Sahm who would love to set up a little business ideas please.

[Somersby12]

I am a very happy sahm & I need to be due go dhs irregular work pattern which involves being on call /needing to leave the country at the last minute etc.. So I obviously need to be here for the dc.
I would love to set up a small enterprise to keep myself busy & for the extra income for myself. Would love some ideas & I am absolutely not in any way crafty. Non crafty ideas would be most welcome

I’m a freelance writer. And I also do a little bit of VA work managing a client’s email inbox.

One of the websites I write for is all about side hustles and making money online. It’s not difficult to build your own affiliate website to generate some cash, which is one of the more profitable ideas on the site. Something else that hasn’t already been mentioned is selling printables and digital templates on Etsy. It has a low barrier to entry but it’s getting quite competitive so it’s tricky to stand out. Social media management is popular right now and there are courses in how to do this.

Whatever you choose to do will take some work and maybe a little bit of investment upfront.

Although all the information is out there if you look hard enough, it’s worth the time saving to get a step by step course for whatever you decide to do because otherwise you can waste a lot of time, effort and cash making rookie errors and going down dead ends (ask me how I know!). For instance, look up “the authority site system” or “affiliate lab” for how to build a profitable website. These courses are not cheap ($500-$1000) but they are worth it to avoid the pitfalls and for the support communities. If you’re interested in social media management, the two Laura’s do a course on this that seems a worthwhile investment.

The reason so many side hustles don’t reach the level where it could replace an income is because people give up before it becomes profitable and they thought it would be easier than it is.

My good friend makes very good money from here washing and ironing service. She made £34K last year. She works fairly long hours thou - when DC are in bed and at school. She collects and drops off and has a huge waiting list now.

My side hustle is buying and selling. Car boot sales are better to buy from as you can pick up bargains, I do go to charity shops too but don't make as much profit. Because I list so much I have a lot of followers on vinted that are repeat buyers. I make around 250-350 a month doing that.

Bookkeeping or ironing are the ways to go I reckon.

A friend started an ironing from home business and it was very successful.

But this doesn't reflect the effort involved in something like this. How much time do you spend keeping track of purchases / expenses, and how long does it take you to fill in a self assessment every year?

Ironing maybe. But I would not be hiring anyone with zero experience and accounting education to do my books.

I'd follow people like Lisa Johnson online to look at what kinds of things small businesses in that online world are doing and see if they could work for you.

Look at VACT if you want more information about being a VA - she has lots of blogs and free resources.

There's a podcast called Summit and Stream about setting up as a freelancer which I enjoyed.

If you're interested in content writing have a look at Elna Cain's blog.

If you put 'side hustle' into Pinterest you'll get loads of ideas too.

Ha, of course. I was meaning for the OP to do a bookkeeping course.

You say your husband’s hours are irregular, but how irregular exactly? Does he know say a week in advance what he will be doing?

I’m asking because back in the day I used to employ a handful of women whose husbands worked odd hours but they gave me their availability on a weekly basis and I did the rotas round that. It worked well for all of us. This was in the bar/restaurant/hospitality sector.

Most of my advice is on how to avoid infringing on other peoples trademarks. If you were helping set up a takeaway, going through the menu and making them understand that for example McDonald’s/ KFC trademark everything they can and are highly litigious.

Generally I research and give advice with a lengthy disclaimer on the side. I’m really cautious and encourage people to embrace unique (made up) IP. Really reduces it coming back to bite you. I work with small businesses normally. Farmers and their families who are creating new income streams gin, clothing, selling eggs direct rather than through an intermediary. People setting themselves up as plumbers/ joiners type stuff.

I don’t make a lot roughly £500 per setup. Then £20 a month for ongoing help. It isn’t much but as you build a portfolio of ongoing clients it builds up over the years.

some sort of printing business could work. Printing on bags, t shirts etc. there always seems to be a market for personalised stuff. The right sort of printer (for fabric printing) used to cost ££ but much cheaper now

I agree with pp that there’s no such thing as a ‘little business idea’

It’s really hard work to make money from a small business. You honestly have to love it and be really determined to make it work. It’s also going to take a lot more time than you think.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it. I think it’s one of the most rewarding things you can do. However, you need to be realistic about what it entails.

My advice (for what it’s worth) is find some time connecting with your interests and passions and see where that takes you.

If it’s just money you want, also agree with pp that a flexible/ casual job will give you more money per time spent, even at min wage.

Most of the reselling type businesses that have been recommended tend to take a lot of time for not much return.

A local cleaning, ironing, alterations service could work.

Longer term trying to connect with your interests again will point you to the right path, whether that’s retraining to do something or creating a business you really care about that.

A business you genuinely care about has a better chance of succeeding and not only giving you the money and lifestyle you want but giving you a personal sense of satisfaction doing something you find interesting.

@Fairymother why would anyone employ a tutor unless they had teaching experience?

I'm a merchandising assistant;I work in local supermarkets stocking up certain brands,tidying displays etc

A few assignments I do are time sensitive sometimes but generally I can go in at any point the store is open;the assignments are individual as well ranging from 15 minutes to 4 hours so I can do some and go back later if needed;this means I do school hours in term time and then work around hubby's schedule during non term time.

The company I work for will be recruiting nationwide in January as they have a large new contract coming in.

The only downside is that's it's minimum wage.

Whats the area you live in like? For instance MIL lives in commuter belt London in a very wealthy area so her alternative healing treatments well there were a lot of ladies that lunch with a lot of extra cash so she was always booked up.I live oop North edge of coal fields there isn’t much extra cash round here, her business model would have struggled.

I would say a good cleaner is like gold dust until I retired I always had a cleaner. The last one was with me eight years. Can be done in school hours, you just need a couple of regular clients who want a few hours. Round here a cleaner can get £15 per hour, where MIL lives it’s more. But you need to be very good. I always booked a one off clean first and looked at the standard.

I didn’t need to employ a tutor as DH and I both worked in higher education so tutored our own children but I would never have considered someone who was not a qualified teacher to tutor my children.

One massive gap in the market is people that do small diy jobs round the house. The other is women that do stuff like this. My very elderly friend was delighted to employ a woman decorator recently. Obviously that is actually skilled to do to the level of being able to charge, plus it needs to be safe.

I was going to suggest something like @bakedbeansontoastfortea. Your background and skill set is retail, so this is what you work from. It also depends on what your premises lends itself to in terms of storage, workshop and and office. My relative has an etsy and ebay based business where she sells specific items she has purchased and repaired. It was trial and error for a couple of years to see what worked for her, and you have to find your niche. I have a business which is farm diversification - this is my workspace and my qualifications were in business. I didn't return a profit for the first couple of years, but now I'm VAT registered and bringing home a good income and decent pension pot.

Have a look at online learning. A good friend became a fully qualified accountant by studying nights and weekends around her children.

Dog walking. I did this last year and I made about 1000 quid a month-flexible and could fit it in around the kids. Got quite fit doing it and it was nice being outside in the summer. Bit grim in winter mind and the car got covered in mud (had I carried on I think I would have got a little van, but as it was I needed to earn more when our mortgage doubled, thanks Liz Truss-so had to go back to my qualified job being a social worker).

It would definitely be wise to educate yourself on the pitfalls of MLM if you’ve never heard of them.

You sound like just the sort of person who is targeted; naive to running a small business, bored at home, wanting a side line and with money to outlay.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you have lots of PMs in your inbox from “successful” SAHMs who want you on board!

My cousin had a very lucrative side business picking stuff up in charity shops/antique auctions and selling it on. He'd done his research though and knew he was picking stuff up that collectors wanted and was getting it for a steal.

I started selling digital products on Etsy earlier this year as a side hustle and just did £2k in revenue last month. It's hard work for the first few months though if you have to learn everything from scratch. I make my digital products on Canva which is easy to use and doesn't really require any technical knowledge.

One of the first things I did online years ago was eBay arbitrage but I'm not sure how well that would work these days as I'm sure the marketplace has changed a lot since.

I startet tutoring my mother tongue in foreign countries, then when back in my home country i tutored english and french.
At the moment I have so many primary school aged kids for private tutoring. Almost anyone can do that. Their curriculum is very easy and easily picked up. All it takes is being good with kids. In higher education i mainly tutor german and french, because im proficient in them.
Musical instrument would work too if OP plays one. Its easy to find work as a tutor without a degree. People skills help a lot.

Ironing? Advertise your service in your local shop/Facebook/school

Ironing bedsets is popular because most folk can’t iron them properly!

You’d have enough for your holiday I’m sure after a few months