It seems like everyone and her sister are telling you to start a blog if you want to make money as a stay at home mom (or dad).

I’m not going to tell you that. Not now, at least.

Yes, I think blogging is a great way to make a living from home. But not if you need money immediately. There are just not that many bloggers able to generate a consistent, livable income right away.  It generally takes months, if not years to get a blog up and running profitability.

But don’t let that discourage you, because there are still lots of ways to make money from home, whether  you just need a few hundred extra dollars a month for family fun money or enough to cover some of your essential living expenses.

It’s the Side Hustles I Tell Ya!

If you look past the spectacular income reports, you will see that’s true for most of these rock star bloggers you’ve been reading about. Their blogs were never what they counted on to earn them the extra money they needed. At least right away. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner from Making Sense of Cents is a rising star in the blogger world.  She’s not only paid off a huge student loan debt, but she bought a house, quit her financial analyst job and now travels around the country in an RV. But the extra money didn’t initially come from blogging as she explained in one of her income reports.

“This all started out as my extra income report because in the beginning, it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs. In my side income reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I made at my day job.”

I’ve been following Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income from years, so I’m very familiar with his story. It was a job layoff that started him on the path of blogging and making money from home. But it wasn’t the blog that earned him the income he needed to create. At least right away.  It was the launch of his Green Exam Academy eBook. Here’s how he explained it in his very first income report.

“A very successful month for me being that I was recently laid-off. It kind of sickens me a little to think that if I did still have my 9 to 5 job, I’d have even more money earned in the month of October – but what can I do. Again, I’m looking at it from the other side and seeing it as an opportunity for me to use my free time wisely and create new products and projects that will hopefully be as successful as my first.”

While blogging was always an important part of the strategy for The Busy Budgeter, Rosemarie Groner,  it took a lot of other side hustles to make the money she needed after quitting her 9-to-5 job.

“However, on my path to becoming a full-time blogger, I tried a bunch of other ways to earn money from home. Some were more lucrative than others, but I did make quite a bit of money—and sometimes quite quickly.”

In many of her other posts, Rosemarie goes on to talk about some of those other jobs, such as child care, mystery shopping and selling jeans on eBay.

Did you notice the theme here? All three of these bloggers were finding other ways to make extra money before they made consistent-can-count-on money from their blogs.

Finding Your Perfect Side Hustle

Like I said, I don’t want to discourage you from starting a blog, but I want you to understand the reality. And understand that there is still a way that  you can stay at home and earn an income.

There are so many different ways to make money, online or off-line. Your best bet for finding one of the side hustles, and make the money that you need to make now., is to reach for the low hanging fruit.

That might be tutoring kids if you used to be a teacher, babysitting for friends and family or turning trash to treasure by cleaning out your closets and selling on those too small kids clothes or old magazines on eBay.

Use your existing skills if you have to branch out, such as using your former administrative skill as a virtual assistant, becoming an online writer or creating any number of products to sell if you have a creative bent.

The point is, there are a lot of ideas and ways to make money from home and it won’t take much time to start earning money.

But Keep Blogging

Now, after writing all this, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be blogging. In fact, a blog might be a great way to promote your new side hustle (or hustles). It’s also a great way to polish your blogging skills.

Here’s the thing, it takes to time to get up and running. First, there’s the just finding the right niche, and that’s sometimes a series of starts, stops, and restarts. Then there’s the mechanics of setting up a site. After that comes figuring out how to attract readers to your blog, sitting up an emails list, what products to sell or promote and then learning how to do that properly…. and I can go on and on. The point is, it does take time and sometimes it just going to be a journey and not a sprint to the finish line. The three super star bloggers I mentioned earlier, took the journey. They found the side hustles that took care of their immediate needs. And they continued to blog… and blog… and eventually succeed.

The three superstar bloggers I mentioned earlier, took the journey. They found their side hustles to take care of their immediate needs. And they continued to blog… and blog… and eventually succeed.

If they can do it, then you and I can, too.

Let me know what you think,