10 Top Ways to Earn Easy Money for WAHMs
MARKET RESEARCH
Many will have heard the term Market Research…but what is it exactly and how can you earn money from it? Putting a new product on a supermarket shelf can be a very expensive exercise for large companies. How do they know you’ll buy it? What makes you pick one product from another? This is called Market Research and companies will pay to hear your opinion. I live in a large city and there are several companies that do Market Research for other large companies. They send out a qualifying survey, I answer some questions and if I fit their target audience they invite me to either give my opinion on a product or taste test a new food product. I fill out a questionnaire saying whether I liked the product or not and they pay me anywhere from $50-$150 for up to 2 hours of my time. If enough people like or dislike the product the large company acts accordingly. These jobs don’t come around too often – maybe 3 or 4 times a year but they are a nice bonus when you get them (and a bit of fun!)
MYSTERY SHOPPING
Mystery Shopping is a bit like Market Research but you go shopping and fill out a questionnaire later. Usually a large company wants to ensure their staff are following procedures around customer interaction. You go into the store posing as a real customer and then report on the customer service you received. Did they say hello? Were they polite? Etc, etc. Sometimes you get paid outright, sometimes you get to keep an item that you purchased and sometimes you get to eat in a nice restaurant for free! Mystery Shopping comes in a variety of styles but I think getting paid to shop and voice your opinion is a nice way to spend an hour or so. These jobs can be more regular – maybe one a month or so – particularly if you are good at report writing.
ONLINE SURVEYS
There are companies that will pay for online surveys – similar to Market Research and Mystery Shopping but you can do them at home…wearing your slippers
RUNNING ERRANDS
I have stated previously that you will make money if you provide a service people are willing to pay for. Is there a large company nearby that you can run errands for? Pick up dry cleaning, post letters, stock their breakfast/lunch bar? Can you get a listing on Apps such as Airtasker? There are many people now who are time poor and would like a reliable person to do errands for them.
DOG WALKING
Like exercise? Do you have a dog? Even if you don’t have a dog, do you have a time poor neighbour with a dog that is lonely and needs exercise? Type or write a flyer and put it in your neighbours letterboxes with your name and phone number on it advertising your dog walking services. Maybe charge $20 per dog per week – get 5 dogs and there’s $100 per week just for walking! Sounds like good money to me.
COOKING
This one is a personal favourite of mine. I love to cook and have made good money from this skill. I had a couple of ways doing this. Firstly, my husband works for a large company and he would take my cooked meals in for his lunch. Everyone started to enquire what his “dish of the day” was today! So I started cooking for his colleagues. I would cook a savoury finger food for Monday – a sausage roll or quiche style – and a sweet muffin/cake for Friday. I only did this twice a week and made sure there were not enough for everyone. This created scarcity and demand. I charged $1.50-$2.00 per item. This was about half the normal price and they are made with a pinch of love – always a nice flavour!! Secondly, when chatting with a market stall holder (see previous articles) I said I was a good cook – say anything confidently and people will believe you!! Anyway, he liked to feed his staff as they worked long, hard hours during the night. So he paid for groceries and for my cooking to feed his staff “breakfast” daily. The workers would start around 2am and finish around 10am so “breakfast” was really like a dinner. I cooked and delivered roasts and schnitzels, etc. The dirty dishes were left and I would collect them the next day when I bought in the new “breakfast”.
LEARN TO SELL ON EBAY
There must be things around your house that you no longer use or need. Sell them on Ebay. Do your friends or neighbours also have things to sell? Sell them for them and take a commission. Visit opportunity shops, garage sales or street clean ups. Find saleable items and sell them on Ebay – great little money spinner.
RIDE SHARING
Drop your kids off at school and then spend a few hours being a ride sharing driver. You can join an ever growing number of companies that are now doing this. All you need is you and your car. Work the hours you want and meet interesting people while you be their taxi!
FREELANCE
Do you have an online skill? Are you good at content writing or website building or computer programming? Join a platform where you can put these skills to use, like Upwork or Freelancer. You only need to take the jobs you want – work a little or work a lot.
FIND CHEAPER DEALS
This maybe won’t make you money but it will save you money. Everyone uses electricity and water. Do you have a choice of providers that you can swap to save money? Don’t be afraid to ask for a discount – the worse that will happen is a no. I recently asked my electricity provider for a discount and was told they would give me an 18% discount if I paid on time. I then went to a market comparison site – they would give me a pay on time discount of 26%…with exactly the same provider!! Why pay more for the same thing? Do this with all your utilities, insurances and if you have a mortgage – ask the same question…Am I able to get a discount please?! You may be pleasantly surprised at the answer.
Yvette is a stay at home mum who is able to earn an income whilst working around her children by being creative. She is co-founder of Strathfield Web Design, designing, creating and managing the online presence of local businesses.
