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

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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)

Iamarobot Like you, I appear to have the neurons functioning - what I was unable to do (personal circumstances) was leave university with a degree - despite spending 4 years there. Ah well, never mind. Feeling increasingly unfulfilled over the years I found myself applying for Cambridge (and getting the nod) and for things like Physics degrees - simply to prove that I "could" - although I still have little real ambition academically and until i) I have the funds to do it and ii) I'm able to find a subject which inspires me, then it does seem a little academic.

Nonetheless, what I do have is a brain which is highly analytical and can cut to the chase and this is where I intend to make my cash - by providing solutions.

Lack of certain specific academic qualifications will hinder us in some spheres - e.g., we'll not be opening our own surgical suite on Harley St any time soon - but it doesn't mean we're condemned to a life of mediocrity and under-achievement!

A lot of acadmeics spend years getting PhDs but never earn much more than peanuts. I don't think you need a degree to make £1k a day although it will certainly help.

Actually you can open a surgical suite in Harley St. I even looked at that. There are loads of people who rent rooms there to provide things like therapies, weight loss clinics (lots of money is in helping fat rich women get thin) and you could hire the room and pay the therapist and keep some of the profit etc.

Over nearly 30 y ears I have seen people make money in so many different fields from selling of toys to hair pieces to supermarkets.

Enjoying a fulfilling career of some kind while caring for small children is tough going, but worth it for the longer term.

For a lot of us, it is about keeping things ticking over until we have the time and energy to launch our own businesses. I am gaining experience in a niche field, in a few years I will have the industry knowledge and contacts I need. It is a long game.

Speaking as someone with some expertise in this field, the ageing population IS going to be a moneyspinner imminently, so if you can think of service ageing babyboomers need, you're well away.

The person who invents the hearing aid that can't been seen and works well will totally clean up, as deafness is INCREASING with each generation. The RNID ran a promotion a few years ago to 'coolify' the hearing aid (as has happened with glasses) but it hasn't really taken off yet. Some combination of aesthetics and technology that works will be a massive seller.

Equally, the property developer who realises that many older people don't want to live in enclaves with people they have nothing in common with. that will make squillions too.

I could possibly sell my services in marketing knowledge in this field perhaps.... hmmm.

The people I have known who have made a lot of mnoey who did not have qualifications tend to do something like find a factory in China or Russia and import - on other words make a mark up. Products like body building substances (awful stuff) are very popular with men and have a msasive mark up. Popcorn in cinemas holds the record 1000x mark up on original cost price.

Plenty of men and women forge ahead with careers whilst having small children under 3 as they have a nursery place or a child minder or daily or live in nanny.

This is a fascinating thread.

Xenia. I used to think you were a bit, well... difficult, and we've had our differences. Now I think I have a bit of a girl-crush. Sorry...

One the 'women undervaluing themselves' thing...

I set up my own business, having left the design consultancy I'd been at for 10 years, and after 16 years in the industry. I have two daughters ? aged four and a half and a bit over two.

I left for many reasons ? some involving flexibility, commuting and availability for children. Some involving feeling sidelined and undervalued ? I had 16 years top notch experience, was used to working at a senior creative level but after two bouts of maternity leave and working 3/4 days week... well, the design company I worked for wanted to, in theory, make it work, but in practice couldn't/didn't.

So I joined an ex colleague in a studio space 5 minutes from my home, continued to work for the company I had just left on a project where I had a good relationship with the client, but freelance and from my own studio. This got me going... but I fretted about the phone never ringing and my career going tits-up. (Pun intended).

As it transpires the MD of the company I used to work for has referred some clients my way, various ex-colleagues (strategy directors, etc.) and ex-clients, who are doing new things, have heard I'm freelance at gotten in touch.

My studio-colleague and I have had lots of discussions where he has urged me not to undervalue my skill/talent/experience. I am now charging between 2-3 times what I was per day when I started and I have a couple of jobs paying me £1k a day.

A copywriter I have worked with a lot gave me some advice:

"When you're telling a client your fees, they should squeak and then say yes. If they don't squeak, you're not charging enough. If they squeak and say no, you're charging too much."

I am also finding that if clients are paying a decent amount of money for your time they are more likely to take notice of what you're saying ? meaning you ? and they ? get better results from it.

I am inundated with work. The pipeline looks strong. I am considering taking on a full time mid-weight designer to help, and my studio-colleague and I are considering formalising our working relationship in order to better manage both the volume of work and the peaks and troughs of small-business life.

Personally I feel more fulfilled, my self-esteem is on the up... professionally I'm doing better, more interesting work, and getting paid more for it.

I'm working my tail off. But I'm doing it on my own terms, and for my own profit ? and that makes ALL the difference.

I think Xenia you make a really good point about women tending to undervalue themselves, while men tend to do the opposite. I am fortunate that the men I'm working with are encouraging me to view myself the way they do... "I'm earning X. I think I'm worth it. I think you're worth it too ? don't sell yourself short." and "Designerbaby, I'm putting your day rate as £1,000. Are you ok with that?"

The challenge is to believe that you're worth that... Even when clients seem to think so and are quite happy to pay that. I know I add value for my clients, but still, it's a mindset adjustment...

db
xx

Am loving this thread and very interested in the squeaking aspect of cost per diem.

Yesterday I quoted £700 for a day. Client squeaked and said 'that sounds very reasonable' Damn it, I thought, should have gone higher. But the reason why I picked that price was because last week I lost out on a tender where I pitched at £600 per day and lost on the basis that the winner's cost was "significantly" lower.

Anybody feel that they'd rather have days booked at a reduced rate than fewer days at proper rate? Or does that devalue you? XENIA help me please!

I've thought about this Clara...

It depends, doesn't it.

Trouble is, when you quote a lower rate to a client you can never, or not easily, then quote a higher rate...

If you're busy, you want the best paying work, rather than killing yourself for the lower-end stuff. Plus I have no desire just to come into work for the sake of it. It's not like i have nothing else to do with my time...

But if you're quiet, you need to pay the bills...

I've decided it's almost impossible to have a blanket rule. I have a rate I do not go below but that's as far as it goes. As for pricing I have to go on a job-by-job basis... and weigh up the pros and cons of the job and the individual circumstances at the time.

I am also trying to get away from a day rate charging basis, rather working out for myself what it will take ? how much of my time, how much of a junior/midweight's time ? how much does that come to... And then charging for the stages of the job.

That way I have a bit more flexibility to tweak it down the line... And I can lower the cost for that particular job, if I really want to do it and the client is baulking at the costs, without committing myself to a lower day rate ad infinitum.

Some clients want a day-rate breakdown though, some don't.

I think it may always be a bit variable... And I'm sort of ok with that, actually...

db
xx

Thanks for your response db.

Some of my competitors go in at half the daily rate, but at double the time which I don't like doing in case I look like a doser. You're right, will think more about fixed price. But as most of my clients are public sector they are very keen on breakdowns of cost as opposed to outputs.

First of all db is a really good example to everyone, well done.

On the how to set rates point I do not really know. I think my older daughter costs more to customers than I do after 20+ years at it (she doesn't of course keep what she's charged at as she's an employee). I have a rate on my website so it's not secret and I don't vary it much for people and it's public but that won't work in all sectors and most work people want the cost not the daily or hourly rate. It depends what work you do.

I do spend quite a bit of time passing people to others who are cheaper or just giving a quick email reply to someone about how they could do something themselves rather than use me and that seems to work as they remember you as helpful (although you don't want to be spending all day doing that or you'd never make any money) and I have sum in mind I feel happy if I've made each day as I've bills to pay and I look I do charts every week of receipts and earnings and monthly and annually and I look both at what is billed but also what is paid as it is only what is paid which really matters.

I agree with the comment below that once you come down to a particularly lower rate it's hard to get up higher. i agreed a rate to record some stuff and said I woudl only do it here adn XYZ was the rate and that worked well (no travelling time). I did something similar for someone else recently for a bit less and slightly regretted it. I also said this year I woudl not do some stuff miles from London unless the pay reflected the fact it was double the time (and I was not being paid double the London fee) and that felt in a sense like burning pound notes (turning work away) but I am happy enough there is other work to do at better rates. If I did not I would not have rejected that other work I suppose that involvse lots of travelling. I've not rejectedit - I've said I will do it at double the rate.

Am only half way through the thread but am finding it very interesting and inspiring! I'm currently at home with DD (1yo) and am looking at ways to bring in some money myself, as an alternative to going back out to a formal job. I have some accountancy experience although am not fully trained, so am thinking about maybe freelance book keeping. I also get a little bit of money from crafts, which mainly goes to fund my hobbies, but from what I've read of the thread so far, a lot comes down to putting the hours in. If I got up a bit earlier I could squeeze in an hour before DD wakes up, when I'm fresh and energetic, rather than waiting til she's in bed and I'm knackered and just want to veg on the sofa. It is hard to motivate yourself to start work and be creative at the end of the day.

Thanks for the excellent advice and benefit of your experience, Xenia

I will happily work long hours (I already do). What I am lacking in is inspiration and, if I'm honest, the belief that what I produce will be worth serious money. This thread has rung so many bells with me: undervalued, low expectations of myself, family getting judgey if I express a wish to pursue my career on top of responsibility to my children (not DH though: he is supportive of me, and I already out-earn him).

I think I lack confidence, and I need to pick an idea and stick at it.

At the moment, I am trying to make extra cash as my income has been compromised over the past few months because of DDs illness (she has cancer). It feels like everything has ground to a halt. I have gone from finally making my mark at work to my job being at risk. I need extra cash, and I'm doing things like ebay and surveys, all the time wishing I could just come up with something worth doing with decent returns.

When she finishes treatment, I want to try and make headway with work again, and I am thinking about doing some heavy reading round certain niche areas of my job to try and be more specialist. However, I doubt the financial rewards will be there and I could really do with something more. I won't lie: I want my family and I to live a very comfortable life.

I will keep watching this thread with interest. And I am refreshed by being able to say that I need work, I like work and I like making money without feeling like a traitor to my children. Thank you to the contributors so far.

KD, sorry about your sick child. Nothing matters like that kind of thing.

There was a mumsnetter with a lot of buy to let properties. That is another route for some people. I was really surprised by the maths I was doing with one of my off spring the other week - the interest was about 50% of the rent that would be generated. It may depend where you live etc. Also that requires some capital and plenty of people think property prices will drop although probably not averaged over a 40 year period of holding them.

A lot of people on the thread who are near the £1k a day mark tend to have a skill no one else has so they might an IT consultant and no one writes source code as well as they do or whatever it might be. Being more specialist certainly seems to pay off.

On FG's bookkeeping idea that sounds good. Presumably the best money is in giving complex tax law advice. Could you not learn about that which is much more likely to yield money. I was doing something related to someone who does book keeping stuff this week and they specifically do not do the more complex advice and I was sitting there thinking - you are turning away the really interesting well paid stuff (?), presumably because they had not learned the tax rules.

Yes to raising your price rather than refusing work. I once earned £800 in one night 11pm-7am doing an overnight translation*- I didn't really want to work overnight but I knew they were desperate (the document was needed in court the next morning) and they had no choice, so I just trebled my usual rate- twice the rate for a rush job, three times for rush + overnight. Seemed fair to me. If they'd said no I would have a good night's sleep and wouldn't have been any worse off.

*Sadly doesn't happen often.

It's getting harder and harder to earn 1k a day as an IT consultant. It was pretty easy in the late-90s but has become progressively harder. I used to be a "code monkey" and have found my roles being systematically replaced by workers from the sub-continent who will work for $15 an hour (if that). Whilst I have interviewed people I've gone on to pay 1000 a day within the last few years, they have largely been enormously well-known entities within their field (geek hero worship) - and, without putting too fine a point on it - will have been at this stuff since teens, or perhaps even before. To put it in to context I started programming in 1981 aged 7 on my parents' ZX81 - and I'm still not that great a coder. The ones who are truly excellent live and breathe it - and, you would likely have discovered your talents before if it was going to work for you. Money can be made however if you're highly technology literate yet able to talk to what I like to call "real people" and I'm finding that (in the West), the emphasis is moving away from pure coding/networking skills and more in to "middle-management". Tides may turn of course but I shall not be encouring my children in to a line of work which can be done remotely by cheap labour.

Yes, I know someone who only interviews thosee with PhDs from Cambridge and they say only 1 in 100 even of those are able to programme with the skills they need as a company.

Xenia As it stands right now I could probably just do basic bookkeeping, but that would obviously be a start in terms of bringing in some money. I have been thinking about resuming my studies in order to up my earning potential. I am quite interested in forensic accounting (digging about in people's accounts to find where they've hidden the naughty money!) so that could be worth looking at.

I think that would be a really good market to go into. You could do those hiding money off shore, you could specialise in high end divorces even and there is an accountant or tax lawyer who is oneo f the best at tracking monies from African dictators which are stolen from the state and end up in Switzerland - one of the best. Very interesting work.

I have just been delving into someone (bit like being an investigator) in the last hour and it is amazing what you can find on line if you know where to look. I love it when I do that kind of thing. I particularly adored winning a tax prize when just about everyone else doing it was male. I beat everyone of them although I am certainly not a tax person now.

I think this is a great and inspiring thread which has given me some further ideas to what I am thinking of starting. The beauty of this thread is that I have no one 'independent and critical' to ask if viable, so that's where MNetters come in!

I'm not really qualified to 'do' anything, however I have successfully got my older children through Uni (2:1 Science degree) and just about to start Uni (3 x A*), I'm a governor in a school, reasonably intelligent, analytical, a question asker, good problem solver & assertive.

My OH says I should look for gaps in provision - so my idea is to be that extra pair of hands. We've had hardly any help from parents,so know how useful it can be - from babysitting in the evenings or during the day if parents have appointments (mature, rather than asking a teenager), or if they need help with everyday things, waiting in for a parcel/tradesman this also led me onto thinking the same with older people who wanted to go shopping, a companion or an advocate. We are in the NW, so don't know whether people would be up for this type of service. I would like to stress that I'm not a cleaner or child minder, more light duties and babysitting as already written.

Please don't be polite, be realistic - would you pay for something like this?

PS I am CRB checked and First Aid trained.

Yes, I would. But can I add that as you've had the "smarts" to see this gap and know what needs doing - why should you be the one doing it for ten quid an hour? Run the damned thing! You can pay someone else 7 quid an hour to wait for the washing machine man whilst you man "the office" and arrange more jobs.

Thanks DolomitesDonkey, wow, now there's a thought!

I feel that my asset was going to be my honesty and integrity, I would need to think how I ensure that in someone else - also, do I then become an employer/recruiter?

Really appreciate you're feedback

If you will be doing the babysitting we aren't going to be getting you up to £1000 a day in pay so you would need to be earning say a third of what your team of babysitters were being paid and have a huge lot of them doing the services.

What about emergency childcare when a child is off sick? Some companies big employers will have an arrangements with a nanny service so that if their employee's usually nanny or childminder is sick or the child is too ill for nursery then there is someone they can send round.

The parcel service is useful too as people often have no one at home. I offered to send a trademan his tool by post today and he said he woudl not be in so have to get it from the post office. I forget we were unsuaul that there is someone here 365 days a year 24/7 and we get about 6 internet deliveries every day just about and that is very unusual and we can do that because are home based but most people aren't in that position.

Although I am very very loathe for women to go into childcare or clothes businesses. I would rather they were going into how to find gold in Afghanistan or the oil industry or setting up a series of off shore wind farms. Tiny micro non- profitable housewife type childcare services tend not to get you on £1k a day.

Thanks Xenia - you've both given me some food for thought. I need to research the correct business model, as obviously I don't want to employ these people, so I need to look at how that works, do I need to be an agency, how payment is made etc ....... definitely something to work with.

Whilst I would love to earn 1k a day, I need to be realistic and at the moment go with what I know (which is everyday 'micro' things) - however who knows where it could lead?

H, don't think there is one route forward but before I started working for myself in 94 I did build up 2 or 3 sources of income and I like th fact now that (a) have variety which is fun and (b) I have protection as if one side of things collapsed the others would still be there. However lots of other people want to build up one thing well and concentrate on what they know best so what I do does not necessarily suit everyone and I do not want to say i do more than I do do - I basically have one areas of a profession and I practise and sell in different ways within it.

Someone paid me last night for an hour of my time on skype helping her in a sense with her job and teaching her in another sense. I am certainly not the best example of successful female entrepreneur in the UK although I do earn quite a bit. I have found what works for me - simplicity and no employed staff but many other people do something whcih involves their hiring lots of employees and that works well for them.