My friend is in a situation where b/c her son is so sick he has to be isolated at least one week out of every month. I will post her story below but the short version for you short on time is that she can't run a daycare out of her house and she can't put her one year old in daycare. She NEEDS a way to make money from home. ANY ideas on what she can do??? Thank you for ANY ideas!!
I've had a daycare in my home for over 4 years...I haven't had it officially opened since October because of my son's health problems. I work in the church nursery SEVERAL services a month. My life revolves around children. My husband and I have 4 children (yours, mine and ours) situation. Our youngest (together) son just turned 1 in February. This past week, we got some news that threw us for a loop. No I'm not pregnant...although before I would've jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge with that news, I'd take it at this point.
We found out our son has an auto-immune disease AND a very rare blood disease. He was admitted to St. V's Children's last weekend and released (pending SEVERAL blood tests) on Wednesday afternoon. In one day, they took 18 viles of blood. They legally couldn't take anymore without giving him blood...that was just ONE of the 3 days they took blood. Since birth he's had issues. He was born with the cord wrapped around his neck 3 times and not breathing. He was diagnosed at 2 weeks with Laryngomalacia and Tracheomalacia so severe they had to do surgery at 3 weeks. He was then diagnosed with Sleep Apnea needing a monitor until almost 10 months. He aspirated his formula and needed thickener until he was done with formula at age 1. Sees 2 Otolaryngologists, had had his Adnoids removed early February, frequent visitor of a Pediatric Allergist, been tested for Cystic Fibrosis, patient of a Pulmanologist, and now a Rheumatologist (after being diagnosed with Raynaud's 2 months ago), an Infectious Disease doctor, and now a Hematologist. We were told that regardless of what he has, we are more than likely going to have to isolate him for probably a week out of each month because of the blood disease they think he has. It takes at least a month of constant blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy to officially diagnose him but they're thinking it's Cyclic Neutropenia. It's very common in Chemo patients but not the genetic version in infants/toddlers...odds are 1 in 1 MILLION!
So this means for me, no more daycare. It will also mean that with 2-3 doctor's appointments a week employment isn't an option. My husband has a good job but with paying child support on his other 2 children, we're going to be lucky to survive. We don't qualify for assistance...we JUST make the cutoff. I don't know what we're going to do. We've cut down on everything we can...no car payments (very old cars), no cable, etc. We cut those things out a long time ago. I don't shop...unless it's groceries. We rarely eat out and when we do it's because we HAVE to.
Then we're facing the fact that they recommend our home be "sanitized". They recommend extensive vent/furnace cleaning, no carpet and replaced with hardwood, etc. How in the world are we going to do this?! We're worried about putting food on the table and paying electric bill.
The past 2 years of our life has been nothing but heartache and struggle. March 09 my husband lost his job and we got in a car wreck. July 09 a not so happy pregnancy suprise and our van blew up. August 09 our van reposessed. September 09 lost our rental home because of owner's negligence (not our non-payment). This entire time from March 09 to Nov 10, we struggled BAD financially - food pantries, etc. Our church was a shining light in our life. Helped us when we needed it but didn't tell them a lot because of not wanting to take advantage of them. February 10 my son was born - then all his problems started. October 10 our OTHER van blew up. Now in the past 2 months my 5 yr old daughter is being sent to Riley for Asperger's testing along with all of his problems. We're late on everything...EVERYTHING.
My finances are struggling, my marriage is failing, my health is not doing good because of stress...I don't know what to do or where to turn. I've applied for several work at home positions with transcriptioning and things but the demand is so high I've had no luck. I try to sell Discovery Toys but no one wants to buy expensive toys with the economy so high. I've had several ads out to clean houses, organize, etc. I'm great with helping hoarders or people organize their home and life. No luck. I've tried a baking business which I think I'm fairly good at since I've had no training. No luck...too much competition. I've got excellent typing skills...can type over 80 words a minute. I've got experience a history in auto financing, legal secretary, graphic design, and so much more. I learn quick and am a strong, independent worker. I feel I'm fairly quite intelligent and can learn any trade quick. I personally work on our own cars (simple things)...brakes, gaskets, oil changes. I do the home maintenance...new faucets, light fixtures. I'm not afraid to get dirty either. I'll do anything to earn money...obviously as long as it doesn't compromise my morals.
Does anyone have ANY suggestions at all? Anyone know how to make some sort of an income...a real income? Anyone know of ANY companies in the area that help situations like ours with restoration cleaning or flooring or ANYTHING? If outsourcing is an option for their company, I'd be happy to barter services.
Her story:
I'll take ANY suggestions...please. And prayers...PLEASE. This dark cloud has been hanging over our lives for 2 years...something has GOT to give for us. We're good people.
I have a friend who is a Tupperware Lady and has been for many years. The cool thing is you can now have a website and do a lot of internet sales and parties. There are a lot of ligit at home jobs, most are Tupperware, Mary Kay type but you can work for more than one and make a decent amount of money.
There are legitimate work at home companies (I've been employed by one for 4 years) but they either pay poorly (the ones in Colorado that I know of - Alpine Access - hires people to be customer services reps out of their homes but only pays $8/hr) or you need to be very well educated and experienced (my company - almost everyone that works there has a MA degree)..so I wish her luck.
Considering what I know I'd encourage her to sign up with a temp agency - they can help her find work around her schedule...otherwise...she's probably limited to Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, etc - I do sell Jockey clothes on the side and that's another new direct sales business - they are doing great and the market isn't saturated yet like Lia Sophia - but the clothes are kinda spendy.
Good luck.
These sites are legitamate customer service jobs:
http://www.arise.com/
http://www.alpineaccess.com/en/one-source-solutions/solut...
http://www.nojobformom.com/2010/05/24/online-opportunity-...
http://www.workingsolutions.com/
this site sets you up as a freelancer-she could do admin work for sure:
http://www.elance.com/q/find-work/how-it-works-for-contra...
One more idea-what about setting up a home grocery shopping business. If your area is low on these and high on senior citizens it might be a good fit. Good thing is you would not really need a lot of money to start it up. Just somepne to help with a website. If you are interested I would contact the woman in this article for advice- Online Grocery shopping article from yesterday here in pittsburgh:
hiremymom.com
biztant.com
odesk.com
All resources, although her mileage may vary. She'll have to pay her own taxes (about 48%) and evaluate the companies for legitimacy and obviously there are no guarantees. However, I got two jobs off hiremymom.com, including my current one which is long-term PT. She should not pay for jobs, but she may pay for access to job postings. The membership fee is a deductible business expense.
I don't have any suggestions for a quick fix. Most things out there require her to sell, get out of the house, etc., cause you have to have customers to have your own business and that takes time. Something like a virtual assistant could work for her, but again - client building is the challenge.
An in-home nanny or care person would help and wouldn't have the challenge of the repeat illnesses that daycare does.
She mentions that her church was a great help but that they didn't tell them a lot cause they didn't want to take advantage. I suggest the family talk to the pastor and tell them as much as they can about the circumstances. And tell as many family and friends the same. The goal is not to get charity, but to find a way for her to help her family financially - it's going to have to be WAY out of the box as far as I can tell. The more people know, the more chance of finding one or even several people who might be able to help solve this.
An in-home nanny or care person would help and wouldn't have the challenge of the repeat illnesses that daycare does. Best of luck to her!
Oh my goodness...what a heartbreaking story....I know they are struggling emotionally, financially, every where there is to struggle. Please tell them that they will be in my thoughts and prayers.
I really don't have any concrete suggestions...I would start with a resource at the hospital where their son has been cared for. Lay all of this out on the table and I bet that the people there will have some suggestions as to who they can go to for some assistance as far as getting the house into a more healthy and safe environment for their son.
Does your friend have computer skills? Possibly she could look into something like medical transcription for a doctor/dentist etc. I know that one of my friends was looking into that a couple of years ago and was hoping to get half a dozen or so doctors/dentists offices to work for from home. There is also the possiblity of doing billing from home for local doctors. Tell her to be wary of some of the work from home companies that advertise...like the stuffing envelopes scams etc...it is just a way for them to get into your pocket...people rarely actually manage to make money from their deals.
Also tell your friend to let it be known at her church that she is looking for work she can do from home...there may be someone at her congregation with the PERFECT solution for her!!
This family sure needs something to happen and fast. She types well, has decent language skills, and can use a computer I assume. Is there any chance she can start a blog and be paid by advertisers to tell her story, or relay her daily chores and how it is to deal with all of this? I have no clue how this works, but I see the stories on tv about moms at home, writing blogs and gaining a large following and making money! Have her check into that and see what she can do. Best of luck to her and her family.
Hi K.,
This may or may not be for her, but figured I would share the info so she can make an intelligent, informed decision. I have been involved with several "home-based businesses". Good companies, good products, great training, but saturated markets, which equals too much competition. After several tries, I FINALLY found the right "vehicle".
For the past 8 years, I have successfully worked from home as an Independent Associate with a 39 year old Company, Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. All we do is share information with individuals, and when they enroll, we get paid! If you can refer someone to a website to watch a 15 minute overview, invite them to listen to a 5 to 8 minute pre-recorded call, OR, mail them out a DVD, CD, or magazine, and put them on the phone with me to get their questions answered, you can do this business!
Website with a 10 min., pre-recorded overview for your (her) review highlighting the service they offer & the compensation plan available at:
WWW.SHOWPPL.COM
The "featured" plan in that overview is the "Expanded" Plan, however, there is also a "Standard" Plan which costs less.
My best month, while I was still part-time was $6,2000, and that was in my 2nd year with the company. If ya'll have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly. I am here to help!
S. Byrtus
Independent Associate/Executive Director
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
Mobile: ###-###-####
Toll Free: 888-448-1489
Email: ____@____.com
Website: www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/sbyrtus < (Sample of free website given to Associates with brief overviews of all plans available and a convenient online enrollment option)
Finding a legitimate workathome job, where you can make any money is very difficult to find. After much looking and applying, even at some of the already listed websites, i.e., alpine access and arise, I even found some sites that you could take surveys and try products out and make money, they never worked out. I even looked at starting my own business using skills that I have, but in this economy it is just too difficult, risky and financially unrealistic to start up a business from scratch. I finally found a company that is legitimate and has been around for over 25 years, and both my husband and I have had great success with at achieving financial freedom with. We have the ability to work from home, there is no selling, no inventory, no party planning and no risk is involved. Please feel free to contact me and I'll gladly give you more information. My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.
The website www.wahm.com has a lot of information about working from home. Her best bet may be the party sales type of jobs, since those aren't professional and won't require her to line up childcare for her kids (many WAH jobs can not be done without having childcare of some form during work time).
I also like the idea mentioned below of contacting a staffing firm about temporary work. She could make a whole lot more doing some temp jobs around her schedule rather than the low-paying WAH jobs out there.
If she's really talented in the areas mentioned like graphic design, she could even start up her own business. However, that will require a lot of motivation and planning to be successful. She'd also need childcare during her work time. But the pay can be excellent.
