Category: Working from Home

8 Reasons All Stay-at-Home Moms Should Be Freelance Writers

Being a stay at home mom is amazing, but it's even more amazing if you can have a small side gig going on! Writing is perfect for stay-at-home moms and definitely was a game changer for me! Here's how to get started and why you should give it a try.

For me, nothing beats being a stay-at-home mom. It is the best decision I ever made and I wouldn’t change it for the world. But I feel lucky that in addition to being a stay-at-home mom, I’ve found an outlet that lets me escape the hardest parts of the day – the times when you feel unproductive, flustered, lonely, or out-of-control. Being at home is worth it – but it’s still tough!

For me, that outlet has been through writing. It has culminated in this blog, but behind that are freelance jobs, pet projects, and other sources of writing for pleasure or pay. And I didn’t start out as a writer. In fact, I often can’t believe that I’ve even found myself here because writing was never something I actually enjoyed, nor was it something I planned on doing. It just happened. But thank God it did, because now I don’t know what I’d do without it!

Related post: How to Start a Money-Making Blog

So, if you’re considering leaving the workforce to be a stay-at-home mom, or already are and are in desperate need of an outlet, here are all the reasons you need to seriously consider taking on some freelance work:

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How to Use PicMonkey to Create Your Blog & Website Images

PicMonkey is one of the greatest free tools I've come across as a blogger. Nothing will transform your site like amazing photos! If you're not using PicMonkey yet, you need to start.

If you have a blog or website, you already know (or will surely find out soon) that high-quality images are almost more important than the content of your site.  As they say – an image is worth a thousand words.  When your images aren’t up to par, not only is it way harder to market your material and products, but it also can appear unprofessional.  That is why it is essential to learn how to use PicMonkey (or other sites like it) to improve your images.

Basically, it’s worth the investment to find and create amazing images.  And luckily nowadays you really don’t need to pay for a thing, so the only real investment is your time.

My absolute favorite go-to site for editing and creating images without a doubt is PicMonkey.  I stubbornly refused to pay for it for years and then when I finally gave in, the increase in quality of my images paid me back 10 fold. So it’s worth the investment. Every single image that appears on my blog has been put through PicMonkey for minor or major edits, or has been created there from scratch.  I’m telling you, if you use (or need) a lot of images, this site will be a game changer.

It’s fairly easy to play around with and figure out on your own, but here are my best tips to make the most of it and transform your images:

 

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6 Ways to Make Money as a Writer

Making money as a writer is a great source of income, whether you're looking for part-time or full-time pay. This list is a great resource to get you started!

Writing is a funny thing.  You don’t necessarily have to be an expert at it to make money doing it.  You just need to be an expert at something – and that’s what you write about.  If you do happen to be gifted at writing then you’ve got an extra leg up, but it’s not a prerequisite.

Better yet, writing is one of the most flexible, gratifying jobs out there. You’re creating something tangible (even if it’s only available in cyberspace) and you get better and better the more you write.

In my opinion, everyone should spend some of their time writing.  The benefits are endless, but the obvious ones can’t be ignored –

  • You can do it from anywhere, at anytime
  • You can write about anything
  • It makes you better at whatever you’re writing about
  • You can make some easy money!

If you haven’t considered writing for a living (or just on the side), it’s time to think about it!  And if you’re ready to start dabbling, consider some of these ways to make money as a writer (whether full-time or part-time):

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How to Turn Your Hobby into a Money-Making Machine

How to Make Money from Your Hobby

Back in the day, living the American dream meant finding a great job that let you buy a home, vacation every year, and take care of your family.  Nowadays??  What a different picture!  For most of us, the American dream now means finding a way to make money from what we love, work anywhere and at anytime, and still take care of our families. And it’s totally possible! I see it happening every single day.

So what’s the first step towards achieving this dream?  Turn your hobby into a money-making machine.  Believe it or not, there are a ton of ways to make money from your hobbies, whether it’s just pocket change or a full-time income.


Here’s where to start if you’re ready to make money from your hobbies:

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Why You Need to Focus on Small Wins Instead of Big Ones…and the Ones You Should Focus on First

I don’t think there’s ever been a time in my life (at least not in my adult life) where I haven’t been trying to accomplish something. Whether big or small, there’s always something going on – paying down debt, learning new things, weight loss, clearing my head, running more often…the list goes on and on.

So I’m sure it’s not surprising that I love coming across new ideas and ways to accomplish more, especially if it saves time or effort.  And I’m always on the hunt for new ideas. My last source of inspiration (from The Power of Habit…not as amazing as The Miracle Morning, but still a great read!) has me really excited because it outlined a brilliant and simple way to accomplish anything and everything:

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How to Make Money Creating Gift Guides

Creating gift guides are a great way to diversify your blogging income, but they're also easy to do for people without a blog! Here are my tips from years of creating great (and not so great) gift guides!

Before I ever started blogging, I created gift guides using a micro-blogging site that would give you a portion of ad revenue and referral income.  They would hold contests for the best gift guide and I’m a sucker for a contest, so why not?  Before long, I was making a small (very small) side income and learning a lot about what worked and what didn’t in the world of gift guides.

Related post: How to Supplement Your Blog Income Using Hubpages

Fast forward to now where gift guides generate a decent and regular amount of money for me and my blog. It’s a great way to diversify your income, especially if you’re a blogger. But not every gift guide will work!  There is a secret to making them successful.   

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How to Make Money on Swagbucks

Swagbucks can be an easy way to earn some extra money throughout the year, but you need to make sure you're doing the right things and not wasting your time. Here's what to focus on if you want to make Swagbucks worth the effort!

I’ve been using Swagbucks for a while and I’ll be honest with you – it’s not a game-changer and it’s not going to make you rich.  BUT it’s still an easy way to earn some extra money, especially if you use it for things you would be doing anyway. If you’re lucky it will put a couple hundred dollars in your Paypal account each year, and it can definitely earn you some nice Amazon gift cards that will help out come Christmas time. The key is to know what is worth your time and what isn’t.  

Lucky for you, I’ve wasted enough time for both of, so take my advice and ignore most of the bells and whistles that Swagbucks has to offer.  There’s really only a couple of features that are worth your time, so if you focus on them, you’ll pad your wallet without even thinking about it.  

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