How to Make Extra Money From Home

If you are a stay-at-home parent, just retired or crave the flexibility of working for yourself, making extra money from a home-based business may be worth looking into. Set your own hours and do what you love.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Consider your talents and expertise. If you have an accounting degree or a law degree, consider moving your practice to your home or working from home in addition to your full-time job. A teacher could tutor or a musician could offer music lessons. There are many options here.

2. Open an online store to make extra money. Research products or manufacture your own creations to sell to the public. Many wholesalers will drop-ship products to your customers. You could start out on eBay to work out the kinks before you launch your independent online store.

3. Write articles, newsletters or other projects for local businesses or newspapers. Consider writing articles based on something you know about well. Many publications would welcome expert advice columns or articles.

4. Care for children in your home during the day, after school or in the evenings. Check with your state for the guidelines governing in-home daycare centers.

5. Offer a service, such as interior decorating, professional organizing, catering or a cleaning service.

6. Check job board sites, such as Journalism Jobs, Career Builders or Monster for telecommunication jobs. Many companies offer home business option for consulting, writing or other positions.

7. Shop for extra money and products by becoming a mystery shopper. Be careful about which company for which you choose to shop. Some companies require you to pay to become a shopper. Choose a company that doesn't charge you.

Tips & Warnings

• Designate a work space for your business, and let your family know that this is your business space.

• Check your local ordinances to see if you need a license to run your business. Some areas require a business license even for a part-time business.

• Be diverse, and don't rely on one source of income.

Resources

• Journalism Jobs is a job board for writing and editing jobs.
• Career Builders is a job board for various career fields.
• Monster is a job board for various career fields.