Most people do not consider working from home to be a job, but if they ever had to do it they would know just how difficult it can be. Just because you’re a stay-at-home worker doesn’t mean that you’re not working more hours than you do at a job. It takes a lot of creativity and persistence.
Looking to make money at home? Try the following:
- Offering essential services. Are you a good chef or baker? Why don’t you start selling your services? A friend of mine does a home made “take out” lunch and dinner service that literally puts thousands of dollars in her pockets every month. A couple years after starting, she makes $750+ profit for every meal.
- Become a cleaner. Cleaning your friends’ homes for a few dollars a trip can be a great way to earn an extra income. All it takes is a couple of hours, and though you won’t be able to charge the same as a professional cleaning service, you’ll be able to make extra money while helping your friends and neighbors out!
- Start a home-based business. If you are capable on a computer, you could offer data entry, freelance writing, internet design, or pretty much anything you want from your home. In fact, nearly 45% of all small businesses are home-based, and their revenue exceeds the billion dollar mark every year.
- Start an internet business. The internet is a trillion dollar industry – monetize it! Try to earn an income, either by offering services such as freelance writing or web design, or by joining an affiliate network and promoting their products.
The internet makes it incredibly easy to start your own business, and it is able to do so without requiring large start up costs. If you do pursue an home based business, be sure to maintain your professionalism by getting your own free 250 business cards.
Yes. I am an Internet freak. And I love getting up in morning and checking my subscriber payments and Google ad money. My site runs by itself for 99% of the time. There is some support for clients.
Biggest word of advise for running a business on the Internet? Bill Gates favorite advice was always know you competitors. Microsoft crushed a few hundred over the years. Yes, always know your competition….or you are totally screwed. I could not agree more.
It’s like the wild west out there!
Terry
Yeah but Bill dropped the ball big time where the internet was concerned…..
You’re right. You CAN make $ working from home and using the internet. When my x left me and our 3 kids, I was able to support us by working full time from home.
I can be a full time mom and full time business owner.
And I make more $ now than I ever made working outside the home. I’m so thankful for the internet and today’s technology!
It’s not easy, but you can do it and the rewards are worth it!
Linda
So what did you do Linda, out of interest??
The problem with a business from home is to find a nice niche and then build up a quality traffic. It’s not actually a problem, however it takes time to build such system…
That’s why I’m still keeping my day job
The home take out is a good one, last weekend my wife was saying that its a shame you cannot get Sunday dinners delivered like you can Piza (maybe you can in your part of the world).
Anyone interested in starting a food related business should first check out local laws regarding food service licensing, permits, and inspections. Running your business from home will not exempt you from these things. It is best to know about them before you receive a citation for something you didn’t even know you violated.
Blogging is a good way to make money while working from home.
blogging can make money,
just like JohnChow and Problogger,
and how much you can earn is the main point indeed.
With more and more single parents in the world now days, I think finding a way to work at home is becoming important to more people. I knwo I would like to find a formula that works for me on a regular basis.
I sell cruises. I love them and realized the only way to make $ is to do something you love!
Selling Cruises, sounds fun, how do you actually go about marketing and selling them then?
I mean did you start advertising, cold calling or what??
Jez
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Comment by Linda
2007-06-04 07:31:21
I started by just telling family & friends. They knew I had 3 kids to raise so they were great at spreading the news. I also have a web site.
I learned that many folks like researching and booking their cruises with someone online to get a great deal, but miss the one on one. So I offer both, great fares and personal
service. I’m not listed in the phone book.
My web site along with repeat and referral business, keep me busy!
Comment by Study Guide
2007-06-04 07:39:50
Thats an interesting story if you provide a good service to the point that you get personal recommendations like yourself then you will always do well…. IMO
Good luck with it!!
Jez
Comment by Linda
2007-06-04 07:43:50
Thank you!
~Linda~
I can attest that it is perfectly possible to make money online, but just because you work in your pajamas doesn’t mean that it’s not still work.
A lot of people working from home end up doing a lot more hours, and consequently earn less per hour….. its a criticism of working from home for an employer…. people feel obligated to spend more time working to prove they are not lazing around…..
Not a problem if you are self employed.
Big time doesn’t describe it enough! MSN Search is such a joke!
Yeah it wasnt just the search side of things either, he kept going on about it being military technology with no civillian use and was consequently slow to develope browsers, web servers…. all of it….
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Being Internet savvy worked for me. Being great at looking for opportunities never hurt, too.
It helps, but on the other hand I know how much time this stuff takes up, and how little some people earn from it.
I bet a lot of people earning money online get less than minimum wage if you work out their hours…. thats ok if you are at home anyway looking after kids or whatever, but being employed earns me a lot more than I could scrape online…. short of a really big idea….
We may work more hours, but we don’t commute to our jobs. When I worked at a bank, I spent an hour on the road in the morning, was forced to take an hour for lunch, then an hour to drive home.
That’s 3 hrs a day related to my job, where I didn’t get paid. So an 8 hr day was actually 11. So you could say I’d have to take my 8hrs of pay and average them over 11hrs.
Now if I work 11 hrs…it’s all work. Not to mention I save on gas(!), mileage on my car, business attire, contributions to whoever is having a baby, getting married, etc. And when my kids were younger….no daycare expenses or after school care.
Then there are the tax advantages……
I thank God everyday.
You mentioned “data entry” for a work at home job, and I have seen so many sites that offer that, but they want a fee. Asking for a fee leads to the conclusion that they are scams. Can you please give us some “authentic” data entry job sites, thanks.
Great post folks!
I’ve been working from home ever since I got out of high school.
You can do offline marketing and start your own offline business or you can harness the power of the internet.
I’ve decided to do both.
It’s much harder (some say) to stay disciplined cause you don’t have a boss – YOU are the boss. I would suggest getting an accountability partner so you can stay accountable to getting stuff done.
Go buy a white board and write all your goals down and follow this process.
Goal – Strategy – Action.
Write our the goal, put together a thorough game plan and go take action.
Good luck all!
alejandro reyes