Work from home

[LindsQR]

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 We've noticed this thread is fairly old now, and some of the information is out of date.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. Alternatively, you can look at the work from home opportunities on Mumsnet Jobs. We hope this is helpful!

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I have graduated from university this year, I have a 2year old who is in childcare 2days a week and pregnant with my second. I am currently looking for opportunities to work from home.

I'm training to be a childminder so that I can work from home. In the past I've worked as a distance learning tutor. Friend of mine seems to be doing well seeking juice plus.

I do lots of things from home. I'm currently a local listings editor for a website (temp contract), researcher for a text question and answer service (not hiring unfortunately), Presenter for Younique, blogger and I do mystery shopping, website evaluation, focus groups and surveys.

What are your strengths, what do you enjoy doing? There is plenty of opportunities out there if you know what you want to do and where to look.

@chammyIRL that sounds great. I'm interested in the same but I'm in Dubai so I would need something online. I don't like selling to my friends so juice plus, younique isn't for me - unless it was a product I actually liked!!

@Mustsurdy It's a lot of work ;) I get most of what I do on a UK work from home forum so I have absolutely no idea where'd to start for Dubai, maybe something like People Per Hour?

The reason I joined Younique is because I love the make-up and I liked the commission plan etc. I've previously done Avon and ended up owing them money (oops) so I haven't always been a big fan of direct sales but it works for me.

ChammyIRL do you make a decent living from all those jobs? I'm struggling to earn a decent amount fom home so it'd be great to know that it's possible with a bit more effort. Are you willing to divulge your (rough) earnings per week and how many hours you work to earn that, please?

At the moment I'm bringing home upwards of £700 but that is because my local listings editor job is hourly paid (£8/hr) and I do between 70-100 hours a month on that. While doing that I also do my text question answering to pull in at least £100 a month (it'd be more if I was just doing that).

The rest of the work I do really does depend on the frequency it comes in as to how much I earn and how many hours. In December I earned £120 from one mystery shopping site for a couple of hours work and I currently have about £40's worth of work from them waiting to be done. Focus groups are when they appear. Surveys are also when they appear, I am a member of one called Prolific Academic who pay pretty well - chammyirl.co.uk/money-makingsaving/prolific-academic/ (I hope my blog post about them is ok here)

Blogging, my current one is still new so finding its feet, I have about £3 from adsense on that haha but I've just done a friend a couple of paid posts which made me £10 each and I've been approached to do a sponsored post which will bring me in £40. My blog has had many hours already but I'm hoping over time it becomes a passive income.

Younique, well I didn't really join them to make an income. I love the make-up so thought the commission was better in my pocket, I have a few friends who also love it so they buy from me and it is a constant content source for my blog :D

The friend I mentioned earlier works his full-time regular job and tops up his earnings online by around £700-1000 each month so there is plenty out there it's just finding the genuine stuff ;)

Thank you ChammyIRL, that's really interesting. You said the £8 per hour job was a temp contract - does that mean your earnings will drop to around £200 pm when the contract finishes (the texting job plus any other work that arises)? How do you survive on that, do you receive tax credits to top it up? Sorry if I'm seeming really nosey but I'd love to work solely from home but my worry is I wouldn't earn enough even with tax credits top up, so I'm just interested in how you (and others working just from home) cope financially.

I'm in a lucky situation in that my income isn't needed as my husband's wage covers everything (no tax credits). It will drop to around £200-400 once that temp job dries up, unless something else comes along, but I'm not sure when that will be, there is a chance it'll last me a year or so. When that does happen it means I can concentrate on other things a little more such as Younique or my blog as I am putting minimal into those at the moment.

There are jobs such as the web search evaluator jobs that bring in a constant £500-1000 a month but your contact is reviewed every 6-11 months, some companies just renew others drop you and you have to wait a year to reapply. Take a look at LeapForce, the friend in the last post is with them and he does a couple of hours a day around work. Matched betting seems to be taking off too and there is no risk with it, apparently.

Thank you, I'll check them out.

Hi! I've been using the website slicethepie for a while now...you get to do reviews of the latest fashion and earn money! It's really easy and reliable and I enjoy it a lot...here is a link to the site www.slicethepie.com/?wyd=1130958. You just need to confirm your address and answer some questions and then you can start straight away...it's perfect for me as a busy mum as it fits in around my day. They also have an amazing competition at the moment to win M&S and House of Fraser vouchers!!

Does this slicethepie thing make tiny money, it looks fun though even if it is tiny money

Have you thought about becoming an Usborne Organiser? I have three children and it fits around my family really well. I'm always looking for people to join my team! It's great fun and on top if your commission you'll get tons of free books for your children. Find out more here: books-by-george.co.uk :-)

Hi there,
I too am a registered childminder and I do this part time to allow me to be home with my 3 children. I also run my own health and wellness business and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It has given me so much more than extra money but confidence, friends and new skills that were buried so deep I didn't know still existed! I work it around my kids in the little me moments in my day. I used to do surveys and odd things online too. Love being able to provide from the comfort of my pyjama bottoms lol :-)

I do freelance digital work - you should take a look on People Per Hour and see what sort of skillsets you fit into. I have noticed several jobs in Dubai lately, and being a VA could be a great income stream for you if you are well organised and have excellent admin skills (or could learn them). Then you can gradually pull out an area that really interests you and specialise your niche there.

I'm so glad I found this thread. I live in Holland but we're coming back to UK in November and the company I work for doesn't have a UK office (SO has the bigger pay packet).

I've just started looking for opportunities to do some work from home, at least while we settle in, so it's good to see that it's quite possible.

hd7481, only your pyjama bottoms?

Apologies for not using DH. I should have read the acronyms.

:)

Definitely check out www.PeoplePerHour.com - might have to do some work for a low rate to get started but it's a great place to get that all-important experience. There are so many freelance opportunities out there and from my own experience a relatively low-paid project (£220/m) a few years ago from PeoplePerHour has led to working full-time from home as a freelancer and earning a "proper" salary, and be here when my kids get home from school.
If blogging's your thing there are also plenty of places you can guest blog (not paid) but it's a good way to hone your skills and often leads to paid work once you can demonstrate your experience.

I'm ALL about PPH. We had a financial crisis a couple of months ago, and I started on there for the first time and earned about 3k in as many weeks building websites. Partly that was because there are virtually NO UK-based women pitching for web design work and my pitches were really well written, but the point is that there is a lot of money to be made there if you present yourself in the right way.

But I think the OP has gone.

Hello can any of you lovely ladies help. I have a little 6 year old boy. My husband works away for a month at a time . I am studying on-line at the moment , looking to set up my own business in due course but in the meantime I would like to work from home and I am looking for lots of ideas please. Ideally not looking to sell anything , I know they can be great for others but ideally not for me, would prefer to offer a service . I am based just North of Edinburgh on the East Coast of Scotland. I have a varied career background with lots of skills I can offer including. Broadcast journalist, voice over artist, lecturer, events planner , cabin crew , holiday rep, travel agent. Please can anyone help with advice and suggestions, contacts , websites please

Please do your research before looking at joining any mlm (multi level marketing / network marketing) scheme. Or you can find other forums full of posts from impartial people who have done the research for you...

There are lots of business ideas that don't involve sinking all of your time/energy & money into something that has less than 1% chance of making any net profit. Etsy is great for you crafters, or eBay selling (as a service), furniture up-cycling, ironing service, babysitting etc etc.

Haha oh gosh, I see the MLMS Are Aloe-ver this like flies round S##T. Do not join an MLM!! You will be out of pocket!!!

Does that sound familiar to you?