The traditional choices for women with small children were either to carry on working outside the home, often working long hours, paying a fortune in child care fees and feeling cut off from their kids, or to stay at home and feel bored, frustrated and overwhelmed by the demanding job of full time child care. Luckily for us, the world has changed drastically since our Moms were sitting round the kitchen table, and almost any Mom who really wants or needs to earn a reasonable income from home can do it today. Heres how....
First of all, assess your skills. If you worked as a secretary before having kids, your office skills can serve you well in a range of home based jobs- for instance proofreading, or freelance telemarketing. Moms with training in yoga or pilates have a head start in the home job market, especially if they can put aside a dedicated space as a studio, but even if you have no prior training it may be worthwhile spending a year or two getting qualified as an instructor. After all, you may well be at home for ten years or more, until you feel that your kids are independant enough to allow you to work outside the home. Other mothers may have an artistic talent, or be good at writing. The important thing is to choose an area that you feel comfortable with, and have some ability in. Marketing yourself is the key to getting your work from home career off the ground. How you do this will depend on where you live and what you decide to do, but there are a few general rules worth knowing. Exposure to the right audience is going to get the most response, so if you are selling services like a pedicure or manicure, advertise in the window of your local hairdresser, and near the local beauty salon. If,on the other hand, you are looking for work on the internet, look for sites that fit your job requirements, check adverts and place your own, keeping them current at least once a week. Try to place ads in as many sites as possible, and pay attention to grammar and spelling. Whatever your work at home business is,at first take all the work you can get and work for a price below the market average. As you get better known and build up a reputation you will be able to charge more, but at first you need to break into the market, and this takes patience and perseverance. Interpersonal and communication skills will be important in helping you keep customers and get new ones, so pay attention to your appearance and tone of voice. So, you've got your new career off the ground. But how are your kids taking it? You will now face a difficult choice- to keep the kids at home, or send them to kindergarten? Or a playgroup? And for how many hours is reasonable? Many women working from home feel guilty for sending their kids to kindergarten, and feel that part of their job is to provide full time childcare. However, the fact is that small children need interaction with other kids, and will often be bored at home. If Mom is trying to run a business from home too, stress levels may become very high and neither side will enjoy the experience. So finding a happy balance will be one of the first priorities as the work from home business starts to develop, and researching childcare resources in the neighborhood will be part of a successful business plan.
