Opportunities to Make Money as a Stay-at-Home-Mom (SAHM)

Being a stay-at-home-mom or SAHM, as this group of mothers is more fondly known, is often associated to not having financial freedom. This is because a SAHM no longer earns a pay-check at the end of the month from a company like how she used to if she was a working mother before becoming a SAHM. They mentioned that their priority is of course their families but that they want (or in many cases desperately need) to help out financially as well, especially when some husbands are unable to provide enough for the rising costs of living.

Unlike many decades ago where most stay-at-home-moms have never worked in an office her whole life, many current SAHMs are ex-professionals who decided to quit their corporate life to look after their own children themselves. With this, there are SAHMs with certain skill sets and expertise that can be put to good use.

These skill sets and expertise is a great stepping stone for stay-at-home-moms to make money from the comfort of their own homes and have that financial freedom if it wasn’t theirs before. A lot of SAHMs are utilizing their skills to work from home and have grown to become more successful people compared to when they were employed in a company.

If you’re a SAHM and would like to start working from home, below are some opportunities to give you a head start:

Sell Your Stuff

Being at home means you have more control over your time and schedule.

Many SAHMs are venturing into online business where their products are sold on the Internet. With the ever-growing number of netizens, selling your products online can be one of the best and most lucrative things you can try.

Online marketplace like Etsy, Lelong.com, Mudah.com or eBay allows you to upload photos of your products and list them for sale. These sites are accessible by anyone all over the world so you can reach more customers and not just the ones in your country.

If you have a smartphone or a tablet, then you can install the Duriana or Carousell, both apps can be installed via Android Google Play or IOS App Store. Just snap the things you want to sell, upload into Duriana or Carousell, key in a short description and price and your items are up for sale! It’s just so easy.

Other than that, if you are serious about setting up your own online store, then you can try setting up a store via Facebook. You can create a business page and promote your items, such as https://www.facebook.com/GJSign. Find out how to set up your own page at https://www.facebook.com/business/overview. Or you can create your own online store using WordPress, Wix or Shopify and linked into your Facebook page for higher and wider exposure. To learn how to set up your own online store, check out this really helpful link to give you a head start: http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/how-to-set-up-a-facebook-store/ 

Freelance Work

There are many work-from-home (WFH) platforms that offer various categories of office work. This freelancing work ranges from article writing to data entry to web designing to apps review.

With a very minimal fee, you’re given access to literally thousands of work available. Chances are, you will find something that suits your skill sets or one that’s in your niche. If you provide quality work, there is a good opportunity for you to forge a long-term relationship with the clients that hired you. This way you can have a steady side income.

Just be sure to thoroughly check the work-from-home platforms before joining them because WFH scams are very common.

The types of freelance work that are common are:

• Web Contents Writer
• Columnist
• Artist/Illustrators/Graphic Designer
• Story/Novel Writer
• Virtual Assistant
• Editor
• Transcriptionist
• Bookkeeper
• Blogger

Impart Your Skills

If there is something you’re really good at, don’t let the talent go to waste.

You can open up a small-scale class at your house. Even if you start with just one student, word will soon get around. If you live in an area with a community notice board, put up an advertisement on your class. Home classes like baking, tutoring, piano classes, sewing, and DIY home décor items are favorites among many.

You will definitely find someone who is interested and from there, you can look for way to grow your class i.e. business.

Types of classes you can start:

• Cooking/Baking
• Sewing/Quilting/Knitting
• Yoga/Pilates
• Tutoring
• Music Classes, i.e. Piano, Guitar, Violin, etc.
• DIY classes, i.e. clay making, flower decoration, jewellery making, etc.

Get into Groups

Here’s a great chance to get out of the house for several hours, meet other adults and have a discussion on almost anything.

There are many companies that look for volunteers to participate in their surveys. This kind of focus groups usually pays RM100-RM200 per session and each session usually last for 2-3 hours. Depending on the subject of discussion, the more complicated it is, the higher the pay is.

Ask around if anyone knows any companies looking for volunteers or you can Google under “focus groups” using your country and city as the search term.

Enjoy Shopping? Then Get Paid For Retail Therapy As A Mystery Shopper!

This is serious! Mystery shoppers get paid to shop. All they have to do is make a mental note of the details of the shopping transaction and write them down afterwards.

Big, well-known companies that market a product or service, such as retail outlets, car dealerships or banks, etc., superior customer service is what sets them apart. They’ve invested millions in training their frontline people and measuring how good they’ve provide their services to the consumers. And how these companies measure their personnel’s’ service? By using mystery shoppers to act like real customers.

Mystery shoppers are people, like you, who are similar to the business’ typical customer. They are recruited to visit the outlet and behave like a real customer, asking questions, presenting problems and even buying stuff. If the idea of being paid to shop appeals to you, there is a guide to mystery shopping will tell you everything – how much you will get paid, how to avoid scams, even how to fit it in with your commitments at home.

There are a few companies who are looking for mystery shoppers, the following are just the few known and reliable ones:

• Watsons (http://www.gprs.com.my/web/watsonwms/serv.asp?ser=who)
• Neway Karaoke Box Malaysia (http://www.newaykb.com.my/main.php?opt=mystery)
• Popular Book Co. (M) Sdn. Bhd. (http://www.popular.com.my/mystery-shopper.php)

You see, working from home for SAHM can be very rewarding and fun as you have total control over how often and how long you work. But if you’re starting to get serious about it, it is advisable to work out a feasible timetable just so you’re able to conduct your business or deliver your work while handling household chores and your boisterous children at the same time.

All the best, mommies!