by The Happy WAHM
Once I’ve decided that I wanted to work at home and be with my kids, I then sat down to work on the financials. How much do I need to earn to be able to sustain our family? Giving up my monthly salary would create a big dent on our budget. That’s where the cost of work has been most helpful. See, in the beginning, I thought I had to earn the same amount I was earning from my employment. But after realizing that there were a lot of expenses that I would be taking out of the family budget, it became easier to come up with a realistic target.
Armed with a target amount, I then made a list of things I could do from home. I bought reference books and read them from cover to cover. Honest! I still have a copy of 101 Best Home-Based Businesses for Women by Priscilla Huff that I refer to ’til now, and I spent hours searching the internet for business ideas and work-at-home opportunities. And for each idea that I came across, I made an assessment of my skills and capabilities. Can I do this? And the better question is, can I do this for a long time? Because of course, you would want to start on something that you can sustain. Something that you can stick with for the long haul. And then assess if you can afford the start-up. With me, I was hellbent on finding something that I could do online. And when I found one, I really spent time and money to prepare myself. I enrolled in a training program, invested on a high-end desktop PC, scanner, printer, pedal, headset, and just about any software that the training center advised me to have. And because I’ve already made financial investments, the more that I was motivated to make it work.
Now, investing on hardware and software for a work-at-home venture is different from having to pay money to get a job. This is another important lesson that I learned from the professional WAHMs that I “met” online. While looking for work-at-home opportunities, you will surely come across sites that promise you earnings in thousands of dollars, just by simply signing up with them and buying a kit to get started. Uh-uh. That’s almost sure to be a scam. Always remember that you don’t need to pay money to get a job. The only exception to this rule is if you are getting into a direct selling opportunity where you need to buy a kit to get started. And even in this venture, you are not paying to get a job, instead you are paying for an inventory of items that will get you started in the direct selling business.
In planning to become a WAHM, bear in mind that your chances of becoming successful with a tiny amount of work are slim to none. Starting a home office or business entail hard work, constant re-education, creativity, and more hard work. So if you have decided to be a work-at-home mom, be ready to roll up your sleeves and dig in.
by The Happy WAHM
Going back to work after my third delivery was the hardest for me. It was a premature one at 7 months, and it was touch and go for a while. We had to leave the baby at the hospital, and even after we’ve taken him home, we had to bring him back to ICU in his second month. A lot of complications, and I’ve been advised to personally take care of the baby for the first 2 years, at least.
So when I received a notice that I was getting a promotion to head office, it was like a physical blow. There we were, financially drained from the complicated pregnancy and subsequent delivery, and I was being moved from my comfort zone. I was really not being given much of a choice. My provincial assignment was being made redundant, and they were giving me a new position with a wider scope, bigger responsibility, and greater challenges. Another time, I would have grabbed the opportunity with both hands and jumped in with both feet. But with the new baby, there was no way I could even consider it.
So I asked to be given redundancy pay instead. I was thinking, “We’ll survive with the money while I look for work nearer our place.” That’s when I started pouring myself into internet searches. I wanted to look for something that I can do from home. I found a lot of WAHM sites that really inspired me to go ahead and not look back. I found that medical transcription was hot. So I went around the city looking for schools or training centers that offer flexible hours. I found one that I could attend on weekends. And for a few months, I trained to become a medical transcriptionist.
The internet is a rich source of ideas and opportunities. I spent hours upon hours searching for work-at-home transcription jobs. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long. I landed a sub-contract with a US based production company, and another with a small business in Canada. So when I left my job in May 15, 2006, I was ready. I started my first project on May 29.
For those of you who are thinking of working from home, it’s important that you prepare yourself. With me, I did a lot of research, and I took every information I gathered seriously. It surprised me to learn how much it cost me to work. I’ve never given that a thought, ’til then.
While I was earning a 5-figure income monthly, a big chunk of that actually goes back to expenses that allows me to work. For me to be able to go to work, I had to pay a live-in househelp (I actually had two), which means I pay them monthly salaries, plus 13th-month pay and annual bonus, and I pay extra for water, electricity, and food. Also, I had to maintain a wardrobe for the office, plus shoes, bags, and lunches out. It was a good thing that I had a service vehicle provided by the company, but for those who have none, transportation expense would take a big chunk of takehome pay. Not to mention the guilt treats. You know, those toys that you buy to make up for the time that you missed your child’s first tummy turn, or first step, or whatever. And since you are busy with office work, and more often than not too tired to pay attention to the prices of things that you buy, you tend to spend more on your haste. And the small repairs around the house that you could actually do yourself, but because you are working, you pay someone else to do.
And so I did my own computation. From my net take-home pay (after taxes), I deducted all the expenses that I could make do without once I started working from home. And the amount I came up with became my target income for my work-at-home job.
by The Happy WAHM
In my 5 12 years of WAHM status, I may have been asked a hundred times by former co-workers and friends if what I’m doing is something that they can also do. And I may have answered in about a hundred ways one can say “maybe”.
Because not everybody can be happy working from home. I have a friend who has tried getting into virtual assistance twice. And twice she just walked away from the opportunity. The first time, she told me she was ready. She was leaving her employment so she could devote more time to her only child who was growing up so fast she could not keep up. And she did leave her employment. She availed of the company’s early retirement plan. She was with the same company I was with for 12 years. And she left on her 15th year, I guess. She was my subordinate in the corporate life that I left, so I was confident of her skills. I found her an employer from the States, and I used my credentials to land her the VA position with this triathlon coach. After a series of Skype interviews, I was asked to sign the engagement contract. And just as I have emailed the signed scanned copy of the document, I get this call from my friend telling me she’s found another employment with a retail store. She was just not confident she could be an effective VA.
Not wanting to ruin my rep as a VA, I just maintained that account, even though I was already servicing another client in UK full time. One body, two full time positions. Plus, I was already homeschooling and no helper at home. No way I could make it work alone. So I hired an onsite assistant and bought a second desktop PC. She’s an IT graduate working as a canteen cashier, so it was a perfect opportunity for both of us. We sort of hit the ground running.
After some months, my friend came to me again. She was going to resign from her latest employment. The demand was just too much. She wanted to really take care of her son. So I again went through a series of interviews with prospective clients. This time it was an online auto shop specializing in BMW car modifications. And again, I was able to secure a position for her, as a product manager. I believed it was perfect for her, since we managed portfolios in our old company, and she’s really very patient and meticulous with databases. I trained her onsite for a week. It was just a matter of showing her the workflow, how to prepare reports, getting in and out of sites, utilizing the tools made available by the client, etc. I was going to hold her hand until she’s ready to be left alone. I prepared video captures as her guide. And so we commenced with her job as a product manager, and I was her supervisor.
It lasted exactly 15 days. Then she quit. And again, I have this spillover of work, because I can no longer accommodate another full-time position. And I no longer have space at home to hire another onsite assistant to pass the load to. So I found me a team (a mother and her two sons) in Cebu who can handle my spillover of work together with my first onsite assistant.
Moral of the story? Being a WAHM is not for everyone. Even when you want to be, or think you can be.
Being a WAHM does not limit you to becoming a VA like I am. You can always choose to set up another type of business. Being a WAHM simply means you’re personally managing your home while being able to contribute to the family’s income. You can be a freelance writer, or a transcriptionist, or a bookkeeper.
There are 101 ways you can be a WAHM. Just choose one, and then make an assessment of yourself if you can be happy doing it. Unlike being in a regular office environment, there is definitely no glamour working from home. I had a little bit of difficulty adjusting to my new role as full-time mom a few weeks after I left my corporate employment. From working in an air-conditioned office, just sitting in front of the computer, to mopping the floor at home; or from being in a dress and heels, to shorts and shirts while doing the laundry. I remember my husband during those initial weeks, calling me almost every 15 minutes, asking if I’m okay. He knew of my drive as a career person; my ambition of reaching the top rung of the corporate ladder. And even I was surprised at the smooth transition. I guess I just had set my priorities straight.
Being happy with what you do is very important. As they say, choose a job you love, and you won’t work a day in your life. So if you think that you can be happy being at home, running an office, doing house chores and taking care of the kids, then by all means, plan on becoming a WAHM.
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