Maybe you love being a stay-at-home mom, but have a deep desire to enjoy your passions outside of changing dirty diapers and cleaning puffs off the floor for the millionth time.
Or maybe you are a mom who works in an office but you miss the heck out of your babies all day long and want nothing more than to afford the luxury of staying home with them.
While being a mom is a job in itself, I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to want more than that.
It’s okay if you want to have a business all your own to be able to channel your creativity into, or to be able to bring in an income from to help your family’s financial situation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and you are awesome for wanting to take that on!
I personally feel like I’m a better mom and wife because I have my own business to focus on in addition to my family. It’s something that is entirely my own and gives me purpose outside of my husband and daughter. While they are wonderful, I am someone who is happiest when I can also pursue my passions that exist outside of being a mom and wife.
I really love being a work-from-home mom. I get to earn an income from the comfort of my own home, all while having morning play dates and middle of the afternoon cuddle sessions with my 16-month-old. I feel balanced and confident that I’m fulfilling the needs of my family while also making time for my own interests.
And you know what, friend? You can have that too. There are so many opportunities and business ideas for stay-at-home moms that I can guarantee there is something that will be the perfect fit for your life and your interests.
Today I’m sharing my five favorite business ideas for stay-at-home moms that any mom can pursue. Seriously! You do not need any experience to be able to earn an income from home with any of these ideas. I truly hope you find these helpful in starting your own home business 🙂
5 business ideas for stay-at-home Moms:
1. Start a blog
I may be a bit biased, but this is my favorite way to earn an income as a stay-at-home Mom.
This blog has brought me so much joy and has been a great creative outlet that allows me to connect with so many wonderful people on a daily basis. It is my happy place and spending time blogging is my “me time” that I enjoy so very much.
In addition to loving the time I spend working on my blog, it has also started to create a nice amount of income that helps me to support my family.
Last month, I earned $1,500 from my blog (you can read my October 2015 income report here) and it has been such a huge blessing to be able to make that kind of money by doing something I’m passionate about while also getting to be at home with my daughter.
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial to walk you through exactly how to start a profitable blog in 4 easy steps.
2. Become a Freelance Writer
I’ve been a freelance writer for almost three years now, and absolutely adore it!
If you love to write, becoming a freelance writer might be a good fit for you. Be sure to read my full post on How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer – I include my top three tips for how you can become a freelance writer too!
3. Sell items on eBay
While I’ve only sold an item on eBay once in my life, I know quite a few people who purposefully buy items just so they can turnaround and quickly sell them on eBay for an easy profit.
It seems like it could be a very fun way to make money from your home if you have the extra space to have some items hanging around while you are trying to sell them.
This post on the Work at Home Wife has 7 awesome tips for how to make a living on eBay. If you’re looking for a more in-depth resource, I have a friend who sells on eBay and she swears by the eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies book in helping her to get started.
4. Become a Virtual Assistant
Doing work as a virtual assistant was actually some of the first freelance work I ever did when I started working from home in January 2013! It can be really fun, as the types of tasks you complete will vary depending on your clients.
Services a virtual assistant may offer include: responding to emails, scheduling appointments, coordinating presentations, and making travel arrangements.
I also found that several writing and marketing-type services can be fulfilled by a virtual assistant too. These tasks include services such as: creating email campaigns, managing websites or blogs, scheduling social media, and writing or proofreading articles.
My best advice to you would be to start off with creating a website to showcase your service offerings to potential clients. (you can use this tutorial I put together for how to create a blog, just skip step #1). You will appear so much more professional and legitimate to potential clients by having a website for your business – I promise this makes a huge difference in their likelihood in hiring you. You need to have a domain and use a hosting server, you can Order Fast Hostiserver Hosting.
I’ve also developed relationships with quite a few virtual assistants the past three years, and I would say about 90% of them have said The Bootstrap VA book was a game-changer for their virtual assistant (VA) business. It’s the go-getter’s guide to becoming a virtual assistant and getting and keeping clients. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re serious about becoming a VA!
5. Open an Etsy shop
Do you have a certain type of handmade item that you really enjoy making? Perhaps you love to make candles, knit scarves, or create custom home decor items.
Turn that hobby into a profitable business by opening up an Etsy shop to sell the items you make! I know several stay-at-home Moms who sell products they’ve made themselves in their Etsy shops, and a few of them even earn a full-time income from doing it.
If you’re stumped on where to begin in creating a profitable Etsy shop, Etsy-preneurship is a popular and information-packed book that can walk you through everything you need you know to successfully sell on Etsy and turn your handmade hobby into a thriving business.
Do you work from home? Any other suggestions you have for great business ideas for stay-at-home Moms?
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AWESOME post, Christina!!! You know my two favorites – freelancing and blogging! What a blessing both have been! I also love the idea of opening an Etsy shop but unfortunately am not creative at all when it comes to that sort of thing, haha!
Thanks Sarah!! Those have to be my two favorites too 🙂 Especially blogging – I love it!
Any of these are good ideas for moms who want to stay at home and work part-time! I know several people who work as virtual assistants and earn a nice side income. I would add social media manager to the list!
Great addition Holly!
I love blogging too, it has literally changed my entire family life 🙂 In a positive way! I started out as a VA as well and it gave me a great experience and I still occasionally do it 🙂
That’s so awesome Reelika!
Love this! Lately between blogging and my freelance growing I’ve been so busy – but I can’t imagine doing anything else once I have kids. Maybe take on a little less, but it seems like it’ll be the perfect balance for me between family and work.
Agreed Alex! Sometimes I hate that I HAVE to wake up early to make it all work, but maybe eventually I’ll get to the point where I can outsource and get a ton of help!….definitely before we have baby #2, that’s for sure!
This is a great list! I’m not a mom so I don’t know what a typical schedule allows, but I love having a well-paid part-time gig that is flexible and meaningful! As a tutor I do have spend some time outside the home, but not as much as I would if I had a typical 9-5.
Absolutely Daisy! It allows for such a better work-life balance.
Good tips! Amazon has also been a way I’ve generated a small amount of side income over the last decade or so. Now and then I’ll purchase a few books at clearance sales or garage sales and then resell them for profit on Amazon.
That’s so great Carey!!
I completely agree that it’s alright to be a mom and wife and start a business from home. The only business idea I have tried is blogging (well, actually, I did try my hand at freelance writing, but it was short-lived and I didn’t enjoy it), and while it hasn’t made me tons of money yet, I am seeing growth every month. I love my blog and love reading others as well (like yours!). Thanks for the awesome ideas!
Thanks Charlee! I feel the exact same way 🙂
Great ideas! I love that there are so many opportunities to stay at home with our kids and still work. I wish I was craftier because I would love to open an Etsy shop!
Me too Nikki! I was playing around the with idea of opening up an Etsy shop to sell soy candles earlier this year, and then realized that there was no way I could balance that with freelancing AND blogging too haha. An Etsy shop can definitely be a full-time business in it’s own!
Love this! It is possible! I have done a lot with eBay. I mostly list items we no longer use. There are some toys, like GeoTrax, that sold for more than the original purchase price. Woot! Woot!
That’s so cool that you were able to make money that way Jayleen! I’ve heard good things about selling on eBay for profit (for the most part!).
These are great ideas! As a stay at home mom I have also found that having an outlet like blogging and freelance writing has made me feel connected with the outside world. I think your suggestions are a great way for any mom to make a little egg money from home. Great post!
Thanks Tennille! Great point, I absolutely feel the same way. It helps to save my sanity a bit!
Great post, even for people who aren’t moms!
I also tried freelance transcription for a few months a while ago. It was great because I wasn’t sure that I could write (surprise: I can, I just wasn’t confident enough).
The pay isn’t as great as other things (I made $25-$75/day), but it’s more than filling out surveys and stuff online. It just requires a foot pedal and a good typing speed, and you’re all set!
Thank you Lindsay! And thanks so much for sharing, that’s another great idea for anyone who would like to work from home!
Hello! I love your post, and these are some great ideas! I would love to start blogging, but I am struggling finding what I would blog about, I have thought about mom stuff, house stuff, relationship stuff, but I don’t know what my thing would be. How did you decide what to blog about, I would love your suggestions. 🙂
Hi Melissa! That’s so great to hear you want to start a blog of your own 🙂 Is there one of those topics that you feel more passionate about than the others? I would say you could definitely combine those three actually, as Moms are typically also interested in house stuff and improving relationships. I would suggest making a list of potential blog post ideas for each one of those topics and see if there is one that seems easier for you to come up with ideas for. That is usually very telling that you have more to say about that particular topic and will never run out of things to talk about with it!
Great article thank you!
I tried all kinds of ways to work from home
What works best for me is koocam.com
I teach my hobbies and sell my knowledge
It’s great because I do what I love ,in my time, and my price 🙂
I work for Focus Forward Transcription. I love it because I get to make my own schedule and work at home in my pajamas (because who wouldn’t want to work in their pajamas?). The audio is pretty clear, their formatting is easy, and everyone that works in the office is super nice and easy to deal with. You don’t really have to have any experience, you just have to take their transcription test, and they’re always looking for transcribers. They pay via PayPal as well.
http://bit.ly/FFtranscription
Seems
Like all the blogs are about moms, kids, family. I’m beyond that stage in life. My kids are grown. No grand kids. I’ve looked at other blogs for woman my age. I don’t relate.
I’d like to blog but really don’t know a topic. I’m not super passionate about anything. Music, maybe. That’s just me listening not playing. I know I have a unique voice. How can I find it?