How to work from home
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Work at Home Mums
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Work at Home Mums
Many
mums who would love to return to the workplace or start a job for the
first time are put off by the difficulty of arranging childcare.
If you've got kids to drop off and pick up from a childminder, nursery or school, you can feel tired and frazzled before you've even got to work. Add in the costs involved if there are no relatives to help with child care and it's no wonder that many mums feel that the efforts of going out to work often outweigh the benefits! If you're stuck at home with young children, it can be difficult to manage getting to an interview let alone holding down work on a regular basis.
That's why many mums are choosing to work at home either for themselves or as an employee. Working from home can offer the flexibility you need to combine bringing up a family with earning a living.
Working from home allows you to choose hours that suit and, if you're working for yourself, you can take time off as and when you need it. You can choose a business to do for a few hours a week or one that will take up most of your time, but in either case, you will be working from home and available for your kids as necessary.
Many work at home mums ( Wahm's) have started a small businesses intending to earn a few extra pounds and have so enjoyed working for themselves that they have grown their business to employ others and make serious money.
Whatever your motivation to work from home is, you'll find our list of ideas and suggestions for a business will give you some food for thought and hopefully the incentive to get started on the road to becoming your own boss.
What
are the options for a work at home mum (wahm)?
Broadly speaking you can either:
Work for yourself from home
The options here are to start your own business from scratch or work as an agent or party planner for a larger company. These are typically self-employed positions and the level of investment required can range from zero up to hundreds or even thousands of pounds. The rewards can be high if you are willing to put the work in and move up to a management position in party planning.
If you can raise the franchise fee, you could also look at buying a franchise, there are many available which are well-suited to running from home, and of course, you can fit your work acyivities around you other commitments.
Work for someone else from home
If you don't want to work for yourself, you can work for an employer, however the work at home area can be a difficult one to get into unless you have an in-demand skill.
Homeshoring is increasingly being used in the UK - This is where companies employ individuals to answer calls in their own homes rather than in call-centres with obvious advantages for both the employer and employee.
The roles are typically in customer service and sales and usually require a dedicated phone line and broadband connection. If you're thinking about working from home for an employer, ensure that you research the company fully before you start and that you fully understand what commitments are required of you.
Although you are usually working exclusively for one company, they will often require that you have your own limited company for admistrative and payment purposes. Having a limited company has advantages in that you are not usually personally liable for the debts of that company but it does come with a number of obligations such as having to file annual returns at companies house. Talk to an accountant if you're not sure what this entails and what costs you will incur.
Be particularly careful if you're asked for any kind of registration or sign-up fee - some offers are genuine but there are a lot of scams around.