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Original poster

career change ideas needed, pretty please

24 replies

jeangenie · 20/03/2007 12:20

Ok, a plea for help from all you wise and enlightened ladies out there. Some of you may remember my thread just before Xmas where I was trying to decide whether I should give up work or not.Well, I decided at that point to stay. This was primarily motivated by money rather than any love of my job.I decided to give the job everything I had and see if my attitude towards it improved. Since Xmas I have been doing that and as a result I have been more motivated at work which has had obvious upsides.
However, the downsides are that I am beginning to end up working evenings and weekends, just in order to keep things going at this new pace, I'm taking on more responsibility and finding it hard to keep it all going. I am getting very physically and emotionally stressed as a result
The organisation isn't changing - we have had major issues for the past year which have involved everyone being on 80% of salary. Since my decision to try to make things better at Xmas I have been putting forward to various members of the board my ideas about things that need to change in order to address this. While they pay lip service to my ideas they are not doing anything about them (believe me, it's not that I want to control everything, there are just some very obvious flaws in how things are done and how we manage staff/client relations that need addressing if the company is ever to be successful). I am starting to get more resentful of the time the job is taking and the lack of reward. I seem to be constantly working on on call but have almost no disposable income due to reduced salary and that is very depressing.
So, having filled in all the detail, I now want some practical ideas...
I want to give this job up but need something that will generate an income of c.£700-£1,000 a month in order to keep the family afloat
I am well qualified (well, I have plenty of university degrees at any rate) and have 15 years experience in IT project management, although this career doesn't really interest me as it is so dry and office bound, I would be happy to leave it ( from my sensible, practical, risk averse self). I have lots of transferable skills - budgeting, resource management, client relations, software tools blah blah blah. I am creative and good with my hands, I like people, art, craft. I've often considered retraining, maybe as a counsellor or a teacher but can't really afford to do that right now
What can I do that will earn me some money but take me away from this stress and enable me to work around my kids?
Or am I asking for the moon on a plate?
Has anyone else taken the plunge and managed to make it work?

OP posts:
Original poster
jeangenie · 20/03/2007 13:39

so there is no easy answer then?

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RanToTheHills · 20/03/2007 14:20

freelance in whatyou're doing right now?Orsign up with interim management agency?

ejt1764 · 20/03/2007 14:31

jeangenie - if you want to retrain as a counsellor or a teacher, then there's something you could do to go for either / both ...

If you want to retrain as a counsellor, you don't have to give up your job to do it as many of the courses are held evenings / weekends. So, although you may have some time where you are working harder than ever, it may pay off in the long term.

As for retraining as a teacher, there's always the GTP ( graduate teacher programme ) it designed as a way for teachers to train whilst earning a living wage.
We often have GTP trainees in the school where I work, and, on the whole, they've been very successful.

Good luck

Original poster
jeangenie · 20/03/2007 14:33

hi rtth. Thanks for replying. Hmm, freelancing sounds like it would take a lot of effort to find the work, also I would need to earn £900 more per month if I needed to pay for childcare so I really need something I can do from home around the kids I think...

what's interim management agency?

(I am getting desperate now, keep wanting to walk into MD's office and tell him I am off..................)

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Original poster
jeangenie · 20/03/2007 14:37

thanks a lot ejt, I will have a look at that link when I get home

I really need a plan or I'll lose my mind!

OP posts:
Original poster
jeangenie · 20/03/2007 19:56

anyone on the night shift have any miracle cures for job disatisfaction or general career/life altering advice?

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Original poster
jeangenie · 20/03/2007 21:30

bumping because I am desperate

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simplycontrolfreaky · 20/03/2007 21:32

no great ideas... but watching thread with interest......bump

nogoes · 20/03/2007 21:38

Are there any art workshops for preschoolers in your area? Similiar to www.arttrain.com, I have no idea how much they actually earn but our local group (not art train) charges £6.00 per child for a 2 hour session and operates from a very cheap to hire church hall.

Original poster
jeangenie · 20/03/2007 21:52

good thinking nogoes - I will have a look. that'd be the kind of thing I would be good at

SCF are you in a similar situation?

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thisisdavina · 20/03/2007 21:57

How old are your children, are they at school? I am looking for something to do during school hours and sent of for an information pack for a preschool music franchise.

Fairly flexible but looking at the figures they sent me, it would take a while before you would start earning the amounts you are talking about. But if you can avoid childcare costs, then maybe you wouldn't have to earn quite as much.

I'm not sure if I can mention them on here though?

Original poster
jeangenie · 20/03/2007 22:21

thanks thisisdavina (is it really? would have thought you'd be ok what with BB and all )

I have one DD in reception and one at home (2 next month) so I need something i can do around that for now, am happy to put hours in in evening etc although it is probably impossible to earn what I need like that (bloody whopping mortgage, what were we thinking of?!)

am musically disasterous though, so music franchise would terrify me

keep the ideas coming though, surely there is something out there with my name written on it in neon lights (that doesn't involve being stuck in an office all day)

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thisisdavina · 20/03/2007 22:29

What about training to be a Virtual PA. This is home based and you would be self employed. There are online courses available I think!

Original poster
jeangenie · 21/03/2007 07:52

oooh, sounds interesting. I want to be self employed, am naffed off with employers at the moment

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Tamum · 21/03/2007 08:29

I guess you've already considered a yarn shop with online selling too? Not sure if it would help work around the kids, and there'd be a lag time, but it would be right up your street I'd have thought Sorry you're having so much stress.

Original poster
jeangenie · 21/03/2007 08:36

Thanks Tamum. I have indeed considered a yarn shop and am constantly looking around for good premises. I've also spoken to some reps and have a fair amount of info. Unfortunately I can't quite stretch to the start up costs at the moment. When Marina and I win the lottery all will change.............

Or maybe I should just bite the bullet and get a bank loan...

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Sugarmagnolia · 21/03/2007 08:37

With a background in IT, software, business, client relations etc + your creative skills something in the design sector would seem an obvious step to me (unless that's what you're doing now - sorry, didn't see your previous threads). Graphic design, website design, corporate branding, corporate newsletters...that sort of thing. Have you looked for jobs in that sector before, or even thought about starting up your own business from home?

Tortington · 21/03/2007 08:42

if you hav a flexible job where you can go part time - or request part time for the first year - yu could re-train as a social work degree -the training is free and you get a bursery of a grand or something.

i'm think ing about doing it next year.

the down side is yr two and three are field based- i can manage this with my job - its based on hours so am hoping i could do weekends as well as a weekday/.

anyway

Sugarmagnolia · 21/03/2007 08:56

The other thing I was going to say is that I'm about to go back to uni to train as a counsellor and while the part time hours will allow me to keep working at the same time, it is extremely expensive. Some types of degrees are fully or partly funded though so worth looking into.

Original poster
jeangenie · 21/03/2007 20:37

thanks SM, graphic or website design working for myself would be great - however I don't have any first hand experience of actually doing this though I've managed plenty of people who do. I guess I could get myself on a decent course and start small

will look into the counselling also, dunno whether I'd be any good at it so I need to think further about the realities of that

custardo, thanks for that, I suspect social work mught be a bit hard core for me though

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Sugarmagnolia · 21/03/2007 21:11

If you are interested in counselling there are lots of places where you can do it on a voluntary basis that provide their own training. It's not enough to allow you to practice privatley but it gives you a good feel for the type of work and whether you think it suits you. It doesn't cost you anything and the training is likely to be offered in the evenings or weekends.

Original poster
jeangenie · 21/03/2007 21:19

ahhhh, that's an interesting thought SM, thanks

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wohmum · 07/04/2007 22:11

Hi Jeanjeanie,

just seen your thread - I too worked as an IT project manager for years!!

I took redundancy and started with a direct sales business (Mini-IQ) for the flexibility and potential earnings. You can earn £700-£1000 pm, but it takes a bit of time to get there (though one lady in my team did it within 3 months!) and you will need to build a team to have the consistency of this every month - but it is very do-able. You have to work at it and be focussed on what you are aiming for , but the flexibility is fab!

The hardest thing I have found is having the self-motivation some days to keep going - it;s very,very easy to faff around and waste time (esp on mumsnet and the internet!! ) instead of doing any actual business.

good luck - it's a far more satisfying lifestyle.

wohmum · 07/04/2007 22:11

oops, sorry jeangenie!

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