Work - My Warrior Mom Life

Earn Money On the Side With These Business Ideas for Stay-At-Home Parents

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While most parents agree that raising a family is a full-time job on its own, few parents can comfortably afford to stay at home with their children without earning some kind of income. After all, there are bills to pay, food and clothing expenses for the whole family, and college tuition costs to save up for! Also there may be the added cost of treatment programs for your teens too!

Fortunately, earning money as a stay-at-home parent has never been easier. Remote work and freelancing are more popular than ever, and apps like TaskRabbit and DoorDash make it easy to join the gig economy as an independent contractor. Check out these tips from My Warrior Mom Life to discover a few flexible business ideas for stay-at-home moms and dads.

Try Freelance Writing, Bookkeeping, or Graphic Design

For stay-at-home parents with skills in areas such as writing, bookkeeping, or graphic design, freelancing could be a great way to earn an income and enjoy a flexible work schedule that allows them to continue caring for their children during the day.

Freelance writers create different types of written content for various publications and clients, while bookkeepers help companies track their income and expenses. Graphic designers use technology and art to create different types of visuals for the companies and clients they work with.

Freelancers can also work as:

Virtual assistants
Tutors
Proofreaders
Graphic designers
Bloggers
Software developers
Web designers
Social media managers
Childcare providers
Customer service representatives
Make money as an affiliate

There are a plethora of websites to find freelance work opportunities, including Designhill, Toptal, We Work Remotely, and Behance. However, it’s important to understand the differences between freelancing and working as an employee, as how you’re categorized will affect your taxes and how you’re paid for your work.

Keep in mind that if you’re freelancing as a web or graphic designer, you’ll need to find easy ways to share design ideas with clients. If you need to convert a file to make it less time-consuming to email, there are plenty of free online tools that you can use.

Become a Dropshipper

Dropshipping is another possible business idea for stay-at-home parents, especially those with an interest in pursuing entrepreneurship. This low-investment business idea is easy to start, as the costs associated with becoming a drop shipper typically include a domain name, online advertising, and product testing. But like any type of business, you’ll need to market yourself as a drop shipper in order to stand out online.

Launch a Photography Business

If you enjoy photography, you might also consider starting your own business as a freelance photographer. Some photographers specialize in staging and shooting weddings and events, while others shoot families, newborns, and maternity photos. Other types of photographers shoot products, fine art, landmarks, animals, food, and real estate.

Consider Ridesharing, Errand Running, and Food Delivery

Some other great ways to earn money as a stay-at-home parent include ridesharing, errand running, and food and grocery delivery. If you don’t mind driving, for instance, you could become a driver for rideshare companies such as Uber or Lyft. Or if you enjoy running errands, assembling furniture, doing yard work, and delivering food or groceries, you might consider becoming a Tasker for TaskRabbit. Other delivery apps to work for include DoorDash, Instacart, Shipt, and Uber Eats.

Learn How to Start Your Home-Based Business Today

Once you’ve chosen a business idea that fits your skills, interests, and busy schedule as a stay-at-home parent, your first step toward earning an income is writing a business plan. Your business plan should include a description of the company you’re starting, information about your financial needs and projections, and details about how your products or services will be sold. You’ll also need to decide how you’ll structure your new business.

After writing your business plan and choosing a business structure (also known as your legal entity), you can use an online formation service to easily set up a new company from home. Online formation services can be used to form a corporation or limited liability company (LLC), get a registered agent and a “doing business as” name, and apply for an employer identification number (EIN). Some businesses can be started as sole proprietorships — eliminating the need to use a formation service — but this type of legal entity isn’t right for everyone.

Learn How to Start Your Home-Based Business Today

Acquiring new customers is critical for any business’s sustainability. However, finding prospective clients can be challenging for many new businesses. This is where lead generation strategies come into play. Adopting solutions related to lead generation is vital for any organization that seeks to expand its customer base and generate revenue. Effective lead-generation strategies can increase a company’s visibility, establish its credibility, and ultimately stimulate growth. The importance of lead generation cannot be overstated. It is a fundamental process that lays the foundation for enduring business success.

Find the Job that Works Best for You

Making the decision to return to work isn’t an easy one when you’ve chosen to stay home with your children, but gig work, freelancing, and low-investment business ideas make it easier than ever to earn an income while continuing to care for your family. Online formation services make it as simple as possible to start a new business from home, and apps like Uber, Shipt, and Instacart allow you to join the gig economy at any time.

You may be returning to work, but there’s no need to find a standard 9-to-5 job when flexible and remote work opportunities are so readily available. You’ll earn some extra money without spending too much time away from your children, and you’ll keep your career alive at the same time.

Every family is different, but we can learn from each other. My family struggles with technology. Learn about our journey at My Warrior Mom Life!

Beginning in Business: Advice for Aspiring ‘Mompreneurs’ (Guest Post)

by Cheryl Conklin
cherylc@wellnesscentral.info
Wellness is central to a happy life.

Being a “mompreneur” comes with some built-in challenges, often in the form of cute but demanding tinier versions of yourself. Getting into a good rhythm that allows you to be successful both in business and motherhood can take some time. You can save yourself some hours and energy, though, if you start from a place of solid information and practical advice.

1. Find the Right Business

Deciding what you want to pursue may come easy to you. You might have a hobby you’ve wanted to take to a professional level for a while. For others, the decision of what business to pursue might be more difficult.

Either way, you’ll need to find something that fits into your schedule. Assess how much time and what time you are able to devote to your business. For those with children not in school yet, flexibility may be the most important feature of a job. In those cases, freelance work or work that you can otherwise complete during the time you can grab throughout a day of parenting might be best.

Whatever your background, freelance opportunities abound: writing, bookkeeping, website development, and many more freelance jobs allow you to choose your own hours and work at your own pace. Moneymint.com lists a number of freelance marketplaces, such as Fiverr and Upwork, which are solid places to establish yourself as a freelancer and find freelance jobs.

Creatives who craft or create art can also work on their own time, and there are a variety of online marketplaces that allow you to see in exchange for seller’s fees. Many choose to start on these websites while building clientele on their own websites and social media shops so that they can eventually sell without having to pay seller fees.

2. Create Boundaries

In order to achieve a healthy work-life balance, boundaries must be set. When you’re in the home, it is difficult for your family to recognize you might have responsibilities other than those associated with being a mom, so it’s vital that you establish boundaries early on to demonstrate to your family your time, space, and attention is valuable elsewhere. If possible, set up a place in the home that can be off-limits to your family at all times. That way, your family will have a visual for your business that will help them recognize and respect your work.

Like physical boundaries, having your own time also will be necessary. Carve out specific times during the way when your family members know they should only access you when necessary. This can be tricky with very little ones, but your toddler’s or baby’s naptime can be a convenient time to sneak away. You can also utilize times when they may be especially calm each day: after lunch, for example, when they might enjoy a few minutes of play or television to themselves.

3. Get Educated

The business world is evolving every day, and online businesses are growing more rapidly than ever. Consider taking business classes in your free time to understand nuanced business practices and give yourself an edge over competitors. With hundreds of MBA programs available fully online, earning your degree at your own pace has never been more accessible.

Running a business while running a household is a challenge, but it’s one that mothers everywhere are embracing. With the right tools and knowledge, you can build a successful business from the comfort of your home and give your children a role model they can look up to up close: their mom.

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Welcome to Adulting….My 18 1/2 Year Old Son

My now 18 1/2 year old son has been back home for four months. He was away for twenty-seven long months at three different treatment programs (Wilderness therapy, Residential Treatment Center aka “RTC” and a Step Down Program aka “Boarding School”). We are very happy to have him home, and he is doing well. He has recently taken some big steps forward that I’d like to share.

Welcome to Adulting!

The subtitle of this post might be called: “Time to Get a Job”. My son’s subtitle might be called: “My Gap Year After High School”.

Even before the term “Social Distancing” became a common expression, my son spent much of the last two months working his own version of social distancing, by keeping to himself, in his own room. Yes, I understand that is common for teenagers and young adults, around his age to want their own space. I know I did at his age, but he took it to another level. He became a Social Distance Master! He was ahead of the curve, especially since no one knew it would become an important skill!

Our home contract agreement stated that he either needed to be in school or have a job, when he came home. He worked during the months of October, November and December, at the local Best Buy as a seasonal employee. He like it a lot. His employment was over, just after New Year’s, the first week in January. During his first six months of being eighteen, he worked at McDonald’s in Utah and at Best Buy in Northern California. Both were excellent “first jobs” with lots of learning opportunities. And he was able to make some money.

In January, he spent time putting together his application for a vocational college in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He gathered transcripts from his three different high school learning environments and sent them off. He called the school in Canada and asked them questions about the Computer Software Development major he applied to. If it works out, his goal is to begin course work there in September. (With so many things up in the air world wide, we will just have to see how it all plays out!)

In January and February, he made some attempts at finding a job and had a few interviews but none worked out, until this past week. Ironically, when so many people are out of work due to the Coronavirus pandemic, our son is working as a bagger at the local grocery store in town. It is considered an “essential job” and he is following their guidelines about hand washing, keeping hands off his face and the correct social distancing!

His first paycheck has yet to arrive, but he has full time hours and is very busy in his duties. This comes right after another success: he finally took his driver’s permit test at an empty DMV a couple weeks ago and PASSED! We celebrated with a dinner at the Melting Pot (when we were still allowed to go out to a restaurant in California). He was proud of himself and very engaged at our meal. He shared funny “memes” on his phone and talked about world events with us that evening. It was really fun!

Next up is signing up for a driving course! Not sure when that will be allowed.

The Definition of “Adulting”

As we welcome our son to his new world of adulting, I looked up the meaning on Dictionary.com.

“Adulting is an informal term to describe behavior that is seen as responsible and grown-up. This behavior often involves meeting the mundane demands of independent and professional living, such as paying bills and running errands.”

He has done the following as an eighteen year old, all on his own:

Signed up for the Selective Service (mandatory for US males as they reach 18 years of age.)
Got a tiny nose piercing.
Opened a bank account and maintained it – complete with a few over draft service charges!
Applied for and received a 10 year US Passport.
Is working Full Time.
Voted in his first Election (the California Primary). No surprise he’s a Bernie guy!
Took over his own iPhone account.
Paid bills to: Apple Music, Hulu, AT&T, Apple Care.
Left his pediatric doctor office to join a new one for adults.
Just received his first Jury Duty request in the mail from the county.
Did his own taxes on Turbo Tax and Filed 2 state returns (UT & CA) – He’s excited to be getting a refund!
Passed his CA Driver’s Permit test.

We are very proud of all the adulting steps he has taken. There will be many more to come! One task at a time and one day at a time! There is no substitute for doing it yourself, as the best way to learn how to navigate what lies ahead in the adult world. So far his gap year after high school has included many life skills and lessons! Soon enough he will be grown and flown!

Staying in the moment,

WARRIOR MOM

Understanding Our Differences

My 18 year old son has been home from treatment since October 1, 2019. Our honeymoon phase lasted about a month, and things started to get a bit tougher for us, as a family. Overall things are still going well, but I have narrowed down our differences into four categories:

Perception
Reality
Expectations
Letting Go

We have the continued support of our family therapist (located in Utah), whom we talk to by phone once a week or every other week depending on schedules. My son talks to the same therapist on his own, about once a week. We need our therapist to help sort some of the differences noted above.

Perception

One thing we have discovered is that my son does not like discomfort or anything that pushes him, even gentle nudges. As parents, we try to encourage with suggestions about work, higher education, free time and any number of topics, only to be stopped in our tracks with firm resistance.
He believes that his way is the best way to handle a situation. As he looks for new employment (his last job at Best Buy was a seasonal position only that ended in the beginning of January), he is content waiting for them to contact him instead of being the squeaky wheel.

Reality

My son has sent an application into a tech vocational school in Canada. He filled it out on his own, asked for all his necessary high school transcripts and sent them in as well. We paid for the modest applications fees. Now he/we play a waiting game. We won’t have long, since he wants to enroll in the Spring Term which begins May 6th.I bet you are saying, “Well all college bound kids wait to hear from the schools they applied to.”
That may be true, but he has all his eggs in one basket: Canada or bust. From what I’ve read online, it seems like a fine school. There is the issue of a study/work permit to get into the country. There is the housing issue near a school that doesn’t have dormitories. And truthfully, his girlfriend lives there (okay, he does have motivation!)Good news, my son has a current passport, which he took care of on his own before visiting his girlfriend last December. At least that piece of the puzzle is taken care of, but the reality is that he has many other things to figure out. And he doesn’t want any help from us. That’s fine, but it’s not going to be as easy as he thinks it will be.

Expectations

Who is going to pay for what? We have always said we would pay for his education. As our home contract said, he needs to either be working or in school. Our expectation was that one of those two things would be happening right now, but it’s not. He has not found a job that suits him, for various reasons. (Starbucks is too hard, other places are too far away, not the right schedule, etc).He planned on taking a certain amount of money into Canada with him. Right now, without a job, he has no money. We are trying to let natural consequences take over, but his expectations are that we will help him more than we say we will. He needs to have “skin in the game” as they say. He’s never been easily motivated, which makes this process so difficult.

Letting Go

We are in the middle of his “self-proclaimed” gap year. Long ago, when he was an early teen, long before he went to Wilderness Therapy and the rest of treatment (RTC and Aftercare), his idea was to take a gap year so he could play video games. We did not agree with this idea and yet, here we are seeing a late teen play Minecraft and do little outside of his room. We have let go of just “how” the adulting will play out and when the actual launching will happen for him. We talk to other parents whose kids also might be less mature, and see that it’s not easy. We make no judgments, believe me.If you are reading this with ideas of what we should do, I applaud you for caring, but our current path is to let this play out organically, without trying to put a square peg into a round hole. In the meantime, we are encouraging, trying to keep him engaged in our lives (not easy for a late teen) and making the most of what is positive.We are grateful that he is safe and know where he is, even if it’s his own room. We are grateful that while things are not perfect, he is not doing drugs. We are happy that he very much cares about his appearance, even when he lets his beard grow. (He did just shave this week, not because we suggested it however!) We are grateful for our friends who listen to our saga and try not to fix it for us or for our son. We are grateful to have grown in the past three years with the help of caring professionals. We are still trying to find balance in our lives with continual self-care and perspective.

The Strength is in the Struggle

That motto comes from our son’s residential treatment center (Discovery Ranch for Boys) and it is very true! We will get through this time of different perceptions, realities and expectations, as we continue to learn to let go. We try to remember that this part of life is up to the young adult, not the parent. We’ve already been 18, 19, 20 years old…… We’ve already been to college and taken our own missteps. It’s up to them now!

We Continue to Love

Our son will hopefully one day see, that we are in his corner and always have been. He wants to do everything himself, except swallow on the very difficult financial pill of what lies ahead for him. He wants to grow up and at the same time, he doesn’t want to. Sound familiar? It’s not easy out there. So our answer for now is to continue to love him, let him take his time, make his mistakes and see it his way (without the unnecessary “I told you so’s”).I follow the stories of many parents in our shoes and I have such empathy for the difficulties that so many families are dealing with. My heart goes out to them and feel blessed that we have come as far as we have. I also know of others who are lucky to have kids that haven’t “fallen down and skinned their knees big time”. Whichever side you land on, take a moment and count your blessings. Take a look around and know others may be in pain. As I often say, we are all just doing the best we can.

I continue to be a WARRIOR MOM……

It’s Not Always Easy….And Yet We Keep Moving Forward

It's Not Easy, But We Move Forward

It has been two months since our 18 year old son has been back home for good from treatment. It’s been great to have him under our roof after twenty-seven months away. We all have been making adjustments to living together again. Not perfect, but rather a work in progress. We have continued with our family therapy calls with his therapist from Utah, by phone. That has been very important and helpful when we need to bring up difficult subjects and clear the air at times. It gives each of us a voice.

Dr. Tim Thayne, author of “Not By Chance: How Parents Boost Their Teen’s Success In and After Treatment“ says “The choice to place your teen in treatment was the hardest decision you have ever made. And the second hardest decision you will make is to bring him home again.”

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Very true indeed. There is so much unknown ahead. We have to focus on what is right in front of us, one day at a time. My son is in his self-proclaimed GAP year, which means he has chosen to get a job and work right now. Our communication has been tough at times, since he is at the age when he is trying to break away from us and that isn’t easy honestly, since we finally have him back again. Another way to look at it is, he was away when he should have been home, and he is home when he should be away. A bit of a flip flop for us as parents.

So for today’s post, I want to focus on what positive things have been happening for my son in the past six months:

1) Son passed the CHSPE exam (California High School Proficiency Exam) in June and is done with High School. BIG!

2) Son graduated from his step down program at the end of September 2019. Gave a brief, but important speech acknowledging his successes while away at treatment.

3) Son has looked into college, toured one and began application. Took the SAT, but has decided a GAP year is his path currently.

4) We agreed on a contract of boundaries and house rules for his return home. Still a work in progress on implementation of household duties/chores and our expectations, AND his.

5) Son wrote a relapse prevention plan, which was awesome on his part. So far so good.

6) Son applied for a job at Best Buy while in Utah so he could begin work right when he came home. Had interview beginning of October, was hired and has been working, mostly part time. Increased work hours coming slowing, but achieved his first forty hour week at Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

7) Saved some money, spent most of it on paintball equipment and some clothes. Started saving again.

8) Planned a trip to meet a friend in Canada before Christmas and renewed his passport on his own.

9) Bought his own plane ticket, with his own money!

10) Started his own phone account, is now off our plan and took over payments of his iPhone purchased in August. REALLY BIG!

His independence is beginning, maybe not quickly, but it is happening. Next up is the driver’s license! When I ask about it, his reply is, “I’m studying.” Okay then, there you have it. A lot of good. Most of it slow. He is not the best communicator in the world, but that may not be surprising to those parents out there with boys!

For me, it’s been a process of letting go. In an email from a parent support group that I belong to was the most perfect reminder of this difficult concept. I am sharing it with you below (many thanks to my brave, unnamed fellow support group parent)!

TO “LET GO” TAKES LOVE
by author unknown

To “let go” does not mean to stop caring,
it means I can’t do it for someone else.
To “let go” is not to cut myself off,
it is the realization I can’t control another.
To “let go” is not to enable,
but to allow learning from natural consequences.
To “let go” is to admit powerlessness,
which means that the outcome is not in my hands.
To “let go” is not to try to change or blame another,
it is to make the most of myself.
To “let go” is not to care for,
but to care about.
To “let go” is not to fix,
but to be supportive.
To “let go” is not to judge,
but to allow another to be a human being.
To “let go” is not to be in the middle, arranging the outcomes,
but to allow others to affect their own destinies,
To “let go” is not to be protective,
but to permit another to face reality.
To “let go” is not to deny,
but to accept.
To “let go” is not to nag, scold, or argue,
but to search out my own shortcomings and to correct them.
To “let go” is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take every day as it comes, and to cherish myself in it.
To “let go” is not to criticize and regulate anybody,
but to try to become what I dream I can be.
To “let go” is not to regret the past,
but to grow and live for the future.
To “let go” is to fear less and love more.

My family has come so far, and yet the road ahead is still unknown. We are working on accepting that……

Wishing you Peace and Happiness,
WARRIOR MOM

Daily Routines

Routines are seldom exciting. Routines can be rather dull. But our new routine was different than most because our son is away at school. And the school is more than just the normal boarding school because they deal with struggling teens. There are lots of rules and expectations of how to get along. There are levels that one moves up through to get more privileges and freedoms.

Our son began at Level One which is better than some. Since he went to a wilderness program he jumped ahead of the Orientation Level. I’m not clear on all the aspects of the levels but, there is information in the Parent Handbook that explains it all. Frankly, it’s a lot to digest. Happily, our son is doing what he’s supposed to to and getting along with staff and peers. The main thing that he’s lacking is the ability to open up.

Why does he have to open up you might ask? Well in addition to school, they are teaching communication skills, values and goals. In order to move forward, one needs to learn to get to the root of why their parents sent them there. Or as if often referred to in slang, “when the wheels fell off the bus”. The new setting gives the students a chance to work on self-improvement by doing daily and weekly chores among other activities.

Some of the chores include doing their personal laundry weekly, cleaning the house they live in. And yes, that means the bathroom and vacuuming, as well as making their beds daily. Everything needs to be tidy and neat. Try that with any group of teenage boys and you might have some difficulties. But if you want to move up to another level, then these things get done. And a habit will become routine when practiced daily and weekly. So there is a lot of repetition and learning by doing. A mom’s dream environment.

Daily Routines

Keeping a schedule can create good habits. They rise at seven am, they take care of personal care, then PE! After that, they eat breakfast. Then they feed their calves. A little housekeeping and then some therapy with their personal or group therapist depending on the day of the week. A little free time, lunch, shower and then school. What? Yup, they go to school beginning at 4 pm every day.

More about that tomorrow, so come back to read about how this school turns education on it’s head!

Routinely,

WARRIOR MOM