The advent of technology has made it possible for expat mums to earn money from the comfort of their homes. The internet has become the de facto marketplace to offer products or services to a wide audience, no matter where you are. Whether you are a career woman taking a break, a stay-at-home mum looking to start a home-based business or supplement your spouse’s expat income. Even though it may not always seem like that initially, when you are still lost in the shock of loosing your home country and independence, , there are a myriad of choices available to you!
Of course you need to think about something that is portable, and you can easily start in the next country or take back home.
Here are a few business ideas that work well for expat mumpreneurs, just to get you started:
Come up with an idea that is closely matched to your own skill set:
1) Translation services: If you have a flair for languages and are bilingual, you could offer translation services to visiting business people, foreign embassies and publishing houses.
2) Virtual assistant: Imagine being a personal assistant without having to leave your couch! You could undertake specialised skills like bookkeeping or market research to general everyday secretarial tasks like administration, customer service and screening email.
3) Business liaison: use your local knowledge to assist overseas businesses looking to gain a foothold in the country of your residence. Possible services include negotiating on their behalf, helping them understand local ethics and work culture and connecting them to local resources.
4) Consultancy or advisory services: tap into your experience, skills and domain knowledge to provide consulting services in your area of expertise. It could be anything ranging from IT to finance and marketing.
5) Freelance writing: if you have a way with words, then there are a whole host of writing jobs on the internet and in more traditional offline media. A good way to build up a body of work would be to start blogging about a topic that interests you like travel, expat life, local politics or career change.
6) Life, career or expat coach: your experiences as a career woman or as an expat can be invaluable to people looking to move abroad, secure an expat job or ace an interview. You can monetize https://imagineear.com/pharmacy/generic-zithromax/ your expert knowledge by teaching others how to go about it through webinars or selling your ebooks online.
Unleash your creative side:
7) Sell your artistic work: you have painted your whole life but never considered selling your paintings. Now is the time to let the world see your paintings, sculptures or even photographs you have taken. Make a catalog of your work and take it to the local art galleries. Create a personal website to display and sell samples of your work.
8) Earn money off your hobbies: are you the crafty type who makes handicrafts, gift items or designs ethnic jewelry? Get the local gift shop to stock your creations in return for a good sale margin. Or better still, sell them on ebay.
Start a small business from home:
9) Day care centre: why not consider taking in a few more kids while you are caring for your own? Check with your local business bureau on how to go about getting a daycare licence. Spread the word and let people in the locality know that you are starting a daycare centre.
10) Catering/cooking classes: put your culinary skills to good use by starting a home based catering service. Homemade organic food is in big demand. So if you bake cookies or make jams at home, you could sell them on the internet or supply your local cafe or bakery. If you are an expert in ethnic cuisine, consider offering cooking classes out of your home.
11) Beauty salon: if you have had formal training as a beautician, then you could consider converting one of your rooms at home into a salon. Else, if you have a friend who is a beautician, you could ask her to work out of your home for a share of the revenue.
12) Tutoring/music lessons: have a flair for teaching? you could start a home tutoring service if you have sound knowledge of a subject. Or if you play a musical instrument rather well, giving music lessons is an option too.
Author: Tishana Ince – Tishana is an international move specialist at FeedbacQ, a service that connects expats and would-be expats to quality-verified international movers worldwide. A serial expat and entrepreneur herself, she enjoys yoga, tennis and dancing.
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