Is it really possible to ‘have it all’ as a woman? The kids, the career, the relationship, the social life? Chances are you’ve considered this often throughout your adult life. And the answer is yes, if you want to have it all then it is possible, although even for the most organised of moms it’s always going to be a tricky balancing act. One of the best things you can do if you want to be a working parent, is to find a job that’s flexible. Working for yourself and being your own boss means you can pick and choose the times that you work and really fit it around your other commitments. This means it’s flexible around school times, child care availabilities, school holidays, sickness and much more.
As a self employed person you will be responsible for paying your own tax. If you read a guide to your company the self assessment basics, you’ll be in the know, it usually just involved filling in a few forms online and completing a tax return once a year. You can hire accountants to do this fairly cheaply so there’s not much hassle involved. Aside from that the sky’s the limit, and you can earn money while keeping a balance with the other things you need to do in your life too. But what kinds of self employed jobs are there that would work well for a busy parent? Here are a few ideas.
Freelance:
There are lots of freelancing sites online, which offer work from writing to design, app and website design, even admin jobs. If you already have a skill then put it to some use. When you sign up to a site you will usually have to do a short test to check your ability, then from there you can start accepting jobs. While each piece you accept will have a deadline, you can accept as few or many as you want. You’re under no pressure to take on additional work, you have full control of your workflow and get to choose the projects you want to work on. As it’s from home you don’t need to worry about travel guide or transport- ideal if you don’t drive. You could work on pieces while your kids are at school or even in bed- if they’re having some quiet time reading or watching tv in the evening you could even get some done then.
Blog:
Another great option for earning money from home is to write a blog. Bloggers can earn decent money these days, publishing and writing sponsored posts for companies as well as posting banner ads on their site. The only problem with this is you need to be established before sponsors will consider working with you. It’s not something you can set up and start earning money with right away, however, if you already have a blog which you write as a hobby you could look into ways to monetize. Two things sponsors will be looking for is a decent domain authority score and a professional looking design. You can use a domain authority checker to check your current score, one way to boost this is by getting your blog’s link onto other high quality websites. You can do this by asking bloggers if they will accept a guest post from you, and then including a link back to your blog.
If you have a network of bloggers you chat to on Twitter then ask around, they get a great piece of content and you get a backlink- it’s a win win situation. You can also improve your score by removing broken links and errors from your site. Use a broken link checker to highlight pages you’ve linked to which no longer work, and go through and remove them. In terms of design, you can buy premade templates cheaply on places like Etsy which will give your blog a much more professional edge. If it currently looks amateur, full of spammy looking ads, colours and fonts everywhere and generally looks unpleasant on the page then you could put off sponsors at the first hurdle.
Tutor or Train:
Do you have a skill or interest that you’ve been studying for or training for many years? It could be a craft, a musical instrument, nutrition, personal training or something else entirely. If you’ve done any teacher training, for example, you could offer things like homework help. Passing your knowledge on to other people could be very satisfying and also earn you money. Tutors generally earn well so it’s a great business idea, you could either have clients come to your home, you could go to them or in some cases, you could conduct lessons via Skype or other types of video chat. It’s a way to earn money with your skills, passion, and interests but in a very flexible way.
Mobile Beautician:
Do you have an interest in beauty? If so, a mobile beautician business could be a fantastic way to earn you money. Maybe you’re already qualified in hairdressing, makeup artistry, nails, massage or something else. If so, you don’t have to work full time in a salon, set up your own venture and you can choose your hours. If you have no previous training and want to start earning money fairly quickly, things like tanning courses, lashes, brows and hair extensions can all be completed within a matter of weeks and you can go from there. Have a look online at what kinds of treatments are popular right now and how long they take to complete, you’ll soon earn back the money you spent on the training and it’s all profit from there. Once you’ve built up your client base, you’ll have access to regular work. You could even offer packages for girls nights out, hen parties, wedding parties and much more. That way you do a number of treatments in one night and have the potential to earn great money.
What flexible careers or jobs would you recommend to busy moms, as a way to fit earning money around other commitments?
