When you are just starting out with your work at home business, few things are as important as picking the right specialty. This is especially true if you plan on freelancing as a writer, photographer, transcriber, etc. Choose the right one, and you can do lots of work you love for great pay; get it wrong, and you could find yourself making less than minimum wage while struggling over projects you can’t stand.
So how do you know when you’ve found the right freelance specialty? There are two things to consider: what you love, and how well it pays.
While it’s important that you have both of these, also know that they should come in that order. That is, too many work at home moms get things backwards – they try to take something they think will pay well, only to discover they hate it. Don’t make that mistake. Think about things you know you love doing, or might be interested in doing, and start there. It’s always easier to find a way to make money from your passions than it is to struggle through the day-to-day drudgery of projects you hate.
Once you have identified a few things you might like to work on, find out what kinds of rates you can get. The Internet is a great place for this, of course, but so is your local library. Or, if you are feeling truly bold, contact a professional who’s already working in the field and find out what they charge. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help you out when you starting your own work at home business.
Finding a profitable specialty is an important part of the work at home process, so don’t rush it. Think about what you love to do, and then find a way to pay your bills with it. It might take a little bit of research, but you’ll be glad you did.
Thirty years ago, or even less, if you were to ask your employer if you could work from home, you would have certainly been laughed at. With the internet boom, however, came the opportunity for men and women to work from home, however, initially the so called “opportunities” weren’t all that great. The internet has certainly provided a means for the aspiring entrepreneur to have a great medium through which to promote and start a business, but what about a stay at home mom who just wants to work from home for an employer and get paid by the hour? Are there really jobs for stay at home moms?
Yes. There are. While our economy has taken a turn for the worse, the amount of online consumer activity has soared. This is due to the fact that it’s easier and cheaper to shop online. As a result, this has created many work opportunities for stay at home moms. 1-800-FLOWERS, for example, hires people to answer phone calls and take orders for their website right from the comfort of their own home. American Airlines hires booking agents to work from home, and they may even give you a computer!
Do a simple search online, and you’ll find a plethora of other opportunities. So this is great news! If this type of employment is something you want to pursue, then you need to take some time to evaluate a few things in order to find the best jobs for stay at home moms. First of all, you need to assess the time you need to fulfill your other responsibilities like taking care of your children and tending to the needs of the home. How much time do you really have to focus on a job? What hours of the day are you able to work? Look for employers, like About.com, for example, that allow you to make your own hours. This may be the best option for you.
Furthermore, make sure it is clear what your compensation will be. An offer may look really appealing until you do the math and figure that you’re only making 35 cents per hour! No thanks. Finally, if you’ve never worked from home before, please know that it can, at times, become very mundane. I say that to say this – find something you enjoy doing.
In conclusion, take time to narrow down exactly the type of work you want, and then find the job offers that fit your criterion. Finding an at-home job is no different than finding any other job. Be persistent, apply to as many opportunities as you can, and your diligence will pay off.
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Brandon Jones is a Google Adwords Certified Partner and internet entrepreneur. His blog www.MyGoogleMarketing.net offers free tips on how to succeed online.
A big mistake that a lot of work at home moms make is thinking that they have to do everything themselves. From client projects to website updates, billing, and bookkeeping, they want something done right – or at least inexpensively – so they don’t give a second thought to finishing it themselves.
That’s not all ways the best approach, however. Getting other people in on the act, and especially people who have skills or equipment that might allow them to do the job more quickly, is just good business. After all, why spend three hours scanning paperwork (for example) when you could pay someone else a few dollars to do it for you? Couldn’t you have used that time to finish, and bill, another project?
Here are three quick questions to help you decide whether to delegate a job or do it yourself:
How long will it take you? If you could make more money in that time than you’re saving by doing yourself, then be sure there’s some good reason you couldn’t just pay to have it finished.
Could someone else do it better? The same applies here; don’t take on tasks that someone else could do twice as well, either because they have the proper equipment or experience.
Is it something you need to be doing? Remember, you are supposed to be your own boss, and one of the perks of being the boss is not doing jobs you hate. If it fills you with dread, and you can afford the help, pay someone else to take care of it. It’s a good investment, because you’ll feel better about your work in the long run.
And one final note: these rules don’t just apply to your professional tasks. Often, work at home moms do everything around the house, even though their time would be better spent on their business. So, if your profits are soaring and you’ve always hated doing laundry, feel free to make the executive decision and delegate it to someone else.
If you are thinking about starting a work at home business, you might be concerned about a lot of things, including your long-term income and job security. That’s understandable, and a real concern, at least in the first few months.
But don’t overlook the upside, either. Here are five reasons working at home can make you a better mom:
You’ll get more time to spend with your kids. Of course, this is the reason a lot of women decide to work at home in the first place, but it’s worth mentioning.
You’ll have more patience and energy. Doing what you love, and being your own boss, wears you down a lot less than working in the traditional corporate environment. These benefits definitely pay off as a parent.
The schedule is a lot more flexible. You can set up your business to work as many hours as you want… or as few. Plus, the vacation plan can’t be beat.
You might earn more money. A lot of work at home moms are surprised to find that, without a ceiling on their income, they are able to exceed what they had made in the past, or hoped to make being self-employed.
You teach your kids to take control of their own futures. As parents, we all have to lead by example. And what better example to set than starting your own business?
Ask any work-at-home mom who has freelanced for companies what her biggest challenges have been, and she’s bound to mention “getting paid on time” sooner rather than later. This is an issue that businesses of all sizes struggle with, but it’s particularly important for parents who rely on cash flow to keep things like groceries coming in.
Here are four ways to get paid faster as a work at home mom:
Stay on top of your billing. The faster you invoice, the faster you get paid. Never get so far behind on your paperwork that you forget to send out your bills.
Accept credit cards and online payments. Lots of businesses, especially small ones, pay freelancers over the Internet. Go with the trend and make it easy for them to send you money with the click of a mouse.
Make your payment terms clear. If you have a client with chronically late payments, why not start adding a small amount (say 1%) for each calendar month they are overdue? Often, this is all it takes to get the checks in the mail by their due dates.
Do good work. The better your work is, the more incentive your client has to keep you happy. When you’re someone they can’t live without, and you’ll find that most of your invoices are going to be paid in a flash.
What’s the biggest hurdle to becoming well off as a work at home mom? The answer might surprise you. It isn’t identifying a profitable freelance specialty or product, finding clients, negotiating contracts or dealing with any of the other business issues that most of us would think of right off the bat.
No, the hardest part is learning to think like a wealthy business owner.
That’s because many of us were raised to think that we should only expect to be paid a certain amount for work, or that to earn a lot of money would make us “greedy.” But these attitudes, as widespread as they are, can be major stumbling blocks to your work at home business success. (more…)
Often, when you tell someone that you’re thinking about working at home, or “going freelance,” their immediate reaction is one of shock. Sure, they have dreamed of giving up the corporate grind just like you, but they just couldn’t imagine giving up the “stability” of a traditional job.
Guess what: they might have things backwards.
For one thing, let’s just state the obvious – job security just isn’t what it used to be. With even the biggest household names outsourcing, cutting back on their workforce, or disappearing altogether, there really isn’t any such thing as a “safe” job any more.
But more importantly, though, is that once you start working for yourself, you become more accountable. In a big organization, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. This is especially true if you have a manager who is inept, or even just overloaded. He or she might not even know what kind of job you’re doing, much less appreciate your work. And so, when they start looking for names to put on the chopping block, they don’t have any particular reason to hold on to you. (more…)
