Many moms are looking for at-home business ideas that pay well, and for a good reason – juggling family obligations with the demands of a job outside the home can be tough.
I have been there, done it.
When I left my corporate job to care for my kids, I had no idea where to start to make some income. I tried many things and wasted a lot of time on scammy deals.
I would hate for any other mom to go through what I went through.
I later realized that work-at-home moms have many options for earning money while staying close to their children. The best part is that there are many ideas out there, and you don’t need special qualifications or training to start a good business right from the comfort of your home.
To make the most out of your work-at-home business, know your audience and research them thoroughly to understand what they need and how you can fulfill that need. Identify the best programs or services to offer, determine which selling techniques will work for you, and determine what fits within your schedule.
Best At Home Business Ideas For Moms
It’s no secret that raising kids is expensive. Finding ways to make extra money from home can help offset some of these costs as a mom.
The great thing is that your options are endless. You can research how to get your first remote job to start working remotely or if you are one of those moms who love beauty, there are many beauty side hustles that you can start that actually make money.
Let’s start by agreeing that you will put aside every excuse and just start one or several of these work-from-home business ideas; otherwise, my work will be in vain.
You do not need to have any fancy degrees.
No specialized skills are required.
You need little or no monetary investment to start.
Little or no experience is required.
You actually do not need a lot of time to start earning money as a mom. You can make extra cash with limited time with these best short task sites.
With that aside, let’s dive in.
You have endless options. Below are the top home-based business ideas that moms can start and run as they care for their families.
1. Start a photography business
If you love taking pictures, you can start a business selling pictures or videos on stock image sites or video sharing sites and receive royalties from each sale made through them. There are several platforms where you can upload your photos and get paid every time somebody buys one of your photos.
This is a great way to earn money from home without traveling or spending money on equipment. The amount of royalty you receive can vary greatly depending on the site.
Additionally, you can start taking photos during events like children’s birthday parties, weddings, baby showers, etc., and earn an income that way. The more you do it, the better you will become, and your friends and family will start calling you to take photos whenever they have an event.
2. Virtual assistant
Moms can work as virtual assistants, especially if they need to work from home and are good at interpersonal relationships. There are many tasks that can be done as a virtual assistant.
You may offer to do research for others, take notes for lectures, send and answer e-mails on behalf of someone else, update people’s online profiles, research for information, manage social media accounts, and so on. You get paid per hour you work as a VA, while some brands may pay you a monthly retainer for your services.
Virtual assistant tasks are numerous, and it is hard to miss something that fits your skills and schedule if you look in the right places.
3. Online tutor
As an online tutor, you assist students in passing exams, improve their grades or gain knowledge in specific subject areas. Many online tutors now use technology and tools such as Skype or GoToMeeting in addition to Voice Over Internet Protocol(VOIP ) services when teaching through online training platforms, meaning you do this from the comfort of your home.
4. Start a blog
If you have a passion for writing and sharing knowledge, instead of keeping it all to yourself, learn how to start a blog from zero, start writing about anything that interests you, and share it with others. You do not need any experience to start a blog; you simply start writing on a topic that you have some knowledge of or are passionate about. If you have no idea where to begin, why not start documenting your parenting journey? As a mom, you have enough parenting experience and knowledge to share with other moms.
You can create an online blog in minutes for free on platforms like Wix or Weebly. You have nothing to lose and almost everything to gain by starting a blog today. You may start a blog about fashion, cooking, parenting tips, or anything. Bloggers mainly make money through advertisements on their blogs or affiliate marketing. To make money as a blogger, you need to have a lot of traffic coming to your blog.
5. Fashion Consultant
For a mom who loves being fashionable, becoming a fashion consultant can help you create a fashion business from home. Through fashion consulting or even creating fashion courses, you can offer your services directly to the public or to fashion brands that may need your services.
Start small by offering your services to your family or friends, who can refer you to others. In due time, this can become a huge fashion consultancy business.
6. Social Media Manager
Women love social media mainly because they are social beings who love to connect and share ideas with other like-minded women. You can create a business by managing social media accounts for other individuals or brands.
Social media managers are in high demand because many people lack the knowledge and time to do this for themselves. You can start by approaching those people or brands you already connect with socially and agree on the number of hours you commit to work per day. The good thing is that you can easily fit this within your schedule and add more clients as your schedule allows.
7. Freelance writer
Companies need writers to create content for their websites, blogs, and print magazines. You are paid depending on the length of the article you write.
Look for freelance writing jobs and write on topics that interest you as a mom or that you have knowledge of. This way, you will not struggle, and you don’t have to do a lot of research and will take less time to complete the task.
8. Grocery Shopping
As a mom yourself, you understand how time-strapped moms can be, especially those with very young kids. When my kids were small, I hardly had time to grocery shop, and I would have gladly paid somebody to do this for me.
In addition to moms, many people dislike grocery shopping, especially if they have to shop in huge malls. If you enjoy this activity and live near a mall or a market where you can buy groceries on behalf of customers, this is a business you can start with no investment. You just use your car or bike to deliver the grocery to your clients. Start with your neighbors, friends, and family before branching out to others.
9. Data entry
If you’re good at typing and can sit in front of a computer for long periods of time, you may want to work as a data entry operator. You will be given information in an electronic or written form and have to type it into the system accurately and quickly.
10. Pinterest VA
Most women love Pinterest, which is also a great platform for many people to grow their businesses. With over 470 million users, it is definitely one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world.
Many people do not know how to use Pinterest to grow their businesses, and you can provide such a service for them. Your work would involve creating, posting, and promoting their business pins for them and charge either per hour or month, depending on the services required.
11. Laundry service
This is a business I started some years back and still do today as a stay-at-home mom. I started by washing my neighbors’ laundry and have continued getting more clients through referrals. I only pick up and deliver laundry for clients who are near me because it does not make economic sense for me to travel long distances. However, if you have the capacity to do it, then well and good. You may even have some people on standby to do the deliveries or use riders.
The great thing with this business is once you load the clothes into the machine, you continue with your other business as the machine does its work, so you are not tied up.
To start this business, you only need a washing machine and a drier, which you may already have for your family’s laundry needs. There are also companies that will pay you weekly to do laundry for their clients, which can give you a bearing before you get your own clients.
12. Virtual babysitter
If you’re good with children, why not become a virtual babysitter in your spare time? You can get paid well for watching over children for a few hours while their parents go out on dates or other brief engagements.
You certainly do not want to do this for many hours in a day because you may have your own children and other errands to take care of, but you can squeeze in a few hours in a day. You also need to have great attention and patience to deal with the age-related problems of the children in your care.
13. Virtual Bookkeeping
Moms who are great with numbers can assist individuals and businesses who don’t enjoy doing bookkeeping. Many small businesses have no budget to hire full-time bookkeepers and rely on freelancers to get the job done.
If you are passionate about starting this business from home but lack the necessary skills, you can take an online course to help kick-start your business. Start with small businesses, and when you gain experience, you can approach bigger companies if your schedule allows.
14. Pet sitting
If you’re good with pets like dogs and cats, there will certainly be someone who will pay you to take care of their pet while they are away on business or vacation. This business can work out perfectly if you have a backyard where the pets can run and play instead of walking them outside the house.
You must also consider making money as a dog walker to combine your love for pets with exercise. You may also walk them around in the neighborhood, which is a great way to add some exercise for yourself. Promote your services in the neighborhood, and how many people need such a service will surprise you.
15. Podcasting
Moms who enjoy doing interviews can create their own podcasts and start making money by advertising products and services to their audiences using the podcasts.
You can also sell advertisements through sponsors on your podcast with pay-per-click and display ads. You can also use your podcast for affiliate marketing to sell products for other brands.
16. Baking
If you’re good at baking cakes, pastries, and pies, think about selling them to people in your neighborhood. This is particularly good for at-home moms since you can easily bake in your free time and earn money on the side.
As you bake for your family, add extra ones for selling to other moms who have no time to bake.
17. Organizing documents
If you enjoy working with documents in different formats, organizing files, and doing other types of paperwork, you can do that at home for someone who needs help with it.
Check out the legal industry as an example where they need a lot of help with paperwork since they have to keep all documents related to cases safe and organized.
18. Event planning
If you enjoy organizing parties and receptions, think of starting a business in this area. Many people do not know where to start when they have major events. You can help them organize by choosing the right venue, music, photography, theme colors, decor, food, entertainment, etc.
All these details can be very hectic for the event owner to handle when they have so many other things to do. This is where you come in if you have great organization skills and know who to engage for the various duties. It is quite lucrative if you do it well and gain referrals with time.
19. Search engine optimization
If you’re a mom who is good at writing content for websites and knows how to optimize it for search engines, it could be an excellent way for you to start an online business because there is an enormous demand for this service.
You can even take a free or paid SEO course to learn its basics if you are interested in this business.
20. Make and Sell Handmade Items
A lot of women are good at making crafts and jewelry. If you’re a mom who loves making jewelry and other handmade items, then use your skills to start a business and start with these most profitable crafts to sell.
Apart from selling these items to friends and family, think about selling your items online. It is easy to set up an online store on platforms like Etsy, eBay, Shopify, or Amazon to sell to a much larger client base.
21. Cooking classes
Many moms cook simply because they have to feed their families. If you naturally love cooking, think about teaching others how to make different dishes. You can do cooking classes on weekends at home or even online by recording the cooking lessons.
You can also organize seasonal cooking classes in your area when there are special events happening. Ask people to register and pay in advance to allow you to make the necessary preparation for the classes.
Another idea is to start a catering business at home by cooking food for people when they have events. This will require you to have the ability to cook for large groups of people at a time, but it can be very lucrative.
There are actually many other ways to get paid to eat food as a mom.
22. Gardening class
You can start a gardening side hustle if you enjoy gardening by teaching others how to garden. There is a huge market for moms who want to learn simple gardening skills.
Teach them how to create kitchen gardens to grow flowers and vegetables for their families instead of buying them. They do not even need to have gardens; creating kitchen gardens using sacks on the balcony is simple. I have personally grown sack vegetables to feed my family all year round.
In addition, you can make money from selling fresh vegetables from your garden to your neighbors who hate gardening or have no time to garden.
23. Teach Music
Teach music lessons if you enjoy playing music by providing private music lessons physically from your home or recording the lessons and offering them online. You can also teach children musical instruments like the guitar, piano, or saxophone when they are young. Demand for this service is high, but trainers are very few.
Advertise your services in your neighborhood, and you will be surprised how many parents would be willing to enroll their children in your music programs.
24. Start A Coaching Business
Consider starting a coaching business if you enjoy talking to people and helping them out. A lot of people are looking for coaches or mentors who can help them change their life for the better.
Provide people with simple advice on subjects like relationships, weight loss, career decisions, or anything else you’re good at and enjoy doing.
25. Teach Languages
If you’re a mom who is gifted with languages or who keeps learning about foreign countries, think about starting a business where you teach languages online to many people in different parts of the world.
Be sure to advertise on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter because there is a huge demand from people who need to learn different languages.
26. T-shirt Design
Who doesn’t wear t-shirts? We all do, and if you have great ideas for t-shirt designs, you can start an online business on Redbubble or CafePress and start earning money by selling t-shirts with your designs.
You can also pitch your designs to fashion brands and earn a fortune if they like your designs. You only need great design skills, continually produce impressive designs, and then sell them online.
27. Personal trainer
If you enjoy sports and helping people get in shape, you can start a business by giving personal training sessions and doing several other fitness side hustles.
You don’t have to own your own expensive gym equipment to start this business. You can create fitness and workout programs for clients, train them to work out correctly from home, keep them on track and ensure they meet their fitness goals.
You may decide to train your clients one-on-one, on Skype, or through video calls. There is an immense demand for personal trainers to keep people motivated, so it’s an excellent home business for moms.
28. Course creation
If you have a passion for learning, you can teach others what you know through course creation. For instance, if you like software development and web design, you can create courses and lessons on becoming a better software engineer or web designer.
The good thing with creating courses is that you just create the course once, upload it on online course platforms like Udemy, Teachable, Thinkific, or even on your own website, and then get paid when people buy your course. This is a great passive income business because it requires very little maintenance once the course is created, and you earn every time somebody buys your course.
You can also write ebooks on your area of expertise and sell them on Amazon Kindle, another passive business idea.
29. Travel Blogger and Travel Writer
Traveling is something that most people enjoy doing. It’s a great way to see unknown places and gain new experiences to enrich your life. You can make a business out of this for those who travel often. For one, you become a content writer where you write content for websites covering the different places you visit and documenting your experiences there.
Secondly, you can start your own travel blog and share your experiences with others who may wish to visit the same places you have visited or even expose them to new experiences that change how they view different parts of the world.
Thirdly, you can start your own travel agency where you organize trips to different places for people who love traveling as you do.
30. Webinar Production
If you’re good at making presentations, you can consider making webinars for people who want to learn more from experts in the online business industry. This is a great way for people to connect online without meeting in person, which is difficult, especially in the times that we’re living in.
31. Drive kids around
If you enjoy spending time with kids, you can start driving children to various activities when their parents cannot do so. Additionally, you can offer child care services during the day and take care of children in your home when the parents are away at work or engaged otherwise.
32. Start a soap-making business
To start a soap-making business, you do not need to know the chemistry behind soap-making. This is one business I have done as a stay-at-home mom. I started it as a way to make savings on my soap budget, and with time it has turned into a business as my family and friends got curious, and I started selling to them.
All you need is to buy soap-making chemicals from a trusted supplier and get instructions on making the different soaps. You can make bar soap, liquid detergent, hand wash, bleach, and many others from the comfort of your home. Ensure you follow the instructions carefully for your safety and that of your clients. After making the soap, pack it and deliver it to your customers.
33. Online Ads Manager
If you’re good at creating ads and managing them on different platforms like Google and social media platforms, you can start an online ads business. Many businesses do not know how to create and manage profitable online advertisements, which requires practice and a lot of time to master.
Start by running ads for your own online businesses, and once you are confident, advertise your services online and approach businesses to offer them the service. Start with a small budget and scale when you start to see results.
34. Teach yoga
Yoga is clearly the new trend in both fitness and lifestyle. If you’re an expert, consider teaching yoga to individuals or groups at your home or a gym. Yoga is also very popular on social media; many people would find it interesting to learn from you through Facebook or other online platforms.
35. Start A YouTube Channel
Starting a YouTube channel is completely free. You do not require professional equipment to start. You can use your smartphone to record your videos and then upload the videos on YouTube. Teach people something of interest to you, like fitness, baking, interior design, fashion design, or whatever else you love; there’s no limit to what you can create.
If you have enough followers and people love your content, YouTube will start paying you to place ads on your videos.
36. Video Editor
While creating YouTube videos can be fun for some people, a lot goes into making them look professional. This is where you can make money by editing videos for people who don’t have the time or the capacity to do it.
Wrapping Up
Clearly, there are plenty of options for at-home business ideas for moms to start profitable businesses. I hope this post has given you the information you need to start a business and take it a step further.
As I said earlier, put aside every excuse and start one of the businesses today. Many of the businesses that I have listed only require your time and a bit of creativity.
I have already started several businesses I have discussed above and proven that they work. So what is holding you back? Why not start by picking one and then grow from there?