The skills you learn as a mum are transferable and saleable. Many women think they are unemployable after being out of the workforce for years to bring up children. But it’s the opposite that is true.
Childcare, being a podcaster, becoming a consultant and teaching are just some of the jobs that mums are particularly well-qualified for.
Whether you’re at home looking after the children right now or you’re an empty-nester wondering what to do with yourself, the extraordinary skills you have learnt as a mother make you highly saleable as a worker.
One way to celebrate Mother’s Day this year is to acknowledge just a few of the ways that being a mother can make you money.
Childminding
We tend to say we’re ‘stuck at home’ as if it’s a bad thing. But being available at home means you can make money as a child minder while you’re looking after your own kids.
It’s now possible for mums to set their own rates for childminding depending on what their local market will bear, so it’s a much better earner than it used to be.
There are strict rules and regulations around childminding, though, so you need to do a bit of research before you apply to be registered. See what the rules are and how much you could make in this article here.
Pet-sitting and walking
If you and your family are good with animals you could do some pet-sitting and dog-walking while you’re ‘stuck at home’. Local dog-owners who are out all day would be grateful to have a good, safe place to leave their furry friend.
Charge a day rate including walks in the park, which you would do while taking the pram out for a breath of air. You can find out how much you could charge for dog-walking and pet-sitting in this article.
Making and selling
If you’re a good cook and particularly if you can make jams and cakes, you could make extra produce while you’re cooking for the family at home and sell it at markets, at the school gate or even to local shops.
The quality needs to be good in order to get repeat business and there are hygiene certificates you need to get to be allowed to sell to the public but they’re not difficult to get. Find out how to get them and how to make the most money from this activity here.
Social media and podcasting
It’s a crowded market now, but if you are friendly and creative and you are already on social media a lot, set yourself up as a ‘mumfluencer’, posting comments, pics, recipes, wisdom and more for mums on social media platforms.
If you’re popular and have a large following (at least 10,000 people), you can get freebies and even money from companies who want you to promote their products and services.
You can also set up your own podcast about parenting or being a mum, just using your phone or computer camera and a subscription to Zoom to record yourself interviewing other mums and experts, or just answering questions from your followers.
It can take a while to build up the audience but for those that manage it the rewards can be impressive. Find out how to be a social media influencer here.
Side-hustles
there all sorts of other side-hustles you can use while at home including buying and selling on second-hand platforms like eBay and Gumtree, doing online surveys and mystery shopping. See MoneyMagpie’s make money section for more ideas.
Mother the mother
Once you’ve been through motherhood yourself you can use your experience to help others by being a nanny, a maternity nurse or a doula.
Nannies and maternity nurses often have qualifications, which you could get at your local college if you wanted, but for many parents, simply having someone who has been a mother for a number of years is just as good, if not better than, having formal qualifications.
Similarly with doulas, it’s really about your experience of birth and caring for newborns that qualifies you to look after new mothers before, during and after the birth. Find out about making money this way.
Consulting
There are various areas where your mothering skills could help you could become a consultant. You could set yourself up as a ‘parenting coach’ like Sue Atkins or gain a qualification in early years education or social care and become a consultant for government departments, schools and hospitals on caring for children, educating them and keeping them safe.
If you were a teacher, healthcare worker or academic before having children you could build on the qualifications and experience you gained then too.
Teaching
The education system in the UK is creaking under the strain, and strong, courageous and loving people are desperately needed to become teachers.
Older workers who have experience of looking after children are particularly valuable as they often have more confidence and resilience than graduates when faced with classrooms full of children from broken or difficult homes who bring their problems into school with them.
Even if you are unqualified, you could go through the Assessment-Only route to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) as you can see here. If you want to get QTS then you can earn a salary while doing it. See more here.
