Amy over at BloggingWithAmy.com has a fabulous article up on 8 Ways to Make Money Online. If you’re looking for ideas for earning money from home, I think you’ll definitely find some helpful information in her post.
photo from Shutterstock
Reader Interactions
Money Saving Mom® Comment Policy
We love comments from readers, so chime in with your thoughts below! We do our best to keep this blog upbeat and encouraging, so please keep your comments cordial and kind. Read more information on our comment policy.
I loved Amy’s blog post. She inspired me to start my own blog, Work From Home as a VA (virtual assistant).
I’ve been working as a virtual assistant since 2006, and so many people always ask me how I got started, how they can do it to, how I make money, etc… so I decided to start a blog on it; http://wfhva.wordpress.com/, it’s brand spankin’ new, but so far, I’ve got the Getting Started section up so anyone can learn how to start their own virtual assistant business.
You can take a look here; http://wfhva.wordpress.com/.
I love this site, thanks for all your posts Crystal!
Definitely some food for thought there, both in the original post and here in the comments.
I’m a WAHM and a professional editor, and — I’ll second the warning about writing (books) for profit. It can be done, of course, but a good book is often years in the making (writing, revision, revision, scrapping, starting over, revision, revision, etc) and in today’s (mainstream) publishing climate, a “good book” is rarely good enough to get published today. There are, of course, a variety of other avenues one can consider (self-pub, e-books, small presses, etc) but — just something to be aware of before you quit your day job to write that Great American Novel (as many of my clients have — eek!)
If you’re going to do it, do it because you love it.
I love Amy’s blog and have used her tutorials to help me launch my blog. I don’t have a lot of followers, but I enjoy keeping up the blog every few days. I’m not doing it to make huge money, just for ‘fun’ money. I’ve been substitute teaching to make the ‘big bucks.’ Ha! =)
Another option not mentioned in the article is teaching, which can be done through Yahoo or Google groups or through websites like Moodle or Ning. If you have a skill that you think other people would like to learn, chances are you could find a way to teach it on the Internet.
You are so loving and kind, Crystal. Thanks for all you do to use your blog to do good and inspire us! You are great at sparking ideas and encouraging others.
First off that little girl is ADORABLE! I love that pic, LOL.
Secondly, I think all of the ideas are great ideas. I think starting off it’s good to dabble in a bit of everything. Small trickles turn into a big stream.
Eventually you’ll figure out what works best for you!
If you have passion for something, it will shine through and you will be successful. It takes patience, persistence and necessity.
I’m still not sure I’ve figured out what is going to work for me. I love my blog, I love my sewing, and I enjoy doing both. Neither are big income earners, but I love them so much I think in time they will be.
@Heather@Family Friendly Frugality, There was a woman who wrote an ebook on how to make money with a crafty sewing blog. I can’t remember who it was now, but if you are interested I can look in my files and try to find it, unless someone else here knows what I am talking about!
I appreciate the “inspiration” that comes from this article as well as the intent of the author to help me. Oftentimes, all we need to know is where to begin. I thank you for helping me with that. Good luck to all of you in your endeavors to take care of your families.
Thank you for linking this article! Definitely gave me some great ideas as I am getting ready to open an Etsy shop!
There can be great potential in just about anything….but you won’t know if you dont try. You can approach life with the “glass half empty or half full” ~ If you’re God’s child, the sky is the limit. Just saying 😉
While the idea of making money online is a great one, I think this list was a bit simplistic and, quite frankly, dangerous to someone who might be on a tight income already and looking to make some money. Some were more valid than others:
1) Writing a book – it takes YEARS to get paid, even if you do sell (and most authors don’t). Forget about trying to write a nonfiction book unless you’re already famous – you need “platform,” or the reason someone will buy your book over someone else’s. You may be the world’s best chef, but if you don’t have a TV show or a million-hit blog already you won’t be able to sell that cookbook. Even a fiction book takes ~2 years to get your first check, from start to sale – and that assumes you sell your first book. Most authors don’t.
3) selling on etsy – you have the cost of your materials, the cost of a good enough photography setup to take good pictures (because you really can’t sell if you can’t take well-lit pictures) – and you are still going to be competing with everyone else who does crafts online. I’m not saying it’s not a fine thing to do if you like to craft, but this is NOT a great way to earn cash.
4) writing for someone else – while it’s true there are valid sites out there for this, they almost all pay WAY below minimum wage for this ($1-$3 per hour when you really break down how much time you’re spending). And there are many more sites which look legitimate, but aren’t. (They require a “sample” of your writing, on a particular topic, which they then put on their site and don’t pay you. Or they just never do send you your check.)
The other ones look like they could be valid choices, if you have a lot of time and you have special circumstances (like you’re a great photographer or you live somewhere interesting), but all of them take TIME. You really are further ahead to spend your time cutting costs in your family budget by doing time-consuming things yourself, couponing, etc.
I definitely agree that any work-at-home job which you’ll see significant earnings from is going to be the result of lots of hard work and time. However, many folks are doing everything they can to save money and they are still barely squeaking by. So increasing their income is a great way to help them get in a better position financially. And I thought Amy had some great ideas. Not necessarily all of them would work for everyone, but I bet they could spark an idea for someone which would work — and that was my hope in posting the link!
(By the way, I sold thousands of ebooks without a hit blog or TV show back in the day. It is possible if you’re willing to be creative and keep experimenting with marketing ideas! I also know many people who do really well with Etsy. And there are thousands of sites and opportunities which pay much more than minimum wage for writing!)
@Wendy,
I write newsletters and blog content for a life coach for $20 an hour. I get $12 an hour for editing work – I’m currently working with an attorney (who is neither famous nor running a blog) whose first book sold/is selling quite well, and the 2nd one is likely to do even better. I too know many women who do well on Etsy. In addition to making things to sell there, many have success scouring thrift shops for vintage items at very low cost and re-selling them on Etsy.
Just sayin’.
That picture is sooooooooo cute!