Being a mum is a full-time job in itself, which is why working from home rather than in a more traditional environment is such a popular choice for parents.
The online world offers more options than you think, and it even enables you to make money while doing what you love, like your crafts, writing, styling garments, drawings, digital artwork, handmade jewellery, etc. Not only do you have avenues to publish your content or sell your products, but it also allows you the flexibility you need when it comes to work hours, because you’re working from home, on your own schedule. Here is how you can successfully monetize your hobby – with enough time to look after your loved ones, as well!
Set up an online shop
The most obvious way to market your products and your fledgling business is to set up your own online website and shop. This is the go-to for all your existing and potential customers, and also the place where they’ll come back to look for more of your work.
Setting up a website is easy enough, but if you’re not tech-savvy, you can also pay someone to create a basic website for you. You should have a customer-friendly interface, and ideally, figure out shipping and handling before you get started, for a seamless process.
Why it’s a good idea: You’re building a brand here, and you need a permanent home for it online. This should be the place where anyone can find you, and a link you can market on all your social media sites.
It’s not enough to get people interested in your work; you also have to give them an easy way to find you and purchase from you. In this case, the first step is to pay for a domain and set up an online shop for your creations. No matter how small your batches are, making them available on your website is always a good idea because you’re giving customers the opportunity to browse your available products.
Set up an Instagram account
No matter what niche your online business pertains to, chances are the clicks and sales are all happening over on Instagram. You can use it exclusively or just as an extra platform in conjunction with other avenues, such as a blog, website, or Etsy. Regardless of what you’re making or selling, it’s bound to take off as long as it plays into the right aesthetic that Millennials look for on Instagram.
Instagram has 1 billion users who spend hours on the platform every single day. Instagram brands, bloggers, and sellers are wildly successful, and especially when it comes to products or services that massively benefit from a visual medium (styling & modelling clothes, doing makeup, artwork, tattoos, jewellery, etc.), this is the best way to display and market yourself or your products.
Why it’s a good idea: Not only will a lot of people discover you or your products, but it’s very easy for them to share your page with their friends, post on their own accounts for their followers, and send new business in your direction. And it all happens organically.
If you want to give your business a little nudge, you can also pay for ads on Instagram. Ads on this platform are really well integrated, to the point where they look exactly like any other post on a user’s feed. The first thing users will see is your photo and your products, and not that someone is trying to market to them.
Not to mention the incredible opportunities that are available when it comes to brand work on social media, as long as you have a decent following. If you’re a blogger, especially, or just run a popular account, brands will sometimes approach you to market their products, which translates to big bucks for you.
Write a book or e-book
If you love writing, why do it for free, when you can get paid for it? If you have any writing talent, whether that’s for fiction or non-fiction, writing a book is not as far out of your reach as you may think. While traditional writing and publishing avenues are notoriously difficult and selective, self-publishing has become a viable way for any aspiring writer to get their work out there for the world to see.
There is a thriving self-publishing book market out there, especially on Amazon. Fiction in certain niches is very sought-after (especially romance and paranormal books), but so are non-fiction books about all sort of topics related to self-improvement.
If you don’t want to self-publish, you can always go on a freelancing website and check out requests for writers. There are always clients looking for decent writers for both fiction and non-fiction books, so it may be your way of breaking into this industry.
Why it’s a good idea: Self-publishing is not nearly as costly as traditional publishing is, which means that you could be making a small investment with a big return. You’re looking at paying for cover artwork (unless you can do it yourself!), and a proofreader or editor (unless you have friends or family who are willing to do for free). Then, Amazon gives you a percentage of sales of the book. Hundreds of thousands of people browse Amazon every day, looking for their next read, and yours may very well be it.
Sign up for Patreon
Patreon is a platform that supports the ancient practice of art patronage – supporters of an artist can donate money in order to help fund their art and to help them continue to create content and things they will enjoy.
Patreon is great especially for artists who have a loyal following. Say you already have followers and customers from other platforms that want to support you and what you do. Patreon gives them the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is and pledge however much they can afford – or pay for a monthly subscription.
Artists can set up different tiers of patronage, depending on the content they put up, or they can leave it up to the patrons to pledge as much as they want, whether that’s £1 or £100.
Why it’s a good idea: Obviously, Patreon is great because it puts extra money in your pocket for your art – which is something not a lot of artists benefit from. But while a lot of creators keep art as a side hustle for financial reasons, Patreon can give you the liberty of creating more of what you love, or even giving up on a day job that doesn’t satisfy you creatively or doesn’t suit your needs.
Start a blog or YouTube channel
Blogging started generating a lot of income a few years ago, and it’s only getting more lucrative. For female bloggers, fashion and beauty are the niches that rake in the most cash, and there are a few reasons for that: they’re topics of high interest that attract a lot of engagement, brands send out products as PR, in hopes of being featured on a blogger’s page, and brands will sponsor bloggers to feature them or talk about their products. But other niches are also popular, including cooking blogs, “mommy” bloggers, etc.
It’s the same deal with YouTube, but on an even higher level, with a bigger earning potential. Videos can be monetized, so that every single view counts towards the money you make from ads, and that is in addition to the extremely lucrative brand deals that YouTubers score. There are all sorts of techniques to grow your YouTube channel and turn it into a full-time gig.
Why it’s a good idea: Blogging and making videos have been part of a veritable revolution for women, particularly stay at home moms, because it allows them to make content about their hobbies and things they are interested in for other women just like them. They can write and shoot photos at home, work around their kids’ schedule, and they are making significant income from a source that is not an MLM scheme.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is entirely possible for you to help your family out (or even support it completely) while still being able to be home with them and tend to their needs. Your hobby is more valuable than you think – you just need to find the right way to monetize it. These are just a few of the ways you can get your content or products out there to the people who love what you create. It’s the best of both worlds, where you can be at home with your kids, while still making an income doing what you love.
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