Are you a working mama but long to stay home to be with your child?
Maybe you’re already a stay-at-home mom – loving it! – but you still have passions and creative ideas outside of doing laundry, cleaning up spilled milk or changing a diaper.
It’s okay to want to be more than just the person that cooks, cleans and cares for your child all day.
I often say that I’m a stay-at-home mom that works. I’m the one that takes care of my twins, does the house work, cooks for the family, while still running a successful business.
If you’re a stay-at-home mom and you want to make money at home then I say go for it!
There are many side business ideas moms can start as a side hustle.
It’s not wrong that you want to bring in extra income to help your financial situation. If you have a skill set or experience, you can turn that into a profitable side business.
And you know what? I’m happier that I can pursue my own thing outside of being a mom and wife. I control my days, go to play dates or have the opportunity to take a break in the middle of the day to take my twins to the park.
There are so many ways stay at home moms can make money at home with one of these side business ideas, but if you want to be truly successful, there’s a better way than answering phones or taking surveys.
Want to know what it is?
It’s offering an online service. This means you can work in the comfort of your home with a laptop 🙂
I’m a freelance writer, coach and I also create social media images for clients.
I set my rates, scale my business and pick and choose who I want to work with.
Do you want to do that also?
The first step is to have a blog. So make sure to check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to start a blog!
Here are 22 side business ideas on how to make money as a stay at home mom.
22 Side Business Ideas
1. Freelance Writing
Well, duh! Of course I’m going to mention freelance writing since I’m a freelance writer! The quickest way to make money blogging is to blog on other people’s blogs.
I read that there are over 150 million blogs out there. While not all of them are business-related, a good chunk of them are.
What skills do you need to be a freelance writer?
- Have a good understanding of the English language
- Be able to type fast
- Good at researching online
- Able to write for an online audience
- Familiar with the backend of WordPress
And you know what? I have a course for bloggers and aspiring writers wanting to break into freelance writing!
In less than six months from starting, I was able to generate a full-time income only working part-time hours as a freelance writer.
This is one of the easiest and fastest side business ideas to start as a stay at home mom!
If you’re not sure freelance writing is for you, I have a free email course to get you started!
2. Website Design
There are soo many bloggers that are killing it with website design. If you have a knack for design and know your way around Photoshop and can learn programming languages like HTML, CSS or Javascript, then you can design sites.
Take a look at Lindsey Riel of Pretty Darn Cute.
She loved designing and she was the friend that you’d go to if you ever had a computer problem. She put her two loves together and created Pretty Darn Cute Designs.
She’s making a living doing what she loves. And you know what? This side business ideas is passive income because these website designs are already created. Passive income is the best!
3. Coaching
No, I don’t mean coaching your son’s soccer team. What I mean is offer your expertise and knowledge by mentoring or coaching others.
And don’t think you need some sort of accreditation or a PhD to be a coach. If you have a business background, then you can offer business coaching.
If you built a great following using Pinterest, then you can offer your Pinterest coaching to other bloggers.
Or, if you’ve been blogging for a while and know a thing or two about how to create an engaging blog, you can offer a blog coaching service!
Lorraine Reguly of Wording Well offers blog coaching and she charges $120/hr. During her coaching session Lorraine will help you with:
This beats answering emails or taking surveys any day.
To get started with coaching, you first need to have a blog where you demonstrate your expert knowledge in your field.
Once you have that built-in trust factor, you can set up a coaching page and start promoting it.
4. Web Developer
Okay, being a developer means more technical stuff is involved. If you know the “under the hood” of websites and understand the coding required to create a website from scratch then you can offer this as a service.
My husband is the website developer for all my sites (including this one).
Web developers are in high demand and if you have an eye for design, you’re gold!
Mel of A Prettier Web develops WordPress themes for women.
What’s great about Mel is that she provides free workshops to help you learn how to master WordPress!
So, if you were the child that took apart your toys to see what was inside and then built it up again, you might have a knack for developing websites 🙂
5. Photography
I love images! Right now, mompreneurs, bloggers and freelancers are devouring up funky images, swanky images or feminine images for their site.
There are many self-taught graphic designers and photographers out there just freelancing it up!
Take a look at Rachel of Haute Stock. She is a mom who has an amazing eye for branding design.
She creates stunning images for mompreneurs and lady entrepreneurs.
If you have a good camera – sorry, no iPhone camera – then you can create images like that and sell them.
6. Blog Management
There are a lot of professional bloggers that own more than one blog. They’re usually in charge of creating the content schedule for all their blogs, managing writers, editors, and sourcing and creating images.
You can lighten their load by offering blog management services.
This might mean setting a schedule, publishing content, creating graphics or formatting and editing posts.
While I wouldn’t suggest you only offer blog management (throw in some freelance writing!), it can be a big bulk of income for you.
Take Carrie Smith of Careful Cents, for example. She diversifies her income with blog management and monetizing her blog.
A big chunk of her income comes from managing other people’s blogs.
If you are comfortable using WordPress, publishing posts and sourcing images, blog management might be a great way to supplement your income.
7. Social Media Management
You know what else a lot of professional bloggers have? Social media accounts!
And even though there are automation systems available, like Tailwind or Hootsuite, you still have to go in and set the schedule.
What skills do you need to be a social media manager?
- Basic understanding of the popular social media platforms
- Knows current trends and news surrounding social media
- Is familiar with automation programs
What’s great is that I’m pretty sure social media will be around for a long time so you can build an entire business around social media managing, consulting, or anything in between.
Kelly of Stellar Media Marketing only does social media consulting and management for small biz owners and seems to be doing good!
8. Editing or Proofreading
Are you the blogger that always points out grammar mistakes in other peoples comments or blog posts?
If so, make money from it! Become an editor or proofreader.
Caitlin Pyle is a known proofreader online and she has a course to train other people to be proof readers.
There aren’t any special skills you need except have an eye for mistakes and errors.
To get started, make sure you set up a LinkedIn profile and a blog to promote your proofreading skills.
Caitlin also offers a free email course to get you started as a proofreader.
9. Copywriter
A very lucrative freelance service you can offer is copywriting.
What is copywriting?
It’s writing that convinces someone to take action. In the online world, that’s usually writing that convinces someone to buy, sign up or try out.
Going from freelancer – where you offer services – to mompreneur – where you sell products – means you need to be a great copywriter.
So why not get paid to learn? While my freelance writing course has a big section on copywriting and a copywriting manual, here are some sites to help you get started learning the fundamentals:
10. Bookkeeper
If you like itemizing and organizing, having a freelance bookkeeping services could be right up your alley.
While I’m not sure how much you can charge but it looks like you can bring in around $300/month per client.
Typical tasks you would do for an online business or even a brick and mortar business are:
- Track income and expenses
- Making deposits
- Payroll
- Billing
- Reports
Advertising on a freelance marketplacs like Upwork is a good start to finding consistent work. I would caution you, however, that to be truly successful you will have to venture away from these places and do it on your own.
11. Pinterest Images
Everyone is into Pinterest lately. It’s a great search engine and if your target market are women, then Pinterest should be your focus.
And if you’re a stay-at-home mom, you can bank on this. There are many entrepreneurs who don’t know how to create stunning visuals.
Kristen of Believe in a Budget didn’t start off offering Pinterest image services. It was only with time and practice that she mastered creating a Pinnable image and has offered her skill as a service.
If you know how to use Canva or Photoshop, why not earn some income on the side offering this service?
12. Graphic Designer
You can also offer social media banners and other graphics (Pinterest) as a service.
If you enjoy creating visuals and you have a firm understanding of PhotoShop and Illustrator, you can custom design graphics for bloggers and small businesses.
Jillian offers graphic and web design services like for sales pages for example.
13. Branding Services
Every business and blogger needs a brand. A brand encompasses what you want your business or blog to stand for. It’s also the visual representation of your blog or business.
If you peruse on Pinterest and you can easily tell which site the Pin came from, that’s effective branding.
For example, here’s what Nesha Woolery’s Pins look like.
If you have a thing for pulling together colors, objects, textures and visuals, you can help other bloggers and businesses form their unique brand.
14. Magazine Writer
Isn’t magazine writer the same as a freelance writer? Well, yes and no. The type of freelance writing I do is with online businesses.
Magazine writers typically deal with editors and publications. They have to pitch their idea to an editor each time they want to get paid.
Being a magazine writer also relies a bit on having some journalism background, but it isn’t required. Typically pay is high – $1.00 a word or more – and finding work isn’t difficult.
15. Blogger Outreach
Do you schmooze with influencers in your niche? If you’ve been around the block and understand how to approach thought leaders online, you can offer blogger outreach services to other bloggers and entrepreneurs.
While I doubt you can make a living only offering blogger outreach, you’ll probably have to offer other services – maybe social media management or blog management – to make a comfortable living.
Elizabeth is a digital content consultant and offers many services, including blogger outreach.
16. eBook Writing
If you’re not interested in writing blog posts or magazine articles, you might enjoy writing eBooks for small businesses.
A lot of online businesses need eBooks for their lead magnet (a freebie they offer in exchange for an email) and will seek out a writer.
What’s great about eBook writing services is that each project is typically big. I’ve written two eBooks and each were around 4,000 – 6,000 words.
You can bill anywhere from $200 per 1,000 words upward to $400 per 1,000 words depending on the topic and research required (i.e. case studies, interviews).
17. Ghostwriting
An easy way to break into freelance writing is to start with ghostwriting. When you don’t have a lot of experience, the pay will be low – $.06 per word to $.10 per word.
But, once you develop expertise in a niche, you can charge anywhere from $200 – $300 per 500 words or more.
I offer ghostwriting and have several clients that I ghostwrite for. This means I don’t have my name attached to my writing and I can’t divulge who my clients are.
I typically ghostwrite for businesses or popular influencers.
18. Email Marketing
Have you built your list to a sizeable number? Know how to craft an email newsletter that has a high click-through rate?
Start ups and professional bloggers might need help setting up their email marketing campaign.
This makes one of the best side business ideas out there because email marketing is a skill.
You can bundle this service with other services like writing and social media management and create service packages for your clients.
If you’re interested in offering email marketing, some skills you need are:
- Familiarity using different email platforms (Aweber, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit)
- Know how to create engaging email subject lines
- Create campaigns to bring in more subscribers or sales
Having a marketing background or experience with marketing is a big help to making this business successful!
19. Virtual Tutor
Now, I’m not too familiar with this service but I have read about it on work from home sites. If you have an education background as a teacher or educator you can be a virtual tutor.
Tutor.com has openings for online tutors, but I don’t know if you work as an independent contractor or are hired by the company.
In any case, it’s a great way to earn some extra income at home. The only prerequisite for this service is having a quiet area to tutor. If you have small children this may not be the best service you can offer.
20. Logo Design
A lot of creatives online need logos to complete their brand. Logo design is in demand and you can definitely make a healthy living from it.
While you can get a logo for as cheap as $6 or $7 on Fiverr, with time you can build credibility and build a nice niche for yourself.
Elyse Myers creates professional-looking logos for entrepreneurs and businesses.
So, even if you don’t have any experience with Photoshop or Illustrator, if you enjoy drawing, you can create design packages for your clients.
21. Translations
Do you speak another language? Use this side business to earn some money online!
Companies, publications, authors or educational institutions might need a translator for their content. This helps them reach more customers and boost their sales.
As a translator you’ll need to know the nuances between languages and may have to come up with alternative ways to say a phrase in a new language.
Pay typically starts at around $.12/word but if you know some obscure language combinations you can earn much more.
Doing some quick research it looks like on places like Upwork, the in-demand languages are:
- Chinese
- Japenese
- Swedish
- French
22. Virtual Assistant
Most of the services I mentioned can all fall under virtual assisting. As a VA you’re responsible for many things such as blog management, images, email marketing, blogger outreach, research, editing etc..
While you don’t want to be a jack of all trades, I would suggest focusing on some core VA tasks that are in high demand.
Those tasks typically are:
- Email – bloggers and solopreneurs need help managing their inbox
- Blog managment – anything from assigning posts to publishing posts to writing them
- Social media – managing all their platforms and posting scheduling
And to really stand out, start networking with creatives. These are the bloggers that are hustling hard, designing, creating and entrepreneuring 🙂
Make sure to check out Abbey of the Virtual Savvy for some great info!
Use These Side Business Ideas to Make Money!
What’s great about these side businesses is that you can turn them into passive income. As a freelance writer I created a course.
It’s evergreen and is always available which means passive income every day. And you can have this too!
Over to you – what other online freelance services are there for stay-at-home moms? Share in the comments.
Please pin me!
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