In the past, the phrase “stay-at-home mom” typically meant “not working”. However, with more women acquiring their college degree, the advent of computers and internet accessibility “stay-at-home mom” has been redefined.
Despite the stereotypes, many stay-at-home moms now possess a Bachelor, Master or even PhD. Degrees. This new freedom and accessibility to higher education and the internet has given rise to a new class of people called “work-from-home moms” or Mompreneurs.
What it Takes to Work From Home
The biggest misconception about working from home is that it is an easy job. They can come-and-go as they please, take naps during the day and eat bon-bons while wearing their pajamas. That is far from the truth. The truth is successful women who work from home put in more than the standard 8 hours a day. Many work 12 to 14 hours, 7 days a week, with no naps. Even the notion of wearing PJs all day without having to invest in expensive work clothing is a fallacy. Many mompreneurs still need professional clothing for face to face meetings with clients and suppliers and even if videoconferencing is a part of their duties.
The successful work from home mompreneur requires commitment, passion, focus, perseverance, and the ability to separate their personal life from business.
The Best Opportunities For Work At Home Moms
A multitude of opportunities exists for those brave enough to venture into the work-from-home arena. Most opportunities involve creative roles such as writing, editing, software development, and designing.
One of the easiest, low risk opportunities available for work-from-home women is utilizing affiliate sales and marketing. Affiliate marketing is promoting products or services someone else has created. Marketers are paid commission based on sales or leads generated through their efforts. There are literally thousands of affiliate companies to choose from. Potential products to promote can be found at Commission Junction. The hardest part is deciding which product is the best fit.
If you have an eye for home decorating then consider a home-based interior design business. With an interior design business, you can host meetings at your home, review wallpaper, paint and carpet samples and furniture. The American Society of Interior Designers offers free information, FAQs and resources for the aspiring interior designer.
Event Planning is perfectly suited for the stay-at-home worker. If you are detail oriented and have a knack for planning events, then event planning could be an ideal fit for you. Event planners typically organize major events such as weddings, parades, fairs, reunions, political rallies, fashion shows, civic events, and other special events.
For marketing and advertising professions freelance blogging is the perfect fit for your skills. There are plenty of bloggers who charge $5.00 for a piece, but in order to get hired by the big companies you need to be exceptional, be creative, and have original ideas. In order to charge $100.00 or more per post, your skills must include the ability to construct compelling headlines to entice people to look, convert readers into leads and then to paying customers. Selling your skills is vital and detailing the company’s return on investment (ROI) is necessary in order to get hired.
For gifted writers try writing a How-To book to sell in either print or digital format on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. For writers that are more creative try fiction, non-fiction, children, and young adult books. Kindle and Nook are perfect outlets for displaying creative endeavors. Private label rights books are available for resale if writing 70,000 words is too intimidating for a first project. Private label books are available in numerous subjects and can be relabeled and resold.
Are you creative, great with one-liners and/or an artist? Etsy.com is the perfect venue for you to show off your artistic and creative skills. Ecards, boutique style hair bows, headbands and clips can be showcased on Etsy.com and snapfish.com.
Customer services is one area that generously utilizes the services from work-from-home entrepreneurs. Numerous fortune-500 companies hire telecommuting customer service representatives. Customer service representatives answer phone calls concerning complaints, orders, tech issues, and general information. Customer service representatives provide critical advice over the phone to help keep businesses running smoothly and customers happy. Depending on the industry, work at home support personnel work day, evening and night shifts which make this a great fit for stay-at-home workers who are tech savvy with excellent customer service skills.
Speaking of tech savvy, if your skills lie more in the software development area then freelancing from home is a great way to go. The easiest method of finding freelance software development jobs is to search the websites that devote all or at least a part of their space to just that issue. Some of the major job boards that include categories for software development are:
- Softdevjobs
- IFreelance
- Freelancer
- Flexjobs
These same boards also offer freelance opportunities in other areas such as writing, content management, design, data entry, accounting, translation services, and business administration.
Working from home can be rewarding. However, expectations must be realistic. The work is still a job and must be treated as such. Deadlines should be met and bills have to be paid. In spite of all this, you can find it enjoyable, challenging, and rewarding working from home.
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