Business Opportunity Ideas for the Stay-at-Home Mom

If you're a stay-at-home mom, you likely have plenty of time on your hands to think up great business opportunities. But you may be sitting at home wondering what ideas to come up with. We've got some suggestions that will make your home a cozy little money-making machine.

1) Offering freelance services for other moms: Is there anything mothers need more than quality time with their newborns? You can offer them the chance for more one-on-one bonding by providing love and care in the evenings, weekends, or durations of their choice (weekday mornings, before work...). Of course, you will have to have some training in the field--typically a certified nursing assistant or medical assistant program can provide this. You can also establish yourself as the daycare provider for a local working parent by advertising your services with fliers. Once you've established your business, you can send out newsletters to local parents advertising your services.

2) Personal chef: Your culinary skills will come in handy if you decide to offer homemade meals for sale. Whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner, mothers love not having to cook when life is busy enough without rushing home at night to prepare dinner with two screaming children in the background. You can market your services to local mothers by attending cooking classes and setting up a catered lunch for a local mother's group or company. We understand that setting up a catering business isn't easy, but there are endless possibilities. For more extensive training and assistance in opening up your own catering business, seek out the resources of the Small Business Association.

3) A virtual assistant: As many moms already know, parenting is not an easy task--especially when you have young children at home. But you can alleviate some of the "mama's boys" by offering to take over some of their responsibilities. You'll need to offer more than just a shoulder to lean on when it comes to managing the household--you'll have to know how to do all of it by yourself, too! There are some very good books on taking care of the home (like This Old House) that can help you with specific details, and there are great sites on the web for finding local mothers interested in becoming your assistant. Ask other moms about what kind of jobs they need done and then create a short list of things you'd do for them. This will help you narrow down what kind of business you want to establish.

4) Housecleaning and home-maintenance: If you have time to clean and repair the inside of your own home, why not offer your services to other moms? You can offer them quality time and attention by cleaning their homes when they're away from home, or quietly fixing up anything that needs attention on their days off. (If you want to know how to clean houses, check out our guide. You can also learn to fix things like leaky faucets with our cleaning guide.)

5) Interior design: If you're a creative type, consider offering your services as an interior designer. This is a very marketable offering, and moms tend to be very picky about the way their homes look. You can easily find other moms on the web who need help decorating their homes by searching for bloggers specializing in decorating or general home-repair topics, or check out local mothers' groups for moms who need some advice on designing their kitchens or bedrooms.

6) A "day out": Some moms need a break from their children, but don't have the time or money to take a vacation. You can offer to babysit their kids for the day, letting these women get in some much-needed time with friends, or enjoy some rest and relaxation by taking the kids to a nice park while you take care of them. Be sure to check out our guide on how to find clients easily!

7) Baby-sitter: If you want to work as a full-time baby-sitter, you'll probably need CPR training and first aid certification--and perhaps even felony background checks. (Check with your local police department for more information.) It's a very specialized market, so it's likely that you'll only be able to work as a mommy-sitter. But this is a great way to make some extra money if you want to take a few babysitting jobs in the evenings or on weekends when your own kids are out of school.

8) A scrapbooker: If you love taking pictures and cutting and pasting all sorts of photos, why not turn your passion into a business? Local mothers will love having someone come in their homes to help them create personalized scrapbooks of their own kids, or they can even hire you to do it for them. Your website and promotional materials can be as simple as a few framed photographs of your best work, or more elaborate (ask other local stay-at-home moms what they'd like to see).

9) A consultant: Many moms are interested in starting their own businesses, but they don't have the time or money to attend business-planning classes. In that case, offer to help them out with a fee. You can provide Mom with information on licensing, insurance policies she'll need to buy, how long it will take her business to become profitable...the list goes on and on! Where you'll really make money is with follow-up surveys (you likely know this already if you're a parent yourself. If you don't, check out our guide on how to do online surveys).

10) Virtual assistant: A virtual assistant is someone who helps you out with a variety of tasks. You can hire a virtual assistant on sites like Odesk or Elance, or even over the phone. These services typically charge by the hour, and they're usually run by young people with little experience. Sometimes they'll work as an independent contractor (offering their services as a separate company from their day job--usually as an employee of the parent or business owner), but most often they're hired to work as an employee in your house (aka "a secretary"). You can take care of the basic tasks, like writing letters and emails, scheduling appointments and setting up meetings, while your assistant takes care of things like data entry and managing your social media presence.

11) A dog walker: If you have strong communication skills, love dogs and have time to spare during the day while everyone is out at work or school, consider dog-walking as a business. You'll need to go through a training course--usually lasting anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months--and sometimes you'll need to pass an exam administered by the city (contact your local animal control department for more information).

Conclusion

There are a lot of possibilities that are just waiting for you to take advantage of. If you're expecting a child or know someone who is, share these ideas with another mom-to-be! She may want to start making some money on the side, too.

You'll find tons of information about staying at home with your kids in our family section: how to get free coupons, how to save on kids products, and how we handled discipline when our children were little. You can also learn how we became stay-at-home parents.