Mum-economy, mumpreneurs... The mother of all invention?

My first battle station when working from home - the kitchen table

My new career in digital marketing

From office to home then back to the office 
After I gave birth, six years ago, I realised I couldn't go back to my job as inhouse freelance subeditor - and it became even more obvious when we moved out of London. The reason: a different outlook on life + you guess it, the childcare cost (and worry - think of those horrible stories in the media of children mistreated or neglected by childminders and nurseries).

I was an older mum so I had savings and yes, I missed work so I did a lot of volunteering, which continued (and continues) when I started to earn again.

Some women decide it's time to start their own business using the power of the internet  - think Mumsnet, Britmums and e-commerce websites that started in bedrooms, garages and even on kitchen tables. I did a homeworking carnival a few years back but it's still relevant now and it features a fella too! Read it here.

Work-life balance, not only for women, men want it too!
Behind all this there is the quest for improved work-life balance and the bonus of seeing your kid take the first step, climb all over the furniture and learn to use a computer as a toddler!

I didn't miss any precious moment - I had my daughter at home till aged three and eligible for the 15 hours - which I struggled to increase to a few more even if willing to pay as the preschool was oversubscribed. I used to get up at 5am to work as she had always been a terrible day napper. Then she went to school and I got her in an oversubscribed afterschool club one day, then two, then three and from September of 2012 full time. I felt a bit bad as it's a long day from 845 till 6 but it allowed me to start temping out of the house part-time while still working from home.

In retrospect homeworking was not for me, the dream didn't come true... I was doing well working for a publisher, writing copy for websites, but I felt lonely, depressed in the winter months. I tried to keep super busy by volunteering for a breastfeeding cafe, SureStart centre,  my daughter's preschool and school. I even helped out to publicise local events. And in spite of a beautiful view of the garden from my 'working window' (when we managed to buy a home), I was miserable. It was no good telling myself I was pretty lucky!

Then my partner found work he could do from home - so we decided that we would switch as he was fed up of commuting to London and come back at night because of the long hours. He hardly saw Michela except at weekends, he left when she was still sleeping and came back when she was in bed. And he worked away some weekends! I started applying for jobs and started my current job in April 2013 during the school holidays!

Now, aside my story, it's not only women who want to have a good work/life balance, men do too. I have met lots of them, especially here in Cambridge where the university is a more flexible employer. So let's see how it goes, I am on a temporary contract so anything can happen. 

I enjoy being 'the man' during the week, my partner has taken over childcare and gets lots of work done because he is saving hours on commuting. He is saving money, so he has not increased his day rate, so everybody is a winner!

Mumpreneuring - most working mums dream of it!
Research carried out in April 2013 by Swedish clothing company me&i - you guessed it, a children’s clothing company founded in 2004 by two Swedish mums working from their kitchen table - reveals that, given the right business idea, nearly three quarters (73%) of working mums would leave the financial security of their current employment for a more entrepreneurial life – in order to give them the freedom to spend more time with their family.

Of the 1,500 working mothers who took part the survey, conducted by OnePoll, 64% have taken steps to improve their work-life balance since having children, with 50% opting for part-time working. However, in spite of this, many mums still find working in a traditional office environment a cause of stress, particularly when having to deal with family emergencies, such as a child’s illness (54%).

This inability to attain their desired work-life balance has led to a rise in working mothers carving out their own careers – fuelling the growth of a Mum-Economy. Business journalist Rachel Bridge, says: “The challenges faced by women returning to work after maternity leave are well-documented. However, what we are now seeing is a shift towards working mums taking control of their situation and setting their own employment agenda for the benefits offered by an improved work-life balance.”

It's no huge surprise that the internet has played a leading part in facilitating this, either directly - with mums buying and selling items - or indirectly through the world of possibilities that it has opened up. Personally speaking, I did carve out a decent career out of digital copywriting and remote editing + I know of a mum who started an eBay shop using her small garage as warehouse.

The good news is that according to this research, the trend is inspiring consumers - many mums would prefer to buy from a business run by mums (35%) rather than a big brand name (16%). Again, everybody is a winner!

What do you think?
Let me have it... hit me with your strong opinions of whether it's best to be a homeworker or working away from home. I might have gone back to rattitude with my contract job but it's a reformed, cycle-to-work rat! I get home by 6 so I can spend time with my daughter and the weekends are all about her. She has bonded with her dad more and we are all happy now as my partner is less stressed - he hated commuting!

Working, scrimping, plus Win an IPad and IPod Nano!

Are you a scrimper? Read on to enter the competition

Working, commuting and scrimping tips

Last month, I worked inhouse for two days a week for a local publisher on a casual basis. Unusually I was a design assistant in the marketing department. It was a welcome change from wordy editorial work. Nowadays I work in Word and NoteTab, so I miss the InDesign layout element of my pre-maternity job as an inhouse magazine subeditor. There I was whizzing around London, meeting famous people, getting beauty freebies and browsing shops up and down Oxford Street. It was an expensive lifestyle for sure, despite the freebies. However, I used to run a Londoncheapskate website back then!

Commuting was such a bane, though, despite the fact that I lived in zone 3. Last month I cycled to the publisher’s office and it was lovely because I crossed central Cambridge and pedalled past old colleges. Cycling is such as cheap way to go from A to B and if your employer is running a bike scheme, you can save money on the bike's purchase. The company I worked for even loaned bikes.

But now I’m back home, indexing and pitching for features. In my spare time I work on an ebook, which I’m designing in Quark. I got my version of Quark from a computer magazine, so it is legal and was very cheap! But what about the competition, you might ask, enough of your yadda yadda....

Well, this competition is run by  MyFamilyClub.co.uk, which is offering one lucky reader the chance to win the latest Apple iPad3 and iPod Nano. Just visit www.myfamilyclub.co.uk/topmoneysavingtips and provide a money-saving tip. 


MyFamilyClub.co.uk has already polled 6,000 of UK parents and asked them to share their greatest money-saving tips. Here are their top 10 tips:

1. Shop around – find the best deal before you buy.

2. Budget, budget, budget – stay within your means.

3. Buy (and sell) secondhand – on sites like eBay, use charity shops and take advantage of hand-me-downs!

4. Before you buy… always ask yourself, “Can I live without it?”

5. Plan the family’s weekly meals – cook more than you need and freeze extra portions for another day.

6. Shop for groceries online – or draw up a list before you get to the store and don’t deviate!

7. Buy in bulk – stock up on offers, deals and bargains for those items you use regularly.

8. Never pay full price – always lookout for a relevant voucher or discount code online, cut out coupons and use cashback sites.

9. Buy value brands – from school uniform to nappies, you could save a fortune.

10. Open a savings account – pay into it as regularly as you can.

The competition closes on 31 May. Good luck!

Homeworking blog carnival - the results

My breakfast of choice: half dulce de leche (basically spreadable toffee sauce) and half peanut butter. Goes well with my builder's tea (two brown sugars or one and a half white). Send me pics of your work food! Read about my own experience of home working by clicking here.

 

This is ‘the army’ of homeworkers who sent their stories and links after I spread the word about my homeworking post on British Mummy Bloggers, Mumsnet and media/PR forums Fleetstreet, journalism.co.uk and UK Press.

All quiet on the home front? 

Not likely if you have a young child trying to get attention by switching off your computer, tugging at your phone cord and banging a drum when you are speaking to a client. Even if you have childcare, your child is bound to be around for a few of your working hours unless you get up really early in the morning and work after they have gone to bed.

Writers, PRs, techies, even an online retailer, life coach and an artist - here are some inspirational stories about homeworking today... If you’d like to tell your story, feel free to leave a comment with a link (optional) below.

Themes:

• Career change and homeworking
• Working and family life
• Running an online retail business from home
• Build your own office

If you can’t have office banter, create a virtual watercooler (and reinvent yourself)!

Rebecca is a work-at-home parent who had a taste of the home front even when she was in full-time employment. She says: “Unfortunately the end of my contract came just as the recession was picking up speed and as I was in a niche job, it became obvious that I wouldn't find another one.” She retrained as a coach and set up The Mummy Grapevine. She confesses: “I sometimes yearn after the kudos of being an academic, but the stress is not missed.” Check out http://www.themummygrapevineblog.com.

Emily is a freelance writer who does some social media PR for parenting websites. She works at her dining table so she can keep an eye on her three children: a four year old, a two year old and a 10- month-old baby! She says, “Life is manic but never boring”, and tries hard to do it all! Find out more at http://babyrambles.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-harder-being-at-home-with-children.html

Ellen's immaculate office - check out that patterned cushion!

Ellen works from home most of the time, although she does occasional shifts inhouse. She used to work for tabloids and do some PR, but she now writes for “people who pay me”. She has three boys so she is a master of the juggle jive (any Strictly scout out there?).

Ellen misses ‘human’ contact but finds Twitter and Facebook of some help, although they “can be a dashed good way of avoiding nasty jobs”. Learn her dance routine at http://bundance.blogspot.com/

Amelia is an artist who has recently decided to work from home. She took her art teaching experience into the digital word by setting up experimental art e-courses and workshops. She also does the occasional CV work. She took a huge financial risk as she is a single income household but it has been worthwhile in term of personal happiness and wellbeing. She says: “Working from home has also freed up time to start my MA in Fine Art, which I love as working at home can be isolating.”

Her youngest child has a disability, which was also a factor in her decision to work for herself - illness and hospital appointments were affecting her job and juggling it all was stressful. Amelia’s workspace is under the stairs and on her dining table. See her pictorial blog at http://www.101birdtales.blogspot.com/.

Lynn has a home office, as well as a store-room-cum-spare-bedroom. Her maternity retail business is also taking over the garage. 

She can be found at the kitchen table during the day when her four years old is at home and her sister at school. Read about her home/work life balance at http://www.more4mums.co.uk/blog/.

Helen runs Business Plus Baby, which is all about mumpreneurs – visit http://businessplusbaby.com/about to find out more. She writes ebooks, offers advice and "blogs away".

She has two children, who were born close to each other. Her “excuse”? Like many of us, she couldn’t face going back to work after maternity leave. She says: “I love reading stories of how mums start out in self-employment after having babies, so if you’d like to tell your story on Business Plus Baby, visit http://businessplusbaby.com/2010/04/07/did-you-start-a-business-with-a-baby-or-a-toddler.”

Last of not least, we have two Dads. As my partner went self-employed around the time our daughter was born and has been striving to work from home (not always succeeding as corporate culture often requires inhouse presence), I really enjoyed reading their stories. Hope you do, too.

Peter at his power station - great working space!

 

Peter started to work from home out of necessity - "it was purely a location thing". Family obligations meant giving up an international city career - and life - for a bucolic idyll. 

He says: “Karma intervened when our market town became one of the first to get broadband, so squirting a 10MB file to Asia was no biggie wherever I was.”

He admits that life has been a roller-coaster. “Professionally, you don't get to network without a two-hour drive each way. Personally, I have as a father enjoyed every moment of my sons' 14 years like no other. It has also meant that now I am able to devote invaluable time to a dementia-stricken parent during the twilight of her years, beside her bed with a lappy and MiFi. I am writing a book about the experiences - good, bad, and worth sharing - for others in this situation.”

Peter misses the social aspects and “buzz” of corporate life, but this is the hand dealt and “a not too shabby one”. His commute is about 30 seconds tops – “two minutes if it's down the shed to make a new design up”. Meet Peter at http://junkk.blogspot.com.

Phil is a hands-on homeworker with Grand Design aspirations. He actually built his own office in his back garden (see http://pthane.co.uk/?page_id=159).

Phil is a virtual ‘colleague/friend’, we have had chats through various media forums on a variety of subjects. He writes about techie stuff, is an online copywriter and has turned his lifetime’s experience of DIY into income by writing articles and books.

That’s it, folks. Thanks for your submissions... Leave a comment below if you wish. If you want a say on Twitter, find #homeworkerchat and leave your comments with that tag.

How I became a home worker

When I started maternity leave in January 2007 I planned to take a year off and resume my career as inhouse freelance subeditor. I had been doing it for over a decade, so it seemed like the easy option - I had lots of contacts in the industry and knew there would be work for me provided I could find reliable childcare for my child. Mind you, I envied freelancers who could work from home but knew that in my sector opportunities were rare, plus you needed expensive equipment and software. Despite using MACs at work, I had a modest PC at home and no fancy design software.

I soon realised I was missing work so jumped at the chance of using my skills for the NCT, which is the leading parenting charity in the UK. I had become a member before doing their antenatal classes and heard that they were looking for a volunteer to help the newsletter editor at the East London branch. I ended up coediting various newsletters, churning out articles and designing my half with zero budget (we had only money for printing costs). I was lucky to secure a free copy of QuarkXpress by buying a PC magazine so I could use the professional software I was accustomed to. I did enjoy both the writing and the design side. One year later, I was not ready to go back to work. I was enjoying a busy life as charity volunteer, doing some editing work from home (not much though) and training as a breastfeeding helper with the Breastfeeding Network. I started to volunteer for this second charity by assisting my tutor who ran a breastfeeding drop-in in East London. In summer 2008, just before the credit crunch hit the country, I moved to Rugby, where I became involved with the NCT, became newsletter designer and editor of the local newsletter and got involved with the Rugby Breastfeeding Cafe as a volunteer.

Not being in London meant a longer commute if I wanted to resume my career as subeditor. The recession also meant less freelance work so although I had set up my writing and editing business (and created a website to plug it), I was mostly giving Italian lessons and even taught an evening class at a local institute. Then I heard of a new parenting website that needed product testers and I sent my CV. I started writing product reviews, while running two blogs (this one about parenting and one about eco-friendly thrifting) and volunteering for my charities.

In November 2009 we moved to Cambridge, where I joined the local NCT branch and became involved with the newsletter and started volunteering at breastfeeding drop-ins. Soon after our move I got an email from an advertising agency who wanted me to write breastfeeding and baby care copy. It turned out to be a big project so I left tutoring behind and became a fully-fledged online copywriter, contributing to parenting websites whenever I could. I have recently started indexing academic journals, which is regular work and makes me feel that my degree in Political Sciences is of some use.

So far I have produced several NCT newsletters for various branches and learnt a lot about design, commissioning, advertising and the printing process. As a subeditor for major national magazines I was part of a big team, so I was only involved in editing, rewriting, writing the odd feature, fact-checking and perhaps a bit of design but didn’t have to concern myself with production processes, distribution, overall costs and advertising revenue. I kept in touch with the media industry through moderating a group called subsuk (from 2006 till practically yesterday) but have given this up as I am now a copywriter more than a journalist. I’m not the only one, most people I know from journo forums have moved into PR, advertising, corporate writing and more lucrative fields. Aside writing and indexing I volunteer for my two charities and have started to get involved in my daughter’s preschool activities.

So this is the story so far. The picture at the top is my office, basically an antique kitchen table (there is nice wooden top under the plastic cloth) full of useful junk. Below it’s my filing unit, which is a pine dresser my father made bespoke for the kitchen of my previous house. Inside there are backup DVDs and office supplies, on the shelves you can see my reference library and various odds and ends belonging to my child, including her red book and craft materials. More stationery is parked on top of the blue chest of drawers, one of my ‘revamp junk furniture’ projects.

There is a spare room upstairs which has been kitted out as an office but it’s not practical as I need to keep an eye on my daughter when she is at home. She goes to preschool three hours every afternoon and unless my partner is at home, she is around while I toil away. If I need total silence I work after she has gone to bed or wake up really early in the morning.

Now over to you! If you work from home, feel free to link up relevant blog posts and leave comments. I confess I do miss social interaction but not the commuting to different workplaces every week (unless I got a long-term gig) nor the office politics, from which an inhouse freelancer is not totally immune.