Help me. Business ideas? Need 1k a month

[HonestFatball]

Longtime MNer, new name for this.

Short story: I need to make money. I lost my job and can’t find another one. Our family home is at stake. I’m terrified. People say those in this position should just work for themselves. But how, in what? I’m desperate for any advice.

Long story: I was made redundant last year. Hundreds of job applications, just one interview that went nowhere. Ive always found a job quickly before and I’ve no idea what to do. I’ve updated my CV for AI scanners, I’ve had it looked at by people in top jobs, I’ve applied to everything from dream roles to part time entry level stuff (yes with different CVs), I’ve looked at retraining. I’m panicking. DH has a job but can’t cover everything on his income. I had decent savings but they run out in a couple months. Then we can’t pay the mortgage (I’ve already had a reduced sum on mortgage for 6 months). I’m looking at losing my house and I’m terrified. I feel like I’ll never be employed again and no idea WTF to do. I’m still applying for jobs, but could I work for myself?

I’m not sure what information to give. Before I was in digital/marketing/product design, I can do any of those. I am not afraid of hard work and have common sense. I don’t really care what I do. I need it to be realistic though (can’t emotionally deal with ‘hope’ only to find it falls flat) and I need it to make money fairly quickly (2 or 3 months max). I need 1k a month to keep my home.

Constraints: no savings to speak of. Don’t drive. Have dyscalculia so terrible with maths, Excel, etc. Would be miserable working evenings/weekends to miss out on family time. Bad at sales. Think that’s it.

Could you do morning office cleaning whilst you look for other stuff? Quite low stress, not that many people to deal with. Offices not usually that grubby

How about factory work - know it’s not ideal but pay is normally just above minimum wage and overtime is always there and would just tide you over till you find the job you want

Go to an employment agency. They usually have work available at a fairly short notice (manufacturing/care work/council jobs). It in their interests to get you into work because they get paid.

Friend of mine did this and had work within two weeks.

I’ve applied to cleaning, catering, factory work, etc- I’m VERY happy doing this I just want to get on my feet financially, but I don’t even get to interview stage.

I’ve applied to a million recruitment and temp agencies but they don’t even get back to me, even with chasing.

I try to tailor my CV and experience as much as possible but I guess they are put off by lack of experience in these areas. Whatever the reason, I’m not having any luck.

Where are you in the UK?

Child minding? Lodger? Rent your house out and rent somewhere smaller? If you don’t have a degree start one - maintenance loan will be at last £500 a month. Is drop shipping still a thing? Christmas store/post office/supermarket staff?

Use your digital/marketing skills to set up as self employed. Offer a small free hook to micro/small independent business and try to land clients who want to outsource their marketing, or want a VA

Set up on teachable or similar, advertise on SM and teach marketing skills to self employed folk. Create a community space online with SM and upsell services to your students

Tutor gcse, a level, degree level in any subject you're competent in

Set up as a self employed cleaner, pet sitter, dog walker

Try reselling

Remember to register with hmrc and get public liability insurance as a minimum.

This! If it were that easy we would all be doing it…sorry OP

Can you extend the term of your mortgage to bring that down monthly for the time being? Are you in an area where people need accommodations a few nights a week? You are allowed to ‘earn’ £7500 a year tax free if you rent a room. You could have a Mon-Fri or less arrangement so that it doesn’t impact much on family time.

Are there areas you can cut down on outgoings?

I wonder what it is that means millions of employment and temp agencies and companies offering cleaning, factory and catering work aren't even getting back to you, despite you having solid experience, skills. and employment history

Childminding takes months to register with OFSTED, advertise and start with children... not everybody is a suitable person to look after children and it takes a heck of investment to set up.

Social media VA, you’d absolutely be able to do that with a background in marketing. Spin up a low cost website, rinse your existing connections, at a starting level you’d be able to earn a couple of grand a month easily.

OnlyFans.
No start up costs. Work from
home. Chose your hours. Own boss. Quick to generate an income.

Could you clean houses? Self employed

Why don’t you advertise on local FB groups as a house cleaner / ironing services / dog walker?

Airbnb a spare room.
You could be set up with it instantly.

What about conversational English tutoring online. My brother has been successful doing this. Particularly good if you have another language so you can target that demographic.

In terms of starting your own business. I have done exactly that. Left my last job and went self employed. I make about 15/16k a year now but it took 2 years to get to 1k a month.

I started with a really good portfolio (I'm a designer and technical artist working in landscaping) then started by phoning (not emailing, they all get ignored) every relevant company near me to query if they were interested in my work.

I got AI to do complex searches for relevent job links that the major job sites miss and mean that you can do more focussed searches for terms including 'flexible' 'freelance' or 'remote'. In fact this is a very good idea generally to find jobs that aren't advertised widely. You will get fewer candidates to compete with.

Consider what parallel jobs your CV might qualify you for and target these jobs as it sounds like you are having trouble getting interest.

I found my first industry job on the .gov website with the benefits center. I think they have fairly low expectations for experience (also low pay but that sounds fine for you)

Print flyers offering house cleaning and post to a few hundred houses in your area. I would probably employ you if you did this as I would rather employ a lone independent woman rather then a company that skims off the top.

Same for local dog walking. You could easily undercut a bigger company slightly to get the customers then raise rates later. My friend's daughter has done very well doing this.

Our area is crying out for both dog walking and cleaners.

Bus companies are always looking for drivers and will often offer free training. Might not be ideal but almost guaranteed work and options for overtime.

Except OP doesn’t drive.

i think it’s the not driving making things difficult here. Otherwise something like self employed cleaner / dog walker might work.

I know OP said she’d be miserable working weekends and evenings but I wonder if that’s also affecting her ability to get things like cleaning and caring jobs. Might be something to suck up for a while to avoid losing the house.

Personally In your shoes alongside applying for jobs I would right this moment get on to TikTok shop and start selling for commission.

I started in June . Mainly book based . Do a short video about it ie look at this wonderful book and how good a price it is - with a link to the product. When people buy I get 10% commission. I make between 200-400 per month, by making approx 6 videos a day .

apparently skin care is the best seller - but I’m sticking to what I know as an avid reader.

as someone with a marketing background I’m sure you could do a better job than me.

if you don’t know TikTok shop it’s absolutely massive and they sell everything- tbh it’s a lot like Amazon in my opinion

Where are you based? A city dweller who can't drive may be less of an issue, if you are more rural/suburban it could be a huge barrier. Could you learn? Theres always care work but driving tends to be required.

If you are in the north and parts of the midlands there are far fewer jobs than london/SE. What qualifications do you have?

Ocado need staff in their warehouses and offer free tree transport via minibus for their employees from local towns. Worth checking out, OP.