Starting a Business When You’re the Stay-at-Home Parent
This is a guest post by Marjorie Jones
In many households, being a stay-at-home parent can be more advantageous than employment due to daycare costs, other obstacles, or the simple desire to be more involved in the lives of your younger children. Still, you may feel as though you could be doing more — such as running a business. There are actually many businesses you can operate successfully while being a stay-at-home parent.
Leverage Your Talents and Interests
One of the easiest ways to start a profitable business that doesn’t require too many resources is by using the knowledge you have to teach lessons to others. If you play an instrument, you can offer music lessons. If you paint, you can teach art lessons. Consider that you can also teach lessons online and sell pre-recorded classes.
Being a personal trainer is a great way to make a reliable income without needing to leave your home. You can stream lessons over the Internet to clients working out with weights at home or at their own gyms. This kind of setup also enables you to scale the business to a larger degree.
If you’re knowledgeable about a niche and skilled in writing about it (or writing in general), you can take on clients from the comfort of your own home. Even if you work through a platform that connects you with clients, you can work both online and for local businesses on the side. It’s probably most beneficial to file your taxes through an LLC as an independent contractor.
Set Up Your Business
In order for your business to run smoothly, you’ll need to take some steps to get it set up via paperwork and other factors, so it can operate legally. An LLC offers tax advantages, liability protection, and operational conveniences. This can be done via your state government or proper provincial offices.
When starting out with your stay-at-home business you’ll need to determine how much the business will cost to start and where you’ll get the funding from. You’ll need a comfortable and sufficient workspace somewhere in your house, such as the garage, guest room, or office. Marketing is also a crucial question to figure out, and it’s not a bad idea to start online or use geofencing methods to attract more localized customers.
Get the Ball Rolling
Getting paid requires invoicing clients properly and following up to make sure you receive payments. Your business will probably be on a smaller scale, so up-front payments are probably a good idea. However, there are many tools you can use to make invoicing clients simpler and easier when necessary. This invoice generator will save loads of time and provides several templates you can use for different kinds of businesses. You can also customize different elements of the document by adding logos, photos, or other elements that make identifying and reading them easier for clients and yourself.
A Business Can Change Your Life
If you plan carefully and choose a business niche that works for your circumstances, you can operate a profitable venture that benefits your whole family. Make sure to register your business venture through proper channels and use invoice software to make the process simpler.
For insight and advice from an entrepreneur and mother who’s seen it all, visit The UnOrthoDoc blog.
About The Author
Marjorie Jones created Working Class Wow because she knows you don’t need a big budget to make your business look like a million bucks! From a well-designed logo and a carefully-crafted website to grammatically-correct copy and professionally-printed marketing materials, it is entirely possible (and surprisingly affordable) to bring a little “Working Class WOW” to your small business to build your brand, improve relationships with customers, and benefit the bottom line. WorkingClassWow.com can show you how.
