How to Work From Home With Kids: 13 Money-Making Ideas From Home

Working from home sounds like a sweet deal: no need to commute, more time for yourself, and you can even combine travel and work.

Reality check: working from home also means there will be delays in communication with your team, you might experience feelings of isolation, or have trouble concentrating with a sink full of dishes in the next room.

Work-from-home becomes a much bigger challenge once children are in the picture. A children’s school or activity schedule will often collide with your work schedule. A bored child might rush in screaming while you’re doing a business presentation.

You don’t have to compromise your work performance or give up your career – there are ways you can do both.

Whether you want to work as part of a team or solo, we’ve listed various jobs that can be easily done from home with kids in the house. We’re also sharing practical productivity tips to help you work more efficiently. Let’s dive in!

11 Tips to Maximize Work Performance While Working With Kids at Home

Finding the right equilibrium between work and parenting is crucial when your office is now your home and your coworkers are your little ones. To help you excel in your work while taking care of your children, here are 11 practical tips to be able to successfully work from home with kids:

1. Set realistic expectations
2. Communicate your schedule
3. Set clear boundaries
4. Have a dedicated working space
5. Have backup plans
6. Work bursts of focused time blocks
7. Prioritize your day
8. Get outside
9. Connect with other working parents
10. Keep kids occupied
11. Ask for help

1. Set realistic expectations

Be realistic about how much work you can get done while working from home with kids. A full, interrupted 7 to 8 hours, like back in the day, can quickly prove to be a delusion. To avoid getting disappointed and putting a strain on yourself, set expectations that are realistic, like 4 to 5 hours. If you stay focused, you can get a lot of work done.

2. Communicate your schedule

Work-life balance is sacred. A recent FlexJobs survey found that 63% of the 4,000 respondents would choose better work-life balance over better pay. So if you’re working with a team, negotiate a flexible work schedule that will not hinder the productivity of your team.

For example, you can arrange to work during specific hours in the morning and later in the evening. All your team should know about your schedule and when they can expect an answer from you for the sake of transparency and better collaboration.

3. Set clear boundaries

Your children should be able to distinguish between mom’s work hours vs personal hours. Create your own “privacy policy” and set boundaries regarding when you will be working and when you’ll be available for play, family activities, or any other requests. It might be hard for kids to grab the concept of work since you will be at home, but our next tip tackles exactly that.

4. Have a dedicated working space

Having a dedicated working space or home office serves a dual purpose: first, it makes it easier for your children to realize that when you’re in a certain room, you’re working and should not be interrupted.

And second, it also makes it easier for you to separate your personal life from your work and actually relax once you’re done working – something which is not easy to do when your kitchen table is both the place where you eat and make client appointments.

5. Have backup plans

Life with kids is wonderful but also unpredictable. Kids get sick, nannies cancel at the last minute, and the list goes on. It really pays to have a backup plan, especially if you’re working with a team and not as a freelancer. For instance, see if your partner can ask for a similarly flexible schedule that would allow them to be at home if required.

6. Work bursts of focused time blocks

Multitasking is a lie. It’s one thing to “pull through” multitasking and another to be productive while multitasking. The brain can only focus on one thing at a time, and it needs some time to regain its focus once it’s lost. Therefore, splitting your attention between different tasks or interrupting your work to pick it up later will make you work sloppier and slower.

If you want to get the job done, focus on the task at hand, and don’t let anything interrupt you – you’ll be much better for it! If you have trouble prioritizing or sticking to a schedule, use a productivity software app.

7. Prioritize your day

The Pareto principle states that 80% of results come from 20% of actions. In other words, if you have several tasks to complete, start with the ones that will have the most impact on your work day. These could be tasks that are blocking other tasks of yours or your teams, tasks with a tighter deadline, etc.

By getting priorities out of the way early on, you will feel more relaxed for the rest of the day. It’s also the best way to ensure you don’t fall seriously behind with your work if anything unexpected comes up during the day.

8. Get outside

Remote work, for all its benefits, can take a toll on our mental health if we don’t take steps to remain active and social. Use the opportunity that working from home gives you to get outside and spend quality playtime with your kids, exercise, or simply treat yourself to a change of scenery. Taking some time to go outside is the best way to recharge your batteries and clear your head.

9. Connect with other working parents

No one can understand the struggles of a working parent better than other working parents. Many companies have launched support groups for working parents, but if that’s not the case with you, you can still find support in parenting forums and websites, and even social media groups, where you can additionally get valuable free resources and advice!

10. Keep kids occupied

After all is said and done, you can make all the plans and home offices you want, but if your kids get bored, they will come to you seeking entertainment. If you have to leave them unsupervised, make sure they have plenty of fun stuff around, like their favorite board games, puzzles, and a drawing or DIY kit.

11. Ask for help

Last but not least, don’t be too proud to ask for help. Working with a young toddler crying in the next room can be exhausting, even if you have a babysitter at home. See what childcare options are in your neighborhood if you need undivided attention.

If you’re struggling to keep up, speak to your partner to see how they can help more and to your employer to renegotiate your terms of employment. Parent support groups are also great to lean on, but if things become too overwhelming, a mental health professional is the best person to seek advice from.

13 Brilliant Money-Making Opportunities to Work from Home with Kids

Congratulations on finding your rhythm and successfully managing the delicate balance between work performance and parenting while working from home with kids! Now, let’s take things a step further by exploring 13 exciting money-making ideas that can be pursued from the comfort of your own home:

1. Data entry
2. Recruiting coordinator
3. Babysitter
4. Virtual assistant
5. Proofreader
6. Transcriptionist
7. Blogger
8. Graphic designer
9. Social media manager
10. Online teacher or tutor
11. Online coach
12. Membership site creator
13. eBook author

1. Data entry

A data entry job is as simple as a job can get: you just need to input a set of data or documents into a cloud database. Healthcare facilities, eCommerce businesses, and legal firms are a few examples of companies seeking data entry employees.

While no special training or qualifications are needed, you should be able to type fast and have an eye for detail, so you don’t misspell or overlook anything.

2. Recruiting coordinator

With many companies operating entirely on a remote work basis, recruiting is yet another process that takes place online. As a recruiting coordinator, you will take care of job postings and candidate tracking, schedule job interviews and act as the candidate’s point of contact, and even assist with new employee induction and onboarding.

If you’re a people person that enjoys working with others and showcases strong organizational skills, this is the job for you.

3. Babysitter

You already have the experience and a kid (or more) at home, so why not make good use of it by babysitting a neighbor’s kid? Not only will you earn some decent money, but your child will make a new friend to play with. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

4. Virtual assistant

Virtual assistants offer mostly administrative support to individuals and businesses. It’s a job that, by default, is conducted online. As a virtual assistant, you’ll be expected to manage email and phone communications, arrange travel plans, communicate with clients and schedule appointments, and do file keeping and data entry. In some cases, you might also run personal errands, like buying gifts.

A virtual assistant’s job revolves around organizing and scheduling stuff, so you need to have top-notch organization, prioritization, and time management. Since you’ll be collaborating closely with your employer and have access to private information, you also need to have excellent communication skills and demonstrate confidentiality.

5. Proofreader

If you’ve been called a grammar Nazi all your life, this is payback time! Proofreaders check written content (anything from articles, web pages, and books) for grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation mistakes.

Having a legitimate interest in and excellent knowledge of the working language is enough to become a proofreader and earn a living by doing what you love most: correcting other people. Attention to detail is also required.

6. Transcriptionist

As a transcriptionist, you’ll have to listen to audio or video recordings and transcribe what you hear into written form. Although it is a pretty easy job, you will need to have an eye for detail and basic proofreading skills to ensure the output is accurate. You’ll also need excellent listening skills and command of the language, as well as typing skills both in terms of accuracy and speed.

7. Blogger

Blogging is among the top side hustles for introverts, so if there’s a topic you’re passionate and knowledgeable about, consider starting your own blog. The sky is the limit as to what you can write, but some of the most popular topics are personal finances, food & recipes, travel, self-care, health & fitness, fashion & beauty, and many more.

To become a blogger, you need, of course, excellent command of the language and a knack for writing. On a more technical level – and to actually succeed and make money from blogging – you need to be familiar with basic SEO practices to improve your blog’s online visibility and social media management to promote it. Keep in mind that this job takes a while to bring money to the table unless you already have an audience.

8. Graphic designer

Graphic design is a popular creative occupation that is often conducted on a freelance or remote basis. As a graphic designer, you will create designs and several visual elements for websites, digital content, and more.

Graphic design is something that you can learn to do on your own if you’re willing to dig around and learn about graphic design trends and experiment with several tools. That said, receiving formal education will help you get there much faster.

9. Social media manager

As a social media manager, you’ll be responsible for launching campaigns that will reinforce your client’s brand, increase their social media reach, and build engagement with their audience.

To become a social media manager, you need more than your own experience with social media platforms. It’s important to also have a background in marketing or a similar field, basic copywriting skills, and solid knowledge of analytics tools.

10. Online teacher or tutor

If you have a degree in a certain field of study, then tutoring online is an excellent way to make money. Even better, you can create a source of passive income for yourself by turning video tutorials into online courses. Don’t worry about getting the word out; there are plenty of ways to market your online course and increase course sales without spending a dime!

11. Online coach

Coaching is a lucrative profession as is. And, you can actually get more coaching clients when offering your services online as your reach expands and your offerings become richer. For example, you can offer eBooks, workbooks, quizzes, and mini-courses as part of your online coaching program.

Coaching is a competitive industry, with the offer being as high as demand. It also involves a high level of responsibility since people will come to you with their insecurities and aspirations, hoping you’ll help them change their lives. Therefore, it’s highly recommended that you get certified by an accredited body and not rely on your “natural aptitude” or personal experience to become a coach.

12. Membership site creator

Memberships usually work with monthly or yearly subscriptions, so building a membership site is a smart way to generate a recurring stream of income. There are several membership site platforms in the market, so take your time exploring them, and take advantage of free trials before you find “the one.”

The basic premise of a membership site is that it offers gated content and events to its members. This means that you can build your membership site around something you’re already offering. For instance, if you have a blog, you can create some content accessible exclusively to paying members. If you’re a fitness instructor, or any type of tutor, content creator, or coach, you can conduct webinars and live events and package them under a membership.

13. eBook author

eBooks are among the most profitable and popular digital products, so apparently people still read books even if they’re in electronic format. An eBook can be about literally anything you can imagine – fiction or non-fiction. It ultimately comes down to what you’re knowledgeable about and what you love. Selling eBooks online is not that hard, provided you have some time to promote it.
To write a non-fiction eBook, you need to have specialized knowledge on top of excellent writing skills. For non-fiction, you might want to invest in creative writing lessons to ensure you know the basics of writing with flow and structure.

Final Thoughts – Balancing Quality Time with Children and Work Commitments

These productivity tips and work ideas can help you work from home with kids around. Eventually, as a working parent, you can do nothing but your best. And if your kid does appear screaming during your meeting, it will just give everybody a good laugh, and they’ll move on with their day with something to smile about.

If you’re thinking about selling digital downloads, like eBooks, coaching, or online courses, then try Payhip. With our powerful marketing tools, you won’t have any problem promoting your offerings and making money online. And, Payhip has a forever free plan with all features available! Get started today.