Work-at-Home:
Business Opportunities


Perhaps you are a working or single parent, who would love to stay home and homeschool your children. But you realize you'll still need to bring in an income.

Or, perhaps you've been a stay-at-home parent for some time, and now you're thinking of ways to supplement the family's income.

Here, we'll visit some possible work-from-home businesses and income-producing scenarios, so you can homeschool the children and bring in some additional money, too.


Cost of Working

One thing to keep in mind is the following: It can cost $100 to $200 per week just to work outside the home -- possibly more, depending on your area and the work environment. If you must also pay for child-care or after-school care, the cost can nearly double.

By not working, you save the cost of lunches, gasoline to and from work, picking up meals on the way home from work, clothes for work, accessories for clothes, hair salon visits, gifts for coworkers, extra car payment or car repair bills, extra car insurance, tolls and parking fees, dry-cleaning, and those other items you might feel pressured to buy when working with others.

The cost of stress is even more! When your family homeschools, you reduce the stress level for yourself, your children, and your entire family. This, of course, is much more healthy for everyone, mentally, emotionally, and, consequently, physically.

When you are at home, you have more time to find and implement ways of saving money for your family. And you can rely more on your own basic abilities, rather than calling on costly, professional services for simple repairs or needs.

Remember: Where there's a will, there's always a way!


Work-at-Home Businesses

We've all heard about those work-at-home jobs that sound too good to be true. And they always want you to send money for them!

Well, to be trained in certain skills, to learn a new trade, or to brush up on marketing and self-promotion strategies, it might require spending money on courses or going back to college. But you shouldn't have to pay for a work-at-home product or package.

Many small or home-based businesses were started when a need for a particular service or item was determined. Read some of the articles on our Homeschool News page, in the "Work-at-Home" headlines.

Those business owners created children's clothing, nursery decor, maternity clothes, diaper bags or women's handbags, because they couldn't find what they -- and others -- wanted.

What things do you often wish you could find, or wish were available? Invent them! Create them! Offer them to others!

Others have started catering services, "My Other Kitchen" businesses, mural-painting services, tutoring services, or art and music classes.

Still others operate public-relations offices, travel agencies, virtual assistant offices, or medical billing and transcription services out of their homes. Again, they are filling a need that they found within their communities.

If you enjoy helping others, you could offer specific consulting services, personal coaching services, fitness training or healthy-lifestyles coaching.

There's also interior designing, landscape design, real estate sales, mortgage loan closings, appraisals, auditing, tax preparation, and accounting services that you can do at home.


Getting Business Ideas

Another way to get business ideas is to look through your phone book's Yellow Pages or the Business Classifieds in your local newspaper. What types of businesses are others running? How busy are they?

Call the businesses and see how soon they could take care of a project or need for you -- perhaps repairing a piece of jewelry, putting together a custom gift basket, grooming a pet, framing a picture, or sending you information on their direct-mail promo services. That will give you an idea of how busy they are. And help you determine if another, similar business might be successful in your area.

If you have a computer, Internet access, and enjoy writing, many Web businesses now need good, dependable writers. Up-to-date news and current events are a necessity for many Web-based businesses. (We, too, are always looking for articles for our magazine! Contact us about your homeschool article.)

Other Web businesses might need someone to drum up advertisers for their sites. This is something you could do from home, using your phone and a database of contacts. Perhaps you could learn to create ad banners for Web sites, too.

Online travel agencies and hotel-booking Web sites need a continuous stream of travel articles, to draw in visitors and entice them to book a vacation or cruise. Book-review sites need reviews of current book releases. Online magazines need timely articles written and uploaded promptly.

Your local brick-and-mortar businesses might be so busy running the shop, that they can't handle the updates to their Web site. You could take over the Web site updates, and maintain the Web content on a regular basis.


Active or Artistic Endeavors

If you prefer a more active lifestyle, you might be interested in refinishing furniture or home accessories. You can strip the old paint, restore the piece to its original beauty, or go a different direction with a shabby-chic look or a pop-art paint job.

If you have space at your place, you could board horses, dogs, cats, or rabbits. Then give them the care and love they need while their owners are out-of-town. If you have less space, you could board small critters: hamsters, reptiles, or fish. Think how much your kids would love that!

If you like photography, start a homeschool photography business. Invite homeschooled children and families into your studio, and have them pose with their special homeschool projects or hobbies. Take group shots of homeschool gatherings, graduation pictures, or end-of-year picnics and celebrations.

If you like to be creative, look into starting a new line of jewelry, a new style of lampshades and matching drapes, a new piece of custom artwork, using a unique medium. Be innovative, creative, think out-of-the-box!


Spread the Word

The ideas are boundless, really. You simply need to open your mind, look around, and see what need could be filled in your community, what services could be offered that would be beneficial to others. And start spreading the word!

Then you, too, can stay at home, homeschool your children, and bring in an income that does not require you to be away from your family all day!