If you want to earn money whilst you’re at home, either “with the kids” or just want another way of working, here are a few ideas you can try. [contains affiliate links]
1. An Online Service
Do you have any specific talents that you gained before you had the time out? Were you a PA, Secretary, Bookkeeper? Why not consider setting yourself up as offering an online service? If you are computer literate you could set up websites for local companies or entrepreneurs. Do you have an eye for design? Do you enjoy writing or social media? One local lady I know set herself up as a social media expert and is a stay-at-home mother.
2. Do you enjoy selling? Many companies – whilst they are Multi-Level-Marketing, offer you opportunities to set up parties, sell to friends, all whilst making a commission on everything that you sell and you can acquire lots of “freebies” in the process. Here is one idea in the health / well-being industry:
Neal’s Yard Remedies (these are absolutely brilliant products, kind to the environment and support a healthy lifestyle as well as keeping your skin in tip top condition). The bonus here is that you can have your own website from where you can recommend products or ask others to also sign up as a distributor. Win Win! Neal’s Yard have special offers throughout the year, and if you fancy signing up as a distributor there are often half price offers available which give you a full kit, a carry wheely bag together with a bunch of the latest catalogues. There are lots of training seminars and marketing materials available. Join my Facebook group here for news, special offers and discounted products!
I have to confess I bought quite a few Christmas presents from them.
Do you suffer from ongoing pain, anxiety or stress? CBD products are very “up and coming” just now, so I have signed up to HBNaturals. You can either purchase through me or sign up as a distributor yourself to enjoy discounted products. They are shipped from the USA and are premium quality and will take about ten days delivery time. Try a sample!
There’s also the Body Shop at Home (£45 to join at the time of writing), FM World, (they have world perfumes at discounted rates) Ann Summers, and many other MLM services out there. Choose a product that suits you that you feel you can market with ease.
Alternatively why not build your own Ecommerce website? With WordPress you can set up a plugin and sell products directly from your website. You could buy products wholesale or via Ebay and sell for a higher price back via Ebay or Amazon if you’re happy to keep a certain amount of stock in your home.
3. Selling Information products. There are ways in which you can produce a book or an online course; upload to Amazon self-publishing (either a Kindle or a Paperback) and market via social media. Many firms out there are also selling course-creation methods. You design a course around what you feel people would like to learn about or solving a “pain” they have and upload to Udemy which is free to use, you just pay a % fee commission on any course you sell. Tips around this surround going onto social media, creating a Facebook group for example and gathering your “tribe” together so you discover where the need is. As a therapist I get asked a lot about how to remove stress, how to remove conflict in relationships for example, so I know that need is there.
4. Start a blog. This is absolutely such fun to do if you enjoy writing and have a passion in a particular area. Start from the position of a pain you experienced and how you found a way to move past it and write about it. People love stories and it will help others who have experienced similar. Or perhaps you enjoy travelling and encountered a stumbling block along the way. Writing about your experiences will help others! You can then monetise it by using google ads. ANYONE can blog! Write about your experience as a mum, what you learned starting up an online business yourself, your experience using MLM networking, your use of technical products, cosmetics etc… people love to hear others’ stories. Personally after a lot of deliberation, I signed up to Emma Drew‘s “Turn Your Dreams Into Money” blogging course and already I have so many more ideas that I hadn’t known about that will help monetise my blogging and writing. Writing also heals the heart. You can sign up to Emma’s course here. She has regular special offers so if it’s out of your price range right now, keep an eye open.
5. Marketing affiliate products and services. This is where you sign up to a site to buy things yourself, and there are referral codes for you to share with your friends. You can make a little bit of extra income or gain gift cards by doing this.
Here are a few to choose from:
Prolific (yes you can earn hard cash here!)
20cogs – where you earn money by completing offers; once “20 cogs” turn green, you can cash in!
OhMyDosh – similar to 20 cogs except you earn money by signing up to offers and they have been reviewed as very good and quick to pay out. Always remember to cancel subscriptions if you take these out before the “free” or cheap period runs out!
Swagbucks – a website for earning real rewards for things you might normally do online or on your phone. You earn points (called SB) when you: shop at your favorite stores, search the web, Answer surveys; Discover great deals; Watch videos; and Play games.