Some people feel that being a stay-at-home mom is a literal death sentence for a woman’s professional career. We call those people sexists. Sure, when you’ve got a small baby to take care of, or a couple of the little rascals, you pretty much have your hands full. However, once the little ones have grown up a bit and start school, you’ll have some extra time on your hands, particularly if your partner is there to help you out.
A busy mom will also want to have some quality alone time to just kick back and relax, so we’ll need to look at some career opportunities that don’t take a lot of time out of your day and provide you with a creative outlet – doing something you enjoy will make it seem less like work, and you’ll be motivated to keep learning and improving.
So, here are seven great jobs that you can do from home in just a few hours a day, while earning some extra cash on the side.
1. Create your own clothing line
Launching a full-blown clothing line may be Herculean task for a beginner, but you can start out nice and slow – design some cute scarves, creative T-shirts, small accessories, and more. Take some time to work on your designs and hone your skills, and be sure to do some online research to stay up to date with the latest fashion trends. Etsy is a good place to start for anyone offering unique handmade garments and accessories, but you can eventually start offering your clothes on your own website, which we will get to later, or even through Facebook.
2. Sell delicious homemade food
We live in an age when people are turning to healthy food options made from fresh ingredients and with limited amounts of additives. This gives moms with good cooking skills an opportunity to market their homemade meals and maybe even turn their operation into a successful full-time business a few years down the line. Jams are a particularly popular option, but you can go with a wide variety of foods that don’t spoil easily, like cookies, sauces, almond milk, and so on. You can sell your food locally, or you can offer it online through a website or a shop on your own blog, which brings us to our next point.
3. Start a mom blog
Although a lot of people have a talent for writing and plenty of useful experience that they can share with others, they are reluctant to take the plunge and start their own blog. This is usually down to the fact that they overestimate the costs involved. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll need to invest a bit of money into blogging, but you’re not going to need a $5000 website and a team of writers and editors. Register a domain, cover the hosting costs, get a decent WordPress blog theme (which can be free), and you’re ready to get started.
You might want to invest in a new desktop or laptop computer, but you can always do a bit of maintenance work to get your old computer to work faster and it will serve you well. Then, it’s all about creating a content schedule and investing some time and effort into developing your own writing style. Be genuine, give advice, create “how to” articles or videos, and engage your audience both in the comments and on social media.
4. Become YouTube Guru
Setting up a YouTube account and posting some lifestyle, how to, cooking, parenting, or DIY videos can actually be a good first step for a stay-at-home mom looking to start an online career. It’s less of a hassle then setting up a website of your own, but you should definitely get a blog up and running once your channel grows. You’ll need a decent computer, good camera and microphone, a lighting setup (which you can make yourself), editing software, and some basic video editing skills.
You can get started for a few hundred bucks with a very basic setup, and as long as you have creative ideas, a unique personality, and fun and informative content that you put up daily, then you’ll be able to upgrade your equipment as your channel picks up. When you become a YouTube partner, you’ll earn money from the ads on your videos, which can be quite a nice sum, even with a smaller channel.
5. Write children’s books
Freelance writing is on most lists of good jobs for stay-at-home moms, but it can be dull and unfulfilling, particularly for someone who is creative, a good writer, and has tons of great ideas. A different route to take would be going all in and writing short stories or books for children. You’ll need to focus on a particular age group and decide whether you’ll go with the classic anthropomorphic animal characters and a more educational approach, a thrilling adventure, something humorous, or perhaps an outside-the-box idea that covers serious themes and still mixes some of the previously mentioned elements. It’s not that difficult to self-publish a book online, and the eBook version won’t cost much to polish up and distribute.
6. Offer online training or tutoring
Skype is a wonderful thing, and it is an incredible teaching tool. You can get face to face with your students and give them some great first-hand information, show techniques, and allow them to ask any question they want. Depending on your talents and previous experience, you can give guitar lessons, singing lessons, cooking lessons, language lessons, do online fitness or martial arts coaching, and more. You can offer eBooks and instructional videos from your website to go along with the lessons, and you’ll have a very flexible schedule.
7. Become a fashion consultant
A lot of people these days have the money to buy good quality clothes, but simply lack the fashion sense to create a great outfit. On the opposite side of the coin, you have people who think that you can’t dress in a stylish, unique, and exciting way on a tight budget. If you have lots of experience in creating interesting combinations and putting together stylish outfits, you can help out those who are in dire need of some fashion advice and get paid for your efforts. It is fun, creative, and challenging at times, and will definitely make you feel like you are doing something good.
There you have it — a number of interesting, creative, and fulfilling career ideas for stay-at-home moms, some of which have lots of potential for further growth. Who knows, maybe your part-time job will turn into a lucrative career.
