Is there such a thing as a "normal" job?

[Owwmumo1]

I'm self employed and teach kids after school and on weekends. I spend most of my day doing admin, planning, accounts etc plus some daytime classes. I bring home about £12k a year. I'm on my own with my son.
I'm so fed up of feeling like I work a lot, miss out on time with my son because I'm working when he's off school and I'm only earning just enough to tick along.
I would love a job where I go, do the work and come home and I'm done, but does a job like that actually exist? Working during term time would be best as I really struggle for childcare but I don't know if I would be worse off financially.
I have thought about doing a PGCE but I know teachers have a lot to do outside of the classroom so I don't think I would be better off. Any advice?

What do you want to do?what’s your skill set? What are you motivated to maintain? What core hours can you work. What core hours can you not work?These are your potential career questions then you try match to hours that suit

every job has its high & low.
what wage do you need to break even

term time class room assistant
your obvious flair seems to be teaching skills

It's not clear how many hours you're working to bring in that £12k?

Would you be happy to do a finance or admin job if it means regular hours and a steady (but perhaps not stellar) income?

Or is "what" you do more important?

TA pay is pretty (very) low, but it is more of a "leave work at work" job.

I think if you are genuinely self employed (this is not a dig at you, but many (non)employers use self employment status as a way of avoiding tax etc, even though there is suppose to be legislation to cover this) then all those extra hours should have been expected and accounted for before taking the decision to start your business, they should also be taken into account when deciding on your charge out rate. I appreciate in hindsight you may not realise the amount of extra hours this would involve initially but charge out rates can, and often are, changed.
However, I do think that more and more jobs now require employees to work over and above supposed contracted hours with the unspoken threat that if you don't do it someone else will. Contracts are written in a way that you are not paid for the hours you work (covered by legislation) but by the nature of the job i.e. playing on your own self esteem ( I'm more important than those people paid an hourly wage).
On a positive, there are still jobs out there that do care about this and if there is a dedicated employment agency that deals specifically with part time workers in your area I would look at them because (as an employer) I have been very pleased with the quality of employees I have taken on. Good luck!!!

I think most jobs where you Judy do your job, go home and don't think about it are generally going to be inflexible and poorly paid

I have an admin role in a school. 8-4 term time only. Money isn’t great but I enjoy the work, like the people and leave my work behind at the end of each day.

Yes, I work for a publishing company and generally work fairly standard office hours. Don't have to work extra hours. It's on the 'operational' side not editorial. It's not fabulous money but way more than 12k and I am part-time.

For that amount of money, have you thought about being a teaching assistant? Or maybe some other ancillary staff in a school (office, labs etc)?

Thank you for your replies. It's my school so everything is my responsibility. I used to teach most of the classes but have employed other teachers to take some over so I can spend more time with my son. This has obviously had a financial impact. I work about 38 hours a week during term time and some days during the holidays too.
I love teaching the kids and enjoy working with all ages from 18 months to 18 years.
I would just like a bit more free time and a bit more money. Maybe I just need a lottery win

All the admin work you're doing maintaining your business? You could get paid for each of those as a separate job. Pick one you like and go for it.

Receptionist. Office manager. Sales. Marketing. Financial admin. Project admin. Then you can move up into the next level and get paid more. Most of those jobs aren't massively stressful at entry level.

Additionally, a lot of entry level healthcare roles don't take work home. I enjoyed working in a pharmacy for a while as a dispenser.