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ADVICE RATING

3.92 (May work) from 11 votes (395 Visits)

Work from home

by Vikki

(December 2006) (rank 154th)

Hi Lisa

You asked if I had any advise about working at home?..

First I'll have to ask you what it is that you want to do? Is there something you like to do that you think might bring in an income? (there is a reason

why I am asking which I'll lead into later)

Okay...I'll tell you my story about how I ended up working at home (at least in this one email as I tend to prattle on quite a bit at times) and then post other ideas in future blogs)..

About 10 years ago I was married, had a one year old daughter and was working at a retail outlet in order to make ends meet. It was frustrating and tiring and I was really unhappy. I grew up with my mother looking after me and I felt that it was important to "be" there with my daughter when she was growing up too! So being away from her all day and all night was taking it's toll. Not only that? I had a husband who was angry at me when I was not working and then angry at me when I was not at home (very difficult and confusing situation). My now (x) husband felt that I should leave her with strangers and make an income... so we were always battling over this. I finally said "enough" one day and quit my jobs and decided to stay home and look after my daughter.

I applied for UI (Unemployment Insurance) (I'm not sure what you have in your area), and after about 2 months I was told about a program that the government was offering for people to start and run their own business AND still be on unemployment insurance. So I took the courses and they REALLY made a difference!

My advise is to look at what your local employment offices are offering - check every day if you have to for courses being offered to help you to learn the skills you need to work from home. This is why I asked you if there was something you liked to do that you could bring in an income with - you need to have this idea in mind. Even if it's typing out resumes or something like that, you can work with your local employment offices (if you have programs available to you) that will help you to learn how to market yourself and your ideas. Usually they'll cover your UI for quite some time - but then you are on your own to try and make money. It also helps to have a spouse or family member that is supportive of what you are doing (my x was NOT supportive what so ever!).. Even though I've been successful at making an income for over 7 years, he's still bad mouthing me to my daughter and asking why I have not gotten a "real" job yet.. (sheesh!).

I have a dear friend who also works from home - she's on disability (in the U.S.) so I'm not sure of how their system works - she makes the most wonderful digital art prints and cards and sells them on line as well as in local galleries. Now she did have to also take a few courses that were offered for free but it gave her the ability to work from home and look after her family. I can ask her how she did this and post it here as well in the future.

So there is hope - just think about what it is that you truly want to do.

Now I have tried to make more income by looking at on line job offers - you know the ones? You see them advertised on TV and on line "WORK FROM HOME!" and a few times I have given out my info and simply been hounded by people asking me for money. It's free (they say) but then it costs you $49.99 or something like that. I followed along with a new company that a friend of mine turned me onto for about 8 months - I signed up and was told that I would be making money soon (they were just setting up and making the site).. this went on and on and my job was to sign up folks underneath me while they were building their end of the site up.. I was told all the way along that this was free for me as I was one of the first hundred to sign up and then POOF suddenly they wanted $149.99 from me!! So between false offers and having sales folks simply harass me into the ground once I gave them my info? I would have to say that I have found "no" online "make money from home" businesses that have panned out. But hey, I'm willing to listen if someone has found one! Any extra cash is good cash.

Do you have any government offices that offer programs to Mothers, mom's to be... unemployed people? You may even find a course that offers child care services as well. I would suggest you really look into this sort of thing.

I hope this helps a bit. I'll post more info when I can about this subject

Vikki

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ADVICE RATING

3.92 (May work) from 11 votes

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	January 2007 \| teztez

working from home

me and my partner want to start our own business from home but we dont know the best way to go about it

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	4.45 (Good) \| December 2006 \| hiluxgirl

Party Plan is another great option

Just wanted to say that when my daughter was 20mths I picked a fabulous Party Plan company to work for. I initially went back to work parttime when my daughter was 12 weeks. It started out fine. Just 4-5 hours a day 3 days a week but then they had me doing 10 hour shifts. I battled with this and breast feeding for a couple more months but it just got too hard.In the end I was trying to do too much getting to stressed and resenting my girl. So I pulled the pin and the last year has been fabulous with Lorraine Lea Linen. I do 2-3 parties a week which means just popping out for a few hours on those night or days. then the rest of my time I am home. On average my wages are between $200 - $500 a week for very little work (but you can make a lot more then that depending on what you want to put in) where before I would do 20plus house to bring home $200 a week. And although now Im looking to going back into the more main stream work force it is really only due to that fact it gets to difficult to arrange babysitting when my party is on shift work only knowing his shift 24 hours prior. I seem to have to rely on my mum alot. Anyways. your welcome to ask me any questions. GOOD LUCK

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	4.00 (Good) \| December 2006 \| Vikki

Party Plan reply - other ideas for working at home

Yes you are so right! I've heard of some really wonderful "work from home" ideas (aside from doing what I do). that allow you to go to other people's homes and offer things for sale.

Years ago I used to work for Fantasia (home parties selling adult *ahem* wares).. it was a hoot! And I loved doing it!! For only a few hours a week I was able to make people laugh, pass along helpful hints (try not to laugh too hard while reading this or you will spit your coffee out onto your keyboard and make a mess) and make a good income - very entertaining.. but you have to be able to get out and talk to people. And of course you had to be comfortable talking about adult "issues".. (they do train you - really stop laughing.. the training is very good (or it used to be years ago when I did this) and the people who are involved are for the most part ALL very good to deal with.

I also looked at PartyLites too (selling candles at parties).. I really thought about that one too but never got into it.

I'm sure that there are other options out there.. the only reason I had quit selling Fantasia was that the market up here was oversaturated with sales people and getting home parties were getting harder to put together.

Oh gosh, now I'm going to be dubbed the "love lady" all over again..

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	3.00 (Average) \| December 2006 \| ssedgar

working from home

Like Shelly T said i have looked at working form home ideas but most i looked at were just scams you needed to spend big money to get somewhere.

I guess the more you research the more you can find out and actually find something which isn't a scam

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	4.45 (Good) \| December 2006 \| ShellyT

working from home

I've never worked from home online before because i know how much of a scam they are, but there are good online jobs out there like you said, and to do something you like aswell, like the cards etc is a great idea.......

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| December 2006 \| exquisite-flower

I wish...

I would love to get the training and support to start up on my own and the guidance to do it so that i could afford to support myself instead of relying on state asn I have to do now. I have been so independent for so many years that it feels wrong. Shall ask around again now that I have seen this - thanks for the prompt!
Peace
EF.x

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	4.46 (Good) \| December 2006 \| claudine1

thanks for the encouragement

I am actually thinking of the unemployment program to start my own wholesale jewlery business. u gave me some encouragement to go even more.

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	4.46 (Good) \| December 2006 \| Vikki

Selling Wholesale and crafting reply

Hi Claudine

I'm more than willing to offer help and advice on following your dream of selling wholesale. And I applaud your decision to push forward with your ideas.

Perhaps I'll have to write out some advice on selling crafts in the future - retail and wholesale. Maybe it will help others too... it's quite the adventure to take on selling one's work on line, in crafts shows as well as wholesale. I could go on here with tons of thoughts and ideas that may be helpful but it's far too much for one posting

If you dont have a good support base at home to help out (emotionally) as you venture forward, look on line for groups of people who are doing what you are doing. I'm a member of a few Yahoo groups that offer excellent information on marketing jewelry on line as well as craft shows and wholesale. If you'd like, I'll post their links here for you to go over.

Luckily I have a partner who is into "rocks" as much as I am, so I have an excellent support base for what I am doing... (I didn't many years ago when I started out doing this - I was married to another man who didn't have any beleif in me or my dreams).. it's nice when the universe comes around and life changes...

I'm pretty new to this sort of thing.. I dont know whether to post advice for folks who want to work at home (and are crafters) in my Blog area or in the advice section... any advice?

Vikki

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