Starting a business as a working mom can be challenging.
You have to work as a one-woman army to balance your work, family, and side business responsibilities. You may even need to sacrifice some time with your loved ones just so you can meet all of these commitments on time.
The good news is that there are ways for working moms like you to start an extra income stream without sacrificing the quality of life they’ve worked hard for years to achieve!
One of the many benefits of starting a business is empowering women to become financially independent from their male counterparts. And that’s undoubtedly a great feeling!
But is side business beneficial for working moms?
Starting a side business as a working mom can be challenging, and it’s essential to be prepared in advance. Let’s clear out the basics first.
Is It Possible to Start a Side Business as a Working Mom?
Moms are made to be entrepreneurs. Think about what you have to juggle every day with your work, kids, and running the household. It requires a tremendous amount of organizational skills and entrepreneurship.
Women show their natural abilities and have outpaced men on all fronts when starting a business. Between 2014 and 2019, there was a 21% jump in the number of women-owned businesses in the U.S., compared with a 9% rise in the number of all companies.
Source: legalzoom.com
Additionally, 36% of women business owners in the U.S. are Baby Boomers. These numbers show no limitations to any woman who decides to start a business.
So, yes, it is possible!
How to Start a Successful Side Business as a Working Mom?
With proper planning and actionable tips in mind, you can start your own profitable home-based business from scratch.
Here are the six tips that will help you take the leap!
1. Figure Out What You’re Good At
Before you get started on your side business, think about what it is that you do best. You don’t want to risk wasting all your time and money on something that’s not for you. Ensure you are passionate about the business idea that you have in mind.
Ask yourself:
- What are the things that have brought you success in the past? Figure out how to turn those skills into something that may work well with a side gig.
- What side job will be child-friendly? A job that requires minimal travel and needs to be flexible
- Can you do it on your own terms?
- What skills do you need to learn if there is a learning curve?
- Are there any particular interests or hobbies that are related to what your side business offers?
It’s always better to pick something that will require less money and time to start but generate immediate income. To get you started, here are some of the most pursued side business ideas for your inspiration:
- Personal styling: Create an online store on one of the e-commerce platforms offering clothes so you can recommend chic outfits to friends for special occasions like weddings or graduations.
- Sell on social media: Don’t just post about what you’re doing. Sell it! Show followers the latest items from your shop on Instagram by tagging them @shopnamehere, post about how much you love products from companies that sponsor your page. A great social media following can even help you make money as an influencer. Focus on building an engaged audience base.
- Coaching: Offer one-on-one sessions via video calling or phone to offer advice and motivation as people work towards their goals. You can even start a YouTube channel and start providing coaching sessions to a larger set of audience. With quality and unique content, you can earn a lot more money through YouTube than you can imagine.
- Blogging: Bloggers today earn more than some people working in conventional industries. These days, it is quite a trend for moms from different parts of the world to create a mom blog teaching other people how to parent their kids, prepare meals, re-organize the house, and pay bills.
- Sell products on Amazon: It is possible to sell products through Amazon or work as an affiliate selling Amazon products, leveraging its reputation and popularity.
The list is endless. You must choose something that interests you and fits your skills. If you are an accountant who always dreamed of being a baker, then it might not be worthwhile for you to spend your time managing inventory. Consider which aspects will best suit what your strengths are!
2. Determine How Much Time You Have to Devote to Your Business
To start a successful side business, the time commitment must be manageable for your current obligations.
Use the following guide to determine how much time you can devote to your side business:
- If you work a nine to five and feel like it’s too much, that should be enough.
- If you have a lot of free time or are unemployed, then consider starting a small business on nights or weekends!
The goal of this stage in the process is to create a detailed action plan. This plan should detail what steps need to be taken and by when they need to be completed. It can also include deadlines, milestones, or other relevant information that needs to be addressed before moving on with the next step.
3. Develop a Plan for Managing Your Work-Life Balance
Is it possible to create a worklife balance? Over 70% of American workers believe finding a worklife balance is possible.
Source: Joblist.com
Developing an effective strategy to manage your workload is key to achieving a healthy worklife balance. The first step is reflecting on why this type of planning matters to you and what are some challenges you currently face?
Once you have identified what it means to achieve success at home versus in the workplace, set goals for both!
For example, if one goal is getting up 15 minutes earlier each day so that you are more rested when starting your day with your kids or spouse, then don’t spend more time than planned working late into the evening.
The challenges of managing your worklife balance can be addressed by creating a plan.
This plan should include the following steps:
- Identify personal priorities to maintain a well-balanced lifestyle
- Establish boundaries between work and home life
- Adopt an exercise routine
- Stay organized: If you have to spend one hour to find one thing you need, it is all time lost throughout the day. Try to keep things clean and organized from the start. A great idea is to create a standard operating procedure for all the processes of your side-business and stick to it.
- Schedule mommy time: A few hours for yourself to do what you like and release the stress.
4. Plan Out the Resources You Will Need to Kickstart Your Side Business
Entrepreneurship is a game of resource management. You’re limited by both time and money, so it’s essential to plan out your strategy before you jump in.
To start that company on the side, first decide what kind of business will work best for you: one with low startup costs and minimal input from employees or one where capital investment is necessary but runs less risk?
Next, map out the products or services you want to offer and determine how much money and human resources you will need to bring your products and services to life. This way, when making decisions about hiring staff or outsourcing tasks later down the line, you’ll have an idea of what’s feasible for your schedule.
You might also need to plan the platform you want to build your business’s presence on. There are numerous free website builders available online to make the task easier for you. Alternatively, you can hire someone to build a website for you.
Find ways to make money with the resources available to you; this could be as simple as selling items on eBay or hosting a yard sale, or as organized as selling courses on Shopify, or starting an online store like Etsy or Amazon Handmade.
5. Spend Some Time Learning How to Run Your Side Business
It is essential to spend some time getting to know the business from the ground up. There is always a learning curve, and part of the learning is to be done at the beginning to help you reach your goals faster. The rest can be learned on the go.
Spend some time to do some research and see what other people in your work line are doing. What is successful and what is not, how do they make money, who to follow, and what to avoid.
For example, if you decided to start a mom blog and want to know how other moms are succeeding, research other mom blogs and get some ideas that can be integrated into your website.
Take some time to see their stats, look at their blog, and figure out how they make money online. It is essential to learn the job’s technicalities, such as writing a post, setting up a website, and the rest.
It is time well spent. When you start working, you will be fast and effective in what you are doing.
6. Address Any Roadblocks You Might Face
Think about whether any barriers might prevent you from starting a side hustle, such as lack of funds, childcare needs, and transportation issues, then figure out how these can be addressed.
The first thing you should do if you have a side business is creating an LLC or corporation, so all of your assets are protected if it becomes successful later on down the line.
Also, make sure that you always keep accurate records of what is spent and what income comes in because taxes will need these documents for taxation purposes at some point in the future.
Takeaway
Moms are astounding jugglers who can get done tons of things while rearing another human being.
The answer is clear. You can be a stay-at-home mom AND still have time and money left over at the end of the day, but it all depends on how you spend your time, energy, and resources building your side business.
The above steps will serve as a guide for you at each stage. Happy Side-Hustling!
Make sure to check out ica.com.
Author Bio: Anastasia Belyh is a 3x serial entrepreneur with a deep passion in digital business models and marketing innovations. He is the Founder at cleverism.com and founderjar.com
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
Speak Your Mind