Hello, welcome to my Money Making Mums Interview.  Please tell me a little about who you are, where you’re from and where you blog.

Well hello there,

I’m Natalie; I live in Yorkshire with my little toddler Harrison. We’ve just moved in to a brand new house so busy decorating and making it homely right now. I’m in my 30’s and separated and spend most of my free time on day trips out with Harrison and generally being his personal entertainments officer.  I went back to work four days a week, after maternity leave in January, and I’d say I’m still building my confidence and finding ways to plan and organise our week better. Its still work in progress. I have a blog called Mumworthy, where I mostly share thoughts on work, breastfeeding, sleep, all the things mums worry about, and have a super engaged following on Facebook.

This series is all about mums being able to make money from home.  Can you tell me what you do from home to make money?

Well I’m a Media Strategy Manager, which is a broad title, for lots of things like media planning for advertising campaigns, Marketing and Communications and Social Media Management.  As long as I have my phone, laptop and an Internet connection I could work from anywhere. I’m based in Yorkshire but have supported clients in London and Birmingham and about to start with two new clients with bases in London, Derby and Leeds.

What makes it suitable for mums?

I think digital careers and social media are seen as part of an industry that can offer flexible working and different employment types such as being self-employed or free-lance.  More so than just the industry I work in, there’s also my employer’s views and culture. I work for a large global employer who embrace home working as the norm, and offer lots of solutions to make it work well, and help staff feel supported.

What do you love about working from home?

I used to work in London with a three hour round trip to Canary Wharf each day and I hated it. It was so draining and I lost precious time each day commuting, by not being able to work whilst travelling. Not having to commute means I can make the nursery drop off and pick up every day. I’m a single parent and don’t have family close by so I do feel very lucky I can still make it all work. Its just also really handy if the boiler breaks and you need to let an engineer in, or take a delivery, or get the food shopping delivered. It gives me so much more freedom, and time back at a weekend, when I elsewise would have to do these things.

What are your top three negatives to working from home?

I sometimes feel left out of social events happening in offices, and I miss out on the corridor chat and gossip. I’ve also found working from home means you do need to make more effort to integrate yourself in a team or with colleagues. It can also be a little lonely, and when I have to visit a client or London I do enjoy seeing people in the office to catch up.

If you could only pick one, either working from home or working in an office for the rest of your life, which would you pick?

Working from home wins every-time. If I had to add on a commute time to my day, I wouldn’t see my little boy. I’d have to find more childcare. I’d inevitably have to have more days off. I don’t feel like I’d be able to strike the same work-life balance that I have now.

Lots of people say they’d find it hard to stay motivated if working alone at home.  What keeps you motivated?

I don’t really find that’s the case, as I’m very self-motivated to begin with.  I have structure to my week and deadlines so they really drive me. I’m very conscientious and like to be seen as performing well, doing a good job and adding value. So for me that doesn’t change if I’m sat in an office or at home. If anything there’s less distractions and I’m more efficient.

Do you have a favourite quote to keep you inspired?

Early to bed, early to rise, work hard and advertise.  I don’t always do this but you can’t play down the value of a good nights sleep. Working hard is obvious, but advertise is about self-promotion and sharing good wins or best practice. This is even more important when you work from home, to make sure the right people see your hard work.

Do you have any advice or words of wisdom to share with mums wanting to make their own income from home?

All it takes is hard work and self-belief. You need to be self-motivated and have that passion and drive, or a very good fan club behind you who you can lean on and keep you going, when you face knocks.  Be brave, be your own cheerleader and look after you. The mum is the engine of any family ship, and you need to oil the engine or the whole family suffers. Happy mum, happy kids. 

Thanks so much to Natalie for taking part in my Money Making series.  

 

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