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How might I earn £1000 a month working from home?

420 replies

Mumblepot26 · 12/08/2012 08:16

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 We've noticed this thread is fairly old now, and some of the information is out of date.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. We hope it's helpful!

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Hello, i wondered if any of you had any ideas about how I coud earn £1000 a month working from home?

I have spent 20 yrs working in the health service as a nurse then counsellor, just gone back after second lot of mat leave and realised I am done with the nhs, after child care I bring in £1000 a month, so I figure if I can earn this at home, I will be able to stay at home until kids in school. Any ideas ladies? (Working as private counsellor not an option at the moment as we don't have enough space)

OP posts:
caramelwaffle · 21/08/2012 14:44

Well done, recall.

Inspiring.

I believe that a daughters - especially - education should be considered holistically e.g. learning to drive (essential so as not to close off future revenue streams/create a core sense of independence) so much so that I already have the money safely put aside for first car/driving lessons/insurance.

BrittaPerry · 21/08/2012 14:51

I'm loving this thread. I think I have taken m eye off the ball recently, career wise, and I need t get back on it.

What I have been doing a lot of, or at least I was and need to do again, is constantly looking for opportunity. I have turned down positions on the board f national charities, posts where I could steer political thought and writing for national publications - all because I keep an eye on twitter, Email newsletters nd so on, and network even when I don't have something in particular in mind.

I was seriously ill last year and doctors didn't think I would have useful work for at least a decade. A year later, I have two jobs, my own business, doing two university courses, in a band, getting more politically active again and two small children. We're not rich, in fact our income is very small at the moment, but a year ago I could barely sting a sentence together. We're on our way up, too - since I started doing this direct sales business four months ago, my income has doubled every month and I intend to keep it doing that.

Going to save this thread for motivation :-)

Schoolworries · 21/08/2012 15:26

Is there anyone on here who has set up a business with NO childcare help whats ever with very, very young children?

If so if you remember your rough timetable of the day to how you made it work?

DolomitesDonkey · 21/08/2012 15:42

school I work full-time in paid employment and live abroad, so there is no "friends & family" childcare. When my kids are in creche, I'm working. They are 2.1 and 6 months.

I get up at 5 (or earlier if I wake) and I start with breaks obviously when they need me.

Then I do my full working day.

Then a family dinner and they're in bed by 6:30 - and I start working again.

I do try and have a technology free half day at the weekend because my husband would kill me to keep my ideas fresh.

My work is fairly flexible in that I work from home and I get over 40 days paid holiday a year - this gives me a lot of flexibility for starting out. But yes, I've sat here before with a baby on my knee typing one handed whilst the 2 year old unplugs the laptop cable. As xenia says, this stage is so short and they'll grow up and it'll all be easier.

Schoolworries · 21/08/2012 15:53

The thing on my mind is that- yes, the are only little once... So why not make the most of this precious time before they are teenagers who want nothing to do with me! Its such a wonderful stage I love being with my dcs and taking them out to explore the world.

That is what I keep questioning myself with- Im only in my 20s, We dont need the money, I dont need to work towards promtions... I have the rest of my life to work... But I feel a bit of failure if I dont work too and I already have interest in what I have started .. Dilemma dilemma!

DolomitesDonkey · 21/08/2012 16:16

I think you've answered your own question. Right now you're not interested.

Schoolworries · 21/08/2012 16:22

I never said I wasnt interested.

If I wasnt I would be on this thread! I wouldnt have just sent 3 business emails today.

I said Im wondering if the extra stress and sacrifice is worth it while I have such young children and no childcare at all. Im wondering if its even realistic.

Im sure mine in a common dilemma especially in these modern times.

WilfSell · 21/08/2012 17:09

I'm really interested in this. I have long thought I should be an entrepreneur, got lots of ADD traits ideas and flexibility, but no specific ideas yet Grin - well I did have one but funnily enough the minute I thought of it, everyone else did too and in any case it was clothing manufacture and I realised a. how much capital I would need when I have precisely none, and b. how much the garment industry is a completely closed shop if you don't have contacts. That and I knew NOTHING about it. But I might start a 'How to become an entrepreneur' thread - will y'all join me over there...?

recall · 21/08/2012 17:09

schoolworries I run my business with no childcare, my 3 year old goes to pre school on tuesday and wednesday morning and all day thursday, but to be honest this is sometimes more of a hinderance because I am in and out of the car, my 5 year old is at school so on tuesdays and wednesdays I have a double school run. I see pre school as more of an education thing than child care IYSWIM. I still have the two year old with me.

I usually tackle my e mails at night. I have to plan a route during the week that I do when I get a quiet couple of hours. Then Friday at 5pm, when my DH finishes work I shoot off and return Sunday night, or sometimes in the early hours of Monday morning. The worse thing is taking phone calls from customers, I have to run into the spare room and shut the door to reduce the noise. I do get a bit resentful about this because my DH has the luxury of his own quiet office and 8 hours a day that are just for him to concentrate on work with no children, and yet I earn more than him.

I am crap at bookeeping, so I pay one of the Mum's at my DD's school to do all that and my tax return etc, and I have a cleaner for 4 hours a week.

I am haphazard and think I loose a fair amount of business because I can't focus, I just do what I can and will pick it up when they are all at school in a couple of years. I reckon I will double what I am doing now, because I have had to stop advertising. When my advert is live on google adwords, I can't keep up with demand. I am itching to go for it !

recall · 21/08/2012 17:39

schoolworries why do you feel a failure if you don't work too ? My neighbour is the same, she wants to get back to work now to regain feelings of self worth. Please don't feel a failure for not working, you aren't defined by it, and your children will benefit so much from your time with them now.

My job satisfaction starts and ends in the bank, and I fill it with cash by hook or by crook Grin ( although I do love what I do, i think that helps )

Xenia · 21/08/2012 18:02

I don't the thread is about making people feel they should work in an income generating way, but I think most men and women even with small babies orefer to keep at least some work going. For us it worked because we both worked full time and it was clear I would earn more so before we even married we agreed if one career had to go and finding childcare did not work out then it woudl be his not mine. Obviousyl that makes things a lot easier for a woman and if it's the other way round. On the other hand it does put more pressure on you not that that ever bothered me and I ended up earning 10x what my chidlren's father did not that that mattered eithere as everything was always shared or joint whether that was being up for 2 hours a night with a screaming baby or washing the nappies, cleaning the loo.

I was certainly in my early 20s as schoolw was when working full time and I relaly don't think 20 years on in any way our children have suffered. I don't feel I missed out because we both made it a priority to maximise time at home with them even if that meant doing less work. In fact only now 20 years on when the youngest are leaving prep school am I feeling I have all the time for work and ideas people without children have and that is despite working full time without a break since 83.

On the question of can you work in the house with babies around I think it depends on the child and the type of work. I certainly wrote books at home at weekends but that would have been when their father was looking after the children or they were asleep. (If we are adding to my list of many failures scattered about this thread I am happy to add that no book has ever made much mnoey at all although it seems to make people think I am expert in my field; never a money spinner in my case).

I have certainly breastfed one of the twins when they were little whilst taking a work call which is quite tricky and not ideal and I remember the day after they were born. I was here at home alone (I never seemed in my life to get periods of being looked after my family or anyone but perhaps that is why I am so strong) and it was the weekend the following day although even then their father was working and I remember a very kind person who was here whilst he was teaching her child bought me a basket of food, cheese etc and it was so hard for me to find time to buy food and eat it with new twins - very kind of her)... anyway so I had bought a phone extension as the office number only rings upstairs and I had worried I'd need a C section or be ill or something but in fact I had vaginal natural births at exactly 40 weeks (very rare for twins)... and I ended up going downstairs when a few work calls came in. I suspec tthat requirement to go up and down stairs is the kind of thing which helps women get back into good health after birth and those who take to their bed as an invalid for 3 weeks after recover much worse which is why doctors change adviced in the UK from, decades ago, to say get up fairly soon. so may be I benefited from that.

Not quite sure how I got on to all that.

WilfSell · 21/08/2012 18:14

I have started another thread for women thinking of starting up in their own business here and maybe those of you who already have would be willing to tell us about all the banana skins, pitfalls and stupid decisions we're likely to make...

ByTheWay1 · 22/08/2012 13:51

OP - my older sister works as a self employed specialist babysitter - she works 3 evenings a week and two Sundays a month - she works with families who have special care requirements. She was a nurse before her own kids came along. Her hubby works weekdays 9-6.

She earns £350 a day for the Sundays and £100 each for the evenings (7 til midnight). She has to pay her own taxes/insurance etc, but still clears around £1k per month for relatively little upset to the household, no childcare required.

naturalbaby · 22/08/2012 14:09

bytheway1 that sounds perfect (for me right now). Can I ask how she made contact with the families to start with?

ByTheWay1 · 22/08/2012 14:28

Hi naturalbaby - she advertised in the local Answers magazine and the parish magazine, she put her name on every post office/supermarket and newsagents locally - that way she gained the 3 separate evenings a week .

She spoke to her local social services about respite care - they then enquired with her about the possibilities of providing care in the home for a family who wanted the 2 Sundays a month - they provided the family with her number and the family negotiated privately with her as they did not qualify for state funding.

She recently had enquiries from a national babysitting company to provide some specialist care for them as they are getting more requests from parents with special care needs, but she has put them on the back burner as she currently works the hours she wants to....

There certainly seems to be plenty of need out there.

CondoleezzaRiceKrispies · 22/08/2012 14:30

All food for thought here. Grin

I stupidly chose a degree based on how much I liked the subject, rather than the earnings potential. What do those of us do who find ourselves in a lowly paid industry without the options of offering consultancy work?

It seems it's much easier to get in the big bucks if you're already qualified in, for example, law or medicine.

DolomitesDonkey · 22/08/2012 14:39

Condoleezza Come over to the entrepreneurs and we'll thrash out some ideas for you. Michelle Mone has done alright out of bras and I'm guessing you own a set of boobs! Wink

ByTheWay1 · 22/08/2012 14:51

If you are good at what you do you can always teach others how to do what you do.....

Office work for instance - there are people wanting training in microsoft office products/ sage / filing systems whatever.. if you can do it, it is not a big step up to teach others how to do it. Advertise as "helping mums back to work" or "upgrade your skills as a student looking for work" etc.....

Provide CV services - people email their CV, you give advice a bit of an update, tweaking for individual jobs etc.....

Just need to think of something you know that other people need to know...

We had a local mum set up "decorate-your-cupcake classes" - she is bowled over by the response - especially by older kids in the holidays.

Another playground mum has set up a "running in your lunch-break" business - takes running groups from the local library on a circuit - and gains £20-£40 a day for something she does every lunchtime anyhow

CondoleezzaRiceKrispies · 22/08/2012 15:48

My bosoms are legendary, thank you Dolomites. Grin

A problem for me is that I don't want to work in education, I was teaching alongside my freelance work for a long time and I can't bear the thought of teaching anyone to do anything again!

Sorry for the hijack OP, just feeling similarly bewildered!

ByTheWay1 · 22/08/2012 15:58

"My bosoms are legendary"

Welllllll - I know some men who would pay lots....

How about life modelling for local artists and photographers .... lol

bawabod · 22/08/2012 16:34

Xenia you are right we as women do ourselves down, I have a good class degree in building stopped my career for my kids have since done part time work as a cleaner shop assistant and now part time in IT. I confess my typing skills amount to one finger but I look for jobs that might suit my basic admin skills and yet deep down I know I can do so much more.And yet I have a DD who I am constantly emphasising career and financial independence to. ie the Do what I say not what I do mantra !! this chat has given me food for thought

CondoleezzaRiceKrispies · 22/08/2012 16:37

Done that, bytheway1. Grin Sadly it doesn't quite pay the magic grand a day!

ByTheWay1 · 22/08/2012 16:40

Grin - I wouldn't have the nerve CondoleezzaRiceKrispies..... my bosoms are merely magnificent - not legendary!

Silibilimili · 22/08/2012 16:41

Love how this thread has turned out. Inspiring ladies! Marking my place to read at leisure.