If you're like me, you were a career woman at one time and after a series of events found yourself suddenly knee deep in dirty laundry, balancing a baby on one hip, a cell phone in the other, and you've learned to somehow do everything one handed or with your teeth. Just because your job title has changed to "domestic engineer", doesn't mean that suddenly your skills and experience are worth nothing.
I get asked constantly, how stay at home moms can make money from home. The problem that I see, though, with most of the women that ask me that question is they don't believe in themselves. Too often women think that the only skills they have to offer involve typing or customer service. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not putting those jobs down. The problem with many of those jobs is that they don't pay well. The truth is that many of the women asking me how to make money from home posses all the skills necessary to start and run their own business from home. The rewards from running your own business from home, both monetary and emotionally are only limited by YOU. How great is that? You are the one that decides how hard you want to work or how much money you want to make. In fact, I find that many women sadly let fear hold them back from taking the leap. I see it all too often. These same women that I speak of are so talented and have so much to offer that it's sad that they don't realize their own potential.
You may have wondered where the heck I've been for the past couple of months. (Or maybe not, I don't know!) I've been contemplating something that I have now been inspired to write about and I hope that someone out there will benefit from all of the time and effort that I've put into this research. You may already know that I have been a stay at home "mompreneur", working from home for the past seven years now. I've been pretty proud of the fact that I've been able to earn money from home doing various things and ended up able to stay home with my children all this time. When I started out, I wondered just how long I'd be able to stay home. If there was ever a time that the money ran out, I was certainly going to have to go back to work. Here I am seven years later, writing this blog to help others find their way. Is your way my way? Probably not. Since I began there are better paths than the ones I took. There are so many more options out there than when I started. One thing I know for sure is that if you really want to make money from home, there is a way. Another thing I've learned is that the best way to make the most money from home is to:
- Do something you love.
- Work for yourself.
- DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE
- Constantly reinvent yourself.
- Listen to your heart, not your fears.
- Take Action
That brings me to my point for this post. I have been inspired myself to return to college at 39 years of age. I got married before I ever actually got a degree. Looking back, it's always been something that has bothered me. Do I need a degree right now? Maybe not, but it sure couldn't hurt. Not only that, but no one in my family ever graduated from college. I want to set an example for my three boys. I hope that I'm showing them by example that you're never too old to finish what you started and that you should never give up. In doing all of this preparation for going back, I have found that it is so much easier to go to school than it ever has been. More online, night, and weekend courses are being offered than ever before. More grants, scholarships and loans are being issued. There is a greater variety of subject matter that's being taught. What does this mean for you? It means that more opportunities exist for you right now than ever before.
I picked up a local course catalog for Adult and Community Education classes recently. I was amazed at the variety of courses being offered and the potential for income from home that was lurking right there in those pages! Amazing! One class was a class on Windows XP Movie Maker. They would teach you how to use old photos, digital photos, and digital movies to create your own movies or slide shows. They teach you how to do voice overs, music and special effects. What a great business this would be! How many people are out there that have all of these things, but don't really know how or have the time to do anything with them?
Another class was for Power Point Memory Albums. They teach you how to create memory albums for graduations, weddings, birthdays, family reunions, etc. The cost was only $52.00! How's that for a cheap start up? How could you go wrong offering that service for graduations and weddings? The first couple of jobs alone should more than pay for the tuition of the class.
Of course there were other classes like how to install ceramic tile, home staging, operating an eBay store or business, writing courses, foreign language courses, cake decorating, portrait drawing, sewing, etc. There was even a class on how to make fused glass windchimes. I could go on and on. A good percentage of the courses in the course schedule had the potential of being at home money makers.
One of my favorite quotes is: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step". You might find that your first step to your journey to becoming a stay at home mompreneur is to find a class at your local community college and take the leap. Turn your interests and your hobbies into a sideline money maker or a full blown business. The point is, it's up to you. I even saw a course on how to start your own business if your dreams are a little bigger than most.
As always, I wish you all luck and happiness and if there's ever anything that I can do to help my readers, please feel free to contact me.
