Today Gwen Payne of Invisible Moms is sharing 4 tips for stay-at-home parents to transition to work-at-home life. Whether staying home was your choice before the COVID-19 pandemic or not, you sacrifice a great deal as a stay-at-home parent.
You fulfill a valuable position that if done professionally, would entitle you to a decent wage. Part of what you must balance is budgeting around one income instead of two and tightening your belt a little. If you have decided to supplement your household’s finances with a work-at-home income stream, you’re in luck. There are many potential ways to bolster your funds from home. Here are four tips to help you figure out which is best for you.
1. Search for Remote Positions
Peruse online job boards and sites such as Indeed and Ziprecruiter for online jobs. Add key terms such as ‘remote,’ ‘work-at-home,’ ‘virtual,’ and similar words to your search query. Check out LinkedIn, which often features remote positions and offers a valuable tool for connecting with possible employers.
Try your hand at becoming a writer — a very flexible position you can do from practically anywhere — by blogging, establishing yourself as a freelancer, self-publishing books, sending queries for articles and stories to magazines, or working for an established writing site. Consider becoming a personal shopper, virtual assistant, data entry specialist, or transcriptionist.
2. Try Micro Tasks and Surveys
Some sites actually pay you to click on ads, fill out surveys, and complete small tasks such as entering short text phrases. Examples include Swagbucks, Pinecone Research, SurveyJunkie, and Fusioncash. While these can never replace a full-time income because they don’t pay a lot, they offer feasible avenues for bringing in a little extra cash.
3. Start a Home Business
Find something you are passionate about, research the market to confirm a need, and convert it into an enterprise. For example, you could try selling crafts or jewelry on Etsy, painting custom art pieces, or making designs for items such as mugs, blankets, and t-shirts and selling them through print-on-demand services. Be sure to write out a business plan and budget for your expenses.
Pick the business structure you want. Options include a corporation, partnership, or limited liability company. An LLC is very beneficial because it offers advantages such as tax perks, greater flexibility, less paperwork, and limited liability. Keep in mind that business formation laws vary from state to state and even by city, so ensure you are complying with them. A formation service is a useful tool if you can’t or don’t want to shell out for a lawyer.
4. Keep an Eye Out for Scams
Online job scams, already abundant, are rising. The FBI warns about cybercriminals using them to steal personal information from victims. There are many forms of such cons. Signs of scams include too-good-to-be-true offers, obvious grammatical errors in postings, an email address from a popular domain such as Gmail, or lack of proper contact information.
Many feasible ways to remotely make money await stay-at-home parents. Take time to research and check online reviews for those that interest you. Watch out for scams and use caution when giving personal information over the internet as you search for the right opportunity.
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