I am a mother of three children and therefore I know very well what it is to sit on maternity leave for a long time, when there is not enough money and there is no opportunity to realize my abilities. In the 90s, it was impossible to work remotely from home, since the Internet was exotic, and the situation in the country was not the best. Everything has changed in our time. If a woman has the Internet, she can get any information. With information available, finding a remote job is not difficult, it's all a matter of technology.
It is more convenient for mothers of small children to work at home. Some women work in order not to lose their qualifications and to use the knowledge and skills they have for their intended purpose. Someone just gets tired of constantly "groundhog day", when there is nothing to do except for cooking dinner and walking with a child. In many families, after the birth of a child, there is simply not enough money, and the woman is forced to work in order to contribute to the family budget. These reasons deserve that a young mother should make some effort and find a suitable part-time job for herself, which allows her to receive income at a time convenient for her, without parting with her child and without leaving home.
Most of the women I know earn money while on maternity leave. I myself found my first part-time job on the Internet. Over time, part-time work in my free time has turned into a full-fledged remote work "for myself". She brings a good income and gives you the opportunity to build your day at your own discretion, without wasting time on the way to the office. And I don't even want to think about returning to the office.
My story. How can you make money on maternity leave?
When I was pregnant, my husband lost his job. This made a huge dent in the family budget. The spouse sometimes managed to earn extra money, but with this money we could only buy the essentials so as not to “stretch our legs out of hunger”. Lack of money for fruits, vegetables, curds and vitamins necessary for a pregnant woman made me think about part-time work. So I started working at home not because I wanted to fulfill myself, but to fill the empty refrigerator with food.
At that time I was “on your side” with the Internet and believed with conviction that remote earnings on the Internet were real nonsense, a scam and fraud. (By the way, there are a lot of scammers on the Internet, but this topic deserves a separate story). I started looking for a home-based job: all day I monitored employers' ads, subscribed to mailings from recruiting agencies, posted my resume. To make at least some money, I started knitting to order at the same time.
I have a huge knitting experience, I love and know how to do it, and it would be a sin not to try to earn it. My main mistake in this type of activity was that initially I asked too low a price for my work. I knitted the first things for a friend and did not take a high price from her. She advertised me to her friends, those to her own, and I suddenly fell into knitting slavery for a long time. I was ashamed to ask for a high price and I fulfilled orders literally for a penny. I really like to knit, for me it is pleasure, the best rest and relaxation. There is no better time for me than an evening with a good movie and crochet / knitting / balls. But it was a shame that I had a lot of orders, and it was inconvenient to raise the price (what a fool!). I continued to work for almost nothing until I found associates on knitting forums. After talking with them, I found out how much manual labor really costs. Then I raised the price for my things an order of magnitude higher. Orders immediately decreased, and income increased.
I was not limited to just knitting. At the same time, I made my friends custom-made business cards, labels, calendars, collages, posters, brochures and other masterpieces of graphic design. Also, taking into account my past experience in a construction and design office and knowledge of graphic programs, I performed design projects for premises. I was not sure that I was a professional in this field, so I offered my services only to friends and acquaintances. This type of activity helped me earn a little money for a while in order to stay afloat, although not to say that I achieved any success.
Having already had some experience working at home, I discovered the world of freelancing. In this field, I worked longer and more successfully. It turns out that on the Internet there are a huge number of exchanges where freelancers of various directions graze: copywriters (people who write texts), translators, programmers, accountants, designers - in general, representatives of all spheres of intellectual work. I immediately realized that as a designer I was not competitive and decided to direct all my strength and abilities to copywriting exchanges. I have always been able to write and have loved since my school essays.
Links to copywriting exchanges:
From articles I earned my first dollars on the Internet. I posted my article on the free market and bought it very quickly. This inspired me wildly, and I started scribbling dozens of articles. They sold well, but I still earned little money, and all because I continued to value my labor too cheaply (I still didn’t grow wiser and still sold my labor at the price of the labor of blacks on the plantation). For some reason it seemed to me that only professional journalists and writers work on the Internet, and with my little experience I would not be able to compete with them. Having already become a webmaster, I myself ordered articles from copywriters and realized what nonsense it is, and that everything is much simpler - if you want and try, everyone can work as a copywriter.
While writing articles for other people's sites, I was very envious of those for whom I write them. It seemed to me that maintaining websites is a very difficult, severely noble work, which not every mortal can do. I really wanted to study this work, and I began to collect information and delve into it. As a result, I am currently running several Internet projects. I like this business so much that I can't even call it a job - it's my hobby.
Maintaining my own Internet projects is a fanatically favorite pastime that I can't even call the language of work.
There are many freelancers among my acquaintances. They make money online in different ways:
- boil soap (you can make an exclusive fragrant cosmetic product. Very pleasant, beautiful and aromatic activity);
- are engaged in scrapbooking - the art of making and decorating photo albums;
- sew and knit toys, including Christmas tree toys;
- are engaged in tutoring (both at home and remotely, via Skype);
- make jewelry and accessories (handmade is gaining momentum!);
- look after other people's children at home, take them to school or section;
- sell photos to photo banks (while walking with your child, you can make a lot of beautiful, unique photos for which people will want to pay. True, this is more relevant for the bourgeoisie, the Russian people have an ineradicable passion for freebies);
- work as consultants via the Internet (law, taxes, medical issues, etc.);
- write student papers - term papers, diplomas, essays, help students in solving tests;
- draw illustrations and postcards that sell well on special Internet resources;
- do bookkeeping for private entrepreneurs at home;
- create master classes;
- bake cakes at home;
- make translations;
- write articles to order and for sale.
You do not need to grab onto everything at once, choose the activity that you like the most, which brings pleasure. If you loved to sew or knit since childhood, you can improve in this area and try to do it to order. If you really love children, go to work as a nanny. If you got only A's in Russian and literature at school, write articles. Work should bring pleasure and satisfaction, only then will it begin to bring money. Work that is a burden, I tell you, will never bring you either money or satisfaction.
Having found a suitable niche for yourself, study the information, read the forums on this topic, look at the work of people who have been doing this for a long time.
If the job is to your liking, you will certainly achieve success, gain skill and start not just earning money, but full-fledged work at a time convenient for you, remaining your own mistress and earning good money. It is possible that this will become your main field of activity and life will change for the better. Good luck!
- Working from home for mothers on maternity leave without cheating and investing - 8 best jobs for 2019
- Can mothers on maternity make money by writing articles on the Internet: personal experience
- The story of how I made money on the Internet
- How copywriting became my only source of income
- Why I started copywriting and what I was afraid of
