do you work from home/run your own business?

[Amaryllis]

I'm interested in chatting to other mumsnetters in the same position as me - I started my own pr business after having dd so i could arrange my work round her a bit better than when working for someone else.

I find there are pros and cons - main con is that it's hard to switch off!

Anyone else her in a similar siuations?

Antonia

Hi Katierocket

Nice to meet someone else in the same field. I PR maily family products and services - things for babies and children

I also help other work at home mums who want to do some pr but don't have the budget to learn how to do their own pr, which is almost my fave bit of the job! It's so nice to see someone else get some coverage when you've given them a hand in the right direction

A

Hi Littlemissbossy

what sort of thing do you do? dd's at nursery a few days at the moment, but am not sure what I'll do when she's old enough to have school holidays - may need to rearrange my work I think!

A

Hey melsey
glad you like amaryllisses!(hmmm - that plural's not quite right!)

I couldn't do without online chatting - stops me missing an office altogether. I've just got someone else working for me part time now, which is really nice, esp as her kids are similar ages to dd, so we have lots to chat about!

A

i'm just going back to being self-employed now. pros: no commuting, feel in charge of own destiny, see more of dh (also self-employed) and can do my hours when i want.
cons: childcare options are limited as they are only set up for people who have regular work, and, of course, the little ones like a bit of routine! so dd goes to childcare three days a week whether i'm going to be working or not....and that's a bit scary financially!

virtual lunch sounds good!

Yes I'm here too.

dh and I have our own business, I.T. consultancy. After last year (I had lots of health probs), now dh is away on contract Monday to Friday, I do his admin, credit control, and contract finding from home, plus I am just trying to get back into visiting clients myself. I am getting into a pattern atm, I spend Mon & Tues with ds, he goes to childminder Wed-Fri. In Sept he starts school, but I am planning to repeat this same pattern each school holiday. Just need to keep finding the work.

I think that once they stop having the daytime naps you really need to establish some childcare to get work done, otherwise you just become a daytime childcarer, night time worker, and you're too stressed out / tired to enjoy either role, or do it to your best ability.

You tend to end up parking child in front of T.V. while you hurridly try to finish some work, which you do wrong becos you're rushing.

Mumsnet does help to overcome the isolation of working from home, you just have to discipline yourself not to get too involved with it (I'm not good at that bit!).

Hi, I don't work at home but it feels much the same as I'm on my own in the shop. I have a website and a small shop. My children are much older but I still worry about ds as I can't keep an eye on him during the holidays. Since i found mn I've got rather lazy - so have to suddenly play catch up on administration. I'd love to have someone working with me but mn is the next best thing.

lemonice what kind of shop do you have? are you there full time on your own? Do you have anyone helping when you're not there?

We are ever hopeful that in the future we will be able to get someonr in 1 or 2 days a week so we can have some time off. at the moment we are open 6 days a week and no summer holidays , thank god for Christmas!

forgot to ask, what is your website (or are you not allowed to say in case its thought of as free advertising?)

Hi, it's the www.cityofmarvels.co.uk which is on the mumsnet discount page (children's stuff toys etc jewellery gifts). Think we had this conversation before on a starting a new business thread? No no one helps me. I'm open 6 days a week, no holidays but did close last Christmas for one week. The idea was to be able to pay someone else to do a day or two but that has proved to be wishful thinking. Also dp loathes to work in the shop, he is just like a total fish out of water even if he takes over for an hour. I'm hoping that the website will take off and then I will probably give up the shop because it is too much for too little. Although i really like the customers, the prospect of never having any time off is starting to get to me!

one of the problems we will have if/when we can afford staff is that at least half of what we sell everyday is a direct result of the advice we give customers. whenever we have had someone keep shop for a day or 2, the only thing they sell are the items just picked up by regulars and brought to the till. its means a lot of lost sales and they hardly sell enough to cover their wage for the day.
Most of the people so far who have enquired about future jobs dont have any knowledge of herbal remedies or dont seem keen on learning...they seem to think it will just be a nice cushy job sitting behind the till all day!

Lovely website you have...that will be our next big step!! yes I do remember chatting about business before, although i find it hard to remember people i havent met in real life

Gloworm, that's exactly the same for me. It's surprising how much help/advice people want even buying children's things eg child x is x age I've no idea what to get or what are these grobags etc That's the part I enjoy chatting to people and seeing the children! My children have done the odd day for me here and there and they don't make much effort to be pro-active! I imagine there's a lot to learn in a health products shop, and not room for mistakes. so difficult to find the right enthusiastic person. The thing I wish i was better at is marketing.

Marketing is a major problem for us too. I'm trying to 'relaunch' my aspect of our business, providing I.T. training and support for small businesses who don't want to commit to expensive long-term contracts, or can't send staff away to expensive training courses. We Know there is a market for it, but finding a cost effective way of reaching that market is the problem.

gloworm: lots of sympathy - I used to work for a company that sold nutritional supplements so I know what a nightmare it is trying to explain the benefits of supplements without claiming medicinal 'cures'! And there is so much to learn....

lemonice and easy: i kind of 'do' marketing self-employed. i don't have a lot of time at the moment but might be able to give you some pointers (for no dosh!) for starters. i also know other people who 'do' marketing a bit more seriously than me (they are more strategic than me: I'm more of project manager). contact me through 'contact another talker' if you're interested!! (Hope this isn't counted as an ad - I'll get my hand slapped, and me just started as a moderator and all....!)

Lemonice - have you tried listing your shop on all the free internet directories. I listed my sister's shop on \linkwww.passion-4.net/this site{} and in July so far she's had 104 hits to her site from this listing alone. If you get into the top 5 you also get a free banner listing making your advert more prominent. If you do it, we can all click on your site and push you up the rankings...

Lemonice - have you tried listing your shop on all the free internet directories. I listed my sister's shop on this site and in July so far she's had 104 hits to her site from this listing alone. If you get into the top 5 you also get a free banner listing making your advert more prominent. If you do it, we can all click on your site and push you up the rankings...

Hello Jampot. I've listed it on some - there are so many it's hard to know the ones worth doing. I've submitted it to that one you suggested, now. My main sales come through pay for clicks (Google) which I find very easy to manage and easy to see what's working and make changes. I would like to get some editorial coverage in print but I'm quite clueless as to how to approach and what angle to take.

Amaryllis do you promote products or businesses?