Can you still make $ as a stay at home mom?

[NewMrsU]

Can anyone recommend a business for a stay at home mom? I'm afraid of all of the scams out there. I picked up a Family & Kid directory at the Dr's office today and there were ads for jobs for stay at home moms. The ads were so vague and the websites were even less helpful. I'm just worried about a scam! Is there any hope?

[jenny]

I know a lot of SAHM moms who are crafty sell things on etsy. I don't know how much money you'll make, but I've bought at least $30-$40 worth of cute hair clippies for DD and her friends as gifts.

[DebbieJ]

You could also consider direct sales. You do paperwork, phone calls, etc, at home and just go out for the parties themselves.

[mariadm]

I posted here this week about that...I am in need of something to do at home to bring some income. I have not tried this, but I saw it on Rachel is called www.redswan.com. I am thinking about it. I have jewelry that I can sell to them for $$. GL!

[C99]

Yes, but I think it's difficult to do unless you are comfortable working in direct sales or can somehow perform a service within your previous professional field. I know a lot of moms who make money by doing freelance journalism or marketing, part-time accounting, massage or physical therapy -- something in their previous fields. In my professional life, I was a sales writer and I did that at home for about 5 years before the company I worked for chose another route. I'd love to find something similar, but in this economy, it's not happening. I have also made what I call pin & egg money ($300ish/season) reselling stuff on eBay -- for that, you have to know your market/stuff.

[MontrealMum]

Yes, but I think it's difficult to do unless you are comfortable working in direct sales or can somehow perform a service within your previous professional field.

Yes, this. I do contract research, but it's in a field that I was already trained in (and working in) pre-DS. I have a friend that does freelance drawing and another that's trying to start up a catering business. My cousin used to sell something from home before going back to work - maybe candles or soaps or something? I will admit that I can't remember. She was in business/sales before becoming a mom so it wasn't a new field or anything.

I know a few moms on here do quite a bit of ebay but I think there's a learning curve and you have to be quite organized about it. A lot of call centers also route their calls to people working from their homes - I have no idea how to get into that though, as many also just have lots of people cooped up in a room somewhere fielding calls.

What are your skills? And what is your previous experience? I'd think about how that could be adapted to SAH.

[BabyMine]

I live in a university area so I write papers for people. I also write resumes.

[wellyes]

I live in a university area so I write papers for people.

Does this mean you help people cheat? I'm just curious!

[BabyMine]

Does this mean you help people cheat? I'm just curious!

Yep. I am a complete capitalist.
When I was in college I proofread a paper for my now DH. We were in the same class. I fixed a lot of errors. He got an A I got a B

[3blackcats]

Yep. I am a complete capitalist.
When I was in college I proofread a paper for my now DH. We were in the same class. I fixed a lot of errors. He got an A I got a B

OT - They now have software that the students have to submit papers to make sure they haven't been used at another university before. All papers across the country get submitted to a universal database. So, you don't want to reuse any of your old stuff or they will get busted for plagiarism :-)