What’s the right online business for me? How many times have you Googled “work from home mom jobs” or “how to become a work from home mom?
If you are anything like me, you’ve searched for legit ways to make money from home.
In this post, I am going to share four important things to think about when deciding how you want to make money from home. Before we get into that, let’s address the obvious.
Stay-at-home mom life You feel that in this season your purpose is to stay home and raise your kids. You also are fully aware that being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time unpaid labor of love that you wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
As much as you love your kids, there is a part of you that yearns to do more. It may be a creative calling you want to pursue.
You may have left a high-paying job and you miss working, or you may need to do something in order to financially be able to stay home.
I started this blog when I was in my third trimester with my second child with my first baby running around. The creative calling to start something was very strong. Check out my thoughts during that time in an old blog post here.
Regardless of why you want to earn money while staying home with your kids, you aren’t alone in how you feel. Many mothers feel this and don’t realize they are CEOs in the making. So how do you choose the right work-from-home opportunity that is best for you?
Which Online Business Is Best?
I believe starting an online business is the best path for a stay-at-home mom who wants the flexibility to work anywhere there is wifi, even if there is a toddler on your lap drawing on you as you type… a true story this has happened to me.
Online jobs provide flexibility as well as stability. There’s a misbelief that 9 to 5s are stable jobs when in reality your livelihood is in the hands of an employer. You having a job depends on if the company you work for is doing well enough to keep you, or if you are performing well at your job for them to want to keep you and even then many women are working for way less pay than they deserve and way less to cover the life they actually want to live. That doesn’t feel stable to me.
When you are self-employed as an online business owner, you create your own working schedule, create your own salary, decide how many hours you want to work, and have the creative freedom to do what you want.
Online jobs allow you to be a full-time stay-at-home mom and a full-time income-earning mom working part-time hours!
Before deciding to become a blogger, I tried different online businesses and I’ve learned not all businesses are created equal and there’s no one size fits all.
I was an online ESL teacher and an affiliate partner in an MLM before settling on my love of writing and education and starting my blog. Although I’ve had good experiences with both, I learned a lot about what I liked and didn’t like and pivoted career paths. I would encourage anyone to try before completely writing off any idea because you never really know if you are really good or love it.
What online business is right for me?
When choosing the right online business you have to determine four things for yourself.
How much time do you have?
How much time do you really have to give to your business? Take a planner and highlight all the available working times you have in your week. Do not include date nights with your partner and Sunday, because creating a rest day from day 1 is going to ensure that you actually stick it.
Once you know how many hours you can work every week, determine how many hours you want to work. As a stay at a home mom, your #1 priority is your children and managing your household, so even though you can physically work 30 hours a week, a few of those hours are going to go towards playing with your kids, outings and playdate, laundry, cleaning, and rest (I really want you to get into the habit of rest).
And lastly, subtract about 5 hours from that for all the interruptions that will occur once you actually sit down to work. Those distractions can look like staying up late to help your elementary school child with a last-minute school project. Or putting your toddler down for bed for the 5th because she is teething and needs mama’s comfort. The distractions will come so factor those in.
After you do all of that, you may come up with 10-20 hours a week. So now knowing the realistic number of hours you can ACTUALLY work, you will be better equipped to choose an online business that is right for you and your family’s needs.
How much can you invest?
This is an important question to ask yourself when choosing the right online business. Many stay-at-home moms skip this part not realizing that all businesses require an investment. Some businesses like network marketing require fairly small investments compared to brick and mortar businesses and other businesses like freelance virtual assistants or photographers may require more upfront investment for special design software, a pre-designed website template, or photography equipment.
Are you willing to invest in a course to learn a new skill or get a certification? Coaching is a great work-from-home path for the empathetic mom who loves to learn about how people’s minds work, give advice, and help others and is ok with investing in coaching certification. Every successful person has a coach and the coaching industry is booming!
Determining what you are willing to invest in before you start your business will save you from any surprise expenses down the road. Keep in mind that ALL businesses require investments.
Going to a 9 to 5 requires you to put gas in your car, or buy a metro pass, buy lunch, or buy items to make lunch, buy new clothes for the office, pay for childcare so you can go to this job to make money to pay for your childcare…(yea I never understood that one either). You get the point. Working outside the home isn’t free. You pay to work.
So why not invest in yourself to work in your pajamas, commanding your own salary, while you get toddler snuggles? I like the 2nd option!
What are you good at?
My mentor once said to me, focus on your skill, not your passion. She couldn’t have been more right. We are all born with unique God-given gifts and talents. These talents are things we may be naturally skilled at.
As a child, I was drawn to books and enjoyed writing book reports and essays. I was the cutest nerd. In college and graduate school, I majored in journalism and public relations. See a theme? Reading and writing.
Growing up, I wanted to be a vet because I loved puppies. I was passionate about animals and science…but higher-level science and math did not come naturally to me. Although I was passionate about animals, I was a natural writer. Those are my natural gifts, so becoming a blogger and now offering content writing services makes total sense. I focused on my skill and not my passion.
Can you look back at your life, your childhood and notice a theme in what you were interested in before life told you what you should do?
Tap into that and I bet you will get some clarity on what online business you can start.
Also, what are some things your friends say you are good at, or always asking your advice on. There are clues to what other people see in you. Clues, not truths…let me make that clear. Clues.
Lastly, do you have any skills from your job before you became a stay-at-home mom? For example, if you were an administrative assistant previously, you can turn that into a virtual assistant business.
Monetizing a skill set you already have is a win-win. You do not have to invest a lot in learning something new and you can start your business right away. Like tomorrow. If you are super creative and crafty or love interior design and helping your family and friends decorate, then becoming an online interior designer (yes that’s a thing!) or opening an Etsy shop and sell your homemade crafts may be the right online business for you.
How soon do you need to make money?
As mentioned earlier, you may be in a situation that needs you to start making money fast! Or you may have some savings that give you a cushion to not see a return on your investment right away.
Depending on how soon you want to start earning money will help you decide which online business is right for you. For example, a freelancer can start making money within weeks of deciding, “Hey I am a Virtual Assistant!” or “Hey I am a graphic designer!” It’s remarkable! Every online business owner started as a solopreneur, but you can only be solo for so long before you reach the point of burnout or the quality of your work suffers because when you wear too many hats, you can’t master any. That means there are a lot of online business owners who need help! So ta-da you can start earning asap by offering your services charging $30-$40 an hour!
If you do not need money right away and enjoy social media and connecting with others, you may be really good at affiliate marketing or being a social media influencer. I’ll dive deeper into the differences between these two jobs in a later post. Typically you do not earn a significant amount right away with these two work-from-home paths. They take some time and work before the fruits of your labor but they are great for creatives and once the money comes in…it really comes in!
Sometimes you want to chase a work-from-home opportunity for the quick money, but be cautious that quick money isn’t always good money and in this case, the money may be quick but it may not be the right fit for you based on your wants and needs.
Ready To Become A Work From Home Mom?
Now for the homework! Take some time to think about these questions and journal some ideas on what your ideal work-from-home job would be like. What amount of hours do you want to work? How much time do you want to spend with your family? Are you willing to invest money? How soon do you need to earn?
You do not need to have all the answers right now. This is a great starting point to get your mind thinking logically on how working from home can improve your life when you choose the right path.
Still unsure what’s business is right for you? Take the quiz: What Online Business Should I Start?
Thanks for sharing great post