Work from home / self employed ideas

[jessyjo2]

I'm just looking for some ideas.
I have great experience in office work but recently lost my job. I would love to b able to work from home to balance life with my 3 children. Children are school age so given current circumstances I will need to b very flexible to b able to balance unknown school times.
Has anyone any great ideas of gaps in the market where I potentially could sell on line? Flexible working from home ideas etc?

Virtual PA? Telesales? Bookkeeping?

What are your biggest strengths? What can you do that other people can't go? Find your niche and you will find which job to do from there.

Hi jessy, watching with interest although I don't think people are necessarily going to discuss gaps in the market, having already identified one. I am in an identical situation to you (except youngest is yet to start school). It is really difficult to get work that is tailored around school times unless you happen to work in a school and even then, I think after school clubs etc. might be involved. Any luck with moving forward with your plan to work from home?

@jessyjo2 where are you based?

Hi. Thanks for your replies. Yes agree I don't blame anyone for not giving away the secrets of gaps in the market, everyone needs to use their own opportunities.
I actually had success today, a friend of a friend approached me to work for them. Mostly work from home, willing to let me work around children. Cant believe my luck.
I really can sympathise with parents genuinely wanting to work but due to childcare/virus/school work you really are in a corner.

Oh wow Jessy that sounds like a real break. I keep mentioning my predicament to some, but don't have any contacts. I am going to approach one company directly about possible work during school hours. The problem is, I only want about 10 hours per week. I have an idea for an on-line business it will probably pay less than minimal wage but it is tied in with a hobby and I'm keen to give it a go. Option 3. is voluntary work in connection with a charity I wouldn't mind supporting, just to get out of the house. My plans are made up of bits and pieces at the moment. I don't know if it's my age (late 40's) but I'm having problems committing myself to anything. In the past, I have had admin jobs and for some reason, I'm not jumping up and down to go back to that line of work. I don't have a particular skill set unfortunately - people who have a skill - hairdressing/photography/IT whizz/plastering etc. seem well placed to work at least some hours per week self employed. I just feel like I'm floating around unfortunately.

Not a gap in the market as such, but have you thought about online TEFL teaching (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)? I've been looking into it as I'd heard that there are quite a few jobs out there right now, as so many language schools have had to close due to the lockdowns around the world. There's a really useful chart on i-to-i's website at www.i-to-i.com/online-english-teaching-jobs.html which sets out loads of different employers and includes the minimum hours you need to work for each - quite a lot are 10 hours or less. Wages are ok rather than brilliant (more if you have a degree, TEFL training and teaching experience) but it looks super flexible about the hours that you work, so I reckon it could fit around school hours - whatever they end up being.

If i wanted to find a work from home opportunity, including mlm or network marketing, where would be the best place to look?

Just beware of the MLM mums lol

I've been looking at proof reading and copy editing. There are some good online courses out there but generally the decent looking ones are about £500. Worth it I should think, but possibly tricky if you've just been made redundant.
I know a couple of people who teach English as a foreign language (TEFL) and the seem to do quite well (also need to do the course first)

Have you thought of something like indexing - always in demand for academic works and can be combined with other home based editorial work.

www.indexers.org.uk/about-indexing/a-career-in-indexing/