Whether it’s keeping up with inflation, bolstering savings or maintaining professional skills, there are multiple reasons to want to make money as a stay at home mom or parent. Furthermore, the rise of remote work means there is more opportunity to work from home. The user-friendliness of small business technology, such as email marketing software, web hosting and ecommerce carts, means entrepreneurial moms and parents don’t have to choose between their business dream and child-rearing.
Here are five steps to get started on making money as a stay at home mom (or parent):
1 – Surround yourself with success stories
There are ups and downs in every career, so if you jump right in to land that next job or client – even if you’re initially excited – it’s easy to get discouraged. Instead, invest in a strong mental foundation by surrounding yourself with work-at-home success stories or stories of people who made successful career changes. Reach out to friends who on-ramped their careers after having children. Join a working parents’ network in your community. Read books if you don’t know people personally (an oldie but goodie is Motherswork: How A Young Mother Started A Business On A Shoestring And Built It Into Multi-Million Dollar Company by Rebecca Matthias).
2 – Consider both employment and entrepreneurship
If your primary goal is to make money right away, then you don’t need to decide now if you’re looking for an in-house job or if you’re a freelancer, consultant, or temp for hire. Down the road, you might focus your search efforts on employment v. entrepreneurship — or you might decide to toggle back and forth depending on opportunities available. The point is to find people who need what you can do and are willing to pay you for it. You can uncover what a potential company needs by meeting with decision-makers and talking about their concerns and pain points.
3 – Pursue flexible opportunities
Since your focus is specifically opportunities that will also allow you to stay at home, you need to find remote work, also known as location independent work. FlexJobs is one job board that lists remote work opportunities and recently released top jobs, careers and companies for location independent work. Keep in mind that, even if an opportunity is not specifically classified as remote or flextime, you might still be able to negotiate for flexibility in where and when you work.
4 – Start with people you know
The easiest people to convince to hire you are people who already know, like and trust you. Make a list of friends, former colleagues, classmates, even previous employers who didn’t hire you in the past (yes, you can still keep in touch with employers who rejected you!) By starting with people you know, you start with a more receptive audience – this is good practice for you and will uncover questions about your background or skills you’re promoting that you might not have anticipated. People who already know you in one context (e.g., your kids are classmates) may be willing to give you a try in another context (e.g., research project, data entry) This gives your confidence a boost. You get a testimonial or additional referrals from this initial work. At the very least, it will help you confirm if this type of work is what you want to do more of, or if you need to refine your search.
5 — Keep a list of short career tasks for naptime and other parenting breaks
There is a lot to do as you look for additional projects or a longer-term job. Juggling this with the demands of stay-at-home parenting is tricky, so keep a list of all the different, ongoing career tasks that you can do when your child is napping, you have babysitting coverage or any other time you find yourself with even five minutes. For example, keep a list of networking contacts to rekindle. Bookmark blogs and other articles with those success stories to keep you going – or news, trends and research you are following, or jobs you are pursuing. Do some journaling or other exercises to get clarity on what your ideal career looks like. Even if it’s just a few minutes here and there, by working on your career regularly, you strengthen your foundation, cultivate a support system and keep your name and background out there and in consideration for opportunities.
Saving money also adds to your bottom line
Figuring out how to earn more money in a job or with a business isn’t the only way to contribute money to your household bottom line. Saving money also adds to your bottom line – and the retirement account, college plan and emergency fund. Review credit card and bank statements for subscriptions you can cancel. For ongoing expenses you can’t cut, call and ask for a better deal. If you have a large purchase coming up (e.g., appliance to replace), research a better price, a more energy efficient model or a cheaper place to shop. There are limits to how much you can cut your budget, but if you love landing the best deal, starting with saving money might be the best first step. You can play to your strengths, get some quick wins, add that money to your dream fund and then focus on landing that job or launching a business.
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