Work-from-Home for Moms: Building a Successful Career at Home
Work-from-home jobs for moms are hard to find. While building a successful career from your living room is possible, it’s easier to do it yourself than through an employer. Let me explain my team leader experience so you’ll understand what I mean. Then, let’s talk business, aka how to create a little empire at home on your own.
Work-from-Home for Moms — the Ups & Downs
I’m not a mom, but I’ve worked remotely with many moms throughout the years. As a team leader, I’ve always cherished having moms on my teams. They’re hard-working, go to the point, and highly practical. Sharp and smart, all the moms I’ve worked with were high-performing individuals. Yet, they’ve all been kind of “punished” by the system for being moms. They’re most likely the first to go with redundancies and the ones who have it more challenging to find better job roles within the company if they need to be part-time or in charge of school runs.
Moms see their opportunities for career development slowed down dramatically while their kids are young. Once they have some free time, they can start climbing. It shouldn’t be this way.
Down with the Ship
The last company I worked for as a permanent team leader was delightful. Well, until it was bought by a bigger fish who restructured it and decided to offshore most operations in our department. When the downfall came, it became obvious that many moms working from home were trapped in the whims of a no-win situation. Many saw their contracts not renewed despite being high-performing badass ladies. Others could stay, but a grim prospect: would their contracts be renewed? Would they keep working from home?
Fortunately, I went down with most of my department. I say fortunately because redundancy turned out to be a blessing for me — not because I found a job in another company but because I had the means to create one for myself! This was quickly spotted by many of the hard-working moms on my team, who suddenly started to hear my preaching tune (something that had been ignored for years).
Build Your Empire Like a Turtle
When we were made redundant, people suddenly realized that I had many more options than others. Before COVID, you could find a job within three months or so. Now, time lags, and the number of interviews you have to pass has multiplied. First, AI will scan your CV; if successful, it’ll land in HR for a first interview. If successful, you might need to pass an exam before accessing another interview. You get the picture.
But what if you had a portfolio online? What if that portfolio was also your side hustle? What if you had built your online empire at turtle speed for some years? Then, the picture changes! (Want to snoop on my story? Read it here.)
Be Smart: Have Fun Creating Something on the Side
If you want to ensure that you’ll work from home and have flexibility, you need to “invest” time in creating your online portfolio (worst-case scenario, that’s the only thing you’ll do) so that you can find clients. In the best of cases, that portfolio will also be your “shop.” How so?
After you read this post, please take a tour of dePepi. You’ll notice that it’s not just a blog but a platform full of courses that teach you different things, from self-publishing books and designing Tarot cards for sale to how to create your business online (avoiding all the mistakes I’ve made along the way). These also serve as my portfolio, including all the marketing campaigns I release. My portfolio brings me clients that need my expertise.
Now, how did I get here? Building something on the side that I loved. I allocated time to do this and focussed first on my hobbies! (To no surprise: writing and Tarot, cough, cough). It took me a lot of time, but I went from material products to digital ones. That was the key that helped me create an excellent portfolio that came in handy when my redundancy came. (It took me 15 days to land my first client thanks to one of my hobbies: self-publishing books!)
Ditch Excuses…
Keep reading: https://www.depepi.com/2024/09/24/work-from-home-for-moms-building-a-successful-career-at-home/
