Kids are expensive, even in an area as affordable as Midwest St. Louis, and we all know being a stay-at-home mom doesn’t earn the pay it deserves. Many parents who are full time caregivers would like a part time job they can do around their families’ schedules. You have to build in time for regular trips to the City Museum, right?
If you think a side job is in your future, take advantage of this time to do a few simple things that will make your life easier when it’s time to go to work. Taking some baby steps now will alleviate a lot of pressure later.
The Benefit of Baby Steps
When it comes time to find a job on the side, you are going to have a variety of things to consider. If you wait until you really need the money, the time pressure might make you rush into a decision that is less than what you deserve.
There are some small things you can chip away at here and there, which will set you up to make a really great decision quickly when the time comes to make a move. The name of the game is getting prepared at an easy pace.
Train On Your Own Time
If you are thinking about doing some kind of online work, you aren’t alone. The rise of social media, online content, and remote work is a boon for parents who still need to prioritize family. How can you get started now to make yourself marketable for a great online job later?
Ask questions. Talk to folks working in the industries of interest to you and ask them about what they do, what they like and don’t like about it. Take courses from home. We’re talking about tutoring, not college. A web company looking for help making it’s web design more user friendly isn’t going to care about all sorts of expensive and irrelevant general education courses, but they will care that you took a course like ProPrep’s ULUC Stat 400 to prepare you to understand their audience’s user statistics.
Learn the Language Leisurely
Make no mistake, as a remote worker, you will definitely have to be your own IT department on a regular basis. Get started as soon as possible in learning about ethernet, wifi, vpn connections, and all the technology that makes remote work feasible.
If you are considering starting your own business, online or not, commit to learning the basics about different types of business entity types and why you might or might not need them. The place to start is to read about the differences between a DBA or Assumed Name, an LLC, and a corporation. Focus on how they protect you and what they mean for your taxes.
Do The Midwest Math
There is no doubt that combination of the St. Louis area’s affordability and the decency of the folks from the Midwest can make finding quality child care totally achievable. If do you have to rely on child care to get your work done, make sure you add up the costs of child care against what you’d be earning. There is the basic cost of the babysitter, but also potential hidden costs of conveniences like eating out, disposable diapers, or not being able to do time-consuming bargain shopping. If you know how much child care will really cost, you will know what type of pay to shoot for when you look at job options.
If your business idea has start-up costs, start looking at options to fund it. Since you are starting early, you have the luxury of investigating traditional and non-traditional options. Traditional options are to save up yourself, apply to a bank for a small business loan, or find an investor. Non-traditional options worth exploring are P2P borrowing, bartering, and retirement funding loans.
Look for Double Duty Options
You only have one chance to stay home with your little one while they’re little. That being said, moms can sometimes crave adult fun. Consider a gig that takes the edge off what you miss.
If you miss talking to grown-ups, look for work on a team or with customer interaction. You might start a mommy-and-me class for stretching, music, or art. If you miss quiet, try a writing or research job and some noise canceling headphones. If you miss shopping, think about online reselling so you can have some fun bargain shopping. Hint: St. Louis has some great flea markets!
Whichever route you go, taking your time thinking about your plans will take pressure off you and your family!
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