More Stay at Home Moms Are Running Online Businesses

One of the toughest choices that a mom can make after having a baby is whether or not to go back to work. For those who decide to go back to their office jobs, it's a matter of not just if but when. Although there used to be a clear-cut line between stay at home moms and working moms, the lines are becoming increasingly blurred thanks to online businesses and remote working opportunities. Today's moms may stay at home, but they can still be easily connected to clients or run their own ecommerce shops in their spare time. This has led to the rise of the work-at-home mom.

In the past, many moms earned money on the side by selling beauty products, providing day care or tutoring services, or working in arts and crafts. These are still popular money-making options, but the internet has expanded these opportunities to include such fields as business, website design, marketing, and retail. 

Benefits of Working at Home for Moms

There are numerous benefits for moms (and dads) who can manage to run an online business from home. One is flexibility. By working from home, parents can take care of sick children without calling into the office, and can take care of errands during the day. Parents who work from home have the freedom to meet up with other families for play dates or coffee breaks to expand their social life. Moms working from home can breastfeed on demand without worry, and have time to schedule in naps if they have been up all night with a baby. As children get older and enter school, this provides working parents even more time to grow their businesses.

Types of Online Businesses

There are endless ways to make money from home using the internet. Many parents decide to make money from blogging; sharing stories about their families, interesting news items, and helpful information. Blogs can be monetized using advertising, guest posts, and pay per click campaigns, among others. Another option is to set up an ecommerce business. There is software out there to make short work of setting up a business website, including secure hosting and a fully automated shopping cart system. Click here to see examples of this type of software package. Setting up an ecommerce business allows women to sell physical products as well as services. Moms could choose to offer freelance design, writing, or business consulting services, for example. On the other hand, it's easy to run a shop from home and take care of shipping and web maintenance when the children are down for a nap.

A Growing Trend

Studies show that more moms than ever are embracing the possibilities that online businesses provide, and are choosing to stay at home. There are currently over 10 million businesses owned by women in the United States, and a 2007 survey showed that 48% of women believed that staying at home full time would be the ideal situation. This is up 10% from just a decade earlier, showing that attitudes towards staying at home are changing. It may be the new home career possibilities that are helping tip the tide in favour of becoming a work at home mom.