Interested to learn the best home-based business ideas for moms in the Philippines?

According to salary.com, mothers spend an average of 95 hours per week working at home. Based on the website’s calculator, the average pay for a stay-at-home mom should be $112,962! I’m lucky my wife holds down a regular job because I cannot afford to pay her even 5% of that amount!

Unfortunately, I don’t know of any mother who does get paid for running the household. The good news is women who decide to become stay-at-home moms do not have to languish in daily, monotonous housework.

With the evolution of digital technology, the expansion of the Internet, and the proliferation of social media, women can be stay-at-home moms and still build a career. Here are 15 of the best home-based business ideas for moms in the Philippines:

Best Home-Based Business Ideas for Moms

1. Arts and Crafts

As a child, I used to remember seeing my mother involved in arts and crafts like clay pottery, painting, and sculpting. I believe mothers become great at arts and crafts because these serve as an outlet for all the work they do at home and their professional careers. I used to wonder why my mother did not want to make money out of her talent.

With the Internet nowadays, mothers have an avenue where they can build a career from their skills in arts and crafts. It’s easy to put up an e-commerce website and sell your products from there. Among the popular crafts are knitting, jewelry making, and crocheting.

2. Blogging

One of the most in-demand online jobs today is writing. You can open an account on an online job market platform such as Elance and find thousands of job postings for talented writers. Of the projects posted, blogging is among the most popular.

Businesses have seen the power of blogs and how consistency can translate to immediate returns on their bottom line. Blogging is in demand in several industries, and you don’t have to be a technically schooled writer to be one. Keywords and SEO knowledge are advantages, but for blogging, you need to write from the heart and get people to engage.

Among the blog niches on which moms can write are travel and tourism, food, and arts and culture. The Philippines has a rich but largely unappreciated culture, which is best represented by these areas.

3. Bakery

Cupcakes, cookies, bread, cakes. I am sure among your best childhood memories are waking up to the smell of goodies baking from mom’s kitchen, right? You can have your Krispy Kreme donuts, Bread Talk pastries, and Polly’s Chocolate Cake, but I’ll always choose mom’s creations!

Recipe books be damned, mothers have a special—almost magical way—in baking goodies. They always taste better than whatever you find elsewhere. It’s because when they bake, they use their secret ingredient: LOVE.

Whenever I go to a food market and there are rows of baked goods, I always go for the one where a mother is managing the booth. I can be assured it will be the best of all! Mark this as one of the most viable home-based business ideas for moms in the Philippines!

4. Food Delivery

People say I am a talented cook. I can follow cookbooks as well as create my own recipes. But for some reason, I cannot recreate my mom’s grilled pork chops with sweet BBQ baked beans recipe!

Mothers are great cooks because they know exactly what their families want—how the food should taste and how it should be packed. Put simply, nothing beats a meal that tastes home cooked. Just like baking, if you want to get into the food retail business, it would be advisable to have a separate kitchen.

This way, everything you need and the way it is organized are catered to how your food is prepared and packed. But please check with your home owner’s association if catering or delivery services within your subdivision are allowed.

Make sure you have dependable packaging; given the requirement for biodegradable material, this may become a significant factor in your pricing. You will need to hire a motorcycle rider to make deliveries. There are also companies, such as Food Panda, that offer food delivery services, but the drawback is that the required minimum order may be too high for a start-up business.

I suggest using a rider until such time that food volume orders are high enough to warrant third-party services.

5. Web Design

The scope and breadth of the Internet grow as the technology does. Consequently, the demand for websites grows as well. Web design services can be offered from home.

If you are planning to get into the web design business, you have to ensure that you have a reliable PC, the latest design software, and good Internet connection. If your specialization is limited to design, you should have a good web programmer on notice.

Coding is one of the most important areas in web design; thus having a good web programmer is a must-have skill in your roster. Other contacts that you should have within a phone call’s reach are graphics artist, SEO professional, digital marketer, and content writer.

6. Life Coaching

Who gives us better advice than our own mother right? They have to balance family life with their professional aspirations, as well as time for oneself. Doing so can be very stressful and mothers are largely underappreciated. Yet, they continue to persevere and manage everything that they need to do.

That’s why when we’re in trouble or have problems, chances are, the first person we look for is our mom. We know we can count on our mother to give us the best advice because they’ve been through it all. If you’re a life coach, people depend on you so you can help them guide through life’s most difficult moments.

These include career decisions and relationships; but oftentimes, you may come across those who are depressed and emotionally distressed. Some of these cases maybe beyond your capacity to manage.

So you should have specialists available as referenced. As a life coach, you should have a website with a blog page and features to allow for face time. If possible, include a chat option. If your practice begins to thrive, consider investing in authoring self-help books and videos. This is a great home-based business idea for moms!

7. Business Consultancy

Most work-at-home moms used to carry high positions in the corporate world before they decided to spend a significant time managing their children and household. But this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t offer their skills to the rest of the world. In fact, working online as a freelance business consultant opens your market to include the global community.

If you go through the jobs posted in Elance, UpWork, and PeoplePerHour, to name a few, there is great demand for business consultancy services specifically on business development front. Moreover, they pay well! Some companies from across the globe offer $5,000 to $10,000 per month for business consultancy services. That’s P225,000 to P450,000 per month while working in the comfort of your own home!

The most important quality in becoming a business consultant is accessibility. Companies want to make sure that they can reach you via different media.

8. Market Research

Companies also extensively outsource research work to save up on time and money.

Market research requires patience, effective time management, organizational skills, and attention to detail. If you have these qualities, you can start a career as a market researcher. These types of jobs require highly skilled workers, and they are paid well; these often command an hourly rate of $15 to $20 per hour or $1,500 to $5,000 if on a fixed budget. But companies are very strict on the deadlines especially if you are enrolled in an hourly schedule.

Some companies look for market researchers in the specific location where they are interested to establish a venture. They often include out-of-pocket and incidental expenses as part of the package.

9. Data Entry

This job is a constant fixture in all online job market platforms. There are always postings for data entry services. However, compensation can be on the low side so the key in generating significant income is volume.

If you are fast but accurate typist with exceptional spreadsheet skills, you may find great success as a data entry agent. But be wary. Because of its immense popularity, a significant portion of these projects is operated by scammers, namely, “clients” who hire your services but won’t pay once you’ve submitted the work.

My advice is to not accept data entry projects from clients who want work to be conducted outside the online job market’s premises. The advantage with platforms with Elance is that they have a virtual workplace that can track the time spent on work if you are on an hourly schedule. If it’s a fixed amount, Elance requires the client to establish an escrow; the release of which is contingent on the fulfillment of milestones.

10. Virtual Assistant

One of the fastest growing industries in the freelance market is for virtual assistants. It is difficult to come up with a clear or near-accurate estimate on the number of virtual assistants there are worldwide.

Estimates range from 5,000 to 20,000, and it could be quite higher. But I am certain that given the volume of job posts and websites offering VA services, the number is on the high side.

To become a reliable VA, you must have exceptional organizational skills because the primary objective is to free up the client from attending to nonessential tasks, such as e-mail filtering, calendar management, phone handling, and appointment setting.

The scope of VA work has evolved from being primarily a virtual secretary and a personal assistant to one that requires specific skill sets. Today, companies hire virtual assistants to handle accounting, transcription and telemarketing, and social media marketing, among others. The pay ranges from $4 to $7 per hour.

11. Fitness Instructor

Gone are the days when mothers would while away their free time by watching their favorite telenovelas.

While this remains true for some, there are those who have jumped unto the health and fitness bandwagon. Some have taken the next step to become certified instructors in a specific discipline, such as yoga, Pilates, or core fitness training.

You can convert a small, well-ventilated room in your house as a “fitness center” and promote your services online or within your subdivision. With the exception of Pilates, you do not need expensive equipment to host yoga and core fitness training. Given the worsening traffic conditions in the Philippines and atrocious gym membership fees, you will surely find a market for your services within your village.

12. English Tutor

Another in-demand skill is English tutorial. There has been a noticeable increase in the number of centers that offer English proficiency courses, because there is great demand for these services in neighboring countries, such as Japan and South Korea, where bilingual instruction can be very expensive.

If your command of the English language, both written and spoken, is good, then you may consider a career as an online English instructor. It is advisable to take a few months of a refresher course on the English language to make sure that you have a firm grasp on its principles and concepts. Most importantly, you must exhibit patience in teaching and a love for working with people.

13. Music Instructor

Is there any other country that loves to sing or make music than the Philippines?

In the last few years, local networks have been acquiring franchises, such as The Voice, whereas variety shows consistently feature singing contests. If you have talent for singing or playing musical instruments, a career in teaching music could be for you. But as a music teacher, you should have formal training in theory.

It would be great if you’ve had experience as a performer. Similar to a career in English instruction, you must be patient with teaching others because learning curve differs from one student to another.

14. Preschool / Day Care Center

Over the years, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of homeowners who are converting a section of their homes into a preschool or a day care center. And this is because the need for these types of services is in great demand as both parents have to work to meet the household monthly budget.

However, opening a preschool is not simply a matter of closing off an area in the house, placing safety mats on the floor, and buying in play sets. First, you have to check with the home owners association if they allow preschool or day care services in their subdivision. Second, you have to check with the local government if they have a checklist of requirements for these types of services.

When dealing with children, safety is always an issue. Third, you should have professionals who not only can teach but also can design an effective curriculum for learning. Finally, be prepared to deal with other parents who can be very overbearing and outspoken on their ideas on how their children should be educated.

15. Event Planner / Organizer

If you’re committed to work at home because you want to spend more time with the family, consider a career as an event planner or organizer. You only get to work every few days per month and the jobs could be seasonal if you are focusing on weddings.

As an event planner, you should have a database of suppliers that include coordinators, party hosts, entertainment contractors, caterers, tables and chairs, party amenities, photographers, videographers, and sound equipment suppliers, among others.

Although the volume of work is manageable, some actually mark their calendars for the entire year. Make no mistake about it, it can be very hectic. If you want to become an event planner, you should be highly organized with the ability to manage your people efficiently. Most of all, you must be patient with your clients because some can be very demanding on your services.

This career requires you to do extensive networking and marketing of your services.

Conclusion

I’m sure that there are other great home-based business ideas for moms. Managing a household is hard work, and managing the children can often times be a handful. But these should not prevent moms from pursuing a career and a means of generating income.