positions. 

To be considered for search engine evaluator job position, you must be familiar with the culture and language of the local search engine user.

To get accepted, you need to first pass a qualification exam or online assessment. 

The average pay is about 15/hr.

JOB #3: Virtual Receptionist

Today, many customers expect 24/7 real-time customer support. As a result, many business owners are paying for virtual receptionist services to answer calls for them.

The duties of virtual receptionists include answering a lot of inbound calls and also other general responsibilities such as scheduling appointments. 

Below is a list of legitimate companies that regularly offer at-home virtual receptionist jobs:

Gabbyville hires virtual receptionists to work for clients virtually from their office in Knoxville, TN. 

Vicky Virtual only hires US residents to work as virtual receptionists. The hour rate is $10/hr.

You are required to have a working computer, stable internet, cheerful demeanor and previous experience in customer service.

Smith offers a very flexible work schedule for its virtual receptionist. You can set your own hours.

The average shift is anywhere between 2 to 7 hours.

To be considered for the job position,  you need to have good work ethics and also past experience as a receptionist.

All the hiring and payment is done through Upwork.

So, you will need to set up a profile at Upwork.

Further Reading:
How To Get A Well-Paid Virtual Assistant Job (Even If You’re A Beginner)

JOB #4: Home-Based Customer Care Representative

When you work as a customer care representative from home, you could be answering customers’ questions for online retailers, providing technical support for software companies or making reservations for travel services.

Many of such job opportunities are offered by large call centers.

These call centers, in turn, work for companies that want to outsource their customer service.

Below are two of the largest providers of customer service outsourcing services which are always hiring remote customer service agents :

Of course, there are also many reputable companies such as Amazon which hire at home customer service agents directly.

You can easily find the latest job opportunities by searching for “work from home customer service representative” on the major job portals.

Bonus: Two Easy Ways To Earn Extra Money From Home

Inbox Dollars

This app allows you to earn you to make money in a few easy ways:

Take Paid Online Surveys:

Most online surveys for money pay from $0.50 to $5.00 and take 3 minutes to 25 minutes to complete.

But, there are some online surveys that pay $10, $20, or even more if you match the demographic profile they are looking for.

Watch Videos:

Big brands companies want consumers to watch short snippets of their content, like movie trailers or new product features.

Get Paid to Read Emails

Receive their best offers directly to your email, and they’ll pay you cash just for reading them, or complete the offer for additional earning opportunities!

It’s quick and easy to get paid for doing what you’re already doing online.

And don’t worry, they won’t flood your inbox!

Are they legitimate?

Yes. In fact, they have already paid out over 59 millions in cash rewards to its users.

On TrustPilot, Inbox Dollars has a review of 4.2 out of 5 stars based on over 8,000 users.

Right now, it’s free to sign up.

When you sign up, you also get $5 for free.

Claim your FREE $5 cash bonus with Inbox Dollars Now

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the highest paying rewards app that you can use to make extra money by doing things like shopping online, watching videos, searching the web and answering surveys.

When you sign up for free with Swagbucks, you can start earning points that you can exchange for either Amazon gift cards or free PayPal money.

If you have a long commute to work every day, you can use this time to get free money with Swagbucks .

With the points earned performing easy tasks, you can either redeem for gift cards to Amazon and Walmart and Starbucks or get free money from PayPal. 

For example, you can redeem a $5 Amazon gift card for only 500 points. 

To get $25 for free from PayPal, all you need is 2500 points. 

Is it legitimate? 

Its review on TrustPilot is 4.3 out of 5 stars, based on more than 14,000 real customers’ reviews. It also has an A- rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Sign up for FREE with Swagbucks Now!

Inspiring Stories Of Successful Work-From-Home Moms

Holly Reisem Hanna
Blogger
Website: https://www.theworkathomewoman.com

Gladice: How did you get started blogging? How long did it take for you to make your first $1,000/month?

Holly: Back in 2007, I quit my full-time nursing job to stay-at-home with my daughter. I had always wanted to be a mom, and I didn’t enjoy working as a nurse, so the decision to leave the field was an easy one. I figured that I could use this time to explore some new career options. I had no clue what I wanted to do — only that I wanted to work-from-home so that I could remain my daughter’s full-time caretaker. For months, I searched online looking for a remote job, but the majority of my time was spent weeding through scams. It was at this point that I decided I would start a blog for others who were also looking for home-based opportunities. It took me 15 months to research, create content, and have my blog designed. I eventually launched The Work at Home Woman in March of 2009. From there, it took me a little over two months to get my first blog advertiser (which I detail in this blog post).  And from there it took me two years to consistently earn $1,000 a month. 

Gladice: What was the biggest challenge you faced / the biggest mistake you made when it comes to making your first $1,000/month? And what did you do about it?

Holly: For the first six years I was blogging, I also worked a freelance marketing job (which I loved). But I think having my focus split between two different endeavors slowed down my business growth. I thoroughly enjoyed the freelance work, the people I worked with, and the steady paycheck — but I realized that if were to focus all of my energy on my blog, I would make greater progress. So, I quit freelancing in 2015, and I haven’t looked back. 

Gladice: What is your best advice for moms who want to earn an income from home? 

Holly: Get out there and try new and different things. So many people box themselves into a particular skillset or occupation (even when they don’t enjoy it), and they miss out on a whole host of opportunities. Had I only explored the jobs that were associated with my degree, I would still be working in an occupation that I wasn’t passionate about. Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone; doing so may be the best thing you can do for your career. 

Gina Horkey
Founder
Horkey HandBook, LLC
Website: Horkey Handbook

Gladice: How did you get started your VA business? How long did it take for you to make your first $1,000/month?

Gina: I started looking into offering services online in early 2014 – I was unfulfilled in my career in personal finance and ready for a change! I was also the breadwinner of our young family of four (hubby was/is a SAHD), so whatever change I made needed to be well thought out. I started by offering freelance writing services and then added in customer service and email management. I was able to earn more than $1,000 per month within the first 90 days of starting my virtual assistant business.

Gladice: What was the biggest challenge you faced / the biggest mistake you made when it comes to making your first $1,000/month? And what did you do about it?

Gina: I think the biggest challenge for anyone is fear of failure and of “not being good enough.” Fear can be debilitating and often stops people from getting started in the first place. It’s a shame really, because allowing fear to keep you from trying means that you’ve failed before you’ve even started. And if you’re going to fail anyway, you might as well try your hardest and fail big, right?! Personally I put blinders on to my fear and pushed ahead full force. My ‘why’ of changing careers while still being able to support my family was stronger than the uncertainty and unknown. Fear doesn’t necessarily go away though. I still have to exercise this muscle on a regular basis!

Gladice: What is your best advice for moms who want to earn an income from home?

Gina: Start by offering services online as a virtual assistant. Your average business owner is overwhelmed with trying to “do it all.” They’re selling their thing (service or product), not to mention building/delivering it and are also responsible for things like social media, customer service, bookkeeping, etc. They need help. You need income, flexibility and to work from home. Sounds like a match made in heaven, no?!

Elna Cain
Freelance writer& Blogger
Website: Write To 1K

Gladice: How did you get started doing freelance writing from home? And how long did it take you to make your first $1,000?

Elna: I started freelance writing five years ago when my twins were toddlers. I made a lot of mistakes when I first started, like starting on content mills, getting paid pennies for my work and scaring potential clients with long lists of questions about their content! Over time, I learned from my mistakes and learned how to best market myself so I could gain high-paying clients. I achieved my first $1k around 3 months after I started applying my marketing efforts.

Gladice: What was the biggest challenge you faced / the biggest mistake you made and what did you do about it?

Elna: For me, the biggest challenge I had to overcome was ME! I had a lot of doubt about my ability to produce content for businesses. I don’t have a journalism degree, never had a marketing job and I received a C in English in my first year of college. As well, early on in my freelance writing career I had a journalist call my writing junk food writing, meaning there was no substance to my writing. All of these factors played with my mind and I started to believe that I could not possibly be a freelance writer. Why would anyone pay ME to write for them? That was a hard time for me, but my husband helped me realize that I am a great writer and any businesses would be foolish not to hire me for their content needs!

Gladice: What is your best advice for moms who want to earn an income from home? 

Elna: The best advice I can give mums that want to earn an income is to believe in yourself and don’t let others knock you down. Stick with your plan and work at it consistently.Even though I made mistakes as a new freelance writer, I kept going and my doubts didn’t stop me either. So keep your head down and hustle!

If you want legit, quick and easy ways to earn extra cash online, you can try the following:

 

 

About Gladice Gong

Gladice Gong is an ex-proprietary trader. She is also a personal finance writer with many years of experience investing and trading the stock market.

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Comments

  2. Kitty says

    I would highly recommend that if you want to teach online with VIPKid to sign up with one of their top mentors to help you with the interview and to answer questions. It is an amazing company with a super flexible schedule.

    Reply

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