Although I had some considerable skill and experience as a writer before I became a freelancer, I had to learn a new set of skills, as there is a significant difference between writing academic essays and web content.
As an academic, writing was (and is) one of my most important skills. I have written countless essays and articles, a few dissertations (including the 100,000 word PhD one) and have been published a number of times. I know I'm a good academic writer. I can construct a clear argument and get my point across in a concise manner.
It therefore seemed to make sense that I should turn that skill into my main WAHM business.
Realistically however, most of the work I'm going to be able to pick up as a beginning freelance writer is writing someone else's web content, and not academic essays.
What I struggled with, at the start, is that writing for the internet is very, very different than writing academically.
An academic piece needs to be concise. It has to have properly referenced facts, and needs to present a clearly structured argument. While it's nice if you can entertain your readers as well, this really is only a secondary concern.
Writing web content is the exact opposite in many ways. You don't want to get bogged down with too many facts and references. The main target is to grab the attention of your readers from the start and keep them entertained. Short paragraphs and bullet points are the order of the day.
So while at a basic level, I'm a decent writer, to be able to offer good content as a freelancer, I eventually realised that I needed to learn a new skill set.
Tuesday 22 October 2013
Sunday 20 October 2013
Writing academic essays for money?
I sometimes get forwarded links from people suggesting that it might be just the thing for me. Often, people refer me to websites that look for authors to write academic essays, grant applications and other assignments.
There's quite a few of these websites around, and I suspect there's quite the market for this sort of work. You'll also find people advertising for this type of thing on the more general freelance websites such as elance and fiverr.
The ethics of doing someone else's homework
Indeed, I am very good at writing academic essays. I've got a lot of experience doing it as a student, and I've always had a knack for it.
Later on in my academic career, I also tutored, so I've seen the other side of the equation as well, and I know what lecturers are looking for.
Most of these essays asked for are at undergraduate level. I could turn them out with very little effort at all.
But I won't do it. While it's tempting, as an academic I have a standard of ethics I won't compromise. If I were to write people's essays, I'd essentially be helping them cheat, and as I've spent my professional career strongly campaigning against that, I will not now facilitate it.
But...
I realise that other people have different ideas about this sort of thing, and if you have no objections to doing someone else's homework, this could be a good way of making an income.
I'd actually love to hear of people who specialise in this type of work. It seems there's huge earning potential in this niche, but also a huge potential to end up in scams. Please don't hesitate to post your experiences in a comment below.
There's quite a few of these websites around, and I suspect there's quite the market for this sort of work. You'll also find people advertising for this type of thing on the more general freelance websites such as elance and fiverr.
The ethics of doing someone else's homework
Indeed, I am very good at writing academic essays. I've got a lot of experience doing it as a student, and I've always had a knack for it.
Later on in my academic career, I also tutored, so I've seen the other side of the equation as well, and I know what lecturers are looking for.
Most of these essays asked for are at undergraduate level. I could turn them out with very little effort at all.
But I won't do it. While it's tempting, as an academic I have a standard of ethics I won't compromise. If I were to write people's essays, I'd essentially be helping them cheat, and as I've spent my professional career strongly campaigning against that, I will not now facilitate it.
But...
I realise that other people have different ideas about this sort of thing, and if you have no objections to doing someone else's homework, this could be a good way of making an income.
I'd actually love to hear of people who specialise in this type of work. It seems there's huge earning potential in this niche, but also a huge potential to end up in scams. Please don't hesitate to post your experiences in a comment below.
Tuesday 15 October 2013
WAHM on maternity leave?
Being a WAHM can be tricky, in that you have to find a balance between the W and the M.
For me, the M will always take priority over the W. But when I had my second baby, I realised just how important the W had become as well.
I gave up taking freelance writing assignments in late pregnancy. And found it surprisingly hard. It seemed things were just starting to take off. I was offered a repeat assignment by a client that would have been several hundred Euros, but had to turn it down. It was the right thing to do, as I might not have finished job in time, and in any case, I needed to focus on my soon to be expanding family (plus, I was moving house, twice, but that's a different story!).
If I had been working a job out of the house, there'd be no question. I'd be on maternity leave before and after giving birth. No question about taking those final weeks off and no way I'd be returning to work within several months of having the baby.
As it was though, within a week of having the baby, I found I was putting myself under pressure to at least return to my various casual earners. No idea where this pressure was coming from, exactly. The money itself is insignificant enough to not make a difference anyway. There's no clients I'm trying to build a reputation with.
It's just this desire to be something more than just a M. Even if at this newborn stage, that is the most important job of all.
I continue to struggle with the balance. How do others experience this?
For me, the M will always take priority over the W. But when I had my second baby, I realised just how important the W had become as well.
I gave up taking freelance writing assignments in late pregnancy. And found it surprisingly hard. It seemed things were just starting to take off. I was offered a repeat assignment by a client that would have been several hundred Euros, but had to turn it down. It was the right thing to do, as I might not have finished job in time, and in any case, I needed to focus on my soon to be expanding family (plus, I was moving house, twice, but that's a different story!).
If I had been working a job out of the house, there'd be no question. I'd be on maternity leave before and after giving birth. No question about taking those final weeks off and no way I'd be returning to work within several months of having the baby.
As it was though, within a week of having the baby, I found I was putting myself under pressure to at least return to my various casual earners. No idea where this pressure was coming from, exactly. The money itself is insignificant enough to not make a difference anyway. There's no clients I'm trying to build a reputation with.
It's just this desire to be something more than just a M. Even if at this newborn stage, that is the most important job of all.
I continue to struggle with the balance. How do others experience this?
Friday 11 October 2013
Review - Bubblews
The site is fully accessible for international users, and then low payout threshold of $25 is easy to reach. But opinions differ whether or now Bubblews is legitimate or a scam.
How does Bubblews work?
Bubblews allows users to publish short articles on pretty much any topic they want. When I say short, I do mean short; the minimum required length is 400 characters. No, that’s not a mistake, it’s really just 400 characters, not 400 words.
Bubblews is basically a revenue sharing website. (Another example of such a website is Webanswers, which I have written about previously). Once published, Bubblews will keep track of the number of page views, ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ and comments your article gets. For each, it will deposit a cent or two in your account. Once you’ve reached $25, you can asked for your money to be redeemed and it will be deposited in your PayPal account.
The rules
Aside from the minimum 400 character word count, there is a few other rules:
- Your work has to be original and written by now. You can’t copy/paste from elsewhere.
- you can’t abuse the system by requesting comments/views/likes on your comments or by participating in groups that organise exchanges of the same.
- You’re not allowed to use bots or any other means of IP manipulation.
- You can’t post anything that is pornographic.
- Your post has to be in English.
- You can’t post referrals or affiliate links to other websites.
Social Network
Thing is, Bubblews is really a social network, all aimed at the users facilitating each other to make money. You can connect with other users, making their posts show up in your notifications. Having lots of connects is the key to getting lots of page views, and by extension, lots of money. Then rules state that you’re not allowed to ask for likes and comments, but in my experience people still do, indirectly. There is a clear expectation that if someone likes your posts and/or connects with you, they expect you to return the favour.
Quantity over quality
As said above, the only real requirement for posting an article is that it has to be at least 400 characters long, and in English.
A lot of the articles on Bubblews are of very poor quality. They trend to be short, and written in very poor English. Many of the users are clearly not native English speakers. That’s no big deal (English is a second language for me too), but it can be difficult to make sense of quite a few of the articles.
The majority of users are clearly on Bubblews to make money. Articles tend to be short, about uninteresting topics, and poorly edited for grammar and spelling.
Of course, there’s some really good stuff there as well - if you can manage to find it.
On the flip side, the anything goes attitude might appeal to you as well. I know some people enjoy using it as a creative outlet, without the need to worry too much about quality or topic or search engine keywords.
Is Bubblews a scam or a legitimate website?
Now we get down to the big question. There are very mixed reports on Bubblews. Some claim to have been paid out quickly, multiple times and without issues whatsoever. On the flip side, there are also many stories about payments never appearing, and posts and accounts being deleted. Those that do experience such things do not seem to have any recourse, with the Bubblews websites owners unresponsive to emails.
I personally have not reached the treshold to redeem my earnings. Although I initially found the novelty of the website fun, I got quickly fed up with the sheer amounts of very poor articles and the general attitude to that it's really all about just reaching pay out, no matter in what way.
Another thing that caused me to give up on Bubblews before reaching my first payout was the poor quality of the website. It's incredibly slow, difficult to navigate, and, I think just generally very user unfriendly.
International
Credit where credit is due, Bubblews is fully available for international users, with no restrictions as as far as I can tell. All you need is a PayPal account.
this is quite evident in the user base of the website as well; there seems to be a lot of Asians.
Final thoughts
Some people have reported high earnings in a relatively short time. It will take work. You need to consistently write articles, and build your network. If you're looking to make some quick cash, with little or no restrictions, this might be the place for you.
However, a word of warning. Cash out as soon as you can, and keep in mind that the website has a dodgy record for payments.
Tuesday 8 October 2013
AdSense basics - Getting started
If you’re looking to make money writing online through a blog or other website, you’ll sooner or later run into AdSense. Although it’s rarely a high earner, it is one of the most popular and trustworthy ways of making money online.
In this post I’ll cover the basics on what AdSense is and how to get started using it.
What is AdSense?
AdSense is an advertising programme run by Google, that will allow you to make money from people clicking on ads placed on a website you own or share the revenue of.
For each time someone clicks an ad, Google will place a small amount of money in your account. We’re not talking about big sums. Usually, it will only be a few cents, though it can be more depending on the type of ad.
Once your AdSense account accumulates €70 (or $100), Google will transfer the money into your bank account.
Getting started
Before you can make money using AdSense, you’ll need to set up an account. For many, this is straightaway a stumbling block.
There was a time it was easy, apparently, but these days Google has become quite picky about their requirements for an account.
There is basically two things you’ll need:
The second step can be trickier. Google wants to know they are placing their ads somewhere that has good content, and thus will attract traffic. After all, what’s the point in ads if no one is going to see them.
An obvious choice for the contents requirement would be a blog, but it will take time to build up enough posts of sufficient length and quality.
Another option could be to use a website like hubpages, which will allow you to write long articles without the need to maintain your own site. You can sign up through them, but you will still need a few high quality articles before Google will accept you. The usual advice you hear is ten good quality blog posts or hubs.
Taking either of these options, be prepared for your application email to come back and say you do not yet qualify. If that happens, don’t despair. Keep building your content and try again. You might be rejected a second and third time, but you’ll get accepted eventually.
Perhaps an easier option is to use webanswers. I’ve previously reviewed my experience with webanswers; it’s a revenue sharing website that pays through AdSense. Once you have answered an initial 50 questions, you can apply for an AdSense account through webanswers, with a very good probability of being accepted.
Whichever option you pick, quality is key. Make sure you use good grammar and spelling.
Note that once you have an AdSense account, you can very easily add other websites to it, without having to go through the quality control process each time. For example, I was able to get my AdSense account running through Webanswers, then added both my blog and my hubpages account, when neither of these would have been accepted yet on their own.
Getting verified
Getting your AdSense account approved is only the first step. Next, you’ll need to give them your bank details. You may be reluctant to do so; and you’re right, you should be very careful about giving out your bank details online. AdSense, however, is run by Google, and has existed for many years. It has been proven that it is a safe scheme and no scam. Your bank details will be safe.
To verify you’ve entered your account details correctly, Google will send you a small payment. Simply enter the correct amount when you see it appear in your statements to show that all is in order. This can take a few days.
A final security step is a pin that Google will send out to you by post - this is why it’s important you enter the right address! They will post it once your account goes over the treshold of around €10, although it can take up to three weeks to actually arrive in the post. Once your pin has arrived and you’ve entered it on the website, your account will be up and running.
Mind that threshold
Google AdSense is a safe scheme, and you can be assured that you will get the money owed paid. Eventually, anyway. In theory, Google pays out once a month. In practice, they will only pay once you’ve gone over the €70 or $100 threshold. I presume this is to keep transaction costs down, which is fair enough. It does mean that it can take a while to get a payout, especially at the start.
Terms and conditions
Another thing to keep in mind are the terms and conditions attached to using AdSense. When you sign up, please read the rules. Google can and will close accounts that are in violation, which means you will not be paid out any funds you have in your account. The guidelines are fair and clear though, so it should not be difficult to follow them.
In a nutshell, under the terms of the AdSense programme you cannot do the following:
AdSense Internationally
As always, let’s have a look at the possibilities to use AdSense worldwide.
This is actually one of the best things about it. As far as I can tell, there are no countries that are not eligible for AdSense. I’d love to hear if your experiences are different though!
It is true though that getting your AdSense account approved might be difficult for residents of certain nations. I know that people from India and China are required to have been running their website for at least six months before they can sign up. If you know of any other international restrictions, please leave a comment.
I also suspect getting your bank account verified might be more complicated in certain countries, due to differences in banking and postage systems.
Earnings
Now that you know how to sign up and get started with AdSense, you are no doubt wondering about the money you might be making with it.
There’s two ways AdSense can provide you with an income:
For that reason, you might be tempted to think that your own blog or website is the way to go. But remember, you’re depending on people clicking on ads. Most visitors to a website won’t. It will take thousands of page views to generate any sort of money. It is very difficult to make that happen on your own blog. And even if you can manage it, it will take time.
By participating in an affiliate programme such as webanswers, you will have to share ad click revenue, but at the same time, you will profit from the high levels of traffic the site attracts. Your income from that source will therefore likely be higher than from your own fledgling blog or website.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Placing ads on your website doesn’t cost anything, so you can use AdSense on your own website as all as earn a share through webanswers or similar website. It’ll just help you reach that pay out threshold quicker. Every cent counts!
In any case though, don’t expect the money start pouring in, especially when you’re still starting off with either your own websites or in an affiliate program. While some people make a very good income indeed through AdSense, they are rare exceptions.
For most of us, AdSense is a way of generating a small bit of cash, over time, with relatively little effort. Personally, I look at it as a way of monetising things that I enjoy doing anyway, which for me, is kind of the point of being a WAHM.
I’ll be posting more ways of using AdSense in the future. In the meanwhile, you can check out my post on webanswers which is currently my only meaningful way of AdSense income.
I’d also love to hear your experiences with AdSense, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment!
In this post I’ll cover the basics on what AdSense is and how to get started using it.
What is AdSense?
AdSense is an advertising programme run by Google, that will allow you to make money from people clicking on ads placed on a website you own or share the revenue of.
For each time someone clicks an ad, Google will place a small amount of money in your account. We’re not talking about big sums. Usually, it will only be a few cents, though it can be more depending on the type of ad.
Once your AdSense account accumulates €70 (or $100), Google will transfer the money into your bank account.
Getting started
Before you can make money using AdSense, you’ll need to set up an account. For many, this is straightaway a stumbling block.
There was a time it was easy, apparently, but these days Google has become quite picky about their requirements for an account.
There is basically two things you’ll need:
- A Google account
- A website with quality content.
The second step can be trickier. Google wants to know they are placing their ads somewhere that has good content, and thus will attract traffic. After all, what’s the point in ads if no one is going to see them.
An obvious choice for the contents requirement would be a blog, but it will take time to build up enough posts of sufficient length and quality.
Another option could be to use a website like hubpages, which will allow you to write long articles without the need to maintain your own site. You can sign up through them, but you will still need a few high quality articles before Google will accept you. The usual advice you hear is ten good quality blog posts or hubs.
Taking either of these options, be prepared for your application email to come back and say you do not yet qualify. If that happens, don’t despair. Keep building your content and try again. You might be rejected a second and third time, but you’ll get accepted eventually.
Perhaps an easier option is to use webanswers. I’ve previously reviewed my experience with webanswers; it’s a revenue sharing website that pays through AdSense. Once you have answered an initial 50 questions, you can apply for an AdSense account through webanswers, with a very good probability of being accepted.
Whichever option you pick, quality is key. Make sure you use good grammar and spelling.
Note that once you have an AdSense account, you can very easily add other websites to it, without having to go through the quality control process each time. For example, I was able to get my AdSense account running through Webanswers, then added both my blog and my hubpages account, when neither of these would have been accepted yet on their own.
Getting verified
Getting your AdSense account approved is only the first step. Next, you’ll need to give them your bank details. You may be reluctant to do so; and you’re right, you should be very careful about giving out your bank details online. AdSense, however, is run by Google, and has existed for many years. It has been proven that it is a safe scheme and no scam. Your bank details will be safe.
To verify you’ve entered your account details correctly, Google will send you a small payment. Simply enter the correct amount when you see it appear in your statements to show that all is in order. This can take a few days.
A final security step is a pin that Google will send out to you by post - this is why it’s important you enter the right address! They will post it once your account goes over the treshold of around €10, although it can take up to three weeks to actually arrive in the post. Once your pin has arrived and you’ve entered it on the website, your account will be up and running.
Mind that threshold
Google AdSense is a safe scheme, and you can be assured that you will get the money owed paid. Eventually, anyway. In theory, Google pays out once a month. In practice, they will only pay once you’ve gone over the €70 or $100 threshold. I presume this is to keep transaction costs down, which is fair enough. It does mean that it can take a while to get a payout, especially at the start.
Terms and conditions
Another thing to keep in mind are the terms and conditions attached to using AdSense. When you sign up, please read the rules. Google can and will close accounts that are in violation, which means you will not be paid out any funds you have in your account. The guidelines are fair and clear though, so it should not be difficult to follow them.
In a nutshell, under the terms of the AdSense programme you cannot do the following:
- Click on your own ads or use means to artificially increase click count. This includes but is not limited to participating in ‘ad click chains’, and manipulating the ads themselves.
- Encourage visitors to click on the ads on your website.
- Put ads on websites with certain content. This includes, but is not limited to, anything related to pornography, gambling, racism, drugs and weapons sales, and pretty much anything that’s illegal.
- Put ads on websites that has content in breach of copyright laws.
- Put ads on websites that just use keywords to generate traffic, but do not actually offer quality content.
- Have a website that contains malware or anything else that deceives or misdirects the visitor.
- Put ads on a website aimed at children, at least not without notifying Google first.
AdSense Internationally
As always, let’s have a look at the possibilities to use AdSense worldwide.
This is actually one of the best things about it. As far as I can tell, there are no countries that are not eligible for AdSense. I’d love to hear if your experiences are different though!
It is true though that getting your AdSense account approved might be difficult for residents of certain nations. I know that people from India and China are required to have been running their website for at least six months before they can sign up. If you know of any other international restrictions, please leave a comment.
I also suspect getting your bank account verified might be more complicated in certain countries, due to differences in banking and postage systems.
Earnings
Now that you know how to sign up and get started with AdSense, you are no doubt wondering about the money you might be making with it.
There’s two ways AdSense can provide you with an income:
- By placing ads on your own website or blog.
- By participating in an affiliate programme, such as webanswers or hubpages.
For that reason, you might be tempted to think that your own blog or website is the way to go. But remember, you’re depending on people clicking on ads. Most visitors to a website won’t. It will take thousands of page views to generate any sort of money. It is very difficult to make that happen on your own blog. And even if you can manage it, it will take time.
By participating in an affiliate programme such as webanswers, you will have to share ad click revenue, but at the same time, you will profit from the high levels of traffic the site attracts. Your income from that source will therefore likely be higher than from your own fledgling blog or website.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Placing ads on your website doesn’t cost anything, so you can use AdSense on your own website as all as earn a share through webanswers or similar website. It’ll just help you reach that pay out threshold quicker. Every cent counts!
In any case though, don’t expect the money start pouring in, especially when you’re still starting off with either your own websites or in an affiliate program. While some people make a very good income indeed through AdSense, they are rare exceptions.
For most of us, AdSense is a way of generating a small bit of cash, over time, with relatively little effort. Personally, I look at it as a way of monetising things that I enjoy doing anyway, which for me, is kind of the point of being a WAHM.
I’ll be posting more ways of using AdSense in the future. In the meanwhile, you can check out my post on webanswers which is currently my only meaningful way of AdSense income.
I’d also love to hear your experiences with AdSense, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment!
Friday 4 October 2013
Making money from home - The United States vs the world
One of the things I want to focus on in this blog is on how to earn money while working from home if you’re not in the United States.
When I decided to become a WAHM and started investigating options to make some money, I searched the internet extensively. There’s a lot of blogs, websites and forums out there supplying a wealth of information and leads.
I also found, however, that most of these websites are based in the United States. While much of the advice is sound anyway, a lot of the money making options are actually not available for those of us living elsewhere in the world.
Case in point: Amazon Mechanical Turk
When I went on ‘maternity leave’ (meaning I couldn’t commit to freelance work for the time being), I went looking for a more casual, commitment free way to make some money online.
One of the things that I saw suggested time and time again was Amazon Mechanical Turk. It seemed perfect for my needs. All you have to do is sign up for an account, then you can carry out a wide variety of small tasks (called HITS) for which you earn equally small amounts of money. With an hour to spare here and there, people were reporting making relatively good amounts of cash. Moreover, the programme is well documented as real and the payouts as dependable, so no worries about it being a scam.
So I signed up. In the registration form, I set my location to Ireland. It went through without a hitch.
A few days later, I received an email back saying I didn’t qualify. No further explanation.
Disappointed, I searched the internet and only then found out that mturk isn’t available in Ireland. In fact, it’s only open for those within the United States. This is not clear at all on the website. Why did the form allow me to apply with my country set to Ireland in the first place?!
But wait, there’s more!
Amazon Mechanical Turk is but one example of a popular casual earning website that is only open to residents of the United States. Since then, I’ve become a lot more careful in managing my expectations.
If you’re not in the United States, it’s an important lesson to learn. This goes for any work from home, not just the casual stuff.
Some other things to watch out for:
On the upside
It’s not all bad news though. Just because we can’t access the mturks of this world internationally, there’s still plenty of options for making money from home as a WAHM.
In fact, not being in the United States can also work in your favour. For example, depending on where you live, you might not have to worry about taxes like our friends in the United States do. I don’t, as long as I stay under a generous threshold.
The USD exchange rate can really work in your advantage in some cases, and while shipping might be expensive, being in a different country could well grant you easy access to commodities that are in demand elsewhere in the world. It’s all worth exploring, right?
Experience working from home around the world
In future posts the, I’ll be paying particular attention to how to make things work internationally. As I’m in Ireland, my experience is based there, perhaps extended to the wider European Union.
I’d love to hear about other people’s experiences from other places in the world. Please comment and let’s all share our knowledge and help others on their way.
When I decided to become a WAHM and started investigating options to make some money, I searched the internet extensively. There’s a lot of blogs, websites and forums out there supplying a wealth of information and leads.
I also found, however, that most of these websites are based in the United States. While much of the advice is sound anyway, a lot of the money making options are actually not available for those of us living elsewhere in the world.
Case in point: Amazon Mechanical Turk
When I went on ‘maternity leave’ (meaning I couldn’t commit to freelance work for the time being), I went looking for a more casual, commitment free way to make some money online.
One of the things that I saw suggested time and time again was Amazon Mechanical Turk. It seemed perfect for my needs. All you have to do is sign up for an account, then you can carry out a wide variety of small tasks (called HITS) for which you earn equally small amounts of money. With an hour to spare here and there, people were reporting making relatively good amounts of cash. Moreover, the programme is well documented as real and the payouts as dependable, so no worries about it being a scam.
So I signed up. In the registration form, I set my location to Ireland. It went through without a hitch.
A few days later, I received an email back saying I didn’t qualify. No further explanation.
Disappointed, I searched the internet and only then found out that mturk isn’t available in Ireland. In fact, it’s only open for those within the United States. This is not clear at all on the website. Why did the form allow me to apply with my country set to Ireland in the first place?!
But wait, there’s more!
Amazon Mechanical Turk is but one example of a popular casual earning website that is only open to residents of the United States. Since then, I’ve become a lot more careful in managing my expectations.
If you’re not in the United States, it’s an important lesson to learn. This goes for any work from home, not just the casual stuff.
Some other things to watch out for:
- Even if an earning option is open internationally, be aware that sometimes there are restrictions on how you can be paid. For example, cash might not be an option, leaving you with vouchers that are effectively worthless in your country.
- Depending on where you live, you might be hit with an exchange rate from USD to your currency that will not be in your favour.
- Some websites allow people to sign up worldwide, but then require a United States social security no. Yeah, right…
- If you’re buying and or selling anything, shipping rates can really come back to bite you in the behind.
On the upside
It’s not all bad news though. Just because we can’t access the mturks of this world internationally, there’s still plenty of options for making money from home as a WAHM.
In fact, not being in the United States can also work in your favour. For example, depending on where you live, you might not have to worry about taxes like our friends in the United States do. I don’t, as long as I stay under a generous threshold.
The USD exchange rate can really work in your advantage in some cases, and while shipping might be expensive, being in a different country could well grant you easy access to commodities that are in demand elsewhere in the world. It’s all worth exploring, right?
Experience working from home around the world
In future posts the, I’ll be paying particular attention to how to make things work internationally. As I’m in Ireland, my experience is based there, perhaps extended to the wider European Union.
I’d love to hear about other people’s experiences from other places in the world. Please comment and let’s all share our knowledge and help others on their way.
Tuesday 1 October 2013
Advice on making money online: /r/beermoney
There’s a lot of resources out there that will help the WAHM find new ways of making money from home.
To me the subreddit ‘Beer money’ has proven to be one of the most useful ways to find out about casual ways to make money online.
Reddit
If you’re not familiar with it, Reddit advertises itself as the ‘Front page of the Internet’.
It is basically a social website where users can submit news, pictures and links. I’ve found it can be a great source of news and entertainment (as well as a dreadful time sink!).
Users can vote up or down anything posted on reddit, and leave comments to express their opinion.
Reddit is divided into subreddits, which have a common topic or theme. You can subscribe to those that are about things that interest you.
/r/beermoney
Beermoney is one of these subreddits. I know, for the WAHM, the title might be a bit off putting. After all, beer isn’t generally very high on a mother’s list of priorities (though I’m quite partial to a pint of a good quality ale myself). The subreddit isn’t really aimed at WAHMs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use the advice posted there.
Its users are looking for casual ways to make money online. Extremely helpful are the reviews of websites that are posted. The reviews are often incredibly detailed, and will give you a good idea whether or not a website will work for you. The comments from other users will show if the review is genuine or not and provide additional information.
Some people will also post their daily routines, to show others how they make a certain amount of money each day/week/month. You can pick up some food advice from those, even if the whole thing might not work for you.
Finally, users will warn each other of scams, which is obviously very valuable.
International users
As with many resources online, the majority of users seem to be US based, and the reviews and advice don’t always take into account that things might not work elsewhere in the world.
There are a good number of international users as well, however, and it is usually quickly pointed out which schemes will or will not work in other countries.
Reddit with caution
I’ve found a lot of excellent advice on /r/beer money. But as with every social website, although it is moderated, there is no real control over the content. So exercise caution and use common sense. There’s a lot of scams out there preying on those who are trying to make money online, and they can and will pop up anywhere from time to time.
With a bit of care you can learn a lot about making some pocket money on reddit, and you don’t even have to spend it on beer.
To me the subreddit ‘Beer money’ has proven to be one of the most useful ways to find out about casual ways to make money online.
If you’re not familiar with it, Reddit advertises itself as the ‘Front page of the Internet’.
It is basically a social website where users can submit news, pictures and links. I’ve found it can be a great source of news and entertainment (as well as a dreadful time sink!).
Users can vote up or down anything posted on reddit, and leave comments to express their opinion.
Reddit is divided into subreddits, which have a common topic or theme. You can subscribe to those that are about things that interest you.
/r/beermoney
Beermoney is one of these subreddits. I know, for the WAHM, the title might be a bit off putting. After all, beer isn’t generally very high on a mother’s list of priorities (though I’m quite partial to a pint of a good quality ale myself). The subreddit isn’t really aimed at WAHMs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use the advice posted there.
Its users are looking for casual ways to make money online. Extremely helpful are the reviews of websites that are posted. The reviews are often incredibly detailed, and will give you a good idea whether or not a website will work for you. The comments from other users will show if the review is genuine or not and provide additional information.
Some people will also post their daily routines, to show others how they make a certain amount of money each day/week/month. You can pick up some food advice from those, even if the whole thing might not work for you.
Finally, users will warn each other of scams, which is obviously very valuable.
International users
As with many resources online, the majority of users seem to be US based, and the reviews and advice don’t always take into account that things might not work elsewhere in the world.
There are a good number of international users as well, however, and it is usually quickly pointed out which schemes will or will not work in other countries.
Reddit with caution
I’ve found a lot of excellent advice on /r/beer money. But as with every social website, although it is moderated, there is no real control over the content. So exercise caution and use common sense. There’s a lot of scams out there preying on those who are trying to make money online, and they can and will pop up anywhere from time to time.
With a bit of care you can learn a lot about making some pocket money on reddit, and you don’t even have to spend it on beer.
Friday 27 September 2013
Making money with webanswers
Webanswers won’t make you rich, but if you enjoy browsing internet forums and social media, you’ll probably find it fun.
Webanswers is my favourite casual money making website.
Although for the best results you do have to put in a small bit of work every day, with very little commitment you can soon be making a euro or so a day.
Because it works through a revenue sharing scheme based on Google AdSense, you can be certain your earnings are safe and guaranteed.
How to get started with webanswers
Webanswers is completely free to use. First, you’ll need to sign up for an account. You then have two choices:
The front page shows a list of recently asked questions. Alternatively, you can go into categories, and browse questions by topic.
If you see a question that you know the answer to, just click on it and type into the box provided at the bottom before submitting.
AdSense
So how can you make money through answering questions?
Webanswers is a so-called revenue sharing website. Each page show ads, provided by Google AdSense. Every time a page with ads is viewed, the website owner get paid a few pennies. If someone clicks on on of the ads, the payout is bigger.
Webanswers shares its earnings through ads with the people who answer the questions. They keep 60 percent of the revenue, leaving up to 40 percent for you and me.
This revenue gets credited into your AdSense account. Once you reach €70 ($100), you can get the money paid directly into your bank account.
AdSense is a reliable, verified programme. Run by Google, you can be sure that it’s not a scam. As long as you don’t break their terms and conditions, you won’t have to worry about whether or not you’ll be paid, which makes any website that uses it, such as webanswers, a safe option.
Earning through webanswers
To actually make money out of webanswers, you’ll have to jump through some hoops first.
First of all, you’ll need to sign up for Google AdSense and link your account to your webanswers account. To do both, you’ll need to answer fifty questions first.
Second, there will usually be more than one person answering each question. This means that the user portion of ad revenue is shared. This is not done in equal measure between users.
Webanswers does not disclose exactly how revenue is divided, but the following certainly influence your earning potential:
Awarded answers
What you really want to aim for, is to be awarded ‘best answer’. This means that for a full year, all of the user portion of the revenue of page views and ad clicks will be credited to your account.
For that reason, it literally pays to put in a bit of effort to your answers and make sure they are of good quality. Awarded answers are not easy to gain, but they’ll come once you keep active on the site. At 169 questions answered, I now have 6 awarded best answers.
International user friendly
Webanswers is fully accessible for those of us outside the United States. As long as you can get an AdSense account, you’ll be good to go.
That being said, it is clear that the website is based in America, and most of its users are too. This means that a lot of questions are US focussed as well, and difficult to answer for non-Americans. For example, apparently the questions with the highest earning potential tend to be the legal ones, but unless you happen to know a lot about US law, you’ll not get much out of them.
In addition, I have found the website is most active during US daytime, which means the majority of questions are posted when I’m asleep. As it can be a bit of a competition to be the first to get a good answer in, this can put you at a disadvantage. Then again, I never have any difficulties finding five questions I can answer each day.
My experience with webanswers so far
Webanswers won’t make you rich, let me make that clear. I got my fifty initial questions answered in about a week.
At the time of writing, my account has been linked with AdSense for about three weeks. In that time, I’ve averaged about a euro a day. Aside from a two day break, I’ve answered at least five questions a day and have now been awarded a total of six best answers out of 169.
I find that there is very little effort involved in keeping up my daily activity. I tend to spend a lot of time on social media and internet forums anyway, so I found I’ve diverted some of that time to webanswers instead. I do it in little chunks. Whenever the kids are asleep or otherwise occupied and I have a spare moment, I have a quick look at the website to see if there’s a question I can answer.
Most of the questions are actually really easy too answer; you have to wonder would it not be quicker for the asker to do a five second Google themselves! You don’t really need to have much expertise at anything although personally I enjoy answering those questions where I do actually know a lot about the topic.
I like webanswers, as I enjoy finding finding new information and see it as a challenge to research and write. It doesn’t take much time, and the fact that it brings in some money is a nice bonus. Revenue seems to be going up slowly but surely; we’ll see how that continues to develop in the future.
Referal links
The links I’ve posted to webanswers above are so called referral links. That means that if you use them to access the website and register, I get a small bonus. I’d appreciate it if you did. It won’t cost you anything. If you’d rather not, here is a ‘clean’ link to webanswers instead.
Please let me know if you’ve signed up, or if you’re already using webanswers and what your experiences are!
Webanswers is my favourite casual money making website.
Although for the best results you do have to put in a small bit of work every day, with very little commitment you can soon be making a euro or so a day.
Because it works through a revenue sharing scheme based on Google AdSense, you can be certain your earnings are safe and guaranteed.
How to get started with webanswers
Webanswers is completely free to use. First, you’ll need to sign up for an account. You then have two choices:
- Ask questions
- Answer questions
The front page shows a list of recently asked questions. Alternatively, you can go into categories, and browse questions by topic.
If you see a question that you know the answer to, just click on it and type into the box provided at the bottom before submitting.
AdSense
So how can you make money through answering questions?
Webanswers is a so-called revenue sharing website. Each page show ads, provided by Google AdSense. Every time a page with ads is viewed, the website owner get paid a few pennies. If someone clicks on on of the ads, the payout is bigger.
Webanswers shares its earnings through ads with the people who answer the questions. They keep 60 percent of the revenue, leaving up to 40 percent for you and me.
This revenue gets credited into your AdSense account. Once you reach €70 ($100), you can get the money paid directly into your bank account.
AdSense is a reliable, verified programme. Run by Google, you can be sure that it’s not a scam. As long as you don’t break their terms and conditions, you won’t have to worry about whether or not you’ll be paid, which makes any website that uses it, such as webanswers, a safe option.
Earning through webanswers
To actually make money out of webanswers, you’ll have to jump through some hoops first.
First of all, you’ll need to sign up for Google AdSense and link your account to your webanswers account. To do both, you’ll need to answer fifty questions first.
Second, there will usually be more than one person answering each question. This means that the user portion of ad revenue is shared. This is not done in equal measure between users.
Webanswers does not disclose exactly how revenue is divided, but the following certainly influence your earning potential:
- Quality rating of user and answer. Make sure your answers have good grammar and spelling. In addition, very short answers of one or only a few words will not work in your favour. Try to go into some detail and provide quality material.
- Level of activity of user. Try to log in every day, and answer a few questions. I usually aim for five, which generally doesn’t take long at all. If I don’t log in for a day or more, I almost instantly see my earnings drop.
- Seniority of user. The more questions you’ve answered, the more revenue you’ll get.
Awarded answers
What you really want to aim for, is to be awarded ‘best answer’. This means that for a full year, all of the user portion of the revenue of page views and ad clicks will be credited to your account.
For that reason, it literally pays to put in a bit of effort to your answers and make sure they are of good quality. Awarded answers are not easy to gain, but they’ll come once you keep active on the site. At 169 questions answered, I now have 6 awarded best answers.
International user friendly
Webanswers is fully accessible for those of us outside the United States. As long as you can get an AdSense account, you’ll be good to go.
That being said, it is clear that the website is based in America, and most of its users are too. This means that a lot of questions are US focussed as well, and difficult to answer for non-Americans. For example, apparently the questions with the highest earning potential tend to be the legal ones, but unless you happen to know a lot about US law, you’ll not get much out of them.
In addition, I have found the website is most active during US daytime, which means the majority of questions are posted when I’m asleep. As it can be a bit of a competition to be the first to get a good answer in, this can put you at a disadvantage. Then again, I never have any difficulties finding five questions I can answer each day.
My experience with webanswers so far
Webanswers won’t make you rich, let me make that clear. I got my fifty initial questions answered in about a week.
At the time of writing, my account has been linked with AdSense for about three weeks. In that time, I’ve averaged about a euro a day. Aside from a two day break, I’ve answered at least five questions a day and have now been awarded a total of six best answers out of 169.
I find that there is very little effort involved in keeping up my daily activity. I tend to spend a lot of time on social media and internet forums anyway, so I found I’ve diverted some of that time to webanswers instead. I do it in little chunks. Whenever the kids are asleep or otherwise occupied and I have a spare moment, I have a quick look at the website to see if there’s a question I can answer.
Most of the questions are actually really easy too answer; you have to wonder would it not be quicker for the asker to do a five second Google themselves! You don’t really need to have much expertise at anything although personally I enjoy answering those questions where I do actually know a lot about the topic.
I like webanswers, as I enjoy finding finding new information and see it as a challenge to research and write. It doesn’t take much time, and the fact that it brings in some money is a nice bonus. Revenue seems to be going up slowly but surely; we’ll see how that continues to develop in the future.
Referal links
The links I’ve posted to webanswers above are so called referral links. That means that if you use them to access the website and register, I get a small bonus. I’d appreciate it if you did. It won’t cost you anything. If you’d rather not, here is a ‘clean’ link to webanswers instead.
Please let me know if you’ve signed up, or if you’re already using webanswers and what your experiences are!
Tuesday 24 September 2013
How to start working from home and become a WAHM - Roundup
In the last two weeks, I've published a series of post showing, based on my own experience, how to get started working from home and become a WAHM. For the sake of completion, here is a round up of all of the posts.
Part 1: Identify your skills and interests
Part 2: Investigate your options
Part 3: Identify your goals
Part 4: Make a plan and get started
Friday 20 September 2013
Becoming a WAHM - Part 4 - Make a plan and get started
So you are a stay-at-home-parent and have decided that in your spare time you would like to make a little bit of money. Where do you start?
This is the fourth in a series of posts giving advice on how to get started making an income from home.
In the previous installments, I’ve shown how to:
How committed are you?
There’s a variety of ways to make money from home. Some are casual, where you can drop in and out as you please, others involve a commitment either long or short term. This is why we identified our goals previously.
Aside from the answer to why you want to work from home in the first place, you’ll need to ask yourself these three questions:
Armed with that information, go back to your list of potential money earners. Review all the options on the list:
What you're basically doing, is making a business plan. In the end, you want to make sure that your chosen option is profitable.
What you define as profitable, depends on what your expectations are. That's why we looked at your goals for working from home.
Now you have all the information you need to do some calculations. Make sure that your expenses will not be greater than your potential earnings, first of all. And then consider how much of a profit margin you will actually have. Calculate what your hourly rate will be, and decide whether or not you're satisfied with that. If not, try another option.
The level of commitment is a very important point to consider as well. There are many ways, especially only, where you can make small amounts of cash with very little effort and no requirement to be consistent. On the other end of the scale, if you're thinking of starting a business, or taking on (freelance) work, you will have to commit to a certain number of hours each day and week, often over a longer period of time. Of course, the earning potential in this type of option for making money as a WAHM is generally greater as well, but you have to be very certain you'll be able to keep up with the commitment. And not just now, but a few months down the line as well, when the novelty of it has worn off!
Don't forget that your situation might well change! You might be able to commit to a freelancing job that will cover the next couple of months because the kids are in school, but then over the summer holidays, for example, you won't be able to do much other than casual work whenever you happen to have an unexpected hour or so to spare.
Example - My list
To show you an example of how to put the advice above into practice, we'll go back to my situation.
Remember, my main goal was not to bring in a lot of cash, but rather find a worthwhile occupation where I could use some of my skills to enrich my life and be more than just a mother and housewife.
Now back to my list of skills and interests. Were any of the realistic options for me?
Knitting
Knitting items for profit, it soon turns out, was not for me. Materials are expensive, it takes a relatively long time and people are not really willing to pay enough for handknits that would make it worthwhile for me.
It is also very difficult to market handknits. While etsy is great, is is, by all accounts very hard to get your items noticed.
Of course, it can work for some people. As a lovely commenter on the original post pointed out, if you find a very specific niche, you might be able to sell.
For me personally, I also concluded I'd get bored of knitting specific items. It's a hobby I use to express my creativity, if I turned it into a business I would no longer enjoy it.
I did discover that there is potential in selling knitting patterns. I'm keeping that option open as a possibility for the future, as I want to learn to design anyway.
Writing, research & translation
I'm addressing these together, as I'm approaching them in the same way.
From the start, this one had far more potential. Once I stumbled across elance and odesk, I pretty much knew this was what I wanted to do. A way of using real skills I have, while making a reasonable amount of money.
Of course, there are also downsides to websites like those. They really do pay under the market rate, and it can be a long and frustrating process to get noticed.
The other side to it is that once to accept a job, you do have to commit to getting it done in the amount of time agreed. When I started working as a WAHM in January 2013, I was able to commit to at least two hours a day, and knew I would be for the next few months.
I began bidding primarily on translating jobs, and got two of those. These were only small assignments, quickly completed.
Later, due to my credentials as an academic and historian, I was able to 'win' a job writing a large number of short articles on historical topics. This project took several months, and was a nice steady income for a while.
In the end, I made several hundred dollars doing freelance work. I enjoyed it, and I intend to continue building a career and a portfolio as a WAHM freelance writer in the future, but after finishing my first large writing assignment, I was no longer able to commit to work (even though the contractor offered me a repeat job). I was at that point seven months pregnant, so the time had come to take it a little easy for a while.
In late pregnancy and in the newborn stages, my focus will be on more casual writing work, such as at Webanswers. I've also begun this blog and started a Hubpages account. I'm not expecting to make much money, if any at all. For now, I'm content to keep honing my skills and keep myself in the habit of writing.
Cooking
I almost immediately knew that starting a food related enterprise wasn't going to be for me. In fact, I didn't want to start any enterprise. My children are still quite small, and I simply don't have the time to invest in starting an actual business. I'm not ruling it out completely for the future, when the children are in school, but it will be many years away if I ever do it.
I did consider blogging about food, or otherwise combining it with my writing skills, but in the end decided that while I am interested in the topic, I would not be able to keep up finding interesting things to write about in the long term. In addition, there are a lot of food blogs out there, and it would be very difficult to get noticed.
Your turn!
Now you have the basic information you need to get started working from home and making some money as a WAHM.
Please do leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.
This series was intended to give general advice on how to get started. I'll be updating this blog further soon with more detailed looks at various ways of making money as a WAHM, so please stay tuned.
This is the fourth in a series of posts giving advice on how to get started making an income from home.
In the previous installments, I’ve shown how to:
- Identify your skills and interests
- Investigate your option for making money from home
- Identify your goals
How committed are you?
There’s a variety of ways to make money from home. Some are casual, where you can drop in and out as you please, others involve a commitment either long or short term. This is why we identified our goals previously.
Aside from the answer to why you want to work from home in the first place, you’ll need to ask yourself these three questions:
- How many hours do you have to spare?
- How many hours are you willing to dedicate to work each day and week?
- Can and are you willing to make a long term commitment?
Armed with that information, go back to your list of potential money earners. Review all the options on the list:
- How much time will each option take each day and week?
- How much money can I make doing this? And what is my potential profit/hour?
- Will I have to commit long term, or can I do it casually?
- Do any of your options require any investments, such as materials or shipping costs?
- If you are thinking of selling anything, consider how much time you will need to spend marketing your wares.
What you're basically doing, is making a business plan. In the end, you want to make sure that your chosen option is profitable.
What you define as profitable, depends on what your expectations are. That's why we looked at your goals for working from home.
Now you have all the information you need to do some calculations. Make sure that your expenses will not be greater than your potential earnings, first of all. And then consider how much of a profit margin you will actually have. Calculate what your hourly rate will be, and decide whether or not you're satisfied with that. If not, try another option.
The level of commitment is a very important point to consider as well. There are many ways, especially only, where you can make small amounts of cash with very little effort and no requirement to be consistent. On the other end of the scale, if you're thinking of starting a business, or taking on (freelance) work, you will have to commit to a certain number of hours each day and week, often over a longer period of time. Of course, the earning potential in this type of option for making money as a WAHM is generally greater as well, but you have to be very certain you'll be able to keep up with the commitment. And not just now, but a few months down the line as well, when the novelty of it has worn off!
Don't forget that your situation might well change! You might be able to commit to a freelancing job that will cover the next couple of months because the kids are in school, but then over the summer holidays, for example, you won't be able to do much other than casual work whenever you happen to have an unexpected hour or so to spare.
Example - My list
To show you an example of how to put the advice above into practice, we'll go back to my situation.
Remember, my main goal was not to bring in a lot of cash, but rather find a worthwhile occupation where I could use some of my skills to enrich my life and be more than just a mother and housewife.
Now back to my list of skills and interests. Were any of the realistic options for me?
Knitting
Knitting items for profit, it soon turns out, was not for me. Materials are expensive, it takes a relatively long time and people are not really willing to pay enough for handknits that would make it worthwhile for me.
It is also very difficult to market handknits. While etsy is great, is is, by all accounts very hard to get your items noticed.
Of course, it can work for some people. As a lovely commenter on the original post pointed out, if you find a very specific niche, you might be able to sell.
For me personally, I also concluded I'd get bored of knitting specific items. It's a hobby I use to express my creativity, if I turned it into a business I would no longer enjoy it.
I did discover that there is potential in selling knitting patterns. I'm keeping that option open as a possibility for the future, as I want to learn to design anyway.
Writing, research & translation
I'm addressing these together, as I'm approaching them in the same way.
From the start, this one had far more potential. Once I stumbled across elance and odesk, I pretty much knew this was what I wanted to do. A way of using real skills I have, while making a reasonable amount of money.
Of course, there are also downsides to websites like those. They really do pay under the market rate, and it can be a long and frustrating process to get noticed.
The other side to it is that once to accept a job, you do have to commit to getting it done in the amount of time agreed. When I started working as a WAHM in January 2013, I was able to commit to at least two hours a day, and knew I would be for the next few months.
I began bidding primarily on translating jobs, and got two of those. These were only small assignments, quickly completed.
Later, due to my credentials as an academic and historian, I was able to 'win' a job writing a large number of short articles on historical topics. This project took several months, and was a nice steady income for a while.
In the end, I made several hundred dollars doing freelance work. I enjoyed it, and I intend to continue building a career and a portfolio as a WAHM freelance writer in the future, but after finishing my first large writing assignment, I was no longer able to commit to work (even though the contractor offered me a repeat job). I was at that point seven months pregnant, so the time had come to take it a little easy for a while.
In late pregnancy and in the newborn stages, my focus will be on more casual writing work, such as at Webanswers. I've also begun this blog and started a Hubpages account. I'm not expecting to make much money, if any at all. For now, I'm content to keep honing my skills and keep myself in the habit of writing.
Cooking
I almost immediately knew that starting a food related enterprise wasn't going to be for me. In fact, I didn't want to start any enterprise. My children are still quite small, and I simply don't have the time to invest in starting an actual business. I'm not ruling it out completely for the future, when the children are in school, but it will be many years away if I ever do it.
I did consider blogging about food, or otherwise combining it with my writing skills, but in the end decided that while I am interested in the topic, I would not be able to keep up finding interesting things to write about in the long term. In addition, there are a lot of food blogs out there, and it would be very difficult to get noticed.
Your turn!
Now you have the basic information you need to get started working from home and making some money as a WAHM.
Please do leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.
This series was intended to give general advice on how to get started. I'll be updating this blog further soon with more detailed looks at various ways of making money as a WAHM, so please stay tuned.
Tuesday 17 September 2013
Becoming a WAHM - Part 3 - Identifying your goals
So you are a stay-at-home-parent and have decided that in your spare time you would like to make a little bit of money. Where do you start?
This is the third in a series of posts giving advice on how to get started making an income from home.
Previously we have identified our skills and interests and explored ways how to turn those into something profitable.
The next two posts will look at the practical side of things. It’s all very well to have plans to start running a big business from home, making thousands a month, but is it really a practical option for you? And are you actually willing and able to make the sacrifices needed to to it?
Let’s start with the second point.
Identifying your goals
We all become a WAHM for our own reasons. Think about why you want to start working from home. Do you:
For me personally, it was really the third point, at least initially. I spent years in education, eventually getting a PhD, and while I enjoy being a SAHM, I also felt like I wanted to do something more with my education and skills. Plus, it is indeed very nice to have a small bit of money that I made. With my WAHM activities, I was hoping to make a bit of cash that was truly mine. Not that I can’t spend from my husband’s income at my digression (he never questions and frankly, barely notices charges on our accounts). It is still nice to have this bit of independence, tiny as it might seem. Eventually, when we were preparing to buy our first house, I was even able to contribute a small bit to our savings here and there. It felt good.
Overall, for me, therefore, being a WAHM is not so much about the actual money, but about the feeling of accomplishing something other aside from childcare and domestic chores. For other people, the balance might go far more towards the financial side of things.
So ask yourself this question, and answer it honestly:
why do I want to be a WAHM (or WAHD)?
This is the third in a series of posts giving advice on how to get started making an income from home.
Previously we have identified our skills and interests and explored ways how to turn those into something profitable.
The next two posts will look at the practical side of things. It’s all very well to have plans to start running a big business from home, making thousands a month, but is it really a practical option for you? And are you actually willing and able to make the sacrifices needed to to it?
Let’s start with the second point.
Identifying your goals
We all become a WAHM for our own reasons. Think about why you want to start working from home. Do you:
- Want to supplement your household income with some much needed cash. If this is the case you are probably looking for a reliable source of income.
- Turn something you enjoy doing anyway into a source of income.
- Find something to do aside from looking after kids, house and home and is the potential income a nice bonus but not the primary goal.
For me personally, it was really the third point, at least initially. I spent years in education, eventually getting a PhD, and while I enjoy being a SAHM, I also felt like I wanted to do something more with my education and skills. Plus, it is indeed very nice to have a small bit of money that I made. With my WAHM activities, I was hoping to make a bit of cash that was truly mine. Not that I can’t spend from my husband’s income at my digression (he never questions and frankly, barely notices charges on our accounts). It is still nice to have this bit of independence, tiny as it might seem. Eventually, when we were preparing to buy our first house, I was even able to contribute a small bit to our savings here and there. It felt good.
Overall, for me, therefore, being a WAHM is not so much about the actual money, but about the feeling of accomplishing something other aside from childcare and domestic chores. For other people, the balance might go far more towards the financial side of things.
So ask yourself this question, and answer it honestly:
why do I want to be a WAHM (or WAHD)?
Friday 13 September 2013
Becoming a WAHM - Part 2 - Investigate your options
So you are a stay-at-home-parent and have decided that in your spare time you would like to make a little bit of money. Where do you start?
This is the second in a series of posts giving advice on how to get started making an income from home. In the first post, we identified our skills and interests.
Now we have to investigate how the items on the list might be turned into a WAHM venture.
Investigate your options
Take a another look at your list of skills and interests, and consider for each point on the list how you might turn it into a money earner. This is obviously the crucial bit, and you may have to do a bit of research.
As an example, we’ll go back to my list.
Writing
There are many possible ways to turn one’s skill at writing into money. You can try to write a book and sell it; in many ways this has become easier as it is now possible to self publish ebooks and sell them in a variety of places, such as Amazon or Smashwords.
There’s also blog writing. If you have a successful blog using a free platform such as Blogger you can use Google AdSense to put adds on your blog and bring in some cash. You can combine blogging with one of your other skills or interests too. In my case, for example, I might start a blog about food or history.
If you do not want to blog, you can write articles on a website such as Bubblews or Hubpages. Websites like these work on the basis of revenue sharing. The site’s owner gets paid for people viewing pages and clicking on adds. You get to have a share of the profits for the pages you create.
A final option for making money using my writing skill is freelancing. There are many ways of getting paid to write all manner of things. Elance, oDesk and Constant Content are examples of websites that basically act as a broker between those we require and offer written content. By the way, the first two of these are general freelancing websites and have contractors offering paid assignments for many things aside from writing, such as graphic design and coding.
Knitting
When I was looking into becoming a WAHM, my first thought was actually to turn my knitting into a business. It seems obvious; I’m already spending the time creating items that I know are of good quality. My thoughts immediately turned to Etsy, a website that allows people to sell their handcrafted items.
Cooking
There are some people who have managed to create a successful home business with food related items. Cupcakes seem to be a popular one these days. There was the possibility of turning some of my food related interests into saleable products. I considered farmers’ markets.
Translating
There is a number of agencies on the web that hire translators and broker services. As I’m not actually a qualified translator, however, I ended up looking at Elance, oDesk for this as well. There’s plenty of translation jobs on there, and though the rates can be low, contractors usually don’t demand qualifications aside from native level fluency.
Research
This was a difficult one. How do you turn a skill like internet research into money?
Again, I found Elance, oDesk offer opportunities.
A more informal alternative to those two big websites is Webanswers. This is another revenue sharing website. People can ask questions to which you can post answers, and ger so share in the page revenue through AdSense. where contributors share in as revenue for page views through AdSense.
WAHM Ideas
When investigating your options for making money, there’s a list of WAHM ideas to be found on this blog. It’s not complete yet, but I’ll be adding to it over time - suggestions are most welcome, by the way!
It’s a place to start, but depending on what’s on your list of skills and interests, you may have to do a bit of research of your own.
Use Google. You never know what a simple search term like “how to make money doing [your skill/interest]” will turn up. Don’t give up too easily, but if you get stuck, do post a comment here and I’ll see if I can give you a hand.
Next…
Your list of skills and interests should now have a list of money making possibilities to match. In the next article we’ll look at how to evaluate the realistic possibilities of putting our plans in action.
This is the second in a series of posts giving advice on how to get started making an income from home. In the first post, we identified our skills and interests.
Now we have to investigate how the items on the list might be turned into a WAHM venture.
Investigate your options
Take a another look at your list of skills and interests, and consider for each point on the list how you might turn it into a money earner. This is obviously the crucial bit, and you may have to do a bit of research.
As an example, we’ll go back to my list.
- Writing
- Knitting
- Translating
- Cooking
- Research
Writing
There are many possible ways to turn one’s skill at writing into money. You can try to write a book and sell it; in many ways this has become easier as it is now possible to self publish ebooks and sell them in a variety of places, such as Amazon or Smashwords.
There’s also blog writing. If you have a successful blog using a free platform such as Blogger you can use Google AdSense to put adds on your blog and bring in some cash. You can combine blogging with one of your other skills or interests too. In my case, for example, I might start a blog about food or history.
If you do not want to blog, you can write articles on a website such as Bubblews or Hubpages. Websites like these work on the basis of revenue sharing. The site’s owner gets paid for people viewing pages and clicking on adds. You get to have a share of the profits for the pages you create.
A final option for making money using my writing skill is freelancing. There are many ways of getting paid to write all manner of things. Elance, oDesk and Constant Content are examples of websites that basically act as a broker between those we require and offer written content. By the way, the first two of these are general freelancing websites and have contractors offering paid assignments for many things aside from writing, such as graphic design and coding.
Knitting
When I was looking into becoming a WAHM, my first thought was actually to turn my knitting into a business. It seems obvious; I’m already spending the time creating items that I know are of good quality. My thoughts immediately turned to Etsy, a website that allows people to sell their handcrafted items.
Cooking
There are some people who have managed to create a successful home business with food related items. Cupcakes seem to be a popular one these days. There was the possibility of turning some of my food related interests into saleable products. I considered farmers’ markets.
Translating
There is a number of agencies on the web that hire translators and broker services. As I’m not actually a qualified translator, however, I ended up looking at Elance, oDesk for this as well. There’s plenty of translation jobs on there, and though the rates can be low, contractors usually don’t demand qualifications aside from native level fluency.
Research
This was a difficult one. How do you turn a skill like internet research into money?
Again, I found Elance, oDesk offer opportunities.
A more informal alternative to those two big websites is Webanswers. This is another revenue sharing website. People can ask questions to which you can post answers, and ger so share in the page revenue through AdSense. where contributors share in as revenue for page views through AdSense.
WAHM Ideas
When investigating your options for making money, there’s a list of WAHM ideas to be found on this blog. It’s not complete yet, but I’ll be adding to it over time - suggestions are most welcome, by the way!
It’s a place to start, but depending on what’s on your list of skills and interests, you may have to do a bit of research of your own.
Use Google. You never know what a simple search term like “how to make money doing [your skill/interest]” will turn up. Don’t give up too easily, but if you get stuck, do post a comment here and I’ll see if I can give you a hand.
Next…
Your list of skills and interests should now have a list of money making possibilities to match. In the next article we’ll look at how to evaluate the realistic possibilities of putting our plans in action.
Wednesday 11 September 2013
Becoming a WAHM - Part 1 - Identify your skills and interests
So you are a stay-at-home-parent and have decided that in your spare time you would like to make a little bit of money. Where do you start?
Identifying your skills and interests is the first step.
Make a list of your skills and interests
To start, consider what skills you have. Make a list things you are good at and enjoy doing. It doesn’t really matter what it is. It might not be practical to turn some of them into something profitable, but we’ll worry about that later. Keep your options open for the moment.
For me the list would be something like this:
Next step
With your list ready, the next step will be to investigate how those skills and interests might be turned into money is what we will look into in the next part.
Identifying your skills and interests is the first step.
Make a list of your skills and interests
To start, consider what skills you have. Make a list things you are good at and enjoy doing. It doesn’t really matter what it is. It might not be practical to turn some of them into something profitable, but we’ll worry about that later. Keep your options open for the moment.
For me the list would be something like this:
- Writing
- Knitting
- Translating
- Cooking and food
- Research
Next step
With your list ready, the next step will be to investigate how those skills and interests might be turned into money is what we will look into in the next part.
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