Work-from-Home for Moms: Building a Successful Career at Home

Work-from-home jobs for moms are hard to find. While building a successful career from your living room is possible, it’s easier to do it yourself than through an employer. Let me explain my team leader experience so you’ll understand what I mean. Then, let’s talk business, aka how to create a little empire at home on your own.

Work-from-Home for Moms – the Ups & Downs

I’m not a mom, but I’ve worked remotely with many moms throughout the years. As a team leader, I’ve always cherished having moms on my teams. They’re hard-working, go to the point, and highly practical. Sharp and smart, all the moms I’ve worked with were high-performing individuals. Yet, they’ve all been kind of “punished” by the system for being moms. They’re most likely the first to go with redundancies and the ones who have it more challenging to find better job roles within the company if they need to be part-time or in charge of school runs.

Moms see their opportunities for career development slowed down dramatically while their kids are young. Once they have some free time, they can start climbing. It shouldn’t be this way.

Down with the Ship

The last company I worked for as a permanent team leader was delightful. Well, until it was bought by a bigger fish who restructured it and decided to offshore most operations in our department. When the downfall came, it became obvious that many moms working from home were trapped in the whims of a no-win situation. Many saw their contracts not renewed despite being high-performing badass ladies. Others could stay, but a grim prospect: would their contracts be renewed? Would they keep working from home?

Fortunately, I went down with most of my department. I say fortunately because redundancy turned out to be a blessing for me—not because I found a job in another company but because I had the means to create one for myself! This was quickly spotted by many of the hard-working moms on my team, who suddenly started to hear my preaching tune (something that had been ignored for years).

Build Your Empire Like a Turtle

When we were made redundant, people suddenly realized that I had many more options than others. Before COVID, you could find a job within three months or so. Now, time lags, and the number of interviews you have to pass has multiplied. First, AI will scan your CV; if successful, it’ll land in HR for a first interview. If successful, you might need to pass an exam before accessing another interview. You get the picture.

But what if you had a portfolio online? What if that portfolio was also your side hustle? What if you had built your online empire at turtle speed for some years? Then, the picture changes! (Want to snoop on my story? Read it here.)

Be Smart: Have Fun Creating Something on the Side

If you want to ensure that you’ll work from home and have flexibility, you need to “invest” time in creating your online portfolio (worst-case scenario, that’s the only thing you’ll do) so that you can find clients. In the best of cases, that portfolio will also be your “shop.” How so?

After you read this post, please take a tour of dePepi. You’ll notice that it’s not just a blog but a platform full of courses that teach you different things, from self-publishing books and designing Tarot cards for sale to how to create your business online (avoiding all the mistakes I’ve made along the way). These also serve as my portfolio, including all the marketing campaigns I release. My portfolio brings me clients that need my expertise.

Now, how did I get here? Building something on the side that I loved. I allocated time to do this and focussed first on my hobbies! (To no surprise: writing and Tarot, cough, cough). It took me a lot of time, but I went from material products to digital ones. That was the key that helped me create an excellent portfolio that came in handy when my redundancy came. (It took me 15 days to land my first client thanks to one of my hobbies: self-publishing books!)

Ditch Excuses…

You’ll have a gazillion daily excuses not to spend 20 minutes on your project (or hobby) until you convince yourself you have no time for it. Either work is tough, you’re going through a divorce (I’ve been there), or you blame it on lack of sleep or anything else that comes your way. Excuses pile up just to affirm that you cannot do it when, in fact, you can. You need to see where your time goes. (Don’t worry: I’ve got you covered! Check this. Also… it’s included in the subscription.)

I’ve learned from many working moms I’ve met that if you want to do something, you do it, and you find time for it. Maybe not as much as you wish, but you can do it. So, any time you think about an excuse, remember all the mompreneurs out there living their best lives with their kids!

You can start creating your tiny online empire right now with this simple idea (it’s free! You’re welcome).

Work-from-Home for Moms: a Different Perspective

Don’t wait until your permanent job is restructured and offices are moved to India. Don’t wait until that moment you think you’ll have time (it’s an excuse to postpone things!) Start now! Don’t wait for someone to offer you a remote job so you can work from home. Be smart and create the structure online that will help you find clients easily and sell digital (and non-digital if you like) items online. Build a portfolio that is also a platform. Make yourself capable of creating your job instead of being at the whims of companies.

And if you don’t want to work on your own, that’s okay. You can always have an online portfolio showcasing your skills to have an extra advantage when looking for remote jobs.

Learn how to do it here.