Mommy Antics: The Work At Home Mom
When I was pregnant, I was planning on being a Stay-At-Home-Mom already. I was excited to take care of our little bundle of joy. But it has also been at the back of my mind that I try to somehow find a work from home job so that I can help my husband earn for our family.
Setting up an online shop was one of the first things that popped into mind. The idea came to me when I was shopping online for baby stuff, specifically cloth diapers, for our then bun in the oven. Most of the online stores I came across were managed by fulltime moms! And they were so very friendly, and had quite a network of mommy customers too! I was more inspired into setting up my own shop when we attended the recent ExpoMom in Rockwell just last May 2012. Their theme for this year was "The best of modern motherhood". It celebrates the joys of motherhood in different forms. You can check out the amazing mommy badges here.
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| I used this mommy badge on my facebook wall then. I was fresh from resigning from my office job, and this badge really helped express what I feel: I want to be a hands on mom :) |
The ExpoMom, organized by Mommy Mundo, ventures on introducing and exposing Mompreneurs (short for Mommy Entrepreneurs) and their businesses to families and other customers. It also includes a programme schedule and activities on parenting, family life, and modern motherhood. I was fortunate enough to be able to hear the talk on Mompreneur: Multiply.com’s most active Mompreneurs share their tips and stories. Dra Lei of Caleb's closet shared her mompreneur journey and had an open forum later on, joined by Candice Yaw of Mommy Matters.
Now, the idea of my shop, Honeybaby, actually came from my husband. Yes! He is the brains behind the whole operation. I wanted to offer something fresh and new to mommies and daddies and their kids. A lot of shops offer almost the same items and I would want to be set apart from what they're offering. The selling of quirky hats was suggested by my hubby when we were out finding one for our baby, and no one seemed to sell them locally.
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| This picture of Kiel made us want to buy a bear hat for him, but no local stores offer them. And so Honeybaby was born! :) |
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| This is the bear hat I found from a supplier abroad when we were looking for hats for Kiel |
Aside from my online shop, I am also working as a Virtual Assistant-slash-Designer for an Australian Company. The opportunity presented itself a few months ago when my best friend, Jomie, who was already working as a VA for the company, asked me if I was interested since they had an opening. Of course, I had to make an oDesk profile first and also prepare a portfolio for the designer job. The job description includes doing reports using Microsoft Excel, accomplishing emails, filing documents in Google Drive, and editing print ads and website content etc. During my Skype interview, they were kind enough to allow me to work at a flexible schedule, since I said I was nursing and taking care of my son too. The job pays 8USD per hour. What's best is that, there's no tax! Just a small fee every time you withdraw your earnings via oDesk.
From time to time, I get to do some article/content writing. I write 300-word articles for 4-6USD per article, depending on the content.
To tell you the truth, I got to earn more than I did now compared to when I was working at the office! And that was a professional job too. I was a Landscape Designer for an outsourcing company of an International firm, but the taxes take a lot out of your pay, doesn't it?
Actually, there are a lot of opportunities for Stay-At-Home-Moms to earn while at home. When my mom was still a SAHM, she used to make accessories, arrange flowers, make homemade cleaning aids such as dishwashing liquid, fabric softener, and hand sanitizer. Yeah, she's kind of a superwoman, and that's why she's my inspiration (Love you mum!). Of course, she had to take some classes for those. Also, I have a mommy friend who bakes cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. Another mommy friend also plans on becoming an event/party planner (It's still in the works). You can grab a copy of Dainty Mom's FREE E-book on 50 Tips for Work-At-Home-Makers. It has lots of tips if you want to be a WAHM, but not just any WAHM... According to Martine,as stated in her E-book,
"A work-at-homemaker is a beautiful fusing of two personalities: (1) a woman who works from home, and (1) a person who believes in creating a home that works for her."
But of course, working at home is not for everybody. I have high respect and admiration for the office/career moms too! There are Pros and Cons to working at home, that maybe I'll talk about at a later post.
In the end,whether you're a WAHM or not, I can only conclude that moms are very versatile and hardworking women! They do whatever they can to take care of their family and their household too.
If you have any story to share relevant to this post, feel free to leave a comment below :)
Sincerely,
In the end,whether you're a WAHM or not, I can only conclude that moms are very versatile and hardworking women! They do whatever they can to take care of their family and their household too.
If you have any story to share relevant to this post, feel free to leave a comment below :)
Sincerely,
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