Own business/self employed ideas

[RainSteppes]

For various reasons I am concerned that school isn't going to work for my DCs, particularly my eldest, and I want to put a plan in place to enable me to home school them at high school age - eldest is currently in Yr 4 so I have 2 - 3 years to plan for this as we will probably give it a go at a mainstream school initially. I need options if this doesn't work for them though.

I am currently an experienced social worker and work 3 days a week with a take home pay of £1550pm after tax and pension. I'd need to earn roughly the same to be able to do this as we're stretched as it is. What I want to do is think about work from home/self employed things I could do that would enable me to be flexible around my children, who at that age would be able to have some level of independence/not need me hovering the whole day. My husband works full time outside the home. As I said I have some time to train etc if needed. I think I could 'stack' jobs, maybe have a couple of self employed things and a bit of evening bar or restaurant work?

I like working with children, I used to nanny before my current role (which still involves a lot of work with kids). I'm not really keen on the idea of childminding but running a group (baby massage? Parenting type stuff that lets me leverage the skills I already have?) or teaching something like swimming has crossed my mind. I wouldn't mind learning a trade though my spatial abilities are not great compared to my writing/analytical skills! Maths isn't strong so I don't think accounting from home etc would work.

I'd love to hear what others do in terms of small business/sole trader type things that enable them to be flexible and regularly around/available at home, able to plan their own diary etc. My current role is super flexible but at the end of the day I have to be available when I have to be available, and I have to travel around the county doing home visits. So it wouldn't work with home schooling.

As a small business owner, it can take a lot of time to get it off the ground and isn't actually any less demanding than being employed. I work on average 10h a day plus answer email enquiries at all hours and during weekends. I would opt for remote working if I were you, something with a fairly flexible schedule (or working for an international company where you can take advantage of the time difference).
Running groups may work as far as getting the most amount of money for your time. Again, you will need to consider costs of hiring a venue and the amount of marketing and networking it would take to get regular income.

I'm happy to work hard/high-ish (or higher than current) hours, and the home educating part would be shared with my husband/evenings/weekends so it's I suppose the ability to be a bit more physically available even if I'm working, and able to decide my working times for myself to allow for this.

I didn't make clear I'm not looking for low effort/low hours, but more autonomy. And yes, something I can start now to give a few years head start prior to the kids being home during the day. Rather than trying to get something off the ground then which I agree wouldn't work.

As a social worker I'm often available outside of work hours, responding to texts and emails other times/evenings/weekends so I'm used to that overlap of work and life that I'd assume having your own business would mean. That's all fine. I just want the choice of how I set my time up.

I don't think you understand how demanding and relentless running your own business can be. I work 'extra' hours far more often than I take days off, and I usually rack up 50hrs a week, at busy times that can hit 70+. There is always a lot of admin and you need to be able to do your own logistics, sales, purchasing, accounts, tax return in addition to actually doing the thing that you're charging for.

In your position I would look for flexi part time employment or some kind of freelance for an employer.

I don't want to run a huge business that's earning big money or even the majority of our household income. I appreciate running your own thing is intense but in the most respectful way possible I've worked in frontline children's social work for 14 years. I'm not a stranger to intense hard work, late nights, or juggling lots of competing priorities at once. In fact my employment experience and skills is precisely why I think I have the ability to make the switch. I'm not going from 6 hours in the local corner shop to looking for an 'easy' home business.

I was hoping for ideas as opposed to comments on whether or not it's something I might be able to do. Remote working in an employed role doesn't give the autonomy I need as it still means having to be available at someone else's say so, as opposed to booking and managing your own workload.

Could you work evenings and weekends? Swimming teachers earn up to £25 per hour, and there is a national shortage.

Well nobody here can conjure up a business idea for you, unless they're scammers or delusional. That has to come from you, and really, it needs to come from your heart and guts. Do your own research, think outside the normal, work out your usp and if what you have for sale is in fact sellable. At the moment you're just another wannabe with a vague idea that working for yourself is a magic bullet.

I work with small business owners, the majority fail because the owners don't know enough about marketing and technology. Ie having a business now usually means you're visible on Google, social media, email etc. It's very tough if you don't know how to do those things as you won't be able to pay someone to do it as you won't earn enough.

If you are serious about children's groups etc, I would watch tutorials of how to build a wix or squarespace website, how to build an Instagram following etc. If you can't attract interest to your business it will fail.

I make about 800 per month working about a day a week but plan to double/triple this in the next couple of years once youngest goes to school but this is in design, a field I have years of experience in and I can mostly do from home.

Is there a way you have leverage your existing social service experience? Consultation work? Do you speak other languages? translation for people under social services. Charity work consultation that helps disadvantages kids. Fostering or supporting foster parents?

I really worry about this country with the comments on here.

OP, I’m self employed. The hours are long and the pay is only just starting to level up five years in.

Try to focus on a flexible home based employed role rather than starting something from scratch on your own. You have a lot of skills that are transferable.

I'm a childminder and was going to suggest that as it makes the most sense, specifically for other home schooled children but it's the only thing you dont want to do....

Exxactly this. Nobody can think up a business for you.

If you run a baby/toddler group/class, you'd get about £7 per child for a half hour, max. And probably ten per class. So add in transition times between classes, franchise fee, hall costs, not being full all the time, etc and I think you'd struggle to make anywhere near what you want. And how would that or swimming work with your older child?

I would find it really awkward to be sitting around singing old McDonald while an eleven year old glared at me from the corner.

Sleep consultants seem to get money for old rope though. Or could you sell yourself as helping behavioural difficulties?

I agree, nobody can just offer you a business idea on the spot. Maybe pay for a consultant to go through your skillset and options.
I think the advice about the realities of running a small business is necessary as I see fat too many people in my industry leaving their daytime job because they happened to have two months of steady sales just to find the whole thing flopped after the initial rush. You have no security and have to work beyond what would be expected of you in employment, and you also don't have much control of your own time until you are big enough to employ some help.

My mum has been self employed for about 30 years. You need a few things to be successful in running your own business - a skill that is always in demand, willingness to work whatever hours required, and you need to be good with people/talking to people.

Asides from my mum the people I know who have been successful, are hairdressers / beauticians, landscape gardeners, tradespeople etc. There will always be people who want their hair cut, a burst pipe fixed, etc. Think about the kind of skills that are always in demand and think about what you feel like you could do or what is feasible for you to learn in the time available, and what would work in your situation (ie sounds like you want to be able to wfh) and work backwards from there.

Gosh, people are very negative here!

Running your own business doesn’t need to be stressful and you don’t need to work long hours. You also don’t need to be prepared to work whatever hours people want. Honestly, all of this is rubbish.

You just need a skill that a defined niche of people want and are willing to pay for, and to market yourself well.

I would suggest consultancy for charities or something like that. I’m not sure what area of social work you’re in, but find out what people need - what do they get stuck on? What do they struggle with? What are you uniquely able to advise them on?

You can absolutely choose your own hours too. For example, if you don’t want to work Fridays you just tell people: “I don’t work Fridays”.

I would start by putting some feelers out there. Connect with as many charities as you can and start to build a network of contacts. Approaching people directly, plus a good social media content strategy when the time comes, will be your best bet.

Good luck.

Agree about the negativity on here!

I work 35 hours a week as a freelancer and earn £60k (before tax, NI, etc). I choose my days and hours. Granted, it took training and time to build up to that level, but OP said she's willing to put in the work to do that.

Ideas for you:

Virtual assistant
Copyediting
Proofreading
Copywriting
Data entry
Indexing for book publishers
Transcription
Social media
Marketing