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Work-from-Home
Moms: Learn to Sell Your Services (and Stuff) Online
The internet is a godsend for moms who choose to work
from home in order to spend more time with their
children and more time managing their households.
Work-from-home internet jobs provide moms with an easy
way to contribute to the family income. There are few
families nowadays, especially in recent months and
years, that can survive on one salary alone. And
sometimes even with two salaries families are just
barely scraping by.
That being said, the following e-commerce jobs are ideal
not just for stay-at-home moms, but for families who
need to spend a few extra hours a day working on their
third income.
1.
Build a Free Money-Making Website
Don't have goods or services to sell? Lucky for you in
today's internet age that doesn't mean you can't make
money. All that you need to do is build a simple
website, write some quality content for it, and figure
out how to drive enough traffic to your new hotspot.
Your website can be about ANYTHING, from grandma's box
full of recipes, to 21st century parenting
tips, to model trains, to the mating habits of pigeons.
With ads in and around your site and affiliate marketing
links, you could be into money sooner than you realize.
And building a site is also easier than you probably
think—download free
website builder software,
get some free training, and then start your pigeon (or
whatever) research!
2.
Sell Your Photos for Cash
Corporations and individuals alike are always looking
for pictures they can use for their advertising material
and for their websites. In order to do this legally,
such people or companies choose to purchase their images
from legitimate stock photo sites like ShutterStock,
BigStockPhoto, and Fotolia. You can sell photos of kids,
food, animals, trees—anything—to these sites for a small
fee. Most of the sites will also pay you each time your
image is downloaded or a percentage of their commission.
This option will not only put a little money in your
pocket today, but will provide some residual income for
your family.
3.
De-Clutter and Sell Your Stuff Online
People have made large sums of money from selling their
stuff on sites like eBay, Hoobly, efleaa, and Craigslist;
surely you can make a little extra pocket cash—or
more—by rummaging through your stuff and selling it.
A
recent survey showed that the average American household
has about 52 unused items in their house that are worth
over $3000! What's the moral of this finding? Don't
throw out your stuff, but sell it!
Getting the hang of selling your own stuff? Now it's
time to think like a true businesswoman and start
searching for bargains that you can then buy and resell
for a profit. Don't quit your day job yet, but this
could turn into something quite lucrative.
4.
Sell eBooks
Think of this as a first entry into the world of eBooks—you
know, so you can get an idea of how they work before you
write your own. Download a
website builder
program—WordPress is a good one—and then create a site
that revolves around a certain beloved topic of yours.
Buy the resell rights to related eBooks and sell them.
5.
Get Crafty and Sell Online
If you are creative and crafty then the first thing you
need to do is acquaint yourself with craft-selling sites
like Etsy and Silkfair. These sites unite interested
craft buyers with the original craft creators.
Etsy charges a small start-up fee and then takes about
3.5% of each sale, while Silkfair costs $24.99 to join
and takes only 3% of each sale. While it may be cheaper
to sell on eBay, you'll miss out on the fantastic
handmade craft community that these other sites offer.
Browse the sites to get ideas and then start your
craft-making marathon. Try and think of ways for your
kids to help and you'll make money, entertain your
children, and teach them some life lessons about the
world of commerce.
6.
Go Guru Online or in Your Home
Maybe you're an expert in designing babies' rooms. Maybe
planning weddings is your forte. Maybe it's time to put
your Master's in Computer Programming to work for you.
Spread the word by posting fliers in your neighborhood,
community center, or church about the services your
offer. Most local papers offer free ad space that you
can take advantage of.
7.
Turn Virtual as an Online Secretary
Visit online temp and freelance agencies for
work-from-home assistant positions. Alpine Access,
Elance, Virtual Office Temps, and Tem Double Click are
good options. You can make up to $20 an hour as a
virtual assistant.
8.
Sign Up and Become a Mystery Shopper
Sign up with a mystery shopping specialist service like
Service Excellence Group, Service Intelligence, or
Shoppers View. They send you on assignment to various
restaurants, shops, and businesses in your area. You'll
take some notes, buy a token item to prove you were
there, and will then fill out an online questionnaire
about your shopping experience. You can get about $20
per shopping visit—not too bad for doing something you
probably enjoy anyways.
9.
Get Money for Your Photos
Ever heard of stock photos? Ever wonder how those
hundreds of thousands of pictures got into those
databases? Well, they come from people like you—people
who contribute their photos to the stock in order to
make money every time their photo is used. When
corporations need advertising material or pictures for
their websites, they turn to stock photo sites, download
photos, and pay a fee. You then get a percentage of that
fee, or a flat rate depending on the site.
10.
Write Articles for a Living
Corporate and personal websites are all struggling to
keep their websites current and up-to-date with fresh
content. Surf sites like Elance, ODesk, or
GetaFreelancer for writing jobs.
About the author:
Melanie Citron is a freelance author who wants
the web to be open to everyone. She regularly researches
and writes about great free or low cost resources to
help all have a great presence on the web. See more of
her writing at
BuildMySiteforFree.com.
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