MyLitter - One Deal At A Time

I have wanted for along time to do a series on work from home opportunities for Mom’s. It is something that is really close to my heart. I have all through our marriage always done something to bring in a little extra money. I have made jewelry, had a little ceramic business and as a licensed stylist cut hair from home. Many times it was just “fun” money and other times it really made a difference in our lifestyle. I consider couponing a wonderful “part time” job, but sometimes and especially in this economy, you need a little more.

I am really excite to profile a few women who have taken the time to tell us what they do so that we might learn something form them or get some good ideas!

Faith S. – Writer 

Why did you start:
I wanted to work from home to take care of my kids and be a better wife.  I started writing for content mills during my lunch break, at night, and on weekends.  I also started applying for freelancer jobs on Craigslist and WAHM.com now and then.  When my husband was transferred to another state, with a raise, I put out resumes and kept writing.  I was offered a weekly writing job that was fairly steady at about the same time, and no one called for an interview.  Basically, I just kept doing it!

What does it take:
After a year of writing for my weekly job, I decided to look for private clients in an effort to make more money.  I kept the content mills and other “egg” on the side, but pursued clients through Elance as well as advertising on Craigslist.  I had the advantage of having a few samples and experience under my belt at this point, and by the middle of the year I had pretty much doubled my weekly income. However, that could not have happened without first working for a penny per word and learning everything I could about SEO, blogging, article writing, and web content writing.   That first year was much lower pay, but what I learned enabled me to charge/ make more later on.

How many hours a week do you work:
Between 5 and 20, depending on how much work comes in, or how much I look for.  Some weeks I know I have a lot of “other” stuff to do and just don’t look for work other than what I already have on schedule.

What is an estimate of what you can earn:
At this point, if I worked this like a regular 40 hour per week job, I could easily earn between $800 and $1,000 per week.  Keep in mind you have to pay taxes on that, and no one I holding it out for you.

How long have you been doing this:
I am in my third year, so almost 2 and a half years if you do not count that year or so I did it for extra money on the side.  If you do count that, then over three years.

Any other suggestions or comments: 

If web writing is something you are interested in, and you currently work outside your home, I definitely suggest working some content mills during “spare” time at first.  This will let you get a feel for it and allow you to build your income slowly without financial stress.  Then you can transition to working from home full time in your own time.  If you are already at home, just dive in. Work the content mills, work the freelance sites, join freelance groups on Facebook, and scour for jobs.  Research everything, beware of scams, and good luck!

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