Combining Work With Doing What You Love - A blog by Abby Holt

Work doesn’t have to mean a commute to the office or factory to do a job you don’t really enjoy. If you like the idea of working from home, are organized and disciplined enough to see it through, and have something you enjoy doing that you’d like to market, think outside the box and come up with your own fun, at-home business.

Here are a few ideas for parents and non-parents alike to get you thinking of fun and interesting ways to begin a new career you can do from home. 

Professional Pet Sitter. Want to have a job where everyone is so happy to see you that they lick your face and jump for joy? Then becoming a pet sitter or dog walker will be right up your alley. According to Money Crashers, people love their pets to the tune of $100 billion dollars a year, of which $8 billion goes for pet services alone. Most pet owners are looking for someone who has taken some training classes and received a certificate in pet care and first aid. Fortunately for you, this can be done online through The National Association of Professional Pet Sitters. 

Music Teacher. Do you know how to play the piano, guitar, violin, or slide trombone? Can you listen to a child play badly and not reach for the noise-canceling headphones? Then the job of music teacher may hit all the right notes for you. Most parents will gladly pay to have their children practice out of their home and in yours, so finding students to teach won’t be all that hard. Just visit local schools’ music departments and let them know you’re available for private lessons. 

Translator. Are you fluent in more than one language? Do you understand the complexities and nuances associated with each language enough to convey, not just the words—because honestly, cell phones do that now—but the flavor and culture associated with that language? If that speaks to you, then you can become a professional translator earning an average of $20 an hour.

Travel Consultant. You’ve been to places and you know things. You’ve garnered frequent flyer miles and hotel rewards points. You’re a savvy traveler and you know all the tricks of the trade. If this sounds like you, then you’ve reached your home-business destination. Families looking for an affordable vacation, brides and grooms looking for the most romantic honeymoon, or even small companies who want to plan workshops and conferences but don’t have in-house resources to help plan them are all potential clients. 

Who’s the Boss? Hopefully, you're already thinking, “Hey, I bet I could start a business doing that thing that I’m good at doing.” But that’s only the beginning. You are now your own boss and that means marketing, managing your finances, organizing, and planning. You really need lots of business cards because you’re going to be giving them out to everyone you see - strangers in the grocery store, people at parties, the Starbucks barista. Luckily, you can make them yourself using a free online business card design app that lets you design your card to be as unique and special as you want and you don’t even have to know what you’re doing. You can also find all kinds of free or reasonably priced invoicing and bookkeeping software, online calendars with reminders, and financing and income tax tools to help keep you on good terms with the IRS.

Working from home in a business you created yourself can be one of the most rewarding careers you can have. If there truly is something you enjoy doing that you’d like to market, then learn all you can about the industry, make a plan on how to start, get the right tools, and all the rest will follow.