A number of women have wondered
what others do as far as WAH
(working at home). I have been a WAH mom
with many different activities
in my WAH career. The first
"job" I tried, and one I
still do, is sell Avon. I started
selling Avon when I found out
I was pregnant with my first son, and
wanted something that I
could do from home in my "spare
time". I love selling
Avon, but mostly I like buying the
products myself. Since I buy
the products for myself, my being an
Avon Representative saves
me a good deal of money. I started selling
Avon locally to my
neighbors, then branched out to my friends I made
through my children's
playgroups, to women in Bible studies, and now
via the internet
to people all over the world.
Another
"job" I did was proof-read and edit articles
for the
Journal of Nutrition. This kept me up to
date in my
field as well as provided my with mental stimulation.
I enjoyed this
"job" and was pretty well paid for my
efforts. However, I
was working for a professor at the local university,
and due to my
husband's transfer out of town (and out of state!)
had to move away
and therefore could not continue.
While doing the above two,
I also used some skills I'd gained
while being a temp. medical
transcriptionist, and began doing
medical transcription from my home.
I convinced a medical transcription
service that I could work at home
and be as productive (or more
productive) than if I came into their
office and worked there.
I proved this, and the business owner then
hired 3 other women
to do transcription from their homes. Again,
however, our move
ended this enjoyable, if not too lucrative venture.
Though, I
have been getting my name out (and business cards) to local
doctors
here and have recently been contacted for a potential
short-term
"job".
Since moving to our new home
town, I have been writing (and being
paid for it) for the local
parenting magazine, Montgomery
Parents. I have been
writing about 1 article per month
and am now a "staff"
writer. This I also do from my
home computer, and telephone
interviews. I had previously written
for the local magazine before my
move, but that publication did
not pay contributors.
As a
biproduct of my writing for Montgomery
Parents
magazine, I was contacting a number of local
businesses that were
then interested in advertising in the magazine.
So, now I am selling
advertisements and being paid on a commision for
any ads that
I sell. This is fun! I have taken my children with me to
appointments,
or had potential (and now paying) clients meet at my
home while
the kids are napping. Amazingly, I really believe that
having
my two adorable children along has actually helped my sales
(and
credibility).
I have also done other short-term or
one-time "jobs",
such as one "nutritional
research" project for a company
wanting all the info I could
gather on Folate or Folic Acid and
Vitamin A.
After writing
an article for the Montgomery Living
magazine, I was
offered some additional work in layout and graphics,
which I had
planned on doing a few hours a week while my children
were at
preschool. However, after interviewing with the Editors
of the
magazine, instead they offered me an Editor's position!
I am now able
to work mostly at home as the _Entertainment Editor_
for the
magazine. I can make contacts, do interviews, phone and
fax, and
write up articles -- all from home. This is a very exciting
new
opportunity for me, and stems from having varied interests
and
experience.
Basically, I take advantage of my many and
varied skills, and
any potential "job" that comes along. I
always have
my ears and eyes open for possibilities. No one job has
brought
me great wealth, but the small amount of added income that I
am
able to contribute to the family helps to buy the
"extras"
that are not covered by the budget which is based
on my husband's
salary.