Wanting to work from home (FAQ)

This is a FAQ post.  These are the most popular answers to a real question asked on The Imperfect Mum. 

Any advice for a mum who wants to work from home with her kids?

Kelly: There are seriously bugger all legit work from home jobs. If we could all work at home I’m sure we would but the reality is skilled employment requires an actual skilled workforce environment ie. actually getting out there and working its a harsh reality. Paying Childcare is part and parcel as well.

Alexis: Ironing

Moira: I work from home. I advertised my admin skills (5 years experience) on gumtree and said I could work as a Virtual Assistant. I also looked on seek daily typing in work from home. I now literally work from home and am an executive assistant to my boss. It is literally the BEST thing as you dont miss out on your kids and you work around their naps/sleeps. You just have to put yourself out there. A job wont fall in your lap. You want a work from home job – go out and actively find one. There is a FB page that advertises lots of work from home jobs also  called ‘Work at home mums’

Karen: As an ex manager of a party plan business (3 years of it), can I please just say to be aware that they are often promoted as work from home & work the hours that suit you…….but they don’t often work out that way. There is nothing wrong with party plan, it is a lot of fun & yes the money CAN be great. If people are buying. If you can keep booking parties. In my experience, there were expectations that I attend a weekly meeting, plus run a monthly team meeting in my own home. There are phone calls to make when you are not out at parties, orders to be input, then when it gets delivered to your place you have to pack it & deliver it & when you get there someone hasn’t paid their money & you can’t send the product back. But sometimes it all does go smoothly. Just make sure you check out all the details before signing up. I found that it took over my life with the constant ringing of the phone & it didn’t do our family life any good.
 

Ashlee: Ebay! sell your old clothes and babys clothes that don’t fit anymore! you wont make a mint but its enough to go toward buying new clothes!!
 

Sharee: Please note with party plan, it’s not really work from home. You will need a babysitter for all the demos you do. You must be prepared to work weekends or weeknights as they are the most popular, so not much family time unless you are strict to saying no to certain days. I’m not putting party plan down just you need to know what you’re getting into. I was a party plan consultant, top 3 in Australia for sales for almost a year.
 

Amanda: Go on ‘seek.com.au’ and type in work from home. There is so many jobs going if you have to right experience.
 

Rae: Just on another facet… if you have taken a year of leave from your job, most workplace agreements state you must not undertake any form of paid employment during the period of leave. You had better check this out before going too far.
 

Jane: I had been searching for years for that perfect work from home job and have been scammed in the past with those join up and just need to advertise online and the money will come programs! Last year I applied for a job advertised on the Work at Home Mums site with a company called Lionbridge to be a website assessor. Literally spent about 35 hours going through their training and the more I got into it the more things didn’t add up so be wary if you come across this on your travels over the net. If you find something that looks to good to be true – it usually is!! Be sure to research the company behind it, see if you can find a street address and google it and see if it is actually a business. I never did find that perfect home admin job but do love what I am doing with my home business
 

Jodie: Have you looked into Home Day Care?  That way you can stay home with your kids, a few others, and be paid for it! Just google ‘Family Day Care’ in your area