Starting an Online Business As a Single Mom - Pros and Cons

If you have a full time job, you'll earn enough money,Little to no income in the first 6 months
but you don't have enough time for your child. If youWe are talking about building a serious and honest
work part time, you can spend more time with youronline business, not about a 'Get Rich Quick' scheme.
kid, but the financial situation will be tight. So the idealDuring the first 6 months, you probably won't earn
solution would be a job that requires no more than 4any money at all.
to 5 hours work per day AND provides sufficientNo fixed monthly income
income. From my own experience, starting an onlineYou need to be comfortable with a certain insecurity.
business could just do the trick. However, it'sYou won't have monthly payslips with a fixed
important to look at both sides of the coin beforeamount. Although income from an online business will
you decide.normally grow over time, there is no guarantee. You
Let's consider the PROS first:might have seasonal fluctuations. Or a strong
Low risk and investmentcompetitor might take away some of your
An idea, a computer, an internet connection and acustomers.
step-by-step guide how to set up and market yourNo employees' benefits
business is all you need.Depending on the company you work for, you'll have
Work at your own paceaccess to benefits like medical and dental insurance,
It's completely up to you how many hours per daylife insurance, pension plans and others. If you are
or per week you are going to work for youryour own boss, you'll need to take care of all these
business. Just be aware that your business will growthings yourself.
slower or quicker, according to the amount of timeSocial isolation
you put into it.As a single mom, your social contacts will be limited
Work from homeanyway. When you work outside your home, you
A huge advantage as you don't waste time withhave at least your colleagues to engage with. But
commuting. And it makes it so much easier to fitwhen you work completely from home, you might
your work into your daily duties as a single mom.feel pretty isolated. It will take more effort from
Exciting and fun learning experienceyour side to build a social network.
The foundation for your online business will be anMotivation has to come from inside
area that excites you (a hobby, a passion, lifeThere is no set time when you have to be at your
experience). That means working on it might not feeldesk. No boss, mentor or colleague will praise you for
like "work" at all. In addition, the whole process ofyour achievements or provide feedback how you
building and marketing your online enterprise is ancould do better. You need to be able to motivate
amazing learning experience.yourself, define your goals and stick to them.
Being your own bossIn conclusion, it depends mainly on your personality,
Priceless. You decide when to work and what towhether an online business is the right solution for
work on. Later on, you might even consideryou. If you are self-motivated, well organized and a
"outsourcing" some of your tasks and thus sit on thebit adventurous, you should definitely give it a go. As
other side of the fence, for a change.I said earlier, starting an online business needs almost
Automatic cash flow, once establishedno financial investment. And if you do it right, the sky
This is, in my opinion, the biggest benefit of an onlineis the limit for what you can achieve with it.
business. If you do it right, it will provide anIf security and a stable, well known work
automated cash flow from various sources, e.g.environment are important to you, you might be
earnings from Google ads, affiliate commissions, sellingbetter off as an employee. On the other hand, the
hard or e-goods, getting referrer's fees and so on.beauty of an online business is that you can start it
Imagine going on a long holiday with your kids ... andpart time. Actually, you should do so, as you will need
the money keeps coming in.another source of income to sustain you during the
Sounds too good to be true? Well, I have done itfirst year. So, even if you are not the adventurous
and so can you, but there are some CONS youtype of mom, you could still give it a try.
should consider as well: