Hey there Sea Changers, as you may or may not be aware, this site is all about assisting those wishing to fund their sea change via the establishment of an online business. I have until now always discussed the old sea change as a process of giving up the old 9 to 5 and heading into a change of lifestyle – whether it be semi retirement, change of location or even just taking a break from whatever it is that you have been doing.
I have since identified another – the stay at home mom. Hence, I wanted to rectify my oversight by highlighting my 7 best ways to make money as a stay at home mom.
Now, please keep in mind here that I am talking about making money via online means and not stepping out and getting back into the workforce. So, with that in mind, let's check out my 7 methods below…
- Affiliate marketing
- Dropshipping
- Selling your own products
- Multi Level Marketing
- Online Surveys/Mystery Shopping
- Freelancing
- Virtual Assistant
1. Affiliate marketing
Now the first few here are based on blogging. I probably could have used that in the heading but I really wanted to focus more on the ways that income could be earned. I will however refer back to the topic of blogging or post writing as we run through it. So, in the meantime, let's start with affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is the process in which you, as a marketer, refer customers to websites where they can purchase products based on your recommendations. The website that takes the sale then pays you a commission for the referral sale. These referrals can be done in a number of ways including:
- Website links
- YouTube
- Podcasts
- Social media campaigns
Sounds simple hey? And in general terms it actually is, but in actual operation, there is obviously a little more to it. The easiest way to outline the process is to break it down into four simple steps.
- Choose a niche – write about something that inspires you – you can find affiliate programs for just about anything you can think of.
- Build a Website – so that you can write great, problem solving materials and include your affiliate links.
- Attract visitors – make your website visible on the internet where those with problems to solve come and read your content.
- Earn revenue – visitors click on your links, make the purchase from the vendor and you get the commissions.
Affiliate marketing is a long term game and will not make money immediately. However, if you are looking for something that can sustain an income over a few years resulting in maybe never having to return to the workforce again, then it is well worth some more investigation.
Advantages
- Subjects (niche) can be anything meaning you can write about your passion, interests or something that you are knowledgeable about.
- Passive income can be generated for ongoing income.
- Business can be set up without needing to leave the house.
- Work can be done at any time that suits.
Disadvantages
- Income is not immediate and can take months.
- There are some initial costs for setup (not much, but some).
2. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is another option that may appeal to stay at home mums, especially if they have the time to watch sales trends etc. This process is similar to affiliate marketing in that you may need to build a website and write posts to attract visitors. You can however skip the website and just run via marketplace sites but again, it helps if you choose a subject that interests you and you are passionate about .
In terms of operations, all is the same as above with the main differences being in relation to how the products are sold. With affiliate marketing, you are paid a commission on whatever price the vendor sets but do not manage any customer service, sales processes or post sales requirements. With dropshipping, you promote the product for whatever price you see fit as well as manage the sales processes and customer service. It works (in simple terms) as follows:
- Strike a relationship with a wholesaler.
- Promote the product for whatever price you see fit – often via a marketplace site such as Shopify, Amazon or Ebay.
- Manage the sales processes and customer service.
- Send the final order and payment to the wholesaler for packaging and shipping.
The money that you make is effectively the difference between whatever you managed to sell the product for and the wholesale price that you owe the vendor.
Advantages
- As with affiliate marketing, subjects (niche) can be anything meaning you can write about your passion, interests or something that you are knowledgeable about.
- Business can be set up without needing to leave the house.
- Work can be done at any time that suits.
- You own the customer list – which is another means of building an effective email list.
- You control the cost of the product and hence the profit margins.
- You can control when you put things on ‘sale’, group them in packages or increase the price for high demand items.
Disadvantages
- Income is generally not immediate.
- There is a bit more work to do in relation to customer and sales management
- More of the work will need to be undertaken within normal workday hours (yep, when the little ones are awake).
3. Selling your own products
The next option is one for the crafty or thrifty where money can be made via the sale of your own products. There are a few methods to doing this so I have highlighted them below:
- Sell products you make – this is as it sounds. Products are manufactured at home (paintings, sewing and needle craft, kids toys, furniture, home wares, camping gear – basically anything that you are good at making) and then sold either via your own personal website, marketplace stores such as eBay, Amazon, Shopify etc. or even via social media.
- White-label – White-labelling is where you purchase ‘generic' products in bulk from a supplier, ad your own label/brand and then on sell under your own brand. Again, there can be sold via a website, marketplace platforms or social media. You could even sell at weekend markets etc. if you wanted to remove the online aspects of it all.
- Flip products – This is a common approach to online sales and one that may not need as much setup as some of the options above. This process is simple:
- Trawl eBay etc. and find products that are cheap and popular (such as when fidget spinners first hit the market etc.).
- Buy all that you can for the cheap price.
- Resell them at a mark up for a profit.
Advantages
- Income is more immediate than the first two options above.
- Business can be set up without needing to leave the house.
- Work can be done at any time that suits.
Disadvantages
- There are higher initial costs for setup in terms of product purchase.
- Inventory is kept in house meaning you need storage space.
- You will need to handle all shipping both inwards and outwards.
- There is a bit more work to do in relation to customer and sales management.
- Some of the work will need to be undertaken within normal workday hours.
4. Multi Level Marketing
Multi-level marketing (MLM) programs are the mainstay of the ‘party plan’ world of products such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Amway etc. and, for a long time were the domain of housewives everywhere. Now, I don't mean that to be condescending it is just that at the time, it was one of the few businesses that stay at home moms could actually do from home when juggling the little ones etc.
In this day and age, MLM businesses can be operated via the traditional person to person selling methods or as an online venture (basically mirroring the affiliate marketing processes outlined above) and works as follows:
- You attract potential customers either in person or online.
- They are offered an incentive to sign up as a member of the program (there are different names for this but they all mean the same thing).
- That new member is then placed ‘underneath’ you in a hierarchical arrangement.
- You then gain extra commissions for everything they sell as well.
Let's be honest, MLM is not an easy market to make money in, however many stay at home mums are successful here as they have access to large networks of friends, family and acquaintances that they can sell to (mothers groups alone can be a very fruitful market). They do require constant recruitment but with programs spanning a huge range of niches, there is some money to be made from home here.
Advantages
- Some income can be made fairly quickly (not huge, but some).
- Business can be set up without needing to leave the house.
- Work can be done at any time that suits.
- Selling can be done organically via personal networks.
- Camaraderie can be built via the building of a mutual business with your network.
Disadvantages
- Earning a decent income can take a fair amount of time.
- There can be higher initial and ongoing costs for setup in terms of product purchase.
- There is a lot more work involved in order to build and nurture a downline.
- Less than 1% make the upper rank echelons.
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5. Online Surveys/Mystery Shopping
If you are looking to earn a little income at times when you are free, then maybe you could try some of the online survey sites. These sites allow you to earn money online via such actions as:
- Completing online surveys
- Trialling products and services
- Watching videos
- Discovering stuff – websites etc.
- Performing online searches
- Downloading aps
- Subscribing to trials (Netflix etc.)
- Mystery Shopping
Most of these sites will make you some money with time and patience however in most cases, you will need to do a lot of work in order to receive any income – i.e. you will earn around $20 for every 5 or 6 hours spent on the sites. Common sites are Swagbuck and Clixsense but there are a number of them out there that can be found with a simple search for “online survey sites” as below:
Note: results are geographically based.
Advantages
- Some income can be made fairly quickly.
- Survey requirements can be undertaken without needing to leave the house.
- Work can be done at any time that suits.
- No initial costs or outlays required (in fact avoid ones that ask for a membership fee)
Disadvantages
- Earning a decent income can take a LOT of time.
- Some sites only pay out in gift cards etc and not cash.
6. Freelancing
Freelancing is an especially popular option for those who have left the workforce to concentrate on their family but would still like to utilise their skills in some manner and earn some extra cash as well. There are countless opportunities for freelancers online including:
- Blogging (as in writing blog posts for others)
- Instructional design
- Technical writing
- Academic writing
- Advertising copy
- Company documents (business plans etc.)
- Editing
- Speech writing
- Book writing
- Illustrating
- Language translation
- Graphic design
- Branding
- PR
- Marketing
- Photography
In fact, if it is something that can be written or done on a laptop, there is usually someone looking for someone else to create it for them. As with most things we have listed here, there are a number of sites that you can look at including:
- Upworks – probably the biggest and most widely used freelance writing platform there is.
- Fiverr – works in a similar vein to Upworks however freelancers offer ‘gigs’ at $5 per pop (hence the name)
- Craigslist – search freelance writers – in most cases you need to search a particular city however if you look around there are sites that do this work for you and list jobs from multiple areas/countries.
- Seek.com – or any other job search site
- Bloggingpro.com – similar to Upworks
- Mediabistro – TV, PR/marketing, magazine and book publishing and social media
- flexjobs – concentrates more on remote working, part-time contracts and freelance work.
Advantages
- Some income can be made fairly quickly.
- No setup – just join and work.
- Work can be done at any time that suits.
- No initial costs or outlays required.
- Good work can turn into constant job availability.
Disadvantages
- There are usually strict deadlines in place (which can be a stress when life with kids gets in the way).
- There is a lot of competition for some roles and it can take time to build a reputation.
- Jobs can be low paying until that reputation is built.
7. Virtual Assistant
Virtual Assistant (VA) work is similar to Freelancing work above (and can include all of the tasks listed) however an online VA is generally required in more of an administration type role for one, or more employers. This can be on a permanent or casual basis and generally includes day to day tasks such as:
- Answering emails
- Booking meetings and travel
- Proof reading
- Appointment management
- Document creation
- Financial management/bookkeeping
- Anything and everything else required in these types of roles.
I will obviously list the advantages below however I do know a few stay at home mums who have set this up as a way to make a little money until they returned to the workforce and ended up with so much permanent work that they never actually went back. Again, a simple search for “virtual assistant work” returned the following results (geographically based):
Advantages
- Some income can be made fairly quickly.
- No setup – just join and work.
- Work can be done at any time that suits (but see disadvantages below).
- No initial costs or outlays required (unless you don't have a laptop or office equipment).
- Chances of permanent work is common.
Disadvantages
- Some more work may be required in the general daytime (or overnight if ‘boss' is not in your time zone).
- There are usually strict deadlines in place.
- There is a lot of competition for some roles and it can take time to build a reputation.
- Jobs can be low paying until that trust is built.
Conclusion
So there you have it… 7 best ways to make money as a stay at home mom. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and the options you choose really come down to whether you are after some quick cash, a ‘job' or to build a solid long term online business. I hope this has been helpful and as usual, please do not hesitate to comment below if you have any questions, need some advice or have any experiences to share.
Do you want further assistance with any of the above or need help to build your own online business?
Are you looking for a comprehensive training platform that can give you step by step training, 24/7 support, tools to ethically develop and host your very own website, ongoing assistance with SEO, post ideas, social media and access to some of the best affiliate marketing minds on the planet, then click on the following link to read more about Wealthy Affiliate.
Until next time
Have fun
Paul
Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price. This may include sales made via Wealthy Affiliate.