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Originally posted by Sobyn

Hi y'all! I'm hoping you can help me wade through some info any maybe you will think of something I haven't thought of....

Here is the situation: I would like to make a little extra money. I don't NEED extra money but we have some financial goals that extra income would really help with! (Hubby retires from the army in 6.5 years we would like to have a small hobby farm at that point, preferably one that supports itself and maybe supports us at least in part). Since he works 12+ hours a day already the only option is for me to have an income.

BUT Since we are stationed in Germany this is much much more difficult than otherwise would be. I have 3 (almost 4) kids and homeschool my oldest so I have to be at home.

I can't babysit more than 10 hours per week (on a regular basis-whatever that means) without being certified by the army but they require those who are certified to be open for at least 12 hours per day. So that isn't an option since I'd only want to babysit part time. I am willing to take a couple kids for a few hours but it won't be much.

I can't run any sort of home based business that markets to people here in person (i.e. direct sales where I actually go do parties or what not) without jumping through a bunch of hoops that make it pretty much impossible. I do have a direct sales business but I'm stuck with running it online only which has limited effectiveness.

I can't mail anything, while its not a problem for me to mail items occasionally (like a craft) I can't do it on a regular basis or I can get in major trouble from the military post office. So etsy isn't an option.

There are craft shows here twice a year, I've done them twice. They really don't get a very good turn out and I don't sell very much. Its worth it for me to go for the little I make but nothing to depend on. I have gotten a couple outside orders from people who saw me there (this is considered a "hobby" so I am allowed to sell on a small scale).

Also we are in military housing so in addition to the restrictions on home based businesses anyway we can't have a large garden or animals etc.

So with all those restrictions in mind I'm pretty limited to online things only. Also the time difference between here and the states is an issue (we are 6 hours ahead of EST)

My interests include crafts, natural living and health, writing and homeschooling (those are the broad categories I have lots of interests).

So I keep thinking blogging but my issues with this are 1. it is hard to actually make money doing it 2. I have trouble narrowing my focus to one area of interest and 3. I'm terrified of the criticism I'm sure to get (yes I need to get over this one). I've considered things like hubpages which help with getting traffic and would allow for more of a wide variety of topics but then I can't control the adds and such on them so not sure how I feel about that (I'd prefer to build my own blog/website and not be dependent on someone else BUT the other may get traffic quicker? and maybe there is a way to leverage both).

I've also looked into things like transcription (NOT medical as I've tried that and it makes me crazy), user testing, freelance work through places like odesk etc. The problem with most of these is it seems like people don't really make more than $3-4 an hour. I'm trying to take into consideration that I wouldn't be paying for childcare but I just can't decide if its worth it (not to mention that that pay doesn't take into consideration the hours spent trying to actually get a job through them).

I've also considered pet sitting buy my cat gets stressed lately so it would have to be in their home and I could only do it on a "for donation" basis (to avoid the HBB rules), which would probably be ok but how do I protect myself from someone accusing me of stealing or something? Do I need liability insurance for that? I am a doula but again I can only do that "for donation" and not a set price, and quite frankly what people are willing to donate doesn't cover my time, costs, and childcare costs (seriously I'd be lucky to get $50) plus having small kids myself childcare is an issue.

I've pretty much concluded that to make any sort of dent in our goals it would have to be a combination. Which is ok too but how do I decide how much I should be making an hour to take the time away from my kids? Are there any ideas I'm overlooking? Should I take the low pay for now in hopes to make more eventually?

Thanks
Sabrina

Farmgirl Sister #3275

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