One thing stay at home moms often struggle with is making a little extra money. Often enough you don’t want the constraints of a full time job when you have enough on your plate. In other cases you might end up using most of your paycheck on a sitter. So what’s a mom to do? Even though I now work full time, I did freelance for a long time. I feel blessed to have had thw opportunity to try so many different gigs and think it actually made me as resourceful as I am today and hopefully wiser so that I can give my kids advice. Here are 12 of my favortie freelance options for moms.
- Transcription work
I used to do this kind of work regularly. I started by searching in the ETC, Creative, and Writing section of craigslist. After that it just became word of mouth. You can also try sending your resume to production companies. If they have documentaries that they need transcribers for, they will contact you. - Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistant work is great if you love being organized and don’t already feel overwhelmed by your own appointment making. You will most likely have to manage someone else’s calendar, respond to emails for them, set up auto replies and as the name says “assist” them where they need you most, - Social media manager
If you have excellent taste, are great with captions and know a little bit about social media marketing then a lot of small businesses could benefit from your skills. - Babysitting
You may have room in your household for a playmate, which would be great for extra money. There’s plenty of websites where you can search such as care.com or even craigslist. You could also try posting flyers or ask friends to get the word out. - Host a small daycare or summer camp
An aunt of mine actually ran a daycare while I was growing up. It was great because I always knew a lot about kids! I had so much babysitting experience by the time I was a teenager. If you wouldn’t want something as permanent as a daycare in your home, summer or holiday camps are great short term alternatives to make money. - Mommy and me
If you have any dance, yoga or know an additional language, host a mommy and me group. Search online to get an idea of the class fee you can charge or even set a “suggested donation” rate until your group becomes more known. - E-commerce
I’m not great at this one so I only ever sell things online when I’m trying to get rid of them but I do know some people who work wonders. Offering to clean out people’s closets, garages etc. and getting rid of stuff for them is a great way to start, if you’re lucky enough that you have nothing to get rid of. I’ve noticed that cheap clothes don’t sell as well because there is just an awful overabundance of cheap clothes on the internet and really is it worth your time to list clothes and ship it if you’re unlikely to make more than 5.00 off a sale? But kids gear and designer clothes seem to sell well. If you are into designer clothes and accessories and live in an area where sample sales regularly happen, I recommend checking them out for brands that you genuinely like. Buy things that you would actually wear or gift to someone if you can’t sell them and start very slow. I’m talking one item at a really great value for your first time, so you can get a feel for it. I once bought a 400.00 dress at 45.00 at a sample sale. I was able to rent it out a few times so I made the money back that I spent on it and then after I knew I wasn’t going to wear it anymore and the rentals slowed down, I sold it on ebay for 40.00. In the end, I made profit because of the rentals. You can also try consignment shops if there aren’t many sample sales in your area. Another thing that works great is taking advantage of sales where you get items on clearance. Even if they aren’t trending in your area, there are always people in other states or abroad who can’t find them. - Pop-up shops/convention
This is great temp work if your kids are in school or maybe you share sitter days with someone. Some conventions have weekend days so maybe your spouse or a relative will be home with the kids for those. There are agencies you can sign up with to book these gigs which a search in Google should pull up. I also booked them by searching the events section of craigslist. - Photography/Party planning/Party Entertaining skills If you have any event skills you can exploit, I highly recommend it for moms, especially if they’re children’s party related. Chances are your kids will be able to join you for the parties. You can make flyers to advertise your services, hand out business cards and even post as an ad!
- Tutoring
This is another exciting one because you can easily host it in your home and hopefully have well behaved children who will do their homework and benefit from some group study time. - Renting
There’s a number of things you can rent out, starting with your car. If you have an extra room in your house and don’t feel odd about having strangers over, you can rent it out for shoots or to tourists or students. If you have lighting, gear or any expensive equipment, renting it out is also a possibility. If there is anything you are likely to use, you could even invest in something that you know would do well in your area, such as a floor refinished. - MLMs?
MLMs are companies like Avon, DoTerra, and Mary Kay that encourage you not just to sell but recruit salespeople. This one is a question mark for me because you really need to love sales for this to work. I think the only way it works very well is if you already have salon type clientele at your disposal. I’ve seen women sell them in their own salons with success. Or perhaps if you already regularly host gatherings in your house so that the guests don’t feel as though you only invited them over because you wanted their money. Maybe you have a mommy and me group or brunch every week? In that case, just have the merchandise out for the next one.
Spirited Mom 