FunAfterBaby

Read the stories of mums that have started to work from home.....

HappyNappyDays My name's Samantha and I run a cloth nappy business called Happy Nappy Days from my home where I also look after 2 kids (eldest is 2) 1 husband, 1 cat, a dog and a chinchilla. We have recently discovered child number three is on its was as well. as you can see from this I am always busy with one thing or another. The most awkward part of being a work at home mum especially when your trying to start a business is getting the balance right between family and work. I have often spent the day with the family and the night doing work but there is only so long you can do that without getting exhausted. I have found the best way to work is not to focus on what jobs need to be done, as you just worry about and this can make it really hard to deal with children as well. Children will be ill and need you, so deal with them first as it makes your work allot more productive if they are happy and health and not getting in your way (trust me i have been there). I find it easiest to stop everything and look after my girls and then when there fine continue with work other wise i was getting so frustrated. If you can set working hours for yourself and try to stick to them, unless something like sickness comes up. If the shopping needs to be done try to fit it in when you wouldn't usually be working. By working for yourself you can make your hours fit you. I now find i work best in the afternoon early evening (though it did use to be in the morning) I just alter my work pattern to suit me. Samantha Pickering www.happynappydays.co.uk

SecretarialAngel It seems that as a working mother, I was forever running out of the house dragging one child in one hand eating a soggy bit of toast in the other to make that 8.00 train, that is always 2 minutes early! My days of endless exhaustion and irritability had to cease existence for the sake of the relationship with my husband and of course my daughter. In today's society a large percentage of women go back to work after having children, mainly for financial reasons. It seems that despite working mums working the 9-5 Monday to Friday there still seems to be housework, childcare and food preparation on the agenda in the evening shift! It starts all over again. On many occasions I would reflect on my day in the office. What had I accomplished? Well. I had been screamed and moaned at by angry customers all day; I had had a slight disagreement with a senior member of staff over "missing" paperwork. I had a taken a breather in the toilets and looked in the mirror. God who was that? Had I put make up on that morning, or did I always look so drawn. The day had gone down hill from there. I came to the conclusion that they're had be something out there for me. I was an intelligent women, my brain wasn't totally frazzled by children's cartoons! Although I must admit to sitting they're watching them. I knew all the names of the Teletubbies nearly apart from the one who carried a handbag. Mmm, what's that all about anyway? So what skills have I got apart from making a good casserole? I could talk (too much apparently) and communicate, I had updated myself with latest IT and computer software, I had some training in Public Relations. I was at college doing an HND in business and marketing so why wasn't I using my "college" knowledge to its full potential? Taking the step to work from home eased a huge weight off my shoulders. Once I had realised that I had a goal that involved the family as well I felt enlightened, passionate about setting up my virtual business office Secretarialangel.couk. This enabled me to use my PR and marketing knowledge also utilise the business administration skills I had acquired through years of office work. What would be more useful to a business overseas than to sleep while they knew my virtual office was doing the work? The time difference being the bonus! I then found a large support network for Virtual Assistants who worked from home doing a variety of tasks and feeling great satisfaction that they were indeed "business women" in their own right. I would have never have been able to achieve some of the things through my business if it wasn't from fellow businesswomen. I think life and work experience is the best advice anyone can give. I don't think women need to compromise themselves these days. Some of the top 50 businesswomen in the UK have children and are highly successful in their career. My small but unique business didn't have to rake huge amounts of money in or take over the world; it just was just there to make my life simpler and be checked off on my life list of things to do before I died (Along with mastering muffins, running the London Marathon and eating a bar of chocolate without looking at the back at the calorie content.) I suppose having a very understanding and supportive husband helps. Some weeks I could have work but some weeks I could not but at least having accomplished something for myself made me a firm believer in the fact that you make your own paths in life! What it does offer is a more personalized service a one to one. It's not an easier option. Home workers don't put their feet up and watch television all day. I find myself working into the night. There are some strange things on Television in the early hours let me tell you. Home working is the flexible option that keeps everyone happy. Isn't that what everyone wants in life? Ruth Coe SecretarialAngel.co.uk Email: sales@secretarialangel.co.uk

Curve Coaching It had been one of those days. My daughter was a year old, unwell and I had spent the entire day indoors. I hadn't spoken to anyone over the age of twelve months all day and I decided that I was ready to start looking for some work. I gave up my job when my daughter was born and knew I didn't want to work full time again. I wanted to find something that I loved but was flexible enough to fit around being at home as much as I could. A friend recommended I spoke to her life coach and after I few sessions I was so impressed with the results I started training as a coach myself. I now run my own practice focusing on coaching parents and women who feel they want to change direction. Coaching for me fits perfectly with being a mum, I coach for two days a week and also in the evenings when the children are in bed. Sometimes I feel like I am always working when I have been mum all day and then coach all evening - although it's worth it to have the best of both worlds. My coaching helped me realise that I don't need to be "super mum" but to take the time to enjoy the things I choose to do. I have learnt to spend time on the important things in life and let go of the things that don't matter (like the ironing - oops!). Debbie Lewis Professional Coach Curve - Creative Coaching Solutions Tel: 01273 530259 www.curvecoaching.com

KAROSS I'm Karen Cross, a mother of two children and the designer/distributor of the Wrap n Go. The Wrap n Go is a take on the traditional cosy toes but with the added bonus of a built in coat. My children are aged two and ten, after having my eldest I went to work as a phlebotomist in the QE hospital Birmingham (taking blood from patients) until getting pregnant with my second child, with the increase in childcare costs we decided I would wait until the youngest was at school before going back to work. Our youngest however never slept, he hated having his coat put on and then taken off again, so the school run for my daughter was an epic journey before we had even got out of the door. I scoured the internet and specialist baby shops in the hope of finding a miracle product which would solve all my problems but there wasn't anything available. As I knew what I wanted the product to do and my background before phlebotomy was fashion design and photography at Art College, I didn't find designing and making the first wraps a problem. When I started using the Wrap n Go I found it invaluable, travelling anywhere was not a problem anymore, I just wrapped him up outside and unwrapped him inside, it didn't matter if he was awake or asleep the Wrap n Go didn't disturb him because of the way it fastened. After using it for a while other mothers at the mother and toddler groups asked for a demonstration and then started asking for their own to use themselves or as gifts for friends and family. After a while the orders were too many for me to keep making and so we had them made at a local factory. We have exhibited at the Birmingham Baby Show NEC, London Baby Show and the Scotland Baby Show, we will be exhibiting at the Birmingham Baby Show in May. At the moment we only sell them on our own website but hope to get them into shops in the near future. Karen Cross www.wrapngowithkaross.co.uk

The Dream PA When my daughter was 4 months old I went back to my full time job, albeit for 4 days a week. Over the months to come I found it incredibly difficult to manage working long hours with caring for a baby and although i was determined not to feel guilty about being a working mum, somehow that is exactly what i felt! I did not want to be obligated to remain at a certain location until 5.30pm each day and was looking for more freedom with my schedule, so the idea of being self employed was one that i was thinking about more and more. There is a saying that the catalyst to big change in one's life is either inspiration or desperation! My leap into self employment was a mix of the two. Inspired by discovering a new phenomenon in flexible working - Virtual Assistance, and desperate to leave my day job which was beginning to suffocate me! I decided to use the office skills i had developed (and was rather good at!) over the previous decade and a bit, and to offer a service to business owners by working 'virtually' from my own home office, providing PA and secretarial backup. At first is was quite nerve racking (as anyone who has ever made the great leap into the unknown world of self employment will tell you) but as the clients came rolling in, my confidence grew and this attracted more clients. It's always easier to find another job when you are employed and it is always easier to find more clients when you have a few already!! Now I'm becoming well known in my region through various newspaper articles on me and my business, and the business is going from strength to strength! If any new parents have thought about making the move into self employment, I'd say to go for it! It won't always be easy but the sheer value of having time freedom to plan work around your family's schedule makes it worth giving up a regular salary alone!! Do what you love and the rest will fall into place. I read that once and I believe it. Best wishes Nadine Hill Director, The Dream PA www.thedreampa.co.uk

Silver Tripod My business www.SilverTripod.com only came alive after I sat down with my sister and figured out how many hours a week I could spare away from my kids (two energetic boys, now aged two and three). It wasn't very many hours at all. And those hours weren't guaranteed or during any normal office hours. So we decided an internet business was the only way to go and hatched SilverTripod.com, which sells brilliant personalized photo greetings cards e.g. birth announcements, Christmas cards . any occasion where sending a greeting and a photo together fits. The business is alive and kicking because of email. We encourage all contact to be via the internet so we can deal with things when it suits us (sometimes midnight, sometimes 7am on a Sunday morning.). Plus all ordering and payment is via the website www.SilverTripod.com . Good luck to any mum who wants to start something herself - my advice would be to work out realistically where your `quality time' is and find something that fits in, otherwise it's going to be a brutal juggling act. Siobhan Crise siobhan@silvertripod.com Managing Director, www.SilverTripod.com

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