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Side Hustles for Single Moms

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Sometimes money is so tight that the only way to stay afloat or pay off debt is to get a side hustle.  Years ago, side hustles meant working a second job somewhere outside the home.  For married couples with kids, this might work because one spouse could stay home with the kids.  However, for a single mom, sometimes a side hustle just wasn’t worth it because you’d also have to arrange additional child care, which may take up most of the money you make on the side.  But times are different now.  There are plenty of side hustles for a single moms that you can do from the comfort of your home while the kids are playing, napping, or sleeping.

Side Hustles for Single Moms

Side Hustles for Single Moms

There are so many ways to make extra money in the Internet age.  What you decide to do just depends on your natural talents and proclivity.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Side Hustles You Can Do on Your Own Schedule

These side hustles let you set your own hours.  Prefer to work at midnight when the kids are sleeping?  No problem.  Prefer to work at 5 a.m.?  That’s okay, too.

Writer

There are plenty of writing jobs available.  You can work for brick and mortar businesses, or bloggers, or online businesses.  The hard part is getting your first writing job.  After that, you can let your samples speak for themselves.

Some places to look for writing jobs include Pro Blogger’s job board as well as Media Bistro.

In the beginning, when you’re still trying to get samples, you may need to take low paying jobs.  However, with experience, your rates will rise, and you’ll likely get word-of-mouth referrals, giving you more jobs.

Virtual Assistant

If you aren’t a writer, being a virtual assistant is another great side hustle that’s home based.  You can find a virtual assistant job working for someone like a real estate agent or a blogger.  You’ll likely be given a set of tasks to complete within a certain time frame.  I work as a virtual assistant and have specific jobs I have to complete by Sunday night, but I can do them any time during the week.  Being a virtual assistant often means you have a flexible schedule, though some people may need your services at specific times and specific days.

If you’d like specific training to be a virtual assistant, there are many online classes you can enroll in.  Another excellent resource is the book, The Bootstrap VA by Lisa Morosky.

Etsy Shop Owner

Side Hustles for Single Moms

Photo by Alex Jones on Unsplash

Are you creative?  Crafty?  If so, Etsy may be for you.  However, don’t just think that you’ll make a few items, set up shop and make sales.  It’s not that easy.  To sell on Etsy, you need to not only have professional looking items to sell, but also have a strong marketing plan, excellent pictures, and amazing customer service.

If you open an Etsy shop knowing all that it entails, you have a better chance of being successful.  I’d highly recommend speaking to other Etsy shop owners first.  In addition, there are plenty of web articles both for and against setting up an Etsy shop as well as YouTube videos that can explain what you need to know.

Side Hustles You Must Do at a Designated Time

In addition to side hustles that require you to maintain your own schedule, there are also side hustles that happen at specific times, though you do have a say in what those times are.

Tutoring

Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash

With so many students still doing virtual schoolwork, the need for tutors has exploded.  Kids seem to have a harder time learning via Zoom, and tutors can fill in that gap.  I’ve even seen jobs advertised to help kids stay on schedule with their Zoom classes.

In addition to helping Americans, you can also find jobs teaching English to children in China.  A homeschooling mom of four I know went this route.  She did her tutoring from 4 to 7 a.m. PST.  She was finished working for the day when her kids woke up.  She worked for VIPKid and loved that the company had the lessons already made for her.  VIPKid does require a bachelor’s degree, but there are other companies that don’t.

Teaching on Outschool

My girls (12 and 10.5 years old) have recently discovered Outschool.  On this platform, teachers have free rein to develop whatever classes they have expertise in, no degree required.  These are high quality classes, monitored by Outschool.

My girls have taken classes on dance, Descendants trivia, and cat behavior.  They’ve also started to learn the Japanese language through Outschool and joined a recurring book club and social club.  Take a peek at Outschool; there are truly an endless array of classes you can teach.

As a teacher on Outschool, you’ll earn 70% of the class fee (Outschool takes a 30% cut).  You’ll be responsible for paying your own self-employment taxes.

Babysitting

Babysitting can be an excellent side hustle.  This job allows you to stay home with your own children while also caring for others’ children.  A single mother I knew ran an after-school program for five neighborhood kids from 3 to 6 p.m.  She charged $7 an hour per child.  Each week she earned $525, for a total of $2,100 a month.  Plus, she didn’t have to worry about after school care for her own kids.

If you don’t know where to look, consider advertising locally and by word-of-mouth.  A more organized option is to join Care.com or Sittercity.com where you can advertise your babysitting services.  When I needed child care for my kids, I found the sitters on Sittercity.com.

Final Thoughts

If you need to make some extra money, know that there are plenty of side hustles for single moms that you can do from the comfort of your own home.  I’ve been working online for over 10 years, and I love the convenience and the extra money I make for my family.  You can do this, too!

Read More

Four Legitimate Work from Home Jobs for Moms

Get Some Extra Cash: Nine of the Best Ways to Make Money from Home

3 Unexpected Options for Stay at Home Moms to Make Extra Money

 

These Retailers Are Hiring For the Holiday Season

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Hiring for the holiday season

If you’re working your way through a mountain of debt, the best strategy is to prioritize income growth over cutting expenses. Ideally, you’ll do a mixture of both, but focusing on growth has a long term benefit.

You can increase your cash flow through a side gig, a promotion, selling clutter around your house, or from a second job. If you’re looking at the latter, you picked a good time. The holiday season is now, and retailers are looking to supplement their staffing schedules with able bodies.

Moreso, 2019 has a shortened holiday season due to a late Thanksgiving. In an attempt to lengthen the shopping season, retailers are rolling out sales and promotions early this year, so the hiring has already started.

Seven Retailers that Are Hiring for the Holiday Season

1. American Eagle Outfitters
2. Dollar Tree
3. Dick’s Sporting Goods
4. The Gap
5. Michael’s
6. Kohl’s
7. Target

According to Retail Dive, a publication dedicated to the retail industry, each of the above retailers is hiring at least 8,000 employees (Dick’s) and up to 130,000 (Target) employees during the holiday season.

Delivery Drivers Are Hiring

UPS, Fed Ex, and the US Postal Service are hiring, too! All those Amazon packages need to be delivered. As internet sales continue to rise, the demand for drivers has increased accordingly. Particularly, since Amazon now offers same and next day in many locations.

Money Making Apps

Do you have the entrepreneurial spirit? Hoping a seasonal gig might blossom into something robust enough to replace your day job? The sharing economy makes it possible to start small, dip your toes in the water, and try it out. The holiday season is the perfect time to experiment.

Become a driver for Uber or Lyft. Grocery shop for a frazzled working mom relying on Instacar or Shipt to deliver groceries while she cooks an amazing Thanksgiving dinner for her extended family of 40. If you’re skilled in a particular area, pick up jobs on TaskRabbit or BlueCrew.

Tips to Getting Hired This Holiday Season

Start now

The holiday hiring season starts early. The sooner you get your application in the door, the better. But also, don’t assume it’s too late.  Retailers may hold back their hiring early in the season, only to increase their numbers if the shopping demand comes to fruition.

Attend an Open House or Job Fair

Many retailers will hold an open house for the purpose of mass hiring. Check their website for the next available date. If you can’t find anything on their website, visit the store locally and ask to speak with the manager.

Tell Everyone You Know

Tell your mom, your brother, your neighbor. Let them know you’re looking for some additional work for the holiday season to boost your savings account. You’ll be surprised who has a cousin that works at Target or an uncle looking for someone to help clean out his garage.
Networking doesn’t have to be attending an event and handing out a business card. The best networking comes through genuine conversations.

Have you taken a second job specifically during the holidays? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more:

Four Legitimate Work From Home Jobs For Moms

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Work From Home Jobs For Moms

Last week I talked about three ways moms can make extra money. Today I want to continue the discussion with additional jobs to make money, specifically work-from-home jobs.

Four Legitimate Work-From-Home Jobs For Moms

1. Court Transcript Proofreader

They’re, their, there – if you know the difference between these three words and have an eye for detail, proofreading court transcripts may be just the thing for you. Court testimony is often transcribed word-for-word for future reference. A court reporter captures the live conversation with a stenotype. Because the reporter is simultaneously typing and listening, there is room for error. That’s where a proofreader adds value to the process.

Your primary tool will be an iPad and your eagle eye for grammatical errors. English teachers are great candidates for this side gig, as are you if you’re the kind that scours social media comments looking for the wrong use of the word “affect”.

If this is something that interests you, check out Proofread Anywhere. Caitlyn Pyle s a former court transcript proofreader who created a course to teach you to do the same. Included in the course is how to find clients. There is a free quiz to see if it’s something you have an aptitude for and might enjoy.

If court transcription proofreading doesn’t thrill you, you can also provide proofreading services to blogs, books, and website copy. These avenues are often less technical than court transcription proofreading.

As a mom, you can do this job from anywhere – your couch, the car while your son is at soccer practice, or on the plane to Disney World.

2. Life Coach

Do your friends and family come to you for advice? Do you like to serve and help people? Are you big on self-improvement? If you answer yes to each of these questions, you may want to consider becoming a life coach. A life coach is someone who helps others with struggles in their life and/or provides guidance and direction to lead them towards their personal goals. 

A life coach may be a generalist or may specialize in weight, business, or even organization. It’s different from therapy but can serve as a partner to a mental health professional. Life coaching is an up and coming profession. Brooke Castillo likens it to the rise of the gym. In the 70s, no one had gym memberships. As health and personal care started to rise in the 80s and 90s, a gym membership became the norm. Think of life coaching as the present-day equivalent of a gym membership. In a decade or so, everyone will have a life coach.

There are many avenues available to become a life coach. Tony Robbins has a program, as does Martha Beck. Brooke Castillo has one of the best programs, and I’m a big fan of her podcast. A great example of a successful life coach who makes seven figures working from home three days a week on her business, while a full-time mom of four is Jody Moore. She is a student of Brooke’s and is evidence a life coach is an excellent work-from-home option for moms.

3. Pinterest Virtual Assistant

Do you love social media? Do you spend your free time scrolling Pinterest for your next recipe? You can earn an income off your love of Pinterest. Along with the rise of internet businesses and blogs, social media has taken in growth as a marketing tool. Pinterest continues to rise and is a popular search engine alternative to Google. 

Online entrepreneurs recognize the value of Pinterest to their bottom line, but don’t want to spend the time building their Pinterest presence. As a result, you can capitalize on this need by creating Pinterest graphics. You don’t need a graphic design degree. You can create professional-looking graphics using free tools such as PicMonkey, Canva or Instasize.

As a Pinterest VA, you’ll create and upload pins for blog articles or merchandise for sale. You’ll create pin descriptions using appropriate keywords and possibly optimize your client’s Pinterest profile.  A VA can work from anywhere and anytime, so makes a perfect option for moms to generate extra money. 

Interested in learning more? Gina Horkey and Kristin Larsen have a great class called Pinterest VA. Furthermore, as a VA you can offer virtual assistant services for just about any social media platform, such as Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.  

4. Capitalize on your 9-to-5 skills

Do you have a college degree? Did you work a traditional job before becoming a SAHM? You likely have a set of marketable skills that can be done from home. You probably also have a built-in client base and network you aren’t even aware of.

Let’s say you were a journalist in your working days. You can reach out to your former boss and request some freelance writing work. Perhaps you were an accountant and know your former employer needs some part-time help during tax season. Put a proposal together to offer your services as an independent contractor. In your proposal, note you already have a working space (because your dining table counts) and high-speed internet that would allow you to work from home.

You can also market your skills to the general public. If you were a chef pre-kids, and want to share your love of vegetarian cooking, create a blog and sell an online course for a stream of passive income.  Market to other moms who are trying to teach their picky children the value of a vegetarian diet.

The opportunities are endless with your current skillset. Brainstorm your skill sets and find one that you can offer from home, then market it. You may have to think outside the box, but the rewards are worth it.

 

Do you work from home as a mom? Share what you do and how you got started in the comments below.

Read more:

6 Must-Haves for Working Moms Who Breastfeed

3 Unexpected Options for Stay At Home Moms to Make Extra Money

Get Some Extra Cash: 9 of the Best Ways to Make Money From Home