5 Work-at-Home Business Opportunities & The Perfect Option to Start Today
Updated: Jun 4, 2020
Have you ever caught yourself googling “how to start a business as a stay at home mum” or “how to make money, working from home”?
Trust me, you’re not alone. I’ve heard so many stories of mums who want to start their own business but either feel like they don’t have the skills or talents or lack the confidence and information to get started.
So, today I’m here to give a little guidance on how you can get your start into business with 5 different opportunities and then I’ll let you know what my favourite option out of the list is, so you can get to work on your business today.
Okay, so there are so many different business opportunities out there but when it comes to us mums, who are looking for something that we can start, launch and build from home, we have certain requirements that narrow down our options just a tad.
Every mum will have different goals for their business, however, after speaking to other mums who are looking to quit their job and start a business, for the most part, they are looking for something they can run from home, whilst looking after their kids.
They want flexible working hours and are generally looking to match their current income too. Otherwise, why would you do it, right?!?!
Okay so let’s go through the 5 different business ideas that would be a good fit for stay at home mums...
**NOTE: By no means are these opportunities the ONLY options out three for mums starting a business. You might have a list of different business models that will work for you, but as a work-from-home mum, I thought that these are the most common…
1. Start an Online Store Selling Physical Products
Now it should come as no surprise that I LOVEEEE the idea of starting an online store. It’s a great way to get started in the world of business and it’s actually the first idea most mums come to me asking advice about.
Some pros of starting an online store:
If you make your own products or have products already made, it’s relatively easy to get your own online store up and running or quickly set-up an Etsy store to start selling your products.
If you set up your business right, you can make a pretty good profit margin and if you sell a big number of products per month, you can make a pretty good income from this business.
Some of the cons of starting an online store:
Often times, the start-up costs can be expensive. You might be sourcing your products from a wholesaler or require materials to make your handmade products, and if you don’t price your products right, you might just break even or make only a small profit margin.
To get a high amount of traffic to your online store to convert into sales, you may need to invest your money in advertising, so you may require start-up capital to get the ball rolling.
Now I do love the idea of starting an online store, however, I know from experience that it can be a long time before you see profitable results and start reaping the rewards of all the hard work and effort required to get the online store up and running. Something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about starting an online store.
2. Sell Digital Products Online
Similar to starting an online store selling physical products, you could start a business selling digital products. Think audio files, ebooks, checklists, downloadable workbooks, printable patterns, mobile or desktop applications, memberships, or creative assets such as fonts, graphics, and PSD files. Digital assets that you design once and then sell copies of through a website, online store or digital product marketplace such as Creative Market.
Some of the pros of starting a digital product-based business:
Unlike a physical product, you don’t have to worry about your inventory or shipping out products as generally the digital product is sent as soon as the purchase is made.
Because you can sell the same item over and over again, your income can be limitless.
Some of the cons of starting a digital product-based business:
There can often be a lot of upkeep to make sure the digital products are up to date and are formatted correctly.
There is a high chance that your digital products can be copied by your competition.
Similar to a physical store you will need a high amount of traffic to convert into sales.
3. Join an MLM
Have you ever heard of MLM or Network Marketing? MLM stands for Multi-Level Marketing and essentially is a business model based on direct sales companies using existing distributors to recruit new distributors who are paid a percentage of their recruits' sales. The recruits are the distributor's "downline." Distributors also make money through direct sales of products to customers.
A couple of examples you may have seen in the market-place are Young Living Essential Oils, Avon or Beachbody. You might even remember your mum having Tupperware parties at home where everyone would get together and make orders for Tupperware, these are MLM businesses.
Some pros of starting an MLM:
It’s a way to share products and services that you are passionate about. You might love using essential oils so much for example, that you want to share the benefits with your family and friends.
It’s relatively easy to get started with an MLM business. Because you don’t have to find or source the products yourself. So you can get started straight away.
Some cons of starting an MLM:
It’s quite difficult to make a full-time income from an MLM, just due to the nature of the business. Usually, mums start MLM businesses as a way to create a supplementary income for their family.
With an MLM, you’re essentially building up someone else businesses, not your own.
You’ve got to have a really thick skin and be able to handle rejection as it can often be a hard sell to get your network of people involved or to purchase.
Personally, I have never started or tried an MLM business myself so I can’t talk from experience, but I have a few friends who have dabbled in Network marketing. Some have found success, but if I’m 100% honest most have either quit or not found the success that they were promised when signing up.
4. Start a Blog:
Starting a blog is a great business idea to start as a stay-at-home mum. If you can blog about a niche topic that you are passionate about, and attract a large, loyal audience of readers - you could create a sustainable, profitable business.
There are a few ways you can set up your blog to make money. A few common ways bloggers make an income is by setting up advertisements to place on your blog, you can connect with other companies within your niche to create paid sponsored posts or ads, set-up affiliate partnerships or sell your own digital products directly from your blog.
Some of the pros of starting a blog:
You can work on this business just about anywhere. As long as you have the internet and a computer, you can start a blog.
You can work on your blog during nap-times or if you’re working a 9-5 you could work on it in the evenings or weekends.
You can set yourself up with sponsors and advertisers to make money with advertising fees based on the number of viewers you reach.
Some of the cons of starting a blog:
Gaining traction with your blog can take weeks, months or even years before you start seeing results. Often blogs require hundreds of thousands of views per month to start seeing financial rewards from your efforts.
Building a blog can be draining especially when you are constantly trying to come up with content ideas and blog articles to post every week (or sometimes every day) to keep your audience coming back to your blog. Bloggers often refer to the constant content creation as running on a hampster wheel - burn out anyone?
5. Start a Freelance Business:
We’ve finally got to the very last business idea, and that is... starting a freelance business. This is actually my most favourite business idea out of all the idea we’ve gone through today. This is because I believe it is one, if not THE BEST business for stay at home mums who are looking to quit their 9-5, work from home and reach their income goals.
If this is the first time you have heard the term “freelancer” let me give a quick rundown…
A "freelancer" is a contract-based business where instead of being recruited in an organisation, you use your skills and experience to provide service to a number of clients.
In simple terms, freelancing is when you use your skills, education, and experience to work with multiple clients and take on various assignments without committing to a single employer (aka freedom). The number of assignments or tasks that you can take just boils down to your ability to deliver on them as asked from them.
The reason I believe that its the best business for mums wanting to work from home is because it’s one of the only business model out there that can offer flexibility, freedom AND a stable income - one that can replace your current 9-5. And it's SCALABLE.
Freelancing is a business opportunity that you can work on building NOW because as you already have the skills to offer clients to get started, launch and get PAID.
Freelance businesses offer services such as:
Copywriting
Virtual administration tasks
Bookkeeping
Graphic Design
Blog Management
Email Management
Customer Service
Tech Virtual Assistance
Video/Photo Editing
Online Project Management
Social Media Management
Ads Management
And so much more.
Now before you get all worked up thinking that you don’t have the qualifications or skills to be a freelancer, think again. I worked as a freelancer, creating websites and branding elements for clients without any formal education or qualifications.
I had a bit of experience from some of the work I was doing in my 9-5 job, but truthfully I was just a couple of steps ahead of my clients and because I had done these tasks in the past and knew that I could successfully do them myself, I had the confidence to be able to do it for someone else... and get PAID for it.
At the time I was offering my clients an hourly rate of $35.00 per hour, but if I decided to pursue my business as a freelancer, I have no doubt in my mind that I could have upped my prices closer to $50.00 per hour, perhaps offered up packages and worked on getting more clients too.
This is why I truly believe that starting with services and starting a freelance business is the BEST option for stay-at-home mums.
So have I piqued your interest with any of these business ideas?
Like I mentioned at the beginning of this training, there are so many different options out there for you mama.
But if you’re looking for the best option to get your business started today, I bet you’re thinking that the freelance model is the way to go.
If this is something you would like to pursue, then I encourage you to check out an awesome freebie I created. It’s a brainstorming guide that will help you identify your profitable skills so you can get a head start as a freelance business owner.
So if you haven’t got your copy, you can grab the FREE 'Brainstorm Your Profitable Skills' workbook by clicking below:
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