Generating an income as a freelance mom with younger children underfoot can be difficult. It can also take a while to learn the tricks for ensuring you make more than “pin” money.
Here, then, are my “in the trenches” tips for making real money as a work-at-home freelance mom.
1. Treat your business like it’s a real business.
I purposely gave my business a name and incorporated early on because I wanted my clients — and my family — to view my business as a serious enterprise, even though when I started, I worked only 15 hours a week.
In addition, it’s important to set aside space for your business, whether you use the spare bedroom or a corner in the unused dining room. Make sure everyone in the family knows this is where you *work* and that they are not to touch your space on pain of death.
Since your business is a living entity that resides in a real space, you’ll also need a telephone and a phone number separate from the house phone. I know this may seem like “duh” advice, but I’m still surprised by the number of women who use the home phone as their work number — and/or don’t use their business name on the outgoing voice mail message.
If you have very young children, you’ll also need voice mail or an answering machine for those chaotic times when you can’t answer the phone. Under no circumstance should you answer the phone with children playing (or worse, crying) in the background. Why? It’s simply not professional — and you want to look and sound professional so that you can charge bigger bucks.
And finally, don’t forget to open a bank account for your business. It makes record keeping much easier, and it also looks professional to have checks with your business name – versus a joint account with your husband.
2. Find a good daycare provider.
Mothers of young children mistakenly think they can work at home while their child or children nap or play quietly. Ha! Nothing is further from the truth. If you have a young child or children, and you want to start a business, you’ll need some form of childcare.
When my son was very young, I used a woman who had an in-home daycare. He went to daycare in the mornings four days a week; I picked him up at 1:00 PM and spent the afternoons with him. It was an ideal situation. Come up with something that works for you and your children.
3. Invest money in your business.
In addition to a phone, desk, computer, etc., you’ll need educational materials (i.e. books, seminars), trade association memberships, marketing materials (e-newsletter, blog, Website, etc.), and business cards / letterhead.
Get the best marketing materials you can afford. My first Website was a five-page site that cost me $750 back in 1999, but it was professionally designed. My letterhead wasn’t fancy, but it was offset printed — versus printed at home on an inkjet printer.
4. Invest in accounting software.
Whether you use Quicken, Quickbooks, or some other accounting software, keep track of all expenses and revenues. Each month, analyze your profit and loss statement. Did you make money? Lose money? How come? How many hours did you work versus the number you actually billed out? Where did your money go? How can you reduce expenses?
Again, treat your freelance business like a real business. It will make a big difference in your pocketbook.
I have four more tips I’ll share with you later this week. So make sure to come back and check them out.
In the meantime, do you agree with these suggestions? Disagree? What other tips would you offer new or aspiring freelance moms?
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In addition to providing results-oriented B2B marketing consulting and copywriting, Dianna Huff, Principal of DH Communications, Inc., also offers marketing coaching to consultants. Sign up for her newsletter, The Profitable Consultant and receive a free report: Achieve Fame & Fortune: 25 Tips for Using Twitter for Business.
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I’m a freelance copywriter and I work at home a toddler afoot. I don’t agree with all the advice in this post. First of all, I conduct my entire business online, which means phone calls are rare. If necessary, I chat with my clients online. I make no bones about being a work at home Mom, so my clients completely understand when I need to cut short our chat to change a diaper.
Secondly, I don’t agree with the need for daycare. It’s useful but not necessary. I chose to work at home precisely so that I would not have to put my child in daycare. Nevertheless, I do rely a lot on my older children, as well as DH, to look after the toddler when they’re home. Other options include hiring a mother’s helper, usually a teenager who will look after a young child in your own home. There are other options, including working nights – not so good for the WAHM, for sure. My point is that a daycare is not ESSENTIAL for a WAHM to be successful.
Just my two-cents. Hope they’ve been helpful.
Lexi,
My advice is based on my own hard-learned experience. When I first started out, I did work with my son underfoot — with disasterous results.
One time, for example, a client from a Fortune 500 company called me about a potential job . . . and during the middle of the call, my infant son started screaming. The woman said, “Why don’t you call me back at a later time.” I didn’t get that project.
And I, too, tried working at night — which left me feeling exhausted. I had a hard time producing excellent results for my clients . . . and giving my son the best of me.
Of course there are all kinds of daycare alternatives — some people use mothers helpers, others use formal daycare situations. I used the in-home daycare version because I wanted the structure. I worked in the mornings and through my son’s naps and spent the afternoons with him. As I said, it was an ideal situation.
Daycare allowed me to focus on my work while I was working and allowed me to do all the fun things most SAHMs do. I have fond memories of long afternoons at the park, picking fruit at the local farm, swimming, and sledding in the winter.
All of the points you made are spot on. You even reminded me to get some stuff done that got put on the to do list. So for that, I thank you. I made the mistake not to have my own area for work. Boy did I learn from that one.
there are lots of Work At Home programs out there. some programs are scam. I only stick to making blogs and monetizing it with Google Adsense.