When I first decided to become a stay at home mom I was nervous and skeptical to say the least. Being raised as mostly an only child (although I have oodles of siblings) meant I grew up really valuing my alone time and my independence. I was someone who always liked working even if I didn’t always like all my jobs. If I wasn’t working I was creating things online, drawing, making movies with my friends or taking photos. It seemed I was always on the go and always trying something new. Then stay at home mom status hit and all of a sudden I was stuck in one spot most of the day … home. I knew if I was going to keep my sanity I would need to find a way to keep my independence while still tending to my kiddos. In the 10+ years I was a stay at home mom I was able to create over 10 additional income streams for my family, most of them within the last few years. Hopefully these give you some ideas and inspiration on what you can do for yourself!
*Side note: Any recommendations I share I may earn a commission from at no cost to you.
TikTok
I had no idea when I started TikTok I the summer of 2020 that it would take off so quickly or that I would eventually be getting paid from it! Learn how to make your first $1,000 on TikTok.
The truth is, you can sign up for the TikTok creator fund after you have reached a following of 10K or more! Unfortunately I was around 100K by the time I signed up. I had missed the opportunity to make some extra cash on a few videos that had gone viral!
While you might not make a killing with TikTok, if you’re already making them, you may as well get paid to have fun with it!
If you are using TikTok for business, you can still take advantage of the creator fund.
If I could do it all over again I would change:
- Signing up sooner – Always woulda, coulda, shoulda, right?
- Not trying to always go viral – When you get a few viral videos in the roll and that TikTok creator fund just keeps pouring out the chedda. It can be tempting to start over-focusing on your TikTok content trying to score that rush. (Wow, is TikTok just like a gambling addiction?) Now I create content just for fun and in the hopes of benefiting others (or at least making them smile). The more you create for the sake of creating, the easier everything will go.
- Learning the strategies to get paid! There are definitely better practices to follow to learn how to make money on TikTok sooner – Click here to join my FREE workshop to make your first $1,000 on TikTok
Blogging
This little blog of mine has been my baby from day one. I started this blog with BlueHost back in 2017 with the intention of learning as much as I could about how to make money blogging so that I could turn it into a profitable income source within a year.
I used money from our tax refund to invest in the blog right away. After all, I understood that if I wanted to make it a profitable blog, I needed to be willing to invest in learning how to make it profitable. Here are some thing I invested in right away.
What you need to start a blog
- A quality host. Here’s how to get started with BlueHost.
- Courses and trainings on how to make money with a blog. The original course I started with is no longer active, but here are two I highly recommend that I have also taken:
- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing (This is a top way most bloggers make money)
- Pinnteresting Strategies (Pinterest is one of the best places to drive traffic to a new blog)
If I could do it all over here’s what I would change:
- Focus more on my own blogging game and not everyone else’s.
- Manage my time and schedule better. Check out this blogging planner.
- Calm down and enjoy the process. (I was like suuuuper uptight about making sure I did everything perfectly.)
Photography
After I had my first child, I decided to take advantage of the Nikon D40 my mom had given me as a gift. I started putting my passion for photography to good use.
I began taking free photos for friends in order to build up my “portfolio.” (AKA I just shared them on Facebook.) Gradually began charging a whopping $50 per session.
As word began to spread and I started to feel more and more comfortable in my photography and editing skills I started raising my prices more and more.
Soon I was booking weddings, fashion shows, family reunions and even lingerie sessions (they are a blast)!
If I could do it all over here’s what I would change:
- Expand my mindset with my business – Imposter syndrome totally kicked my butt. I never allowed myself to step into my full potential.
- Charge workable prices rather than trying to be “affordable” – I wanted to have prices that were doable for families on a budget. However, I was still giving 5 star service and giving away my work (basically) for free. This left me constantly working and drained all the time.
- Hire additional help like a virtual assistant, photo editor and email funnel creator – I ran myself into the ground trying to do everything on my own and not charging prices that were sustainable for my business.
- Value my time with my family and turn down more work – I would always vow to take Sundays off. However, when a client wanted to book Sunday I always gave in. I sacrificed time with my family for work and I now see how out of alignment that was.
- Sell my work online – A lot of photographers are taking advantage of making passive income selling images on places like SmugMug
Coaching
Soon after I started working my way away from photography I became a certified health coach. I shared my healthy recipes on Facebook over the years and built a reputation. Because of this I was able to find clients right away.
This was something I didn’t stick with for long ass I really became aware of the stigma people have around “being thin” and crash dieting.
I branched into coaching in 2020 again to begin helping people to align their life and mindset in a more minimalist way of thinking.
If I could do it all over again I would change:
- Setting healthy boundaries with my clients – I often let myself become overwhelmed or feel defeated when clients would crash diet obsess about weight.
- Recognize that I don’t love one on one – After having worked with photography clients I was kind of burnt out on working with people. As much as I wanted to help others improve their lives working one on one can be incredibly draining.
- Create more passive coaching income – It’s now easier than ever to set up funnels that lead potential clients to paid coaching and courses. This used to be difficult and required a lot of different pieces. There are now websites like Kajabi that are an all in one platforms for making passive income for coaches. Click here to get a free trial on Kajabi.
Learning to invest
One of the most intimidating things I have ever had to learn how to do is how to invest. I was never a natural at math and most financial terms felt confusing and overwhelming to say the least.
However, after taking our first financial course and working to pay off our debt, I knew someone in this family was going to have to learn how investing worked, so I rolled up my sleeves and did it!
Since learning how to be a smart investor I have diversified my husband’s 401K to bring in an average of $12K more per year and have opened my own Roth IRA account with Vanguard based on the investing recommendations in the book, The Simple Path to Wealth.
A lot of people ignore the potentials of investing because they aren’t able to get money in their hands right now. This is a common problem of detaching our current self from our future self. The more we can visualize and imagine the abundant future we want for ourselves, the more likely we are to make wise financial decisions that benefit us in the future.
If I could do it all over again, I would change:
- Starting sooner! – Obviously.
- Being more agressive – Before I had a full grasp of how investing work, I started simply investing with the Acorns app. I was still hesitant so I did a less aggressive investment option, now I see that I was young enough to be a little more aggressive. Get $5 to start investing with Acorns.
- Realize I could have planned for retirement as a stay at home parent! – Here’s how.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing was the first way I learned to make money with my blog, but what most people don’t realize is that you can take advantage of it even if you don’t plan on being a blogger.
The course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing does a great job of clearly laying out how you can benefit from it no matter who you are.
Have you ever seen an influence on Instagram share an outfit they wore or a product they bought? They tell you to “swipe up” to get it and are most likely leading you to an affiliate link. That means whenever you purchase something they recommend, they will earn a commission.
Even commonly used apps like Ibotta are ones that you can share with friends and earn a commission from if they sign up for the app themselves. Little apps like this are a win-win because you get a commission and when your friend signs up they get $10 free! Click here to get your $10 from Ibotta to get started.
If I could do it all over again, I would change:
- Starting small – I signed up for the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course after I started doing affiliate marketing (big mistake). One of the best tips in the course was to start small. (5 affiliates or less.) That way you can really focus on promoting those few products or services. As soon as I did that, my sales took off!
- No sleazy promoting – There was a time when I threw affiliate links around like candy. I just wanted to make money so badly, I let the quality of my blog posts slip in the process. Now I only recommend things I truly agree with and share them in an honest and authentic way.
Sponsored content
Since we are sort-of on the topic of Instagram influencers, I figured we should cover how to make money by creating sponsored content.
This is where you work with a company or brand to promote their product. Sometimes they will also give you a special code and an affiliate link.
You have probably seen influencers who do a lot of sponsored content on social media but you might not realize that it’s all over the internet on YouTube, blogs and more.
I have done the occasional sponsored content, but I really try to limit the amount of companies I partner with to avoid no longer being seen as authentic. If you are new to the online world and love the idea of working with sponsors, the best thing you can do is just start putting yourself out there creating great content already.
When you feel confident in your content you can begin pitching brands all on your own. Just head to Canva.com and make yourself a Media Kit and Rate Sheet. (Don’t worry, Canva has templates for these things.)
That way you can set your price and start connecting with brands who might be interested in working with you. Click here to grab this Pitch Cheat Sheet!
If I could do it all over again, I would change:
Knowing my worth – The biggest issue most people run into with sponsored content is just accepting free stuff in return for sharing a post. The truth is, you should be getting paid for your work. If you’re not quite on board with pitching yourself just yet, get started with a company like Linqia that work to connect you with brands!
o.
Courses and online trainings
As I mentioned before one of the best ways for online coaches to make money is through selling their online trainings, programs and courses. This has been one of my favorite ways to make passive income from home while being a stay at home mom.
I love teaching people things to improve their lives (like how to simplify your life and finances like our family did).
The best part about creating online courses is that if you do it through platforms like Kajabi, you have a website, email and your courses all in one place! This is so much more convenient than trying to juggle all three of these things on different platforms.
If you are interested in creating online trainings (webinars, courses, programs and memberships) I highly recommend Kajabi. Not only is it an all-in-one platform but they have everything pre-made for you to succeed!
Not sure how to write sales copy? Kajabi tells you how!
Never written your own email funnel before? Kajabi lays it all out for you!
Creating an online business is seriously so simple with Kajabi that you can get it all set up in 30 days or less! Click here to get a free trial with Kajabi.
If I could do it all over again I would change:
- Limiting my focus – Instead of trying to create 80 different courses and trainings and once, I would choose to focus on one great one.
- Not getting down when I don’t meet a sales goal – There can be a lot of hype around online courses. People who are making a bajillion dollars always seem to be the area of focus. This lead me to create unrealistic sales goals. Then I would be disappointed when I didn’t meet them. Again, I always recommend creating authentically from the heart with the hope of benefiting anyone who purchases. If you do that, you really can’t go wrong.
Dog sitting
One of my all time favorite side hustles while being home with my kids has been dog sitting. Not only has it brought in additional income and furry friends but it has helped my kids learn more responsibility.
Since I am at home with my dogs anyway, Rover dog sitting seemed like a no-brainer. In fact, as soon as I finished my Rover profile, I had a dog booked within 20 minutes! A Boston Terrier!
Some people might see dog sitting as an extra work load, to me it’s just added fun in my day. After continuing to be a Rover sitter for the last 3 years (or so), I feel like I have a good system down.
We have regular dogs that we have come to know and love. I keep limited hours and say, “no” when we need a break. Oh, and I raised my prices. (Taking notes on all the things I once did wrong working from home.) Click here to be a dog sitter or save $20 when you hire a sitter!
Bonus Rover dog sitting tips:
- Have extra toys on hand. They rarely want to play with the ones they are sent with.
- Get yourself this exact hand-held carpet cleaner for accidents!! (Trust me.)
- Meet the dogs before hand to see if it’s a good match. Especially if you have dogs of your own.
Credit card hacking
If you missed my FREE Automatic Budget email series, click here to get signed up! I will tell you how we credit card hack, plus how we actually pay less bills each month!
Credit card hacking is something that is frowned upon by some “financial gurus” and for good reason. A lot of people struggle with credit card temptation and aren’t successful at hacking the system.
However, after working to pay off our debt, save money and increase our investments, I decided I wanted to try it out!
By using a cash-back credit card to pay our bills we are able to get some money back every month. In order to avoid any interest charges or late fees, we have the card set up to pay itself off every month.
This method works for us because we are spending the same amount we would have spent on bills, but we get a little cash back! Keep in mind this is usually only around $25 or so per month. But heck, that’s an additional $300 per year! If I someone offered me $300 no strings attached, you bet your ass I would take it!
If credit card hacking seems confusing and totally overwhelming, I get it. That’s why I laid out the steps in the Automatic Budget series. Just make sure you have paid off all your current credit card debt before giving it a try!
If I could do it all over again I would change:
- Getting smart about travel hacking – Yeah, there are people out there who are killing it with hacking FREE travel! That’s something I hope to accomplish one day, but for now, I think my plate is full enough.
BONUS: Paying off debt and reducing our cost of living
On a tiny side note I want it to be known that all of this would not have been as easy had we not first simplified our lives. Freeing up space, time, money truly gives us the chance to choose how we spend our lives. (AKA creating more fun income streams.) Remember, if you like the idea of simplifying your way to more freedom, join the FREE 3 Day Clutter Reset.
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