A huge chunk of parents in the United States are stay-at-home moms and dads. According to Pew Research, as much as 20% of all parents don’t work outside their homes. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depends on how you look at things) days, when one paycheck was enough to comfortably support a family, are long gone and married couples often struggle to make ends meet. High prices of child daycare often prevent both parents from having a job. This has forced some of the stay-at-home moms and dads to seek alternative income sources. If that is your plan, here are some ideas that may help you in your search.
Social Media Consultant
It is unimaginable for a business today to operate without having a social media presence, making social media managers highly sought-after personnel. The job does require intricate knowledge of how Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platform work, and the ability to formulate and execute a social media strategy. Fortunately, all of this can be done from your home and it only requires an Internet connection.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual Assistants are a great solution for smaller companies that don’t need a full-time assistant position on-site and do most of their business online. It helps if you have some previous experience in a similar job, but even if you don’t you should be able to learn ins and outs of the job quickly. This mostly revolves around answering phones and scheduling appointments, but can also include conventional office work, like typing and organizing documents, as well.
Affiliate Marketing
While not for the faint of heart, affiliate marketing offers great opportunities for those ready to work hard. If you have a toddler at home, this may not be for you, but stay at home moms and dads with older kids should be able to create enough time to make it work. Regardless of what niche you choose, there is a lot of money to be made here.
Tutor
You can be an online tutor even if you don’t have an appropriate diploma these days. Most companies that hire online English teachers don’t require formal education in teaching, just that you are proficient in the language and can pass on the knowledge. Your clients would mostly be kids from Southeast Asia, but occasionally you would have to deal with adults as well. There are other things you can tutor, like math or science, or even musical instruments, if that is your forte.
Freelancer or Network Marketer
Freelancing is a great source of additional income for people who can’t set aside a set amount of time every day for work. As a freelancer or network marketer, you decide your office hours and how much time you can devote each day to your work. As long as you deliver the project on time, nobody cares how much time you have spent on it. The most popular freelancing gigs today are writing and programming, but there is also plenty of work for graphic designers and other professions.
Customer Service
Many companies are looking to outsource customer support since they don’t need a full time one in house. This job is similar to a virtual assistant, but it does have strict working hours, so it isn’t for everyone. The good news is that you don’t have to work full eight hours, you can do it part-time and you can request shifts that coincide with the time of the day when you are not as busy.
Many of this job won’t make you rich and if that is what you are looking for, perhaps you should look elsewhere. They can bring a steady income that can help with rent or utility bills, which is often all we need to stay afloat. The other downside is that chances for promotion are pretty much non-existent and jobs can get repetitive and monotonous. Managing your expectations in that regard is a must if you want to do any of them long-term.
Contributed by
Jessie Connor is a passionate writer and researcher from Brisbane, contributor at several business and lifestyle blogs, hooked on yoga and healthy living. She loves to spend her free time traveling, reading, and of course – shopping!