As I sit here listening to my ‘pump up’ song from 2009 (Against All odds – The Bilz and Kashif), I wonder why we, especially as muslim women, think that there’s nothing out there for us? Can we start working from home and being our own bosses?
Where did this question come from? Well, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m in A LOT…and I mean A LOT of Facebook groups where I get the opportunity to network with women from all over the place, Muslim and non-muslim. And I have found (moreso in the muslim community groups) that we are under the impression that we can’t make something for ourselves. That our choices are either to work for other people or to be nothing more than moms and wives (not that that is a bad thing, but we can be so much more!). In this post, I want to teach you different businesses you can start right from the comfort of your bed or sofa or dining table or, if you’re lucky, your home office. I want to teach you that working from home IS possible for you and then, possibly make you as obsessed about it as myself.
A bit of backstory.
Today i was sitting here scrolling through a Facebook group and I saw a post where a woman wanted to get time off for maternity leave and her company was granting her the leave but without pay (which is ridiculous). However, I then suggested that she start her own business. As soon as she asked what she could do, I asked if I could send her a message; immediately another commenter gave her a warning to not join any MLMs which is short for Multi-level Marketing (it’s basically one of those pyramid schemes where people pay but make NONE of their investment back and actually even lose more money than they’ve put in. I laughed it off and told them both that I was not part of an MLM nor did I do any type of bitcoin or crypto or any of that type of scamming. (Clearly none of them know who I am and how much I love helping women start their own businesses! ) Anyways, once I mentioned what I DIDN’T do, I had a wave of women wanting to know what I meant by starting their own business from home. I kid you not, I have litterally just finished speaking to about 20 women back to back about different types of businesses they can start from the comfort of their own home with just their skills, internet connection and a computer/phone.
So, back to the post!
So what I wanted to do here was give you a few suggestions of what you could do from home and include some resources for you as well to help you get started!
First off, I’d like to share one of the most popular (and reputable) places to get free certifications. Many people don’t know about this little gem but Hubspot also has a courses section as well so if you’re not familiar with hubspot and want to learn about a specific topic in order to start a freelance business, then check it out. All you need to do is create a free account and you have full access to all of the courses as well as the certifications!
Virtual Assistant
One business you can start from home (and probably one of the more popular ones) is a Virtual Assistant business. Now this could mean anything, you could be a specialized VA (which means you’re an expert in one or two specific areas) or a general VA which would mean that you can do a bit (or a lot) of everything). A virtual assistant works mostly (if not totally) remotely and can serve one client or several at a time. There are very few *free* courses that will properly teach you EVERYTHING you need to be a general VA because you do need such a vast array of skills that not many people offer EVERYTHING for free. However, you could pick up tips and tricks from different people. The way I would (and have) gone about doing this is; I’ve searched the mega players in the industry first (Abbey Ashley, Lauren Golden, Gina Horkey and I’m sure there are a TON of others as well, you just gotta look).
Once you find them (I’ve also linked their Youtube channels when you click their names), see what they are talking about. If there is something they talk about that is of interest to you, and they don’t offer a free resource for it, then go search it on Youtube or Pinterest. Someone has definitely made a video or written SOMETHING about it. Not only that but from what they talk about, you can go and find out if anyone else has offered some extra info on that specific topic such as some type of course or even a podcast, etc… To be a virtual assistant, you need to be resourceful and this is how you train yourself to be so.
On the other hand, if you want to be a specialized VA, that can sometimes be much simpler than going and searching for breadcrumbs on the internet. There are TONS of people out there offering free/low cost courses/lessons on specialized topics. For example, let’s use social media management. If you want to be a social media virtual assistant (usually called a social media manager or SMM), you can easily get a free certification for social media over on hubspot. Once you are certified (you don’t actually even need to be certified to do this, however it is better because it shows that you’ve taken the time to learn the skill in depth rather than just learning as you go), you can start looking for clients. Check out my posts about networking here and here.
Digital Marketer
There’s a reason why digital marketing is all the rage these days in the world of working from home! It’s because it’s very difficult for just anyone to do. You definitely need to take some type of course and certification to do it. However, if you’re SERIOUS about working from home, then this is one of the most lucrative businesses you can start.
What is digital marketing? It’s also called Online marketing and deals with all marketing aspects on the internet whether that be email, social media, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Affiliate marketing and everything in between. Again, hubspot is a great place to get certified for digital marketing, however, this time, I recommend an even better resource for this. Did you know Google had an online academy as well? And they offer a (very long but indepth) digital marketing certification? Here is the link to it. Again, this is a totally free course, though it is 40 hours long, it is one of the best places to get certified and actually get clients!
Graphic Designer
Graphic designers are getting more and more popular as more and more people are starting up their own businesses. You can use tools as simple as Canva (offers a paid and free account) and those as complex as CorelDraw Graphics Suite or Adobe Illustrator. There is such a wide variety of things you could do as a graphic designer from social media designs to designing brochures, infographics, typography (create new fonts), and even animation and web design. However, if you want to get into this field but have no skills or experience doing any of it, one of my favourite resources (as always) is Youtube. It’s free and you could learn an incredible amount of info.
If you’re looking for a proper course that also offers a certificate of completion (not of passing the course itself), you can check out courses on sites such as Udemy that constantly offer very good discounts on most of their courses. If you’re looking for a proper Graphic design degree then your best bet would be a proper college/university program. Another way you could learn graphic design are the mini lessons offered by graphic design programs themselves. So, for example, Canva has a Canva academy. Inkscape has a tutorials section. Pixlr (photo editing) also has a learning section on their site. Basically, all you need to do is google ‘Graphic design programs free’ and you’ll find the free tutorials for all (or most) of the main design programs. These can help you get started and then once you start working with clients, you can learn as you go… In the meantime, while learning, also create a small portfolio of what you can do and what you’ve learned in order to show potential clients.
Freelance Writer
A freelance writer could be anyone from a copywriter (someone who usually writes marketing or advertising copy) to a blogger and anything in between. First of all, let’s talk about what freelance work even is! Basically, a freelancer is a person who works for themselves and not in a company or for an employer — basically, self-employed or someone working from home…or anywhere for that matter… now, do you need training or some type of degree to be a freelance writer? Well…yes and no. Let me explain. For example, I would consider myself to be a blogger because, well…the obvious, I write this blog, however, I don’t have a degree in writing or languages. However, even though you don’t NEED any type of specific training to write, it is still a good idea to learn about writing. Whether that be through reading someone else’s blog or (again,) Youtube or just taking a small course.
I’ve looked up a few of the best courses you could take to help you cut down on search time. This one (Peak freelance Writing Essentials) is an investment of £99 and it teaches you not only about the writing side of the business but also the business side of the business. However, what I would personally recommend is don’t do these courses (at the start). If you need help with writing then yes, I’d recommend the courses because you need to write like a pro in order to get pro clients. However, if you already know you’re a good writer, then get a free writing portfolio (this could be a blog or just writing samples) and showcase yourself to the world. If you want to find out what skills you need to be a writer, check out my post here. And the absolute best advice I could possibly give you is write, write, research, write and write some more! What do I mean? Practice your craft. Writing isn’t something that will automatically just come to you. It improves when you practice! And take it from me, once you start going down the ‘buying courses’ rabbit hole, you’ll ALWAYS find something you ‘could really use’ and then once you pay, you end up forgetting…Take it from a recovering serial course buyer… Now I’m not saying NOT to buy courses but buy when you have income coming in. If you NEED to buy, then look at the benefits of them first and the cost. These creators will tell you that it’s worth spending hundreds when you have nothing but zeros coming in because it is of benefit to them! Don’t fall for the trap. Instead, use free resources such as Youtube, Pinterest, blogs, publications, etc…
Low Content Creator
Now you might have heard about this one or you may have wondered about this while scrolling through amazon and wondered if people actually sit there creating, printing, shipping all these books out all over the world. Well, the answer to that is (generally) no. I can’t speak for every single person because I don’t know every single amazon seller however, the majority are using the Amazon KDP platform to create and sell their low content books. Now, what are low content books? Low content books are the key to passive income when you’re working from home. What does passive income mean? Well, you create something once and it sells and continues to sell even when you’ve moved on to something else. And as for low content books, those are the books that just have lines in them (notebooks) or have very writing in them hence, low content. Examples of these would be journals, notebooks, planners, password trackers, meal trackers, etc…
How do you get into creating these? Well, first off, you need an amazon kdp (free) account. This is what you’ll use to upload your book onto the amazon platform and price it. From there, you’ll figure out the measurements for your book (you can find the generic ones here). Here is the information for creating hardcover books. And here is the info for paperback books. You can then go to a website and download some book interiors such as book bolt (they also have a plan where you can access ALL their templates plus access their optimisation tools in order rank high on Amazon and get your books sold for a decent price but you can use the free tools in the beginning to get yourself started and make sure you actually have interest in this. You can also use Canva to create the covers (and interiors if you have some time on your hands). Here is the video that peaked my interest in this field. It gives you the basics of creating your own book. If this doesn’t help, then there are TONS of other videos on Youtube to help you get started. Just search ‘Low Content Books KDP’.
These are just SOME of the businesses you can have while working from home. If you’d like to learn more about different options you can do while working from home, then please don’t hesitate to contact me here. And don’t forget, online is not the only business you can do from home. There are countless other options as well including selling services within your own community or selling physical products.
If I was able to help you in any way, shape or form, or if you have any additional suggestions, please leave them in the comments below letting me and everyone else know your thoughts!.
And if you liked this, then check out any of my previous posts or my latest one about my new obsession with my own new online business here
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