Advice on working from home / being self employed?

[Beccaboo88]

Hi i'm Becca, i'm 24 and have a 7month old little girl Dolly.

I left my office job in accounts to have Dolly and didn't return as they could only offer me my fulltime position back and I wanted to go part time.

I am struggling to find work now and although I know it may have to be done i'm reluctant to leave her, sadly financially being a stay at home mum isn't an option but I do want to spend as much time with her has possible.

I make jewellery as a hobby but have never sold any as it's not something i've ever thought about doing. I am now wondering if I could do this from home as a job but unsure if and how it would take off? I have tried looking for work from home jobs but nothing seems available or suitable. I've tried avon etc and it doesn't pay much at all.

any advice is welcome, thank you.

I don't think it's possible for anyone to say "Yes" or "No" based on what you've posted, but here are some things to think about before you decide:

1. What's your competition like? Have a look on Etsy and Ebay, go to some local craft fairs. What's everyone else selling, and how good is yours compared to what's for sale?

1. How long does each piece take to make, and how much does it cost you to make it? Can you realistically sell the pieces you make for more than the cost of the material plus an allowance per hour for the time you took to make them?

1. How much time can you commit to doing this? If you're doing craft fairs and parties, you'll need to work evenings and weekends. If you're doing Ebay and Etsy, you'll need to invest a lot of time in making your digital store-front attractive. If you're going to sell from your own website, you'll need to invest a lot of time, and maybe some money, in building and promoting the site.

1. How are you going to manage your stock? Are you going to make pieces in advance or to order? If you make in advance, how are you going to decide how many to make? What will you do with stock that doesn't sell? How much will you have to invest in materials?

1. How much money do you need to make? Based on your figures above, how many pieces of jewellery do you need to sell to achieve this? Does that sound realistic?

Good luck with whatever you decide.

There are always lots of jewellry ladies at the fairs I have stalls at so I'd say start checking out the competition to see if it's worthwhile. A stall at a fair will be upwards of £10 a time so will you make enough profit? Have you thought about setting up your own facebook page - this is free so might be a better place to start than ebay.

Good luck!