Moms Working from Home: A Guide to Home Business Opportunities

There are a lot of home business opportunities out there. Some of them are a scam, but some are legitimate. Even the legitimate ones aren't for everyone, though. I was a SAHM (stay-at-home mother) for a while, but then it became obvious that we needed some extra income. Being a WAHM (work-at-home mom) appealed to me because I didn't want to be parted from my son while earning money. I've tried many of the jobs available to those to whom working from home appeals to, and I am prepared to report on each! Making money from home is a very real possibility. You just have to find what's right for you!

The first thing I tried was Primerica. Primerica sells life insurance, securities, and mortgages. Their products aren't the best out there, but they do have some decent ones to offer. In order to sell mortgages, I had to watch a video as that's all that is required in Colorado. I had to pay $197 to become an agent. I had to attend a three-day course over two weekends, 8 hours per day, on life insurance. I then had to take the test to get my license. To sell securities like IRAs and other investments, you have to take a different course and test. You need to find clients, set up appointments, and attend meetings. The meetings are high powered with lots of pressure to sell and recruit. Your profit comes from commission, your downlines, and bonuses and prizes.

The problem for me with Primerica was that I can't just walk up to people and start talking to them about their money! You have to find your clients with Primerica, so you have to be able to strike up a conversation with a stranger, turn it to finances, and then offer to do a financial assessment for them. You also have to be able to go to appointments at people's homes and meetings at your office. There's lots of room for advancement if you recruit and sell, but I just wasn't very good at this. In the end, it just wasn't the right choice for me. However, many people have found financial freedom with Primerica.

The first thing I truly succeeded at was greeting. I worked for a company called Colorado Neighborhood Greeters. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was given welcome packets of coupons to give to new home owners and a list of names. I one zip code as my area and had the freedom to greet whenever was best for me. I was able to take my son with me on visits and to the office. I made $5 per visit and did between 6 and 18 a week. Another part of the job was getting businesses to pay to put their coupons in the welcome packet, as it was an advertising company basically. I could never catch the people in charge of advertising, and a lot of companies are corporate and do their own. You may be able to find a company like this. Check the paper for advertising, greeting, and welcoming companies. A popular one is Welcome Wagon.

Next, I started doing home daycare. In my state, you can keep children from one family without a license. There have been times when I have had children from more than one family for a short period of time, where one family needs me to start right before another family finds another daycare. (We live on the edge of town, kind of out of the way.) I've kept kids of different ages and genders, usually close in age to my son. I've found that groups of 3 or more mostly entertain each other, so it's really not as difficult as it seems. Clients don't stay forever, and it's always sad to see someone go. I feel my family has benefited from this, as I wrote in my article The Joys of Running a Home Daycare. I've been keeping a little boy six months younger than my own for nearly a year now. His mother is now my good friend, and our sons are best friends. This has been my best paying venture so far. You can clients on Craigslist and local Yahoo groups, and you can also advertise there, in the paper, and with signs around town.

At the end of last year, I was introduced to the world of GPT sites. With this, you get paid to try products and services. You can also participate in surveys that pay 50 cents or a dollar. The sites offer contests and bonuses, and it's free to join. You can get paid through mail by check or with Paypal. You may pay shipping & handling on products or small fee to start trials, but you are reimbursed for that and much more. You can chose only to do free offers if you want. When you refer others, you profit from their earnings as well. You have to keep track of what you've signed up for, when the trial period expires, and your account information. You also have to try the products, cancel if you don't want to keep them, and sometimes return products that you don't like. I made $300 the first month and $500 the second month 'working' only a few hours a week. The best sites are Deal Barbie Pays, Cash on Tap, and Fusion Cash. There are things you can do to make things easier, like downloading Roboform (link) and getting a gmail account.

I tried Mary Kay for a while. It can be a lot of fun, especially attending events with friends. You pay only $100 to sign up and get a kit with everything you need, including two cute black and pink leather bags. The company offers bonuses and prizes, as well as incentives like the famous pink Cadillac. There's a lot of room for advancement within the company. You can recruit your friends, family, and clients, and then you make money off of their sales. You get to buy the products at 50% off, and 50% of all sales belongs to you. You can sell things in a number of ways, mainly parties where your clients invite over their friends. You can get really creative about finding clients and how you run your business. There's a lot of pressure to buy inventory, so you can give clients their products immediately. Otherwise you have to collect $250 in orders then wait a few weeks on the products to arrive. It's a very Christian company, so those who aren't Christian may feel somewhat alienated as I did.

Associated Content is a great way to make money if you are decent with a pen and paper--or typewriter, or laptop computer, or whatever. You don't have to be a literary genius; I'm certainly not! Basically, you sign up for free, and you write 400+ word articles for them. Within a few days, they review them and get back to you. They make an offer of $3-15 or provide a reason why they cannot accept it. It soon gets published, and within a few days, you are paid by Paypal. They like searchable, unique material. You also make $1.50 per thousand page views, and there are a lot of ways to promote. You can write about anything you like. I began in January and started out getting very few page views and offers that were $6 and below. Now I get about $7 a piece and am getting over ten thousand page views each month! I only write one or two pieces a day, and it only takes a few hours a week. Some people write more than that and make much more than me. At Constant Content, you post your articles with a price, and then people buy them to use on their websites. I love making money by writing, because I always wanted to be a freelance writer!

I only just recently found out about Slumber Parties. It is run similar to Mary Kay, Avon, Primerica, and other such companies. They sell sex toys, lingerie, and products for use in the bedroom. To sign up you purchase a kit anywhere from $250 to $1000. I plan on doing this when I have the money, because it sounds like a lot of fun. There are bonuses, prizes, and plenty of incentives. You get the products for 40% off and make a 40% profit on all sales. When you recruit, you make money off of your downlines' sales as well. The idea is to find a hostess who will get her girlfriends together for a party, and then they all can taste the flavored lotions, model the lingerie, pass around the vibrators of various styles... The women who do this seem to be more fun than Mary Kay, which seems mostly for older women. You'll need reliable childcare for this option. I haven't tried this yet so I don't know much about it, but it seems very fun--not perverted at all, if that is what you are thinking!

As you can see, there are many home business opportunities out there for moms looking to work from home. Being self-employed is wonderful, because it gives you freedom and flexibility. Most of these opportunities come with unlimited room for advancement and no profit ceiling. Other jobs that you may look into include Avon, selling with Ebay, medical billing, data entry, and even mystery shopping. If you stick your nose out there, there's no telling what you'll find. Most mothers find the time to work when their kids are sleeping, playing, or with dad, and once you get going, you should be able to afford occasional childcare if you need it. Working from home allows me to contribute financially while still staying home with my babies. You can do it, too. You just have to find the opportunity that fits your needs.