If you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance that you want to earn some cash from home. You love being able to be home with your kids (or want to experience it, if you aren’t already) but you would love to have some spending cash too! Or, maybe you want to build a full-time income but have no idea why you can’t get there yet.
I get it momma. People make it look SO easy online, don’t they? All of these ads and posts we see floating around social media talking about making thousands of dollars every month on your phone. They make it sound like the second you decide to try, you’ll be rolling in the cash.
This is simply not the way it goes. As with anything worth having, building an income stream takes time, work, and research. But, I promise you, if you truly want it and are willing to put in the work, you CAN absolutely build an honest income at home. Whether the method you choose utilizes your phone, computer, or any other method.
The best way to find success is to be educated in failure. Learn what has caused those before you to fail at these same things. Learn their mistakes so you don’t make them. Below, I am outlining some of the most common reasons people fail when trying to build an income from home!
There may be affiliate links in this article. You can read more about this in my disclosure.
Reasons Youn Aren’t Earning from Home
1. You haven’t tried.
Let’s be real for a second here. No one is going to show up at the playground you take your kids to and hand you a thousand dollars. I know, it’d be great if we lived in some alternate universe where people just handed us money for no reason at all. Well, maybe. I sort of have the belief that money we don’t work hard for is never truly as valuable as the money we earn from pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into something.
If you want to earn an income on the side of your mommy duties, you need to work for it. The thing about this, though, is that it doesn’t have to interfere with life. You don’t have to leave home for 8 hours a day to make an income. Realistically, you don’t even have to work for 8 hours a day.
There are countless opportunities to earn various levels of income without ever putting more than 10 or so hours a week into it! Now, of course, if you’re looking to build a million-dollar empire you will probably need to push yourself a bit more.
The point is, anyone who wants it badly enough can earn money as a stay at home mom. The first step is finding out what opportunities are out there.
2. You aren’t managing your time.
This is such a huge one for people, but mothers especially. Between having to do load after load of laundry and picking up the same 3 toys over and over again, it’s hard to find the extra time. When you are first getting started, whether you’re aiming to build your own business or work at home for a company, investing your time is the most valuable thing you can do.
Make it a point to sit down and plan out working hours. Sure, we can’t always guess when our kids will wake up from their nap but we can always plan to work as long as possible during nap time.
Are there smaller tasks you can do that you are confident can be accomplished in that 1-2 hour window? For me, as a blogger, when I just have a quick 30 minutes to get some work in, I know that I can make some Pinterest graphics during that time or schedule some pins in Tailwind.
This may be very similar for many moms who work at home. Are you a virtual assistant with just 30 minutes to work today? Check in with your clients or knock something small off of your to-do list. Maybe you just need to create a couple of graphics for them or schedule a meeting. These are things you can easily fit into a small window of time.
The most important thing to do to be as efficient as possible is to keep a running to-do list of tasks. You can even organize your list by how long (approximately) each task should take. This way, when you are short on time you can grab your list, look for something in the 30-minute column, and knock it out.
3. You don’t have a solid business plan
Although this may be a slightly easier task if you are working underneath someone else, a plan is still vital. As someone who earns an income online blogging, it is imperative that I have a plan in place to make that happen.
I plan what posts I am going to write as well as what value I want and need to provide to my readers. If I receive an abundance of questions on a specific topic, I know to include this in my plan to discuss further.
If you are working to earn an income as a proofreader, virtual assistant, or any other path, it is necessary to determine what tasks are going to make you money. As a virtual assistant, for example, you can make a plan regarding how many clients you want to take on each month. Plan out how many tasks you have to complete for each client as well as the time they will take. If you are charging an hourly rate, which you likely are, you can determine your income by calculating the number of hours of work you have and the rate you charge.
If you are earning an income working for a company, you likely still know what tasks need to be done. Are you working for a company doing transcription? How many pieces do you need to transcribe in order to meet your monthly earning goal?
If you are earning $50 per piece (these are totally made up numbers, I am NOT a transcriptionist.) and you have a goal of earning an extra $1000 a month for your family, you know that you need to transcribe 20 pieces a month. You can break this down further and know that you need to complete 5 assignments a week or 1 each day, M-F.
4. You haven’t invested in education
Just like with any other career, education is vital to success. Whether you learn your skills by going to college or teaching yourself, it is imperative that you continue learning.
With the online business space, things change rapidly and on a dime. Therefore I never stop learning and educating myself on a wide variety of things within my business. If you are looking to make a true income or build a solid business out of something, you will be in competition with everyone else trying to do the same.
The best way to stand out above the rest is to have a high level of knowledge in your field and the education and training to back it up. Taking a course in virtual assisting can put you miles above a potential virtual assistant who has only ever talked to other assistants but never taken any formal training.
Another great example is proofreading. Sure, we may think we can take a red pen to anything and do an excellent job but can’t anyone say that? Completing a formal training on the subject matter will give you an enormous advantage among others in that same field.
Horkey Handbook has an amazing virtual assistant course that you can check out right here. You’ll even get access to all the community VA leads to find work!
Proofread Anywhere has a highly popular online course on proofreading! Check out the free workshop from Caitlin Pyle to learn more!
5. You’re Letting Decisions Paralyze You
If there is one thing I have learned in my journey building a stable income from my own business, it is that action speaks louder than words.
Have you ever come to a spot where you have a million ideas but aren’t sure which direction is the right one? This can be one of the most difficult things we have to overcome in building a business or just a side hustle.
If you come to a fork in the road and aren’t sure of the right direction, do you slam the brakes and just sit, paralyzed by indecision, for days, even weeks?
Probably not. It is much more likely that you will veer one way or the other and find out later if the way you chose was incorrect or if it leads to the destination, merely in a different way.
Earning a side income from home is much the same as this. Maybe you have decided to become a VA but are torn on what to call your business. Maybe you have been offered remote positions by 2 or 3 different companies and are completely unable to choose one.
The only way you are going to move forward and reach your full potential is if you make a decision and go for it. Sure, you might decide down the road that another decision may have worked out better but by moving forward you are getting further than if you allow yourself to sit still with indecision.
Wrapping up the top reasons you aren’t earning at home
There you have it! These 5 reasons are the most common ones preventing people from building and stabilizing an income at home. Take a step back and think honestly about your situation. Do any of these reasons apply to you? If so, take the steps you know are needed. Put the confidence in yourself to really try for this.