To wonder if you work from home, what do you do?

[JonahAndTheSale]

Hello! Mumsnet Jobs team here. We've noticed this thread is fairly old now, and some of the information is out of date. We've put together this article of advice, tips and tricks to start working from home. Alternatively, you can look at the work from home opportunities on Mumsnet Jobs. We hope this is helpful!

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I don't know anyone who works from home in rl but I see it all the time on mumsnet.

If you work from home, what is your job?

Obviously not referring to sahp here!

[MrsHathaway]

I love been my own boss, working my own hours, not having to be far away from home and no commute!!!

Thing is, you can get all of that without losing all your friends, dignity and savings, by avoiding MLMs.

Fun fact from Timeless Vie: within a week of the launch of Maelle in the UK there are more "consultants" than there are branches of Boots. Do we really believe there's a market for all of them?

If you want to work from home, find a job that's genuinely an at-home job - which can of course include crafty genius - rather than a thinly veiled pyramid scheme.

[ifherbumwereabungalow]

Sorry for the delay sapphirestrange! I am only able to do the audio description for pre-recorded programmes from home, a wide range of genres, I can be describing a football show, followed by kids tv then a heavy drama so no lack of variety. We have guidelines regarding how we say things, for example I'd never write "We see..." or "She is feeling this that or the other". We are hopefully going to be providing some live AD for the Paralympics though which should be an interesting challenge....

[Nomes802]

I apologise.

I certainly didn't mean to come across like that.

Yes...I thought I would pop a link to my website, but only because I thought it might be useful to anyone that might have a small business making and selling things.

I'm not a regular poster, but if that is not the etiquette I certainly won't mention it again.


I hope this hasn't distracted anyone from getting some really useful information and hope we can put this to bed.

[PresidentOliviaMumsnet]

Ahem
Bit of a peace and love please.
I wfh MNing. I know you are all
mwahahahah

[NutBiscuit]

Also in the pharmaceutical industry - I'm a data manager. Working mainly with teams in the US and South Africa.

[EPRS]

I totally lucked out and got an operations role for a small independent management consultancy where all employees are home based.

[Woohoomoo]

I work in sales for an awarding organisation. Home-based with regular client meetings at schools and colleges. Nice and quiet at this time of year

[asdfghjjkl]

ironing

[TwatbadgingCuntfuckery]

I do a few jobs from home to make ends meet and to keep me busy!

My main job is in design/arts - this is mostly creating items for print. flyers, posters, business cards and a few larger projects for small businesses as well as invites for weddings etc but I also dip into writing articles, I run a blog that is only just turning a very tiny profit and every 6-8 weeks I edit short stories for a friend who self-publishes.

On top of this, and to fill my days in the lean months (better than the hell that is temp JSA), I sell prints and yarn amongst other things on etsy.

yes, I do a lot but I am easily bored/need variety in my day and have to be doing something. I can fit all of this around the school run and work 5 days a week and depending on how busy up to 4 evenings a week. I'm a single parent so I don't have to entertain a partner in the evenings and use some of the school hours to run errands. I do have to be strict with my diary and deadlines can be very very short.

[LBOCS2]

When I'm not on maternity leave, I'm a property manager. I work out of a couple of regional offices for a developer, on site, and at home.

i do think people need after they qualify as solicitor barrister to spend at least 5 - 7 years practising to get enough experience to be able competently to work for themselves in law. A lot of this work you learn by years of experience and supervision by other good lawyers. However once you have that experience it works well from home in quite a few different areas of law.

This is the case with property management too. It's why the same job title has a variance of £30K+ in earnings. Experience makes a big difference and when you're learning the ropes you need people around to you pick the brains of.

[DameDancealot]

Candle maker and also run candle making workshops

[throwingpebbles]

olivia

[Jinglyjen79]

Work from home in my spare time selling health and beauty products but hope to build it up to a full time business like my friend

[meatloaf]

I work in a (now) non technical role for a global financial services company.

Been there for 18 years. I work 2 days in the office and 1 day over 2 (so 2 days really) from home. Pretty much can work from home whenever if there's assembly or sports days.

They respect me. I respect them. It's still a lower middle role, I am sure no promotion because of my part time and flex working, but suits me. The role would still be stress ridden and demand more time no matter how many hours I worked.

[VivaMinnieTheMinx]

Writer, editor and trainer. Initially it was a bit buttock clenching taking the leap to go freelance to WFH and it took a while to find a balance that worked (in the early days the laptop often came out for a long stint after DC were tucked in bed). The closet hermit part of me still clicks heels with joy at the (relative) peace and flexibility that WFH can bring. Doesn't always go smoothly during school hols though - yesterday DD accidentally barged in during conference call to ask if she could dress up the cat for an instagram shoot not at all deliberate to try get me to agree while distracted

[cazzyg]

Business Analyst in financial services. My employer is a big supporter of flexible working practices and it's an option chosen by lots of my colleagues both male and female.

I do have to travel occasionally but it's more than balanced out by the flexibility of being able to work from home and make sports days, nativity plays and manage days when the DC are ill.

[VioletBam]

Social media management and copywriting.

[TerrorAustralis]

Minta85 how did u get started up? I'm dying to try do a little freelance proofreading and editing but don't know any ways in, if you're willing to share?

I worked in-house for a publisher for 8 years before going freelance, working my way up from editorial assistant to senior editor. I also have post-graduate qualifications in publishing and editing. Like other professions mentioned, I think you need that experience before going solo. There's no substitute for working under the tutelage of experienced colleagues.

[Rosa]

Tourism, own business from home but I am also out and about.i work harder than I did in an office , somtimes silly hours but its supply and demand

[JeanGenie23]

I am a childminder, have been for 10yrs. The only downside is I feel like I am constantly cleaning the bloody house

[Bambamrubblesmum]

IT industry and Day Trader

Worked in an office for the majority of my working life, I now love working from home. I don't miss the office politics one bit

[2016Blyton]

Those of us who earn quite a bit from home tend to have worked in a career probably where you need a lot of experience (and in law qualifications) and then once you have your contacts (same in publishing) then you can work from home. It is quite hard to start from a standing start from home with no experience or qualifications but not impossible (look at those few people who make it as writers working from home and cafes).

I certainly encourage my children to start out with good qualifications, work in a good company and then if they choose work for themselves. My grandfather left school at 12, got casual work (worst job was poisoning puppies at a pharmacy for people who could not afford a vet although I am sure he did it very humanely), built up to selling horses and then houses and house auctions. Not surprisingly he wanted his children instead to get good qualifications and two of his sons became doctors (one was my father).

However if you have no experience or qualifications you can still run a business from home. Books like the 4 hour working week show how some people have managed it. I have advised a good few clients over the years who have set up an internet business selling particular niche products starting at home and some (not most but some) have made an awful lot of money.

[SapphireStrange]

ifherbum, thank you! How did you get into it, can I ask? Paralympics – wow, how exciting! Would you personally be doing the live describing?

Bugmomma, I second what Terror says about editorial work. People are sometimes drawn to those ads you get in the paper saying 'if you can find the mistakes in this text you could be earning [insert vast amount of wonga] per hour as a proofreader!'

In my experience, the industry values in-house experience much more highly. You need an eye and a feel for it, ideally gained not only from lots of day-to-day experience but also from being a voracious reader with a natural eye for detail.

[theelectricmichaelangelo]

I'm an IT consultant - implementing systems for external clients- around the globe. My companies business model is work from home as consultants are all global and we can access everything remotely and run Webex for meetings/ screen share. However initial design workshops do mean a few days away so there is a risk we can be asked to travel and stay away at various stages of the project or to undergo training on new modules. In my experience though it's minimal and they try their best to be flexible around my childcare needs. Fab company.