Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
Being a parent is the most important job in the world and making sure that we do a good job looking after our kids is our top priority. However many moms (both working moms and stay at home moms) are looking for a way to earn some extra income from home when they have some spare time. Finding a way to make money that fits around our busy mom schedules is top prize.
Fortunately with modern technology it is getting easier and easier for moms to make money, often without leaving the home at all. The internet can be an amazing tool for moms to market their business or services to anyone in the world.
Another awesome thing about side hustles is that you don’t have to do just one thing, you can combine a number of side hustles that suit your skills and available time to make up a considerable amount of extra income at the end of the month. As a mommy blogger I love making money online.
Here are 5 of the best side hustle jobs you can explore:
***Disclosure -The links in this post contain affiliate links and I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.***
Online Surveys
Ok so you are not going to get rich completely online surveys from home, that’s not how it works but what I do really love about doing online surveys is that I don’t have a commitment to do any if I don’t have the time and if I do have some spare time I can see what’s available and do some surveys. I once scored $10 while waiting for my doctors appointment which was awesome!
Taking online surveys is something that will give you a little extra each month. My favourite website for completing surveys, offers and tasks is Clixsense. I have earned over $800 to date using Clixsense and recently shared all my tips for making money with Clixsense.
Teaching Online
We all have our own unique set of skills, consider sharing what you know with other people to make money. You can teach English to foreigners or you can give extra lessons to school kids that are struggling with subjects such as math or accounting.
You can teach via Skype or you can even create online courses and in that way do the work once and keep earning from it for years to come. A great website to create online courses and make money is Udemy. I haven’t used Udemy myself but I know a few people that have created courses at Udemy and they say it is great.
When I’m feeling short on cash I sometimes create training videos at Wealthy Affiliate University which is a membership that teaches people how to blog and make money online . It is loads of fun, helps other people and gives me a little boost of income.
Sell Your Skills
There are many online market places where you can sell your skills. I joined Fiverr in October 2015 as a buyer and only at the end of 2016 did I add some gigs of my own and not even 2 years later I have made over $7000 on Fiverr as a side income!
There are so many interesting gigs on Fiverr and you can add just about any service you can think of. If you can create images, write good articles, proof read articles, translate text, do voice overs, be a virtual assistant, create animations, build websites, edit videos, do social media marketing or any other skill then you can make money on Fiverr.
I love being able to add my own services to online market places – to decide what I will sell, what my prices will be and my delivery time. It means I can fit my work around my family.
There are plenty of online market places to choose from including Upwork, SeoClerks, Fiverr, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour, and FlexJobs to name just a few.
You don’t even have to make use of an online market place if you don’ want to – you can market your skills on social media and let your friends and family know you are going to do freelance work and ask them to spread the word. You may find that you get in plenty of work this way too.
Don’t underestimate yourself. You have skills that other people need and are willing to pay for.
Become A Distributor
You may not want to market yourself and instead be happier selling a product that is already well established and have all the marketing materials provided for you.
I have in the past been a Honey Jewellery distributor and also a Therific Naturals distributor. They both have amazing products and it is was not hard to get started selling. What I love about being a distributor is that everything is done for you and you have the support of a huge firm behind you. It’s not like you are doing something all on your own.
Some great companies in South Africa to sign up as a distributor are Honey Jewellery, Therific Naturals (Kiddy-Calm), Avon, Sh’Zen and Aloe Ferox.
Write and Sell Ebooks
Have you always wanted to be an author? It is now easier than ever to write, publish and sell your own books. Simply write your book, get an ebook cover designed (Fiverr is awesome for this btw) and publish it on Amazon or Smashwords or you can sell it on Fiverr or on your own website.
When you publish your ebook on Amazon or Smashwords everything is done for you. You upload your Word document and they convert it to all the relevant formats.
You set your price and wait for the money to come in. It is a good idea to do some marketing yourself but these platforms have a huge customer base which means once again that a lot of the work is done for you.
If you decide to sell your ebook on your own website you will need to do all the work yourself, from getting it onto all the correct formats to marketing and sales.
You can write an ebook that is educational in nature, shares your personal experiences or perhaps you want to try your hand at fiction. I wrote an ebook sharing my experiences during my days in active addiction. You can grab it on Smashwords for $4.99 or if you buy it before 31 August 2018 you can get it for just $1 using the coupon code HS62Z.
Do you have a side hustle that makes you money from home? Share about it in the comments!
Thanks @Lynne for sharing this.
I am always on the lookout for opportunities to earn more money on the side. I sometimes have a bit of free time at my work where I have the opportunity to do this.
I am very interested in selling my skills. I’ve been wanting to do typing or proof reading but there are so many sites out there that are not legit. I’m glad that you shared a few sites here that I can consider.
I am currently under a lot of financial stress. My husband lost his job about three months ago. He has paid the rent and electricity for the past three months with his last pay check, but from end of this month I will be the sole provider and all the household expenses is my responsibility.
We have been sending his CV to a lot of places, but work is so scarce at the moment. He is doing personalized hand engraving on glasses and this has also brought in some money but not enough.
I’ve been working really hard on my writing this month and I am glad to report that the fruits of my labor is paying off. Looks like I’m going to make my target this month and I had fun while doing this. This has been the best month for me so far.
I have considered the distributor option before, but I don’t have the personality to sell. And there are so many agents in our area already. I’ve done some browsing on our local groups and too many people are already doing this.
But, I will keep an eye out.
I’m not one for giving up easily and wherever I can save or make a bit of extra money, I will certainly do so. 🙂
I am so very sorry to hear about your hubby losing his job @loupie, that is awful.
I agree with you on the hard selling, that is not really my thing and why blogging suits me so well. I can write about anything and just share what I think about it but I don’t really market or sell anything in the traditional sense 🙂 And yes there are a lot of people that are distributors for the companies I mentioned, but I just have to share that while I am not big on hard selling Honey Jewellery and Kiddy- Calm were awesome products to sell because they are well know and people love them. However you really don’t want to compete with loads of other people that are selling them, especially when other moms might be big on pushing the products.
Regarding the market places – I really feel that Fiverr is the best place to sell your skills. They have a huge database of sellers and buyers. It will be a little tricky to get in there since there are so many people selling the same things but if you stick it out you are sure to get some work in and the more gigs you successfully complete and the more positive reviews you get the more work you will get in turn.
My advice for Fiverr is to sign up and spend some getting to know the website, see how successful sellers have set up their gigs and plan how you can emulate what they have done while giving yourself a unique edge to what you offer. Then add one gig and see how it goes. It is best to share your gig on social media and tell some people about it, then once you have some sales under your belt and some loyal customers you can let your profile do the rest for you.
You are welcome to pop your gig info into the Mompreneur forum which will help your profile – even if you get no hits on that post and no clicks to your gig it is a backlink to your Fiverr profile which will help your profile. I hope that makes sense?
Then also have a think about writing an ebook. Yes it will take time and a lot of effort in the beginning but if you can write a useful ebook that is interesting and well written you can make money from it. I am going to try Amazon to publish my next ebook.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks @Lynne,
Your valued input and suggestions are always well received and I’ve already learned so much from you.
My writing has improved a LOT and the more I do it, the more I love it. I was a bit hesitant at first but the more I did it and by getting your approval of my content, my confidence grew. This has become such a big part of my daily life now.
It was such a shock when it happened and so unexpectedly. But what can you do? Except make the best of a bad situation.
I will definitely explore the Fiverr site and see what it’s all about.
You know, I’ve always wanted to write a book. I think the only thing that keeps me back is the topic. What do you write about? The best content is usually a story or content that is written from one’s own life experiences. If you’ve been through something yourself, you have the knowledge and first hand experience. You’re not copying someone else’s experiences or knowledge.
Even selling your own crafts is an idea worth exploring. I was thinking about making some jewellery again and my crocheted head bands. I sent a few samples to the Farm stall where my Mom works. The owner bought just about everything and when I visited the shop the other day I saw that almost everything was already sold. That must be a good sign. I just wish I had more time in my days to do everything that I want to. 🙂
Thanks for replying and the advice.
That is awesome @loupie that you’ve done some well with the crafts, in fact that is one of my planned posts – side hustles for crafty moms 🙂 I hope I get to write it soon – there is so much going on my side right now that I am like a headless chicken!
I’m happy to help, us moms have to stick together!
Thanks for this awesome advice, I have been going back and forth trying to figure out how I can earn extra income with the hassle of scams. I really value your input and will be signing up to 2 of the recommended sites. Hopefully something fruitful comes from it.
Unfortunately there are way too many scams around and until you understand how to make money online it is not always so easy to spot them. Most of the “opportunities” I have come across have been time wasters and scams. Only a few things have really panned out well.
With increasing responsibilities especially after the birth of my 1st child I realised that I’m not coping financially even with a fulltime job at hand, I really appreciate your advice and have already signed up to complete surveys, hopefully I can start making extra cash soon.