How Did You Get Started Working at Home?

I have always loved the idea of working from home. I want to be at home with the kids (and if I'm being completely honest, I don't like dealing with people face to face). I have started 'supplementing' our income with survey websites and get points to apps. It's slow going, and it isn't much, but it provides a little bit of extra padding to our pockets.

A little more relevant information, I recently changed my major from Web Graphic Design (a very saturated market) to Medical Billing and Coding (certified individuals are in high demand) and I should be able to start working with something I enjoy and pull in a bit more money.

But until I get certified, I'd like to start pulling in more money from home and picking up less hours serving. So, back to my title, how did you get started working at home?

PS- I will be browsing this forum while I wait for replies.

I was working full time for ten years before I had to quit my job last November. My boss had made life hell for me and I couldn't take the stress anymore. Now I am doing online assignments from home. Freelancing doesn't ensure a steady income but it does ensure peace of mind.

I just do bits and pieces here and there - online surveys and focus groups, things like that. I found most of my survey sites from doing online searches for things like "earning income as a stay at home mum" and things like that. I would just be careful to make sure things aren't a scam, either, if you end up going down that road. Just make sure you check reviews online for the particular name of the survey site -- you can often find out whether others recommend it or not.

I certainly don't earn thousands upon thousands, but the bits and pieces mean it's easier to survive with just my husband working full time, and means I can be a stay at home parent more comfortably!

I started working from home when my second baby was born. I also do surveys and tasks here and there, but most survey sites say I don't qualify, think it could be because I'm from South Africa and the survey isn't available for my country? I don't know, so I haven't made any money from that yet. But I have actually started writing reviews for a review site a couple of weeks ago and I'm loving it so far. It's not thousands of dollars but it's something extra. And I started testing apps and websites as well. I've actually received my first PayPal payment for one of the apps that I tested.

I have always wanted to take care of my first child since he was born, so I took some time to plan and finally quit my full-time job before he turned 2 years old.

Before I quit my job, I have been considering a few options that I can work at home: freelance software development and web design (as I am a programmer), home tutoring, child care, and some small tasks that pay us for working online, such as doing surveys or writing.

Though I don't earn a lot of money from doing the freelance projects, as I am not actively looking for projects while I have two young children to take care of, I really enjoy spending time with my children. I also do some simple work online which help me to earn some small money.

@MrsChristyH I thought web graphic design has a good market as well. Have you tried out those freelance sites that hire web or graphic designer? I always wish I can do graphic design. 🙂

There actually is peace of mind working from home but you have to work twice as hard since you get to set the targets for the income you want to raise for that month and the year. If you meet up, you may want to double it.
I started working from home when I had to quit a job with unsteady pay checks and ever since, I have put all my effort into working from home which has been quite challenging. Sometimes I think there is a lesson for me to learn working from home.

darkchild said:
There actually is peace of mind working from home but you have to work twice as hard since you get to set the targets for the income you want to raise for that month and the year. If you meet up, you may want to double it.
I started working from home when I had to quit a job with unsteady pay checks and ever since, I have put all my effort into working from home which has been quite challenging. Sometimes I think there is a lesson for me to learn working from home.

I agree that working from home might be more challenging, but we will get to learn more as well, because we really have to do everything on our own, so it seems like we just have to take care of everything by ourselves. We need to have self discipline as well.

I am glad there are more opportunities for us to work from home, especially with the invention of the Internet.