Facebook, besides being the place to go for internet memes [1] shared by your aunt, gives you a chance to connect with friends and relatives [2] all over the world. While this mostly amounts to simple status updates, posting photos, and sharing articles, if you're like me, your news feed can start to feel like a gathering place for advertisements. Fellow moms selling leggings, books, makeup [3], skin treatments, food, essential oils, jewellery, and candles pop up on my feed so often that Facebook can sometimes feel like I'm shopping on Amazon.
Besides hopefully bringing in a little extra cash, having a side hustle is a way for many moms to have something of their own.
Sure, there's the occasional urge to unfollow these women, because yes, it can be a little annoying. I mean, how many different skin treatments does one person need (and how many of them are actually the best?)? Yet I continue to follow them and read what they post, because not only do I respect these women for working on their side hustle, but I also understand them, and so should you.
Being a stay-at-home mom is not easy [5]. Many women choose to put their careers on hold so they can take care of their family, often because of the prohibitive cost of childcare [6]. This obviously can put a financial strain on the family, and even long after the mom has returned to work (if she chooses to do so), women continue to be paid far less [7] than their male counterparts. Multi-level marketing (MLM) companies, which are the type of companies that you see your friend selling for, present themselves as an opportunity for women to make a little bit of cash to narrow the wage gap.
Yes, there are MLMs that are sketchy and rip some people off [8], but there are many that aren't. And besides, that's drastically besides the point. People (not just women), go into these businesses for a variety of reasons. Besides hopefully bringing in a little extra cash, having a side hustle is a way for many moms to have something of their own. It's their own side project, away from their children and responsibilities of the home. And as a fellow stay-at-home mom, I can tell you that's really, really important.
If my 20s were all about my own needs, my 30s so far have been about my family. Every waking second of my day is spent trying to educate and entertain my son, manage the house, and keep my sanity. I have found my outlet in running and writing — that works for me. Other women enjoy selling products and manageing their own business under the protection of an umbrella of a larger company. What's so wrong with that? They're killing it in their own right, and I respect the hell out of that, even if I don't like anything they're selling.
We've told women they can have it all [9]: they can have children, a career, the perfect home, and the perfect body. The reality, of course, is all of that is so much harder to maintain. So whenever a woman hustles hard enough to do her own thing and make money, I support that, and you should, too.
Editor's Note: This piece was written by a POPSUGAR contributor and does not necessarily reflect the views of POPSUGAR Inc. Interested in joining our POPSUGAR Voices network of contributors from around the globe? Click here [10].