Careers For Stay At Home Moms

Over the past several years, it has become more popular than ever before to work from home. Couples previously forced to send their children to daycare so that both parents could work now have many more options. It is possible to earn a full-time salary while working in the home in one of several career fields.

Many new mothers fall into working from home after spending time as a stay at home non-working mom. They realize that their husband’s salary is not enough to live on comfortably, or their husband gets laid off, and they need to find a job to make ends meet. Other moms plan ahead for their at-home careers, making a gradual transition until they are working at home either full or part time. Most of these women are able to find work similar to what they left behind when they became mothers. Others will embark on exciting new careers, learning new skills to complement what they already know.

There are two main types of at-home jobs available: service and sales. Service jobs include starting a daycare, writing or editing, virtual assistants, and other jobs that involve providing a service for pay. Writing is a very popular job, with many possibilities. Some options are writing web content, copywriting, or creating a blog. Sales jobs require selling a product, whether it is a beauty item, books, cooking gear or candles. Some jobs are a combination. For example, some moms make and sell items, and also offer a repair service for items they, or others, have sold. Information on many different types of work-at-home mom (WAHM) careers can be found on the About.com working from home page. The Military Spouse website has some more information, along with links to career websites.

Being a WAHM isn’t easy. There are a lot of aspects that most people don’t consider when making the choice to work at home, like the issues explained in this article on the work-at-home.org site. It can be boring, lonely, and frustrating. Balancing work time and family time is a challenge. WAHMs need to be very motivated and self-driven. For great tips on WAHM motivation and time management, check out ShowMomTheMoney.com.

Those who choose to work from home also need to be constantly on the lookout for scams. Mothers trying to start an at-home career are particularly susceptible to crooks just out to make money. As a general rule, you shouldn’t have to pay someone to work for them. A job requiring any sort of upfront payment is probably a scam. Fraud.com has some great advice on how to avoid scams. also has some great information on scams that target at-home parents.

Work from home careers may be more difficult to find and maintain than traditional on-site careers, but the rewards are huge. A lot of moms are able to make a living while spending their days at home with their children. Finding this balance is hard, but possible. About.com offers more advice for WAHMs on this subject, providing some wonderful articles on finding the right compromise between family and work time.

Success does not happen over night; it may take several years before a mom is making a lot of money with her career. It is important to remember that success takes time, but it is possible. Storknet.com has several success stories of moms who worked hard and made their work-at-home dreams a reality.

There are several places to look when trying to find the right WAHM career:

About.com

WomenForHire.com

Freelance Home Writer Blog

The best work from home career is one that works for you and your family. It may take a couple of tries before you find the right one. A great resource for everything about the work-at-home mom lifestyle is WAHM.com. They offer information on scams, articles for WAHMs, a forum, and daily job postings for all types of WAHM careers. Another terrific place to visit is Entrepreneur.com. This website offers relevant information for all types of businesses, and they have some great articles and resources for small business entrepreneurs and individuals who work at home.