Our Mommyhood

Posts Tagged ‘Working Mom’

By Audrey Marden, Guest Writer

There are many options available to Moms looking to gain supplemental income, and working from home offers many conveniences over traditional jobs. You’ll have the opportunity to keep up with household chores and be around your kids more. In this post we’ll be introducing a couple career options in the work from home arena.

Virtual Assistants

As the internet has matured over the years, a large number of professionals have found immense success in building their income online. These people eat, sleep and breathe the internet and have built small empires online. As with any empire, there’s a never ending to do list of maintenance and generally menial tasks that eat up valuable time. Because of this there’s a growing demand for virtual assistants. Being a virtual assistant has a lot in common with being a secretary or an administrative assistant. The person you’re working for is likely very busy and has a number of projects going on at any one time. Expect to be required to keep them organized, reminding them of every important task or meeting. You’ll also handle lots of simple tasks for them, what these specific tasks are depends a lot on who you end up working for.

When possible you should most certainly leverage your past experience in a job search, so for example if you have experience as a nurse, being a virtual assistant for someone in the medical profession is ideal. This way you’ll not only stand out as an applicant but also have an opportunity to get unique insight and experience in a field that may benefit you in the future. Pay also varies greatly; you’ll find that in very general positions the pay is less, while the more specialized the position, the higher the pay. This is also a position you’ll likely find many part time opportunities in, if you’re a full time Mom this might appeal to you.

Paralegals

Paralegals are one of the growing work at home professions that surprise many people. These positions tend to be more demanding than virtual assistant positions but naturally have a higher median salary. Paralegals work largely for law firms but also within legal departments of many different organizations ranging from government to commercial companies. Reading, research, document organization and preparation are among the duties required most of paralegals.

As a paralegal you’ll likely be helping lawyers prepare for court cases along with handling general tasks that don’t require a high pedigree in law. It may also surprise you to learn that there is no education requisite to becoming a paralegal as some employers offer in-house training. However, as in all positions, educational degrees typically help you when first applying. Paralegal studies degrees are offered at many community colleges and those of you that already have a bachelor’s degree can pursue certification from a paralegal association. Before you jump into anything I’d recommend referring to a Paralegal Career Guide or if you can, speak to someone you know in the industry already.

Audrey Marden is a loving Mommy of 2 and a full time Virtual Assistant. If you’re looking into becoming a V.A. she recommends checking out this website http://www.virtualassistantcareerguide.com.

By Betsy, Editor, Funky Mama Bird (@funkymamabird)

Working from home is a challenging and rewarding scenario that many women aspire to. If this is something that you have considered, you may find it easier to begin on than you realized.

Preparing to be a WAHM

Before you look for or accept work to do from your home, make sure you’re adequately prepared for what this will entail. There are many types of jobs available that can be done from home; some are more flexible than others, so being realistic with yourself beforehand will help you be successful later.

Looking at Your Schedule

Depending on how old your children are, and what other commitments you have going on, your schedule may be more or less conducive to working at home. Spend a week or several days taking a look at how your days flow. Do you have downtime? Is it in large stretches or short snatches throughout the day? How many hours a day can you commit yourself to working? Be honest with yourself; if you can truly only handle two hours a day, don’t apply for or take a job that would demand six hours a day.

Setting Up an Office Space

Set an area aside for yourself that is just for you. No toys, laundry baskets, TVs or other interruptions. Organize it however you need it to be productive; when you enter this space you are entering your workplace. Treat this area like an office outside the home to be the most successful.

Determine Your Niche

What do you want to do? Job boards like the one on WAHM.com are filled with opportunities for women working from home. Do you want to freelance? Enter data? Can you spend a few hours a day on the phone for customer service? Come up with a list of things you are qualified for, and prepare to make your case to a potential employer.

Becoming a WAHM

Learning to work from home is a balancing act between your job, your home and your children. To make the most of any opportunity you take to work from home, follow these tips:

• Make sure this is something you truly wish to add to your schedule each day
• Start slowly until you get used to the work required
• Schedule in time for yourself during the day to avoid burnout
• Communicate with everyone involved, from employers to spouses to make sure everyone is on the same page
• Be flexible; things will come up beyond your control and you will have to adapt to them without becoming burnt out, or leaving obligations unfulfilled

Becoming a WAHM is not something that works for everyone. Be honest with yourself; if you feel that being home will be a distraction, this type of work is not for you. Whether you choose to craft and sell your goods, sell for someone else or go into customer service make sure it’s something that you can feasibly do, will enjoy doing and above all, is something that will work for your family.

By Megan M., Staff Writer, All A Bunch of Momsense (@TaxMegan)

I’m about to be a true working mom again. After the first of the year, my hours will stretch from as-needed office time into twelve and fourteen hour workdays. My afternoons on twitter while kids finish up homework will be replaced with tax returns and training modules. PTO meetings will be replaced with staff meetings. Casual afternoons replaced by spreadsheets and high heels. Lunches with the girls? Try a quick sandwich at the desk, if there’s a minute to grab a bite.

I love my job. I thrive on the activity and enjoy the challenges. As a mom, however, this part of the year is hard. It could be much worse – my kids get to come to my office after school, so I can still help with homework and spend a little time with them. My husband, who becomes some sort of super hero for the four month period leading to April 15^th, picks the kids up after he finishes his workday and handles dinner, showers and bedtime. Movie nights happen without me. Books are read, puzzles put together, games played all while I am at work.

It’s hard to remember when you’re in the thick of it how well it all balances out. As sad as I am about missing a Friday night movie night at home, I’m free to hang out at the drive-in in the summer and can lay around the next day as we all sleep in and recover. We can take off for a long weekend with family whenever. A day off because we want to go to the park, instead of the office.  I can come and go as I please, as long as I have taken care of my clients.

Sometimes, though, that’s hard to remember when you’re 26 days without a day off and working 80+ hour work weeks. Or when you look up and realize that your son’s birthday is just a few days away and you haven’t ordered a cake, purchased a gift or planned a party. Or when you are pretty sure you haven’t said more than “Thanks, I’m not hungry, I’m going to bed” to your husband in a month or so.

I know it sounds like I am complaining – I’m not. I’m incredibly blessed to have such a tremendous amount of flexibility and work in a job I love. I’m lucky to have a boss who is supportive of my role as a mom. My husband is amazing, year in and year out, keeping things running on the home-front. Shoot, I’m lucky to have a job.

But I’d take independently wealthy, if somebody would like to go ahead and set that up for me!

By Julia Magnusson., Staff  Writer, It’s Not Like a Cat, (@notlikeacat)

“Creative, flexible freelancing with small children in tow”, does not always, as you might imagine, instantly add up to big bucks and job security. Launching a new career after two years of staying at home with children is challenging.

I’m still learning how to find the work I want to do, make sure it pays enough and squeeze deadlines around child-rearing, cooking, laundry, family time, weekend fairs and parades and playground time.

I’d never expected to want to stay home with my children and honestly never understood women who happily gave up careers to be stay-at-home moms. I’m not particularly good at or entirely fulfilled by being a full-time stay-at-home mom and housewife. Sure, it’s joyous and amazing and sweet and magical (the mommying, not the housework), but it’s also isolating and challenging and downright monotonous at times. But once I adjusted to my post-maternity-leave layoff, I knew I wasn’t ready to leave my baby (now babies) for a full-time job just yet.

I took on some freelance work from my former industry, but the deadlines were always very tight and my childcare set-up would always fall apart just when I most needed it; my whole family would end up stressed out.

I found another venue, thanks to a tip from a successful work-at-home mom (you know who you are!). Though I’m not quite bringing in the big bucks, I’m slowly becoming a work-at-home mom.

Now that the baby is nearly four months old, he’s developing a schedule of sorts and napping during the day. I’m developing a schedule, too. The initial sleep deprivation that comes with Baby Number 2 is easing up a little and I can actually get up early in the morning after the 6 a.m. feeding, and work until the rest of the household wakes up. If the toddler naps in the afternoon, and if the baby also naps (or is willing to rest on my lap, nursing), I can work then, too.

I’m still getting used to it and I’m not always as motivated or productive as I’d like to be. My “me time” is precious and sometimes I waste it on things other than moneymaking work. I also try to balance guaranteed income, speculative projects and my own creative writing (and exploring markets for that).

It’s hard, because some days I want to write my own stuff and some days I want to write for the guaranteed money instead of searching out other venues in which I could make money writing. And some days, my family wants and needs my attention so much that meeting any other deadline is downright impossible.

It’s like I’m doing a balancing act in several dimensions at once. Money? Creative writing? Marketing? Seeking steadier work? Then throw in laundry, food preparation, nightly dinner-making, toddler management and entertainment, baby-care and fitness.

Now that I’ve gotten my feet wet, I need to analyze the whole situation to set both immediate monetary goals and longer-term career goals.

Somehow the tight deadlines and exact guidelines of a full-time job in my former industry seem like a fantasy world; a manageable, linear surefire way to make a living. I could return to it if I wanted to, but for now while my children are so small and needy, I want to be home with them and see if I can make some money doing a different kind of work.

Work-at-home moms: How do you do it? Are you in charge of most or all of the household work plus trying to do your own work on the side? How do you manage to get your work done if you’re on “mom duty” for 13 hours a day (plus all the night feedings, if you have an infant)? And if you’re a WAHM, how did you—as you got started—get your family to respect your work time if you were not yet bringing in significant income?

By Megan M., Staff Writer, All A Bunch Of Momsense (@taxmegan)

It’s amazing how much time real life sucks out of our days. After the kids went back to school a few weeks ago, it was time for us to kick off our own “back to school” period at my job. My work hours kick back up a little bit, and include some evenings again, so trying to keep up with meals, housework, and oh heaven help me, the laundry becomes a new challenge all over again.

To top that off, I’m not really an organized person. I work from the chaos in my head, which spills over onto my kitchen table, 3 desks at work, my purse, at least 2 tote bags and the front floorboard of my van.

Y’all? We’re lost. It’s a good thing my kids know where to find the Pop-Tarts, or they might be starving by now.

Ok, it’s not really quite THAT bad, but it’s a little crazy to say the least. And all the crazy is making me tired; so we’re on a mission at our house to accomplish some things.

1. I will not allow Mt. St. Laundry to grow and live on my couch anymore. My couch is for me to lounge on while reading a book or watching TV; it’s NOT for my clean unders to hang out on for all the world to see.
2. I will put a desk in the spot I have selected and stop using the kitchen table to work on. The table is so we can eat, or play board games, or color pictures or whatever, as a family; it’s not my home office.
3. My children will not drop backpacks and shoes at the front door the moment they walk through it. Shoes go to their rooms, backpacks get emptied and then hung on new hooks by the door to prepare for the next day.
4. We will spend 15 minutes each day working on cleaning up our bedrooms, including purging toys/books/clothes/etc that we no longer need, want or use. We can do ANYTHING for 15 minutes.
5. We will have set morning, afternoon and evening lists of things we need to do. Completion of the lists will result in some sort of celebration (family Wii time, movie night, playing at the park, etc.)

We rotate who’s hosting holiday events, and it’s our year to have Christmas. I want my house to be a comfortable, happy place where my guests can visit any room without me being embarrassed by it. As a woman with three kids, one husband, two dogs, a cat and a job, I’ll never live in a showplace and frankly don’t want to, but I am not going to continue to live in chaos!

What kinds of routines work for your family? Do you have some tips on how you maintain order in your home and life?