How I Make a Full Time Income as a Stay-at-Home Mom

Can I just begin this post with some important things you should know about me before we begin?

The first five years of my marriage I did not have an entrepreneurial bone in my body. In fact, I just had “real” jobs while I attended college.

But when my oldest turned five I decided I didn’t want to leave my little girl and just wanted to be with her full time. My wonderful husband agreed. 

And then the babies came---one after another. What a joy to experience all of God’s blessings!

And as our family grew so did our expenses! We were now a large family and the budget was growing tight. 

So I prayed to the Lord and asked Him for help. Dear God, if there is a way that I can help my husband now that I have some older ones to help me out a bit and could you please show me how?

I knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of time working and getting a low return/profit on my time.

Never in a million years did I ever expect the Lord to answer us the way that He did. He used what I was doing already and loved and turned it into a full time income opportunity for our family. I can’t get over His goodness to us. I am very humbled by what He has done and oh so grateful.

DOING WHAT I LOVED

I had been running my blog for a while, several years in fact. When I had prayed I also thought of how I loved blogging and wondered if there was some way I could use that to generate income. 

Sure enough, God answered that prayer with a yes! I was able to earn income through blogging (I own two blogs), writing books, becoming a consultant for LillaRose (selling beautiful and lovely hair clips), and launching my own blog consultation services to women to teach them how to earn money doing what they love (our consulting service has been up for several years now and we have consulted with women all over the world!). And working at home has even allowed me to work with brands all across the country and support some really neat humanitarian projects as well!

I am so grateful that God has provided this extra means of earning for me. I had been able to stay at home with the children and watch them grow and not miss any milestones. I know that many aren’t able to do that, and that is why I don’t take it for granted for one minute. There is nothing else I would rather be doing than being able to spend time with my children in the comfort of my own home. 

LIVING A LIFE OF CONTENTMENT

And while I do make a full time income online, I am reminded that while we are able to earn an income that it is not my main goal at all. Did you ever hear the story about the fisherman and the rich business man?

 Here it is:

A vacationing American businessman standing on the pier of a fishing village in Mexico watched as a small boat with just one young fisherman pulled into the dock. Inside the small boat were several large fish. Enjoying the warmth of the early afternoon sun, the American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish.

"How long did it take you to catch them?" the American casually asked.

"Oh, a few hours," the fisherman replied.

"Why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" the American businessman then asked.

The fisherman warmly replied, "With this I have more than enough to meet my family's needs."

The businessman then became serious, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

Responding with a smile, the fisherman answered, "I sleep late, play with my children, watch ball games, and take a siesta in the afternoon . Sometimes in the evenings I take a stroll with my wife into the village and we take time to visit with our friends."

The American businessman impatiently interrupted, "Look, I have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you to be more profitable. You can start by fishing several hours longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra money, you can buy a bigger boat. With the additional income that larger boat will bring, before long you can buy a second boat, then a third one, and so on, until you have an entire fleet of fishing boats."

Proud of his own sharp thinking, he excitedly elaborated a grand scheme which could bring even bigger profits, "Then, instead of selling your catch to a middleman you'll be able to sell your fish directly to the processor, or evenopen your own cannery. Eventually, you could control the product, processing and distribution. You could leave this tiny coastal village and move to Mexico City, or possibly even Los Angeles or New York City, where you could even further expand your enterprise."

The fisherman asked, "But how long will all this take?"

The Harvard MBA pronounced, "Probably about 15-20 years, maybe less if you work really hard."

"And then what?" asked the fisherman.

"Why, that's the best part!" answered the businessman with a laugh. "When the time is right, you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions."

"Millions? Really? What would I do with it all?" asked the young fisherman in disbelief.

The businessman boasted, "Then you could happily retire with all the money you've made. You could move to a quaint coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, play with your grandchildren, watch ball games, and take a siesta in the afternoon then in the evenings you can stroll into the village and take time to visit with your friends all you want."

(Did you notice that the business man said he could spend time with his *grandchildren?*)

As a mom I know many women who are pressured to be successful at their jobs, but we need to draw the line at contentment whenever we know that the sacrifice will be our families. As a blogger I know there many bloggers are tempted to earn  five to six figures when that isn’t really necessary. We need to keep our priorities in line--family is more important than earning a buck. We can't let the world dictate how we should live or how much we should earn.  Money does not equate happiness!

HARD WORK AND COMMITMENT

The road to working full time online is not an easy one  might be lead you to believe. It requires a lot of hard work, discipline, time, and commitment. I often get emails from people asking me how it's done and if it is possible for them do make a full time income at home as well. For me, I believe, it has been a passion of mine to write and work online for a long time and so it has been quite sustainable for me. Since I enjoy it so much most of it does not seem like work -- but an enjoyable hobby instead that is interwoven with the capability of being able to minister and bless others at the same time. What a blessing to be able to do this!




So now I want to hear from you--do you work from home? Feel free to share in the comments and tell us what you do!

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