11 Home-based Ideas for Filipinos

Before I decided to quit my job, I looked for opportunities online that could possibly help me earn income from home.

My very first attempt to work and earn online was when I signed up with some Pay-Per-Click sites. A friend recommended this and he even taught me how to do it.

It was a “no-brainer” kind of job plus it only required 20-30 minutes of my time per day.

After 2 months of clicking boring ads, I only earned $2 and most of the sites that I was working on turned out to be spams/scams.

 

I chose to stay in my comfort zone…

I thought working from home wasn’t my thing. So, I continued to work in the same company until I gave birth to my first child.

I stayed in the company for a few more months, but I was slowly losing the motivation and passion to go to work.

Work was stressful. Commuting to and from work was another thing. I leave home early and I get home late.

There were times that I felt depressed and guilty that I wasn’t spending enough time with my child.

And that became the turning point – that I needed to quit my job and be a stay-at-home mom instead.

It was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made and I didn’t know what to do after I resigned, but I’m glad I did it.

In the next section, I’ll share with you some home-based ideas that I have personally tried.

 

Home-based Ideas that I have personally tried

1. English Tutorial

A good friend of mine asked me if I was willing to be an English Tutor to two of her friends, who are both college students (one from DSLU and the other one was from UST).

They actually speak good English. They just wanted to have a coach or critic to help them speak English more spontaneously.

Everything went well. It didn’t feel like work because we were only conversing like friends.

They also recommended me to some of their friends, who later became my clients.

 

My first few clients were happy with my service so I thought I’d also try to offer it online. I started with OLX (formerly Sulit) where I posted a very simple pitch like this:

“I’m an English Coach. I can help you speak and converse in English spontaneously. Hire me!”

I wasn’t really serious about it because I knew that there were a lot of competitors online and most of them speak English better and have more experiences than I do. I wasn’t really expecting that prospects will notice or even bother to contact me.

 

To my surprise, I started receiving calls and inquiries about my English Coaching service. Some of them were even foreigners. I couldn’t believe that that simple pitch actually worked!

I had clients who were college students from Ateneo and other schools. I also had clients from different companies who needed help on how to speak and negotiate with their clients better. And I also had clients who were aspiring to be call center agents and those who needed help in answering interview questions.

Most of them became my loyal/repeat clients and they also referred me to their friends and colleagues.

It was a fun and fulfilling experience, but I had to stop accepting clients when I was about to give birth to my child and I have never gotten back to teaching since then.

I may be busy working on other priorities right now, but I’m not closing my doors to teaching. It is my passion to teach and I know it’s a gift from God and I’m still open to sharing that gift to others.

 

My Income: At that time, I was only charging P300-P500 per hour depending on the type of coaching that the client needs.

 

2. Research and Writing

I got the chance to work on a few research and writing projects from previous clients.

My Income: It depends on the topic and the length of the research or article. I remember I was paid $100 for a short research project and $10 per article with 500 words.

 

3. Event Hosting

I also accepted hosting gigs for school affairs, events and seminars, and private occasions. Most of them were referred by friends.

My Income: I either get paid per hour or per event. For smaller events, my rate back then was P1,000 per hour. Sometimes, I do free hosting for friends, family and some of my advocacies.

 

4. Event Management

I started handling events and seminars when I became an Event Director of Manila Workshops in January 2015. Few months later, I became the Chief Operating Officer and co-owner of the company.

My Income: I get a certain percentage of the total net revenue of the event that I handle as an Event Director.

 

5. Blogging

I started blogging in July 2014, but I only started monetizing it early in 2015. Blogging is like writing articles for a newspaper or magazine but it’s done online. People can read your articles on the internet.

I earn from blogging in various ways.

• Ads – like Google Adsense, Infolinks, Innity, and others
• Sponsored Posts – Exchange Deals, Paid Posts or links, Paid ad spaces on your blog
• Selling your own products – like shoes, bags, books, e-books, etc.
• Affiliate Marketing – promoting other people’s products through your blog and earning commissions out of it

I have also written an e-book entitled, “How to Quit your Job and Start Working from Home“

You can download the first 20 pages for FREE and if you decide to continue reading the next chapters, you can purchase it online or just contact me so I can assist you. 🙂

My Income: It all depends on what type of blog you have, how you monetize them, and how consistent you are in blogging.

One of my blogs earn $10 per month, another blog earns $100 per month, and so on. But take note that there are also expenses incurred in blogging like Facebook ads, outsourcing writers, etc.

Right now, blogging is my main source of income.

 

6. Vlogging / YouTube Videos

I started publishing how-to videos on YouTube in March 2015. Few months later, I learned that these videos can also be monetized.

My Income: I haven’t uploaded new videos on my YouTube Channel for almost 6 months now, but it consistently gives me a passive income of $50-100 per month.

 

7. Seminars

Because of my experience in speaking, blogging and personal finance, I’ve been invited to speak in some seminars and events.

The most recent was my “Home-based: How to Earn from Home as a Blogger” workshop and we’ve had 2 successful runs already last August 27 and October 1, 2016. And we’re having our third run on November 26, 2016.

If you’re interested to join, please visit Manila Workshops for more details.

 

8. Blog Coaching / Consultancy

Due to the request of some of our participants in the Home-based workshop, I will finally launch my blog coaching / blog consultancy program next month, November 2016.

It will be a hands-on kind of coaching and only limited slots are available. My goal for this program is to help participants build their own blog from scratch and ways to monetize their blogs.

 

Home-based Ideas that didn’t work for me but might work for you

9. Financial Advisor

I tried to be an agent of an Insurance company.

I attended trainings and passed the licensure exams for Financial Advisors. I bought my own policy or insurance plan and closed policies for some family members.

I tried to sell the products to other people, but that just didn’t work for me.

I believe in the products, but I wasn’t confident enough in offering them to others. So, I decided to quit.

 

10. Clothing Business

I tried helping my mother-in-law with her garment business.

I closed a few deals online, but I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

 

11. Buy-and-Sell, Direct Selling, and MLM

I tried some kind of buy-and-sell business, direct-selling, and even MLM or multi-level marketing, and they all worked well in the beginning, but not in the long run.

Please don’t get me wrong here. I know a lot of people who have been successful in these industries or businesses. It may not have worked for me, but it might work for you. Who knows?

 

Where to Start?

1. Know what you’re passionate about.

What are your skills and strengths? What are you good at?

What will you do that will keep you motivated even if you don’t earn at the beginning? What makes you excited from jumping out of your bed every morning?

When my friends told me that I can speak English well, I took it as a compliment and so I tried teaching English.

I also have self-doubts and self-esteem issues, but I knew that wouldn’t help so why focus on the things that will hold you back from achieving your dreams?

You may not please everybody, but you must stay positive!

 

2. Don’t think about what you can’t do.

Instead, do what you can and start with what you have right now.

You don’t need to have the most sophisticated camera to start vlogging. Use your cellphone and start filming a content that will give value to your viewers.

Focus on creating contents that solve problems. How-to videos have been a huge hit.

Try it and I’m sure people wouldn’t mind even if your video isn’t perfect.

People who aim for perfection before they even get started often get nothing done at all.

 

Are you ready to go home-based?

Going home-based is not an easy decision to make. You have to pray for it and you must prepare for it.

Learn as much as you can while you’re still employed. Search for home-based opportunities before you finally hand that resignation letter.

Save at least 6 months of your salary to cover up for your expenses in case you still don’t land a home-based job after you resigned.

It may be challenging, but it’s definitely worth taking the risk.

“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.”