Some parents may have a desire to have a career and at the same time want to be available for their children at home. Having a flexible job is the best option as it goes along with a stay-at-home parent’s schedule, allowing them to earn extra income for the family.
Stay-at-home moms (SAHM) and stay-at-home dads (SAHD) both handle different types of responsibilities in the household while taking care of their children. Having an extra job on top of their full-time parent duties can be a great way to give the family additional financial support.
There are plenty of opportunities for stay-at-home parents to make more money from home while still attending to their parenting obligations. Here’s a list of part-time jobs and gigs that you can start at home as a parent.
1. Online seller
With great marketing strategies and skills, you will be able to make extra money just by selling products online.
Setting up an online store to sell your products can be a profitable way of earning more money at home. You can sell your own craft goods, homemade cookies, cakes, pastries, shawls, clothes and more on e-commerce sites such as Shopee and Lazada.
Social media (Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) is also a great platform to promote your small business. If you have an existing product, you can consider becoming an agent, stockist or drop shipper of your preferred product that you’ve tried before. With great marketing strategies and skills, you will be able to make extra money just by selling other people’s products online.
Suitable for: Someone with digital marketing background who knows how social media platforms work, understands the algorithm and knows how to develop and strategise campaigns online.
Related: #DigitalCareers: 10 Ways To Upskill and Reskill Amid COVID-19
2. Freelance writer or translator
Prepare your writing portfolio to show your credibility and experience.
Freelancing is one of the part-time jobs that you can do casually at home. All you need is a laptop, a good internet connection, good writing and translation skills. If you’re skilled in both, you can offer your services on platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork or Freelancer.
This freelance job is ideal for many stay at home moms and dads who have strong writing, editing, proofreading and translating skills. You might have to prepare your writing portfolio to put on your profile to show your credibility and experience.
Suitable for:
- Someone with strong writing, editing or proofreading skills, and knows how to share stories, tips and guides on different topics.
- Someone who is multilingual and comfortable speaking and writing in different languages.
Related: #DigitalCareers: How To File Your Income Tax As A Freelancer
3. Online tutor
If you're an expert in music or art, you can teach students how to perform those skills online via Google Meets, Zoom or Skype.
"If you’re a former teacher or have teaching experience, becoming an online tutor can be another way to earn that extra money. Even if you are not trained as an educator, but an expert in, for example, music or art, you can teach students how to perform those skills online via Google Meets, Zoom or Skype.
Besides that, you can sell your courses on online tutoring platforms like Udemy, SkillShare, Udacity and more. Read this article to find out how to become an online tutor.
Online education and tutoring is becoming more popular these days, so using this opportunity to share knowledge and skills virtually is convenient especially when you’re at home.
Suitable for: Former teachers who have experience teaching others in subjects like mathematics, science, English language and more.
Related: #NewNormal: Working From Home Vs Working In The Office – Pros And Cons
4. Graphic designer
A job that requires you to translate client’s ideas into creative visual concepts.
Graphic design is another job that can be done remotely from home. You need to create and translate client’s ideas into design concepts such as logos or banners, help design the look of a website, or create pamphlets, books, or other visual materials. You can offer your services and get clients through freelancing platforms such as Upwork, Freelancer and Behance.
Suitable for: Someone with a background in graphic design, who has a portfolio of work and has good knowledge of using design softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and more.
5. Blogger
Once your blog has gained some traffic, you’ll be able to monetise it by doing sponsored blog posts or reviews.
If you have some interesting ideas you want to share and know how to put them into words, you can consider becoming a blogger. Keep in mind that it may take some time to build up the blog, but once you’ve gained some popularity and managed to attract good traffic, you’ll be able to monetise it by doing sponsored blog posts or reviews.
For starters, you can learn some basic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) knowledge to gain traffic to your blog.
Suitable for: Someone who knows how to do content writing, photo editing, social networking, digital marketing, SEO and analytics.
6. YouTuber
Have a clear idea of what your niche is before uploading your first video on YouTube.
If you enjoy talking in front of the camera, making video content and uploading it on YouTube is another way of making money while you’re at home. But first, you need to have a clear idea of what your niche is. It can be based on your interests, knowledge or expertise. Some of the most common YouTube content we found include baking, cooking, sewing, how-to videos or tutorials and product reviews.
Like blogging, becoming an established YouTuber is not easy. You need to gain a certain number of subscribers and views on your YouTube account in order to get your videos monetised. It’s a long journey of hard work and there are investments you need to make, processes to follow and more.
Suitable for: Someone with good video editing skills and knows how digital media marketing works.
7. Transcriber
A transcriber listens to audio files and translates them into text documents.
A transcriber listens to audio files and translates them into text documents, reviews the transcription drafts, and liaises with clients to make sure they're happy with the final documents. Your client will provide you with a deadline, so you’re completely on your own schedule with this job. You can do this in the middle of the night or when you have some time while your children are having their nap time.
Suitable for: Speedy typists with strong listening and writing skills.
8. Data entry
A data entry job requires you to work efficiently as you need to manage a large amount of information that is often confidential.
Most data entry jobs require you to enter, update and maintain data into a computer system online or some secure file system. You will need to work efficiently as you need to manage a large amount of information that is often confidential. The type of information varies from company to company - if you work for a sales company, the data could be sales data or client personal information.
Suitable for: Someone with strong keyboarding skills and pay attention to detail.
Only choose a side job that you can commit to
Since you’re still tied to parenting responsibilities, you will need to learn how to manage your time well before considering which side hustle you want to do. All of the jobs listed above come with different sets of skills and some may require you to do extra training and learning on your own.
A side job is a commitment; you don’t want to waste your time on something that you are not passionate about. Therefore, make sure that your choice goes along with your interests so it will be worth your time and effort when generating that extra income from the comfort of your own home.
Related: 8 Side Jobs for Malaysians to Earn Extra Money During CMCO
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