20 Work at Home Ideas for the Holidays
Tags: Business, Holidays, Home Based Business, The Work at Home Woman, WAHM, Work at Home, Work at Home Ideas, Work from home
Posted in How to Work from Home, WAH Ideas 
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By Holly Reisem Hanna
Every year my sister makes these beautiful hand knit scarves, I generally pick out the yarn that I like (last year it was camel-colored cashmere) and she makes me a scarf for my Christmas present. I have also bought these amazing scarves for other family members and friends who always LOVE them!
My sister-in-law on the other hand, makes gorgeous hand-beaded jewelry that she gives away to lucky family members and friends around the holiday season. My point is, when it comes to finding ways to make some extra cash this holiday season, everyone has some sort of talent or passion that they can call upon.
Need some help finding you home-based holiday cash maker?
Here are 20 Work at Home Ideas for the Holidays:
1. Advertising: Are you a Mommy Blogger? Add some extra revenue by adding advertisements or Google Adsense to your blog. Depending on your traffic you may be able to contact with an ad company like BlogHer, Real Girls Media, AdBrite, Adblade or Federated Media. The easiest way to generate revenue will be to create your own advertising packages; check with other blogs in your same traffic rankings for competitive pricing, then use PayPal to invoice your customers.
2. Affiliate Marketing: Suggest holiday gift ideas by adding some affiliate advertisements to your blog, newsletter, website, and/or social networking accounts. As an affiliate marketer you will place banner ads, blog posts, reviews, and/or send out newsletter promos for products & services free of charge. In return you will earn a commission on every product that is sold through your affiliate link.
3. Become a Career or Life Coach: Do you run a successful home-based business? Are you a direct sales guru? Offer your special expertise to others looking for guidance in a specific area, whether it is time management, PR, stress management or career guidance the topic areas are endless and it is a terrific home-based career for all year round.
4. Child Care: An easy way to make some extra holiday cash is to simply provide child care services. With the kids being out for holiday vacation and parents wanting to attend holiday parities and secret shopping, there are more than enough opportunities for you to cash in on this much needed resource this holiday season.
5. Christmas Tree Removal: Going to get the Christmas tree is a fun family tradition, but getting rid of the tree is another story. Offer your tree removal services after the holidays, by picking up used trees and disposing of them at your local recycling center. Then cash in just in time to payoff all those holiday bills.
6. Cookie Baking: Do you love to bake? Do you have a special recipe for fruit cake that everyone raves about? Fill a need this holiday season by selling homemade cookies, candies or cakes. Everyone loves to have homemade goodies for holiday gatherings, but so many people lack the time to actually bake all the various treats that they would like to serve. This is where you can be a valuable holiday asset. Tell family, friends, neighbors and co-workers that you are selling cookies for the holiday season and ask them to place their orders.
7. Create a Holiday Gift Guide: Create a holiday gift guide either using a PDF or special website. Sell ad spaces and promote the guide on social networking sites, Scribd, and your website or blog. To get some ideas, here is The Work at Home Woman’s Gift Guide.
8. Direct Sales: We’ve all heard of Mary Kay and Southern Living, but did you know that there are literally thousands of direct sales companies? Find one that offers products that you feel passionate about and get selling. Direct sale companies offer starter kits that give you everything you need to get started, and they usually have a very low start up cost. Your first prospects and buyers will generally be friends, family and/or co-workers; you will then build your customer base by getting referrals from these people. As a sales consultant you will be paid a commission on each product you sell. To learn more about this home-based opportunity, check out our Direct Sales Page.
9. Gift Wrapping: My mom always disliked wrapping the Christmas gifts, I on the other hand loved it and would do the majority of the gift wrapping for her. Here is a another easy service that you can provide this holiday season, especially good for personal concierges and virtual assistants to add to their menu of services.
10. Hang Holiday Lights: This has become very popular home-based business in the past few years, installing outdoor holiday lights takes time and requires a great deal of physical strength. You’ll need some basic tools, a truck and a ladder, but if you’re not afraid of heights this can be a lucrative and fun way to make some extra holiday cash.
11. House Cleaning: It’s that time of year where there is a lot of holiday entertaining going on, and with people being so busy this time of year, it will be easy for you to establish yourself as a holiday helper. Offer cleaning services, ranging from laundry and house cleaning to meal prep and running errands.
12. Make & Sell Handmade Goodies: Make and sell your holiday goodies, from homemade candles, handbags, jewelry, soap, tutus, the possibilities are endless for those who have a creative flair.
13. Making & Sending Holiday Cards: Fulfill a need this holiday by creating one of a kind holiday cards and even offer to address them and send them out for an additional fee. Virtual Assistants and Personal Concierge providers make sure to add “sending out holiday cards” to your list of services. So many people stress out about trying to do it all, help them out this season by taking one of their tasks off their to-do list.
14. Personal Holiday Shopper: Do you love to shop? Offer your shopping expertise to others by looking for the best deals and then purchasing the gifts either online or in store. This will save your client a ton of time, you can even offer to gift wrap the presents for an additional charge.
15. Plan Holiday Parties: Fill a void this holiday season, by offering holiday party planning services! Event Planners handle the details of location, budget, lodging, decorations, entertainment, food, beverages, transportation, activities, invitations and the like.u
16. Sell Used Items on Craigslist, eBay, and at Consignment Shops: Recently I cleaned out my two year old daughter’s closet, I came up with a couple of bags of gently used clothes, some shoes, a baby monitor, a highchair and a pack and play. I took the clothes, shoes and baby monitor to a local resale shop and made $44.00. I then listed the highchair and pack and play on Craigslist, and I was able to sell these items for another $160.00 for a grand total of $204.00 – not bad for a couple hours of work.
17. Travel Planner: Take the stress out of someone’s day by offering travel planning services. Search for the cheapest holiday flights, car rentals and hotel accommodations, you can even add extras in like things to do and see while their visiting another part of the country.
18. Tutoring: Holiday vacation is the perfect time to get caught up on studies. Tutoring can be a wonderful home based business opportunity, especially for those people who have an extensive knowledge of a subject; such as a college student who is majoring in English, a school teacher, or a person who is fluent a foreign language.
19. Virtual Call Agent: With all of the extra orders coming in for the holidays, companies like Arise and VIPdesk are looking for extra home-based customer service representatives. Cash in on this home-based opportunity – who knows it could lead into a long-term position.
20. Writing: From blog posts and newsletters and articles and copywriters people are always looking for writers. Check with some of the major freelance sites, like Elance and Freelancer and see how you can offer up your writing services this holiday season.
Looking for ways to market your new home-based business, see our article on 7 Key Marketing Strategies for Your Home-Based Buiness.
4 Responses to “20 Work at Home Ideas for the Holidays”
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December 11th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I was looking at your #19 on the list and this option would never work for me because:
#1 We don’t have a landline
#2 It would never be silent in my house.
Have you ever heard of hiring opportunities that do the web based (where it’s all chat) customer service that you see on some sites?
December 12th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Great tips! Web-based situations always seem to be the most attractive since you generally can work which ever hours fit into your schedule best.
If you were looking for an online business, how would you go about evaluating the opportunities out there?
Trish
http://www.yourhomebusinessroadmap.com
.-= Trish´s last blog ..I Think I’m A Fan Of A Down Economy =-.
December 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hi LS,
I totally understand about it never being quiet (I have a two year old).
There are some online research companies like Cha Cha where you answer inquires online. I would also try searching companies like Arise and VIP Desk to see if they have any positions which are just strictly web-based. Also try looking at O Desk which is an online job board they have customer service and administrative positions, some of which don’t require a land line.
Good luck, Holly
December 12th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Hi Trish,
Thanks for your comment!
With any online opportunity take your time and research company extensively. An easy way to do this is, simply type in the company or program into Google and see what comes up. If someone has been burned in the past by the company they may have written a negative review; dig around and see what you find both negative and positive.
Also use the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website to research the company, see if they have any positive or negative reviews. Some companies claim to be members of the BBB, and they’ll post a BBB membership symbol. Don’t just assume they are a member, try to click on the symbol, it should link to their review and rating on the BBB site.
See if the company has any contact information listed; an email address, phone number and physical address. Try to contact them and get some additional information on their company or product. If they don’t have any contact information listed, this should be a red flag warning to you. Also check to see if you can get in touch with current employees, and see what they have to say about the company or opportunity.
Lastly, trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, there is probably reason why.
Good luck, Holly