You’d like to take an extended break from full time work while your little ones are little – I mean, with the cost of childcare, is it even worth going back to full time work? The best jobs for stay at home mums give you regular, predictable income, flexibility and can be done with baby or babies in tow. So, what works and what doesn’t for stay at home parents these days? Note that this article serves as general information only. You should always seek professional advice before making a financial decision.
Part time income has changed
If you ask in a Facebook group, you’ll get a handful of good suggestions and a thousand private messages from MLM and Bitcoin sellers. If you look at any earning options for full-time parents over the last few years, you’ll see a lot of ideas that are no longer viable.
Website/Social Monetisation
It’s true, a decade ago, you could make a reasonable part time income with an affiliate website, influencer activity or a monetised blog, but these options have largely dried up, thanks to changes in online marketing. Google has punished bloggers, affiliate marketers and a lot of influencers over the years. Unless you have a great social media and website presence, starting this from scratch is a very, very difficult task these days.
MLM
The good ole MLM options were, and are, statistically a high risk choice. Before you even consider this, do ALL your due diligence. Read widely and talk to people who have left the MLM industry before you agree to anything.
Starting an online store
If you’re planning on selling cute little objects you find online, you’ll have a very tricky time. The online store industry is highly competitive and the big guns are spending tens of thousands of dollars a month making sure they get the sales you want. If you’re going to sell something online, do extensive research into demand and competition.
Beauty Services
Hairdressers can make an excellent income from home – skilled nail technicians, qualified dieticians and personal trainers – but more mainstream services like lash extensions and spray tanners face a highly competitive market. Be cautious setting up a business from home if there is already plenty of suppliers in your area. Remember too that anything health related will come with big insurance costs.
Local Transactional Services
Cake making, catering, property styling, sewing and alterations …. Any service where there is a series of one-off transactions means that you can’t guarantee a solid, regular income. If you can offer a local service, look for regular gigs like dog walking, taking in ironing, cleaning or mowing – these are generally low paid gigs so will only suit those with modest income needs.
Family Day Care
This is still an option for work at home parents but the level of income possible to achieve is very capped. In fact, you’d likely make more money offering doggy daycare services than you would family day care. But, this is, still, a viable option if you’re after a small income.
Delivery, Task and Ride Share Apps
The reason these are the top choice of uni students is that they provide top up income with little security. These industries are poorly regulated, incur big vehicle costs and you earn a surprisingly small cut of the actual income generated.
Freelance Marketplaces
Freelance sites offer work from home options across a whole lot of professions and can help you launch a business. They are however, notoriously poorly paid. If you need experience, or something for your portfolio, they may be a good option but getting accepted to the better paid marketplaces is tough these days.
The “online earning” bubble has burst, or rather changed. Your chances of finding a sustainable income from home with traditional online gigs, is slimmer than ever before. So, what’s a stay at home mum to do to make a little money?
How to choose a part time income source
Ask yourself these questions before you even get started:
Realistically, how much do you need to earn?
Remembering that your costs will increase if interest rates, rents and other expenses continue to increase. There’s no point in investing your time and effort into getting a part time gig if it’s not sustainable.
How much time do you actually have?
Work while the baby sleeps is great, if you’ve got one baby who sleeps long and well. But if you had a second baby (the second one is always chaos, it’s well known), you could be looking down the barrel of burn out. Do you have a support network? Can you realistically manage adding more to your to do list?
Is this a stop gap or a new career?
Setting up a business sounds awesome, until you realise just how much is involved. It’s a full time job. Getting all your legal, financial, marketing and offerings ducks in a row is all about a whole lot of unpaid hours, and a lots of surprising costs. If you’re after a complete change, then setting up a work from home business (or buying a small part time franchise) might be worth your while, but if you’re just looking for a few year’s income, a “job” may suit you better.
Is this really who you are?
Staying motivated when working from home is harder than it sounds. You’re trying to stay on top of a massive to do list, while exhausted from parenting. Are you really a person who will be able to “do a few hours work” when you’d much rather be doing a few hours sleep? If you’re not a “self starter” by nature, it may be worth looking at a carer for your babies while you secure yourself a part time job outside the home.
Best income options
The best income option for stay at home parents is to use professional skills. Generally speaking, the lower the barrier to entry, the less income you can expect working from home. If you have a profession, use it.
Use your qualifications
The biggest benefit of using your qualifications, besides the ability to earn a higher hourly rate, is that your career needn’t take the hit that most careers take during parenting leave. You’ll have current experience, and broader experience when you eventually do return to work.
What does a stay at home mum version look like?
- Working part time from home for your employer in an agreed capacity • Part time job in the industry that can be done from home
- Administrative or technical support for your former role
- Consulting business in your industry.
Upskill to new qualifications
If yours is a job or a profession you couldn’t ordinarily do from home, consider getting a training, management, compliance or project management qualification online. TAFE is currently offering free courses in some of these areas.
What does a stay at home mum version look like?
Say you worked in aged care previously, taking an online certificate course in HR software, could allow you to apply for aged care recruitment or scheduling jobs, which can be done from home. If you worked in retail previously, a course in sales could allow you to take administrative or sales jobs from home. Research the kinds of jobs available remotely on the big employment sites, to see if the income and conditions work for your situation.
Fast Track Career Pivots
Use the free TAFE courses, or study part time online to find a brand-new qualification in an area that interests you. Think about how much flexibility you’ll have to work outside the home. If you can work weekends or evenings outside the home, this can largely grow your potential jobs pool!
Some careers that offer good, regular money that can be studied in under a year:
- Marriage Celebrant
- Conveyancing
- Bookkeeper
- Trainer/Tutor/English as a Second Language Teacher
- Swim Instructor
- Real Estate Sales Administration
- Work Health and Safety Officer
- Coder/App Developer
- Graphic Designer
- AI Coach
- Personal Trainer
- Quality or Compliance Officer
- Open Cabler
- Family Day Carer
- Administrator
- Estimator
- Mortgage Broker
- Travel Agent
The New Version of Online/Digital Marketing Income: Software Consulting
Investigate the key software used for your industry, or for the digital marketing industry. Learn everything there is to know about it. While blogging, social media work and affiliate marketing were the “go to online income generators” for Millennials, Gen Z will need some new skills. Between changing social media algorithms and Google’s relentless monetisation, the old opportunities are no longer offer guaranteed income.
So what software is in high demand these days?
Advertising Management and Conversion Rate Optimisation Software:
- Google Ads,
- Google Tag Manager,
- AdRoll Software,
- Hotjar
Research Software:
- Ahrefs,
- SEMRush
Data Analytics Software:
- Google Data Analytics
CRM Software:
- Hubspot
- Salesforce
AI Software:
- Google AI Essentials
Business options for stay at home parents
Start a business from home
Starting a work at home business is a lot of work. A lot of unpaid hours. You’ll likely spend the first year running at a loss, and 60% of Australian businesses fail within three years. So, this is a big risk and one only suited if you plan to invest time and effort into growing it over a prolonged time.
Buy an existing, viable business
A business with proven performance and plenty of regular, contracted customers takes away some of the risk. But, running a business still has more expenses and a lot more unpaid hours than you might think. This is a safer option than starting from scratch but the buy in price will be relative to the proven income record. This needs proper due diligence from your accountant or financial advisor and you may find that even if it looks shiny on paper, the business isn’t viable in practice.
Buy a franchise
Small franchises for stay at home parents are a relatively new thing. Generally franchises cost a bomb – like as much or more than your house. So small business franchises are a compromise suited to those who want to supplement income without going into deep debt. Previously, this was more like a Tupperware or Avon Lady type role, now delegated to the MLM world. Modern small franchises are designed to bring in a moderate income, and require part time work. This is paired with a moderate buy in price. You get the “business structure”, lead generation and marketing of a big franchise, but on a smaller scale. But, there is still those unpaid hours, and the buy in fee means that it’s not suited to all families. As always, you’ll need to do some deep due diligence before making a decision.
Stay at home parents have more options, but not necessarily better options
There is no easy fix to finding the perfect stay at home mum income. It will always come down to what you can (or will) put into the gig, and what you need to take out of it. It’s easier than ever to work from home thanks to the widespread changes of the 2020 – 2022 era – but there is always a downside, always a risk, and always a need for sound financial advice.
