How I Turned My Job Loss Into A Thriving Work-from-Home Lifestyle

You can do the same.

I started professional caregiving in 2016. I was desperate for another income source, and caregiving fell into my lap. I took a few classes, passed my certification test, and became certified within a few short weeks.

In my case, I’d actually been caregiving most of my life. When I was a teenager, I helped our elderly neighbors. I’d help her clean the house and run errands to the store for them. I even drove them to their medical appointments several times. Little did I know that this was my first training to become a caregiver.

As a young newlywed and mother, I cared for my own children. I now have five children and five grandchildren. All of this just furthered my caregiving skills.

I’ve had many clients over the years. Some have been on their deathbed, and others have been recovering from short-term surgeries or other conditions. Caregiving can be hard work. You’re constantly doing for others.

Some of the work can be even more challenging with you having to give bed baths or clients with mobility issues that you have to move from bed to a wheelchair and vice versa.

My last full-time caregiving job was in 2021. My client felt that she no longer required a caregiver, so I stopped full-time caregiving. I still care for my parents and two adult children with health issues. I keep my caregiving license current.

Of course, I still have bills to pay, so my multiple streams of income and side hustles came in very handy.

Multiple Streams Of Income

Let me show you how you can do the same. First and foremost, you need to understand that by utilizing multiple streams of income, you’re leveraging your earning power. If one source of income dries up, you have another source of income to fall back on.

This was one of the first lessons that I learned in my thriving work-from-home lifestyle. I recently wrote for an online site and did very well; however, they restructured, and my earnings on that site went from 6K a month down to pennies a month. It happened in just a few short months.

Because I want to keep my foot in the door in case they turn things around, I still contribute to their site once or twice per month. Just enough that if things turn around, I can jump back in and take advantage, but not so much that I’m wasting my time.

Diversify My Side Hustles

Instead of just utilizing writing platforms, I have focused on different strategies so that I’m not doing the same thing repeatedly. I write for two content platforms where I can choose my own topics and articles.

One is a news site, and the other is here on Medium, like a personal blog/article platform. I enjoy both and have slowly built up my followers. I enjoy reading other people’s articles and commenting as much as I enjoy writing.

Patheos is a newer site; I haven’t been there very long. However, in the short time I’ve been writing for them, I’ve grown a fairly decent-sized audience and am thriving. I’m slowly building this particular site up so that I can maintain it with a few articles each week in the near future.

I also am one of a select few who write blog posts as a ghostwriter for a content mill. I’ve been with this particular content mill for nearly a decade. The work used to be very consistent; however, with AI’s inception, the work is harder to come by. I still write for them whenever I’m able to grab a blog post. I also have a few clients on this site who request my work.

I also write books and self-publish on KDP. This is an added bonus and just some frosting on the cake, so to speak, as I’m not big into promotion or advertising. I still sell quite a few, so that’s great, but this isn’t my current focus. I’m planning to step up the pace on this in a few more months.

Stocks

The next side hustle I have is stocks. I invest about $5 per month in Robinhood. The first year I did this, I purchased ten stocks at $9.00 each, and when I sold the stocks for that particular one, I made over $1000 on each of the ten stocks I had purchased. I didn’t even know what I was doing yet. In my first venture into stocks, I did great.

Today, I do my research before I purchase stocks. Make sure to research your stocks and pick and choose carefully. You can also buy increments of stocks and work your way up to owning an entire share. This is a great way to invest and earn some income on the side.

Investments

Acorns are my next favorite strategy. I’ve been building Acorns up for a while now. When my 6K per month news site stopped paying well a few months ago, I broke into my Acorns site and started over. Thankfully, I had that to fall back on because it helped me remain caught up with my bills. As soon as I removed the money from Acorns, I started investing it again at $10 per month, and it’s building up even faster this time.

I have a high-yield savings account with Ally. I maintain my savings with several thousand dollars and earn interest on that account each month on the fifth of the month. This has earned me well over $200 this year. As long as I maintain my savings and don’t blow that money, I’m earning interest on it. It’s a fun way to watch my income grow without stress.

Any windfalls I get are divided between my stocks and investment accounts, so I’m earning even more dividends on each. If I earn more than I require for bill paying in any given month, I divide that amount into these three accounts.

Writing Gigs

I’m also a member of Upwork and have several regular clients on the site. I write a blog post for a gardening site weekly and have other clients who want a blog post here and there and one client who only wants one monthly blog post.

I have a few private clients that started out on Upwork and worked their way into clients I now know personally and write for occasionally.

There you have it. Eight different places where I can earn some money, all in the comfort of my own home.

Sharing Is Caring

Another great strategy is to remember to share your work. In the beginning, I was too self-conscious to share my work. I shared it anyway, which helped me build my base more quickly. Sharing is caring! I chose two platforms to share my work on.

The first site that I chose to share my work on was LinkedIn. Here, I‘ve built up some great connections with like-minded people who encourage one another and read each others’ work. Take your time, choose who you connect with, and build your own great network.

The other site I use is X. Formerly called Twitter, I post articles here occasionally to help them gain momentum. While I don’t have as many followers here, I do have a few, and they are great at re-sharing my work.

Tagging and SEO

One particular strategy that I learned was to make sure to give my article shares proper tags. For example, if something is about finances, I’ll make sure to tag #Finances at the top of the post on both sites. I add as many tags as I can think of for a particular post.

If you’re struggling to figure out what tags to use, check on Google Trends to see what’s trending today and choose your keyword tags accordingly.

Update Your Profiles As Required

As you learn new skills, make sure to go in and update your profiles on your various sites. For example, if you take a class or earn some certificate, make sure to update this information on your various sites.

Sites like LinkedIn and Upwork can gain new side hustles by updating your skill sets. It’s amazing what one simple new skill can do to your portfolio. I’ve added in a new skill set a few times and was delighted when, a few days later, I was extended a new job offer.

Pace Yourself

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you’re not going to build your portfolio in a day. Pace yourself. Add your very best articles and projects to your portfolio. Keep your portfolio updated. Set aside time for breaks, including lunch and regular breaks during the day. You may wish to go for a walk or run some errands on your breaks.

If you’re struggling with writer's block, breaks will actually work well for you. Take your breaks around others or while running errands. When you return to your desk, jot down a short list of things you encountered on your break. It’s amazing how well this works to break you out of writer's block.

Schedule Yourself

Whenever possible, set regular hours. I work from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and then I take a break. I’m back at my computer by 12:30 and work another several hours. I usually stop and run errands around 3:00 p.m.

After dinner, when my family is busy doing other things, I will again write for several hours. I never work more than 2 hours straight. This helps me to stay productive and keeps my writing fresh. Occasionally, I’ll have a large project that requires me to work a few extra hours. I keep this in mind when planning out my schedule and don’t schedule other appointments during that time frame.

Determine Which Income Streams Are Right For You

It’s important to consider your skills. What are your interests? If you have a huge interest in a specific topic, you’ll never feel like you put in a day of work. Research the various markets and identify opportunities that are available.

Choose your niches carefully. Finance, self-improvement, and relationship articles often do very well. You’ll want to consider what is trending and what you’re best at before you embark on choosing your favorite income streams.

Here are some other articles I’ve written about working from home.

I’m tagging a few of my fellow writers who have supported me lately and asked me to tag them. I appreciate all of you so very much! If you get a chance, be sure to follow them and read some of their articles.

Jan Sebastian 🖐👩‍🦰, Zara Le Roux, Tracey Folly, Chantal Christie Weiss, and Too Few Soar.

Please let me know if you wish to be removed from (or added to) the tagging list. Preferably in the comments

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