Did you know there are over 15 million people in India, including homemakers, earning good money because they work from home? A 2018 PayPal Report in India covered 500 people working from home. It found 23% earned over Rs 5 lakh per month or Rs 60 lakh annually. This is your ultimate guide to flourishing Career opportunities for homemakers.
It’s the best time to be a homemaker in India.
Technology, connectivity, and social media have opened a completely new world of passive and active income opportunities to the homemaker.
So, if you are a homemaker, celebrate! You now have a wide choice of career and income-earning opportunities you can take up sitting right at home, making the best use of the time you have.
Earlier, homemakers were busy trying to cope with domestic responsibilities where time was always at a premium. Yes, time denied earning opportunities to several talented women as stepping outside the confines of their home was not an option for many.
It is the 21st century and the best moment in time to create and contribute to meeting any lifestyle and aspirational goals you might have.
Every person has some skills, talent, knowledge, interest, or hobbies but did not know how or where to utilize those. Now, sitting right at home, working for the time you chose, and in an area of your choice, you can make money and contribute to the household income.
I am a homemaker but don’t know how or where to start?
You will be surprised how many women ask this question, feeling hesitant, confused, and unsure of how to go forward.
This guide will answer all your questions. Let’s begin.
Discovering your Niche
A niche is a topic, subject, or area of focus. You have heard of the old saying “Jack of all trades, master of none.” Well, if you want to earn money, at home or outside, you must pick an area based on your interest and passion, and learn all about that one single niche.
The internet offers an ocean of information, knowledge, and training on every topic. All you need to do is to pick a topic and get started.
What do I need?
You need an internet connection with a good speed (3G and above will help).
- A desktop or a laptop, based on your budget, space, and preference.
- A website and a YouTube Channel.
- A payment gateway.
Pick a Niche
Ask yourself, what do I enjoy the most?
Do I like cooking, stitching, painting, writing, reading, cleaning, gardening, photography, chatting, connecting with people, or any other activity?
It could be an activity or interest. For example, you may love pets, or watching movies, theatre, or visiting historical places. Ask yourself what I love the most. Make a list of all the activities or interests that come to your mind.
Next, rank them 1 to 10, where 1 is what you like most and 10 the least. Now, choose the number one topic on your list and now make this your niche.
Become an authority in your niche
If you want to hire a tutor, a cook, a driver, or go to a doctor, won’t you choose the best? To be the best in any field takes knowledge, training, skill, and experience. The same is with your niche.
You need to become an authority in your niche. It means you must have more background and current information and knowledge than those you are competing against, and use it to your advantage by sharing it with others.
People who are interested in your niche will seek you to get the latest information and updates. So, you need to begin building your knowledge about the topic.
Difference between skill, knowledge, and information
You may not know how to paint, but you may have a lot of interest and knowledge about art. For example, painting is a skill; information about art is knowledge. Knowing the latest events in the art world is information.
Likewise, you may not be a great cook or may not know cooking at all, but you may have an interest in different cuisines. Cooking is a skill, but holding information about different types of cuisines and ingredients that go into it is Knowledge. Knowing about the latest restaurants and the food offered is information.
You can make money with skill, knowledge, or information. The best part, you don’t need to be good at it, you need to curate (collect) the information and events on the niche and be the first to present it to an interested audience. People will stick with you if they have the confidence that you are the best person to inform on the subject.
Discovery phase within a Niche
Begin by researching the chosen topic. Say, you are interested in Gardening.
Type “Gardening” in Google search. See types of gardening. Open an Excel sheet and create a list of all the types of gardening. Then, take each one on the list and copy-paste it into Google search. You will get a large list of websites offering further information on that topic. Copy-paste the selected website links into a separate excel sheet (create one list for each type of gardening and under each type, list the top 10-20 websites).
Now, start with each website and read the content. Make notes of all the headings and sub-headings.
By the time you have read up all the websites listed by you, you will have enough information about your chosen niche “Gardening,” and also have information on several sub-niches, like kitchen gardening, vertical gardening, roof-top gardening, indoor gardening techniques for growing flowers, fruits, vegetables, etc.
You can go as deep as you like. Now repeat the search process for each sub-niche. You will be surprised at the knowledge you would have gained and the ideas you will get on what to focus on.
It’s now time to create your website on the Niche and sub-niche that you have chosen to be an authority.
Understanding Passive and Active Income
Active income comes from working at home for a salary or retainer. Passive income is money earned online through advertisement, subscription, memberships, downloads, etc. all of which work 24×7 and without any intervention from you. Once you have set it up, all you need to do is regularly upload content and launch auto-run email and social media campaigns.
Balancing Passive and Active Income opportunities
There is no hard and fast rule on which income stream is to follow. You could indulge in both by balancing and prioritizing your time. Use the time available to you to create and pursue passive income.
You can create websites for as many niches as you want. Based on the quality of content you present, the income earned can be substantial. Some homemakers earn between Rs 5,000 and Rs 5 lakh each month, from single or multiple websites.
Work from Home Opportunities
You can earn working for a salary or as a freelancer.
Income opportunities include:
- Online tuitions
- Run inbound customer service and support
- Run outbound sales promotion through calling or email
- Offer technical support services
- Data entry services
- Appointment scheduling
- Design Websites
- Content writing
- Editing and proofreading services
- Run social media campaigns
- Language translation services
- Medical transcription services
- Legal assistance services
Online business opportunities include:
Subscription-based Training courses: Offer Training courses in your niche through platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Udemy, etc. Once created, offer the video, audio-based courses on Subscription and membership basis.
Use social media to promote your courses. The good thing about this is you need to invest time and money in creating training videos. Once done, you only need to keep adding subscribers who will pay you a monthly fee. The income can be substantial and easily run into six-figures.
E-commerce store: Run an e-commerce site by directly offering your own or sourced products. The other option is Dropshipping. It involves booking orders on your site which is fulfilled by the manufacturer.
This way, you don’t stock anything or have worries regarding inventory, invoicing or order fulfillment. It’s all handled by the manufacturer while you focus on getting clients to buy and making a clean profit. There is no limit on income potential.
Home-cooked food: People prefer healthy home-cooked food but don’t have the time to cook. Set up your home-food service and cater to your neighbourhood. It can be profitable if handled properly.
Customized dressmaking: Ladies like customized dresses and seek dress designers to create an exclusive dress for them. You could offer your services at a lower cost and yet charge a higher fee than a regular tailor.
Book your orders online and then create an exclusive dress for individual clients. References and word-of-mouth recommendations ensure a regular clientele, willing to pay extra for the exclusivity.
Coaching and Mentoring: People need advice from an expert. If you possess deep knowledge and information on your niche, enough people are willing to pay you for giving them advice and guidance. You can charge by the hour for these services. The hourly rate can be high, based on prevailing industry standards.
Website design and development: Every business needs a website, and you could be the person creating a terrific, engaging website that delivers high conversions. You could charge per hour or project. Income could easily touch six figures.
Writing and Content creation: You could offer copywriting, social media or ghostwriting services to clients. It commands a high hourly rate or you could charge on a project basis.
Event planner: If you are a good organizer, then bring out your talent in planning and organizing events. It could be as small as a neighbourhood party or an elaborate wedding for someone in your locality or city. If organized well, it could bring you a substantial income.
Affiliate income: One of the easiest passive incomes is the affiliate business. Create your website with little or no investment and promote other people’s products or services and earn a handsome commission. Sites like ClickBank, Commission Junction, Shareasale, MaxBounty, Viglink, etc, offer very good options.
You now have all the information and inspiration to get started online and begin earning good money staying home. I hope to hear about some of your ideas and business stories. To some of those, you are going to use this information and start work, all the very best!
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