How to Earn Money as a Stay at Home Mom – 22 Year Income Report

‘In 2002 I decided to quit my job and learn how to earn money as a stay at home mom who also runs a business.

It seemed logical to me…

I want to spend time with my son. He was four months old and needed me. So I knew I wanted to stay at home with him but I also wanted to, no HAD to, earn money while doing so!

I had a career as a Chemical Technologist but that wouldn’t allow me to be home, so I decided to quit (I didn’t like it anyway).

Moms running businesses are REAL business owners.

I think it needs to be said.

If you’re searching right now for posts to teach you how to be a stay at home / work at home mom this post is for you. I’ve done it since 2002. I’ve raised two amazing children – one is 22 years old and one is 10 at this time of writing. I’ve focused on my babies while also earning an awesome full-time income on often part-time hours.

It takes work. It takes persistence but you can absolutely learn how to earn money as a stay at home mom!

I’m here to share a real story of real results and my 22 years (was 20 when I wrote this) in online business as inspiration and an income report. I hope it helps you see what you could do and then some as the owner of an at home business for moms, too!

My “Slow & Steady” Path to Income for Stay at Home Moms

It took me 14 years to get to six figures. Sometimes I compare myself to others but then I also remember my business was my secondary priority all those years. My family was my first.

I’m a REAL mom (NOT a GURU) who’s spent the last 20 Years “raising a business while raising a family”.

There are many ups and downs.

This is the real data, the real online business incomes I’ve reported to the tax people – for you to see. I hope it inspires you!

10 Hours Per Week, Not Per Day!

In 2002 I looked at my baby boy’s little face and decided I didn’t want to go to work for 10+ hours per day and leave him with someone else. (I’m writing this post 20 years later, in 2022, and now I work 10-20 hours per week and have a business I love. ) < now updated in 2024 – 22 years later.

I wanted to be by his side! So, I did the only thing I could think to do – started a business.

I had ZERO business skills and NO IDEA how to run a business. All I knew was that it was “the way” to earn my freedom and still be an independent woman. To be a stay at home / work at home mom.

He was four months old.

This is us a few years later:

at home business for moms - doing what we love together!

Some people don’t like the discussion around “business for moms” or talking about an “at home business for mom”. I’m not saying this choice is for everyone. If you want to work outside the home so be it – do what works for you!

There is no mom shaming to be had here… it’s purely a declaration that as a mom my priorities are and were for my family and I need a business that fits the life of a mom.

I created just that!

When I started my own business and created a website to sell from I had no idea what I was doing.

I didn’t know ANYONE doing it.
I didn’t personally know ANY “work from home” business owners / moms.
Didn’t know ANYONE making money online.

You might be in the same boat right now. When you see my income report below and read it you’ll see the details of what I did, year after year, to earn money. And if you want MORE information than that I send emails every single day that you can subscribe to, that tell you all the ways I find that are good and useful to earn a living online AND create freedom.

I had this idea that sprang up from a need and wouldn’t leave me.
The idea that a business COULD be molded into a life I wanted, while earning me the money I needed.

A hunch.

So I followed it.

And it worked out.

I was looking back through my income reports over the years and thought it might be an interesting to look back over the years I’ve been “raising a business while raising a family“.

Now I have a son and a daughter. My girl Ella is 10 (in July 2024). This is us:

how to make money as a stay at home mom

My kids are my world.

I really live by the philosophy on the main page of this site… Life First, Then Business.
Everything I do is/was secondary to making sure they have all they need and that they’re happy.

Turns out I’ve learned a lot from this Bird’s Eye View…. especially when I look back to some of these years and remember how I thought I wasn’t doing that well. Looking from the 20-year view I can see the progress, the milestones and the life events. It’s pretty eye-opening.

I hope it gives you some insight and inspiration, too!

So here we go!

Just so you know – since it matters how much you keep!

20 Year Online Business Income Report – How to Earn Money as a Stay at Home / Work at Home Mom

  • 2002 – 2005 Income – Approx $60,000 – I don’t have proper records so I lumped these years together and estimated my income. In these early years I started a Bath & Body business in 2002. I created my own website from scratch. I started learning online marketing.
  • 2006 Income – $2161.18 – Started VA Business (here’s a fun post about that business – services to digital products)
  • 2007 Income – $19,182.94 – Quit my Factory Job (May)!
  • 2008 Income – $35,141.07 – Almost all VA Income. Burnt OUT at this point. Decided I needed to quit and find a job. Working 50+ hr/week on Virtual Assistant/Client work. Started my first digital product – graphics training videos.
  • 2009 Income – $17, 566.99 – VA Income after letting go of many clients and not finding a JOB.
  • 2010 Income – $22,364.59 – Started a signature course on WordPress. Started working with a coach. Started a membership.
  • 2011 Income – $40,072.63 – Hitting a stride with my WordPress course and membership site.
  • 2012 Income – $47,129.67 – We bought our first house this year – I wonder if that helped my 2013 income? (rhetorical) LOL!
  • 2013 Income – $63,539.01 – I was selling my WordPress course still, working with a FEW clients and selling other digital offers.
  • 2014 Income – $42,485.24 – My daughter was born this year and you can tell. I gradually got more time to work over the next few years.
  • 2015 Income – $49,353.11 – This year I rebranded my membership and really got serious about the focus on the membership. You can tell over the next few years how that impacted my business.
  • 2016 Income – $79,119.29
  • 2017 Income – $86,373.65
  • 2018 Income – $121,917.55 – My first six figure year!
  • 2019 Income – $126,440.04 – Continuing to work on/build the membership
  • 2020 Income – $103,457 – We ALL know what happened this year!!!
  • 2021 Income – $95,536 – This is the year I CLOSED my membership and had a bit of a detour into a whole other industry (direct sales)!
  • 2022 Income – $93,994.11 – This year I’m 1000% BACK into online marketing after selling off two direct sales sites.
  • 2023 Income $100,223 50 – Six figure milestone hit. I think this is a great recovery less than two years of rebuilding my business. It’s proven to me I know exactly what I’m doing and I can BUILD businesses, it’s not a “fluke” or luck.

This income is reported as Gross Income, CAD. That’s before expenses. I hope it helps you to see how to earn money as a stay at home mom and gives you the inspiration to just get started and make it happen.

My main business expenses have always been low – a few hundred dollars a month – and then affiliate expenses could run about 25-30% of my income but that’s not always. I’m going to estimate my profitability at about 70-80% for most of the years below. The most recent years it’s closer to 90% as I’m not doing as much with my affiliate program lately (that may change).

To date I have made over $1,000,000 CAD in my online business over these years.

That money was earned either by customer referrals, affiliate partnerships or email marketing. I’d estimate at least 80% (the vast majority) of that was earned by me sending emails to my offers. This is something I’ve done daily for over 15 years.

The At Home Business for Moms is Not the Path to Overnight Success or Quick Riches (Sorry)

It’s NOT an overnight success story but as I said I was raising my business while raising a family and this was really interesting for me to lay out and see myself!

My priority was on spending time with my kids and family and I was able to achieve that while building something really awesome.

I need to remind myself of that.
I need to come back to this post when I’m feeling like I didn’t do “enough” in those years.

My goal was to raise two amazing humans and so far, as far as I can tell, I accomplished that while ALSO raising an amazing business, too.

I love what I created.
I’m so grateful for the lifestyle that was formed.
And I look forward to seeing how I can mold my lifestyle in the NEXT 20 years.

I want to help others do what I’ve done. I want to help other moms stay at home and work at home and live the life they want to live.

I’m very passionate about helping women be independent and controlling their money, too!

If you’d like to hear from me, often, daily, then I invite you to join my “Letters from Angela” email list where I send you daily helpful emails with tips, advice and training to help you learn how to earn money as a stay at home / work at home mom!

Sign up here:

(updated July 4th, 2024)