As you probably know if you've read here with any consistency, my husband and I tend to be out-of-the-box thinkers. We don't like to be confined by the status quo.
Many people think of an 8-5 job as their family's primary or only source of income. We, on the other hand, only see Jesse's job as an attorney as one of our sources of income. And since the time we've been married, we've been on the lookout for additional creative ways to increase our income.
When first started trying to come up with things we could on the side,
we really had no idea where to start. Neither of us had much experience
or training and we racked our brains to come up with ideas. We read a
lot of books, researched many different things online, spent much time
learning from those who were much more experienced, and started trying
things. We had a number of total flops and a number of business attempts which will forever be listed in our "hall of shame" (most of these were my bizarre ideas!).
By the grace of God, though, we refused to give up–in spite of failure. Little by little, we started finding things which actually worked and we began to see some fruit from all of our labor. Over time–and with lots of research and effort!–we've found quite a few things which really can contribute a significant source to our income every month. These side incomes have not only
allowed me to be able to be a stay-at-home mom, but they have also enabled us to be able to save a significant portion of money towards paying cash for a home.
I often receive emails from women who feel in a desperate situation financially. My heart goes out to you as I well remember how hard those beans-and-rice days were. But the things I've learned over the past six years of have my own businesses have taught me one thing: no matter what situation you are in–even if it seems very dire financially–you can get creative and find some simple ways to decrease your outgo and increase your income.
When there's a will, there's a way. Don't give up hope! It's a whole lot of work, but it can be every bit worth it!
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I've received many, many requests on the subject of earning money from home recently so beginning next week, I'm going to share my own personal journey to becoming a work-at-home mom in a series here. I'll be talking about things I've learned along the way, and will also share a plethora of ideas of things you can do to earn from home. I hope it can be an inspiration and help for those of you who are interested in working from home.
As part of this series, I'd also like to include guest posts from those of you who are work-at-home moms. If you are interested in being featured as part of this series, please email me for further details.
Do you have any specific questions you'd like to see addressed in a series on working from home? If so, please email me or leave a comment on this post. I can't guarantee I'll be able to answer it, but I'll do my best to address it in this series.