WAHMs? I need some help, please!

[AliceGeorge]

Hi are there any Canadian WAHMs? I'm desperately trying to go back to being a SAHM, but my husband can't support us, so I want to be a WAHM. I'm currently the one supporting the family, and hating it. Are there any of you have suggestions on what I can do? Everything I find online is either for Americans only, a scam, or takes quite a bit of time to get into. I need something fairly quickly. Any suggestions?

Alice

[ecstaticmama24]

Well that's too bad that you have so much on your shoulders. It's hard to stay at home AND support the family. However, I deal with somewhat the same thing and here are some of the things I have either looked at or tried in the past:

Freelance writing (I think the site is associated content)
Direct Sales (this would include Tupperware, Stampin' Up, Passion Parties, any of the home party sales)
Make stuff (if you can knit or sew, or scrapbook even, you can usually makes things to sell)
Review Blog... if you have a rockin' blog, you can sell advertising to make money.
Service - maybe babysitting or a dayhome?

In the end I decided to start a business that I was/am passionate about.


Good luck with everything!

Andrea

[AliceGeorge]

Thank you for your response. Do you mind if I ask what your business is, or would that bring in too much personal info? I'm just looking for some inspiration. Some btdt kinds of stories that might give me some confidence, because right now I'm pretty shattered.

I don't understand what you mean about the Freelance writing. I've looked at Elance.com, but it's a lengthy process to get started, and will probably take me a while to get money coming in. I'd really like to write, I just don't know how to get published or if I even would get published.

I've tried direct sales and I really don't think it's for me. I don't enjoy it. I dreaded every phone call and every show. I've done Pampered Chef and Cutco, and you have to put in quite a lot of time to make much money.

I do knit and sew, I'm just not sure how much money I can make off it. I tried making jewelry, but I'm having trouble working with the wire, and having even more trouble getting help from someone I know who could help me but is very busy. I really need a mentor or something, but I don't really have very much flexibility for startup. I make more than my husband, and my goal is to have him working full-time, and me supplementing to what I'd make on my own through a wah job. I say MY goal, but he's on board 100%.

I've been thinking about a blog, I just wouldn't have a guarantee that it would be "rockin'." How do you get known through doing that? If I stop working my regular job, my husband won't be making enough to support us while I start something up.

I thought of doing a daycare, but it's a big startup just to get a license, from what I understand, and I live in a very rural area, so I'm not sure how many kids I'd get. I also really want to be able to be flexible, as I'd like to homeschool my son, and take him neat places. I wouldn't really be able to do that with a daycare, and I don't want to re-invent my life too many times (like at different stages in his life) if I don't have to. Do you know what I mean?

There's lots of things I'm passoinate about, I'm just lacking time to get it starting and some encouragement and knowledge about HOW to get started. Ahhh I really need help! LOL Any more help, pointers, etc you can give me would be much appreciated, I can tell you!

Thanks for the message.

Alice

[Rowansmama]

What do you do for work now, if you don't mind me asking? When I moved the last time, the company I work for allowed me to keep working from home. I've been doing it now for 2 years. It seems a lot of real work at home jobs started as office based work. I don't have any real advice, other than to check with your current job to see if there are any telecommuting options. Good luck!

[AliceGeorge]

I work for a federal government agency. A position that might be available to me soon would be flexible. I could work from home part of the time. I don't want full-time work, though, and this would be, as is what I'm doing now. I have no part-time available to me here, and I'd have to be here part of the time, which just wouldn't really work out if my husband's working full-time.
thanks for the thought. All fall I tried to get part-time work here from my former boss, and I ended up with full-time, and my husband started staying home.

[dawncayden]

If you craft, find something you like to do specifically with thread or yarn and make lots to sell on a site like Etsy.

Like this mama who takes those needle point hoops and makes chalkboards with them or clocks. Pretty cool.

[weliveintheforest]

Originally Posted by AliceGeorge

T
I thought of doing a daycare, but it's a big startup just to get a license, from what I understand, and I live in a very rural area, so I'm not sure how many kids I'd get. I also really want to be able to be flexible, as I'd like to homeschool my son, and take him neat places. I wouldn't really be able to do that with a daycare, and I don't want to re-invent my life too many times (like at different stages in his life) if I don't have to. Do you know what I mean?

Just a quick note about home daycares, in BC there is only a license required if you want to have more than 2 kids, and if you want to be Registered as a License Not Required business you only pay for a criminal record check as far as I know. I don't know if its the same in Ontario but thought I'd mention it.

[dawncayden]

Yeah, maybe take in one other child your ds's age.

[AliceGeorge]

I've thought of crafting. I do lots (well not at the moment, but I know how to do lots), but I don't know that I can make enough off it to provide my portion of our income. i make substantially more than my husband does and I'm much more marketable, unfortunately! LOL I'll have to make up quite a bit, at least for now, until he gains some experience other than cooking, and possibly some courses, which we can't afford right now anyway. Also, because of how much debt we racked up over the past year and a half since the little guy was born, we really need a certain amount of income to be able to pay our bills every month.

I'd really have to look hard for a kid to take care of. there don't seem to be that many too near to us, and I'd probably make more from multiple kids. Like I said earlier, I'm in a really rural area, and I want to do something that isn't going to have to change again when I start homeschooling, which is what I really want to do. (not that I view homeschooling as really having a clear beginning)

What I'd really like is some set work that I can just take home and do, like proffreading/editing, maybe some freelance writing, data entry, sewing/piece work from set patterns, or something. I guess I just really want ready something "ready made" without too much start-up, since I can't afford it and don't really have time.

One thing I'm working on is possibly starting a franchise to a reputable diaper service to expand service east of Ottawa where there is currently nothing of the kind. I just don't knwo if that will end up going completely against what I want, which is more time with my son, and homeschooling. I still have to look into it more, but I want other options, too.

I've been looking at elance.com, which is apparently a ligitimate company, but I don't know if I can legally take jobs, being in Canada. It's another thing I'm still looking into. The issue right now is that my position, which I'm in through an agency, is going up for competition, and I don't want it anyway. There's another position that may be available to me, but it's up in the air, and may be very last minute. It would be much more flexible, but still not what I want. This is all so frustrating, but I'm coming down to a bit of a time crunch, and am getting close to frantic! I'm impatient on good days, and this is getting less and less good.

I did think of a good blog idea, as someone suggested earlier, I just can't count on that doing much for me, since I know nothing about the whole process.

Edit: I've looked up information in Ontario about licensed vs. unlicensed daycare, and if you have under five kids, you don't have to be licensed. Something to think about for sure!

[ecstaticmama24]

Originally Posted by AliceGeorge

Thank you for your response. Do you mind if I ask what your business is, I have a link in my siggy

I do knit and sew, I'm just not sure how much money I can make off it. Knitting and sewing is a great skill!! And I think you'd be surprised as to how much you could make. You could set up a hyenacart or etsy shop. Wool longies can sell for $80+

I've been thinking about a blog, I just wouldn't have a guarantee that it would be "rockin'." How do you get known through doing that? I think a blog is more of a supplemental income kinda thing, but if you started now you never know. I would research it more thoroughly, I'm sure there's lots of info on the net about blog income.

I thought of doing a daycare, but it's a big startup just to get a license, from what I understand, and I live in a very rural area, so I'm not sure how many kids I'd get. I also really want to be able to be flexible, as I'd like to homeschool my son, and take him neat places. I wouldn't really be able to do that with a daycare, and I don't want to re-invent my life too many times (like at different stages in his life) if I don't have to. Do you know what I mean? Yep, I hear ya. Maybe part time though? Here in Alberta you can choose to be licensed or private. I took on 2 kiddos for 3 days a week for a while and that worked great, than I still had 2 days to do whatever I wanted.

I entered my replies in red. Sorry it took me so long to reply, things have been crazy!!!

[AliceGeorge]

Now it's my turn to take a little while to answer!
Thanks for your response.
I had a look at your business. Looks interesting. How do you work family in with it, and how did you get started?
What are wool longies?
I've never heard of hyenacart. How does it differ from etsy? I don't really even know etsy that well, I've just heard of it and looked around a little.
It looks like you can choose licensed or not in Ontario, too, though if you have more than five kids, I think you have to be licensed. I've done lots of babysitting, I just don't know how it would fit in. I'd have to really look around for kids, first, and make sure my house was set up for it, and I just don't know that I have enough time for that.
I really must sound like such a whiner! I get up early, take a bus about 80kms to work, which takes about 1hour 15 minutes, then take the same bus home. I spend a couple hours with my son, then it's dinnertime, which, thankfully my husband makes, then it's bedtime routine and my son and I go to bed. I spend my weekends with him as much as possible, but they're so short! I just feel like I have so little time with him that I have barely any time to do anything else. My only time to do anything for myself, or plan anything is either at work, or on the bus. It's not ideal, and not at all what I want to do. I love where I live, I love my home life, and when I was at home, I felt like I'd finally found my place in the world. I feel cheated, and worst of all, anyone I talk to about it irl just seems to act as if I should be okay with working because that's how things are. I don't mind working a bit and supplementing, but I really feel I need to be with my son more.
Anyway, that's my rant for the morning.
Anymore WAHM wisdom you can send my way is much appreciated.
Thanks!

[Piglet68]

Hey there. I have a WAHM business that allows me to spend a good amount of time with the kids and we homeschool. However, I also had a fairly established career before I had kids, and used that to move into consulting. I really liked the book Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss.

TBH, I can't think of any WAH businesses that you can just start working at right away and bring in money. Is there any way you could use the next few months to sharply restrict your budget and put aside some money that you could live on for a bit while you got started?

I take it your husband is at home with the kids? Is there any way he could get a part-time job? My husband and I each work part time hours so that together we bring in a good income but there is always one of us around for the kids.

Good luck in your search! Your goals are admirable.

[AliceGeorge]

I guess the thing I'd like the most is telecommuting part-time. I might get a position soon that involves some telecommuting, but not the whole week, and it's a full-time job. My husband could work part-time, but it would reduce our flexibility even more and free time. We have so little time together as it is.
Our budget is so restrictive right now. Last fall I was trying to find work, but didn't have my EI anymore, so I was bringing in nothing. A lot went onto credit cards. Even before that, we had a lot of trouble with our baby and feeding, and had to spend on lactation consultants, pump rentals, baby scale rental and formula. those, among other things, really brought up out debt. We now have a rather large debt consolidation loan that takes up a large portion of my income. I have a fairly expensive bus pas to buy every month. The only other budgetary items we could reduce would involve paying large fees for breaking contracts, so it wouldn't even be worth it. Aside from reducing how much we eat and therefore buy in groceries, there's not much else we can do, as far as our budget goes. We already buy as little food as we can manage with.
I'm getting more and more down because of this. I love my home life, but I barely get any of it, and I want my child to be with me more. Also, my husband wouldn't be able to do homeschooling, so if I can't get away from working outside my home, that's yet another dream/value down the drain.

[Dillpicklechip]

Hi Alice, have you discovered any ideas yet?

I just wanted to second (or third?) the suggestion that you could make things and sell them on Etsy. I have two Etsy shops. It's very easy to set up a shop and start selling stuff there, and it's fun.

Here is a link to some interviews with people who are able to support themselves by selling on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/t...-your-day-job/

Of course it goes without saying that you have to work long hours to be able to sell that much stuff, and few people actually meet with that kind of success. But still, it's possible. And if you can make a product people like, you can easily make a few hundred dollars a month to supplement your husband's full time income.

Good luck!