It’s easy to find ideas for side hustles you can do from home. A simple Google search will show you 100+ ideas for selling eCommerce goods and freelancing among the top results.
Are these side hustles worth it? And can you make enough money selling eCommerce goods through Etsy or another wholesale platform to make enough money to replace your full-time income?
When you want real answers to your questions about finding a side hustle job online, that will help you replace your income and allow you to be home with your kids read on to learn the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of starting an Etsy business vs a freelancing.
Freelancing: What is it? What are the Advantages and Disadvantages?
What is Freelancing?
Freelancing is a type of business that many moms begin when they are looking for a work-from-home side hustle. It’s a business model that allows you to sell a service based on knowledge and skills to other business owners under self-employment on a contract or project basis.
Depending on personal preferences, the industry, and the niche a freelancer chooses to work in, they can choose a project-by-project basis or monthly retainer to serve clients.
Freelancing is a great choice for moms who are looking for side hustle jobs from home because freelancers can generally do their work from anywhere. Their home or halfway around the globe.
Freelancers provide services like administrative tasks (things like inbox management), social media scheduling and posting, or accounting/bookkeeping. These all can be done online and don’t require anyone to be physically in the office to accomplish them.
Freelancing Advantages
- It’s easy to start freelancing as a virtual assistant using the skillset you already have.
- You can easily get on-the-job training to advance your skills by working with new clients.
- As you gain new skills, you can increase your rates when YOU want.
Freelancing Disadvantages
- You may work with people you don’t like (luckily you can end your contract with them and refer them to a better match if you want.)
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What is Selling on Etsy or other eCommerce Platforms?
Selling goods on Etsy or other eCommerce platforms is an online marketplace where people who handmake/design goods can sell their creations, vintage items, or other supplies.
Depending on the rules of the platform and who its visitors are, you can make items or goods to sell or buy them wholesale through your branded shop on the platform.
Advantages of Selling on Etsy
- Etsy already has an audience making it easier to get traffic to your shop.
- The website design is easy to use with its plug-and-play options.
- Customers already trust the brand Etsy, making it safer for wary first-time buyers.
- Etsy gives you advice and support on how to make more sales.
Disadvantages of Selling on Etsy
- You have to pay a percentage of your sales to fees for using their platform, and payment processor.
- Mandatory on and off-site ads you cannot opt out of if you make a certain amount of money monthly.
- Using their plug-and-play platform gives you limited customization options you can make to your shop website.
- You don’t own your audience, because you’ve built it off of Etsy’s traffic, and if you were to get shut down or suspended by Etsy you lose your means to make money.
The Bottom Line: Is Etsy or Freelancing Better for Moms Looking for a Side Hustle from Home?
While Etsy and other eCommerce platforms have succinct benefits to selling products on them, you don’t own your audience so you are susceptible to losing all your income in a single day.
With freelancing, you are building your own audience and clients through networking and cultivating relationships with people. By selling your services you are making your brand known, and can get referrals through word-of-mouth from current clients. That is the best way to get new clients!
So, if you are looking to build a side hustle from home, while watching your kids, with flexible hours, consider freelancing. It can offer all the benefits of an eCommerce shop, with fewer disadvantages.
Want to learn more about freelancing? Check out the FAQ: What Is Freelancing post where we dive into what it means to become a freelancer.
And if you want more daily tips and tricks about freelancing and the unlimited options it offers to freelance from home, check out the Live Free Podcast! We cover tangible business advice on starting a side hustle from home, and inspiring interviews with other moms who have started and scaled their side hustles into successful businesses.
