According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 5.6 million or approximately one in every four married mothers with a child under age 15 is choosing to be a full-time stay-at-home mom.  Those numbers are based on their 2007 survey and are expected to shift as a result of the economic recession, forcing moms into the workforce part- or full-time. Even the decision to go back to work is fraught with difficulty as the high price of childcare often makes going back to work a cost-prohibitive option, prompting moms to consider working from home.

Surviving on a single income is challenging in a down economy, but nearly impossible when you live in a location known for its high cost of living, like Hawaii. As a result, making the choice to be a stay-at-home parent is a difficult one for most families, including ours. I have been a stay-at-home mom for the past year, but feel the need to contribute to the family finances to help pay down bills and save for the future.

Since 2002, I have offered my services in web design and desktop publishing, doing some work here and there but nothing on a steady basis.  Clients were obtained by word-of-mouth, as I have done zero advertising and promotion.  I’m hoping 2010 will be the year when I actually get my business off the ground and start generating a viable income.  Additionally, I will start working part-time with Windwardskies and Simply Baby Photography as Lisa opens her new portrait studio this month.

If you’ve ever done research on work-at-home opportunities, you know that search results are full of shady offers, multi-level marketing businesses, and outright scams.  Wading through the mire can be a headache, so I’ll share with you a few leads that I’m following to find clients and kick-start my business.  Hopefully this information will help a fellow SAHM become a successful WAHM, too.

• oDesk is a free job service for computer-based professionals such as web developers, writers, graphic designers, call-center staff, data entry professionals, marketing experts, business consultants and more.  You can post your profile, take online qualification tests to certify your skills, and upload samples of your work to your portfolio absolutely free. Then, start applying for jobs listed in oDesk’s large project database.  oDesk has received a lot of buzz from major media outlets.  Definitely check out oDesk if you’re interested in doing computer-based freelance work.

• HireMyMom.com is a site that helps moms interested in freelancing from home connect with clients.  It’s a membership site and requires that you have a minimum of 1-2 years of experience in a profession (such as: administrative, research, writing, graphic design, editing, accounting, web design, customer service, virtual assisting, coaching, sales, marketing, public relations, bookkeeping, legal, desktop publishing, creative arts, medical billing, ecommerce, strategic planning, database development, payroll, human resources, etc.).  Sign-up isn’t free, but membership can pay dividends if you can land clients on a fairly regular basis.  (Membership is $29.95/quarter or $99/year and you can cancel any time.)This service was attractive to me since prospective employers posting their jobs to HireMyMom.com were soliciting specifically for moms in a work-at-home environment.  I checked them out on BBB.org and they had a B+ rating and had no complaints against them. The only reason they did not have an A rating was because of their short time in business.  According to the BBB.org, they have been in business since 2007.

• iFreelance is another service that connects freelance professionals with businesses interested in outsourcing projects.  This site is not geared directly to moms like HireMyMom.com is, but is a good resource for anyone looking for freelance work in a wide variety of fields.  iFreelance lets you find work by advertising to potential employers by posting your profile to their directory or by searching their project database and placing bids for jobs you are interested in pursuing.  This site also requires a nominal membership fee, offering three tiers of service starting at $4.69/month with the highest level of service at $9.

• AlpineAccess.com if customer service is your strength, AlpineAccess is hiring individuals for their home-based call centers.  You can expect to make  about $9/hour and be aware that they have a zero-tolerance policy for background noise, so if your child is unable to play quietly in the next room while you’re working, you will need to make arrangements for childcare.  AlpineAccess currently hires employees in only 35 states, Hawaii not among those listed, unfortunately.  But I wanted to provide this information in the even that someone outside of Hawaii stumbles upon this article and can benefit from this opportunity.

• Working Solutions hires sales, service, and technical support agents who work directly with customers over the phone, e-mail, and Internet chat.  Pay ranges between $7.20 – $30/hour depending on your assignment and skill set.  Like AlpineAccess, agents are expected to have a quiet, uninterrupted work environment while you are on duty.

• If you want to get out of the house every now and then, you might enjoy being a Mystery Shopper with National Shopping Service.  As a Mystery Shopper, you are an independent contractor who poses as a customer in a store/restaurant to gather information about goods or services at that location.  Upon completion of the assignment, Mystery Shoppers are paid a fee and/or provided a reimbursement for purchases made during the assignment.  The assignments that I saw were highly detailed and required quite a bit of time, during and/or after the assignment for what seemed like a small amount of compensation.  The assignments that I saw listed offered fees ranging from $10-15, but the site indicates that compensation may vary depending on the complexity of the job.  If you enjoy covert, undercover work — or gain satisfaction from knowing that your efforts are helping improve customer service for the rest of us, look into becoming a Mystery Shopper.

• Home Based Working Moms is online community and professional association for moms working at home, with informative articles and resources to educate, inspire, and motivate you.  Basic membership is free, but premium membership is available at $49.95/year if you wish to get all the perks.

• WAHM.com is an online magazine for work-at-home moms, offering articles of interest to WAHMs, and a vibrant and very active online community.

Edit: Special thanks to Michelle at G33kMom.com, a freelance writer and WAHM herself, who provided her own arsenal of excellent resources for moms interested in pursuing freelance writing as a career.

• Freelance Writing Gigs
• Guru.com
• ProBlogger
  

Today marks my 38th week of pregnancy and was supposed to be my last day of work before starting maternity leave. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans…

Long story short: I’ll be working until the end of this week, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s two more days of pay that will definitely come in handy as I hurtle headlong into the LWOP abyss when my income will be just a fond memory of times past. The daily grind, however, is something that I probably won’t miss.

Two more days, and they need to be productive!

It’s too late now, since I already have a degree and absolutely no desire to head back to school, but I thought it would be fun to see if I was on track when I settled on Information Technology as my major.

Here are my results from the College Major quiz. It appears that I was pretty much on target.

You are a Conventional Personality Type!

Conventional people are fond of history and they like to observe holidays. They are traditional and they like to know exactly what is expected of them in every situation. They are practical and very structured.

Conventional people might be good at math, but they may not want to work with numbers a lot. They can usually fit in to any group, but they don’t necessarily want to lead all the time. They are not too interested in talking about feelings or deep relationships.

Possible degree programs: Teaching, History, Nursing, Accounting, Computers, Finance, Real Estate, Insurance, Research, Business.

I think my perfect job would be teaching computers to elementary school kids. Unfortunately, I need a teaching degree for that, and as I mentioned, I don’t foresee going back to college for that. Actually, my perfect job is “stay-at-home mom,” but we’ll see if the economy will allow that to happen.

Donna’s eye view

Although Murphy’s Law was in full force as we attempted to shoot footage for our video project at work, it was an absolutely wonderful day. We went on the road and hit various locations in search of the best background with the least amount of ambient noise. Unfortunately, unpredictable weather made it difficult, at best, to find a suitable location and we ended up driving to Makapuu, through the Windward side, to Sand Island and finally to Kakaako where we did the bulk of the shooting. How often can an office grunt like me get out, ride around the island with a camera and get paid? Not often enough.

Factors like wind, planes flying overhead (two locations were in a direct flight path of the airport), noisy cars, and homeless people fighting in a park made the shoot a challenge. (Although the altercation was not physical, the verbal shots were pretty intense with F-words and screaming, which made it pretty tense for several minutes.)

Our “talent” was very accommodating and understanding, a genuinely nice person whom I had a wonderful time talking to as we drove 70+ miles around the island in search of a good spot.

It’s going to be pretty interesting when it’s time to start editing (next week). I hope the footage is decent. And, on another note, Derek’s “reflecto-thingy” (lite disc reflector) was a life saver!

All in all, it was an awesome day of “work.” If only this were my real job instead of just a special project! I could definitely get used to this.

Day 30 of 30

I worked on a training video all day (still struggling with the fuzzy title screens – frustrating!), then went straight into continuing client work. So, that pretty much makes about 14 straight hours of work, meals eaten while basking in the glow of my 24″ iMac. Not healthy.

Now I’m just totally fried and computer’d out. I just want to lie in front of the TV and watch episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” on my DVR and dream about being someplace far, far away.

Speaking of dreams, I have been dreaming about work every night for the past several days. Or, should I say “nightmaring?” As if it’s not bad enough having to be at work 45+ hours per week, but experiencing the same scenarios and frustrations while I’m supposed to be resting is simply ridiculous. I’ve been told that dreaming about work is typically not a good thing. I intentionally refrain from too much discussion about work, as it’s never a safe topic to be writing about on the Internet. Think: Dooce. So, I’ll leave it at that. (But then again, if I got dooced, I could collect unemployment and have a chance at Internet infamy and stardom! Nah, probably not since there is only one Dooce and although my dog is cuter, I couldn’t hold a candle to her hilariously well-written rants and observations about life.)

I’m hoping for pleasant dreams of vacationing in Japan or some such. Perhaps the large (!) Andes Mint Shake that Hubby bought me from Jack in the Box will help whisk me away into the land of sugar plum fairies and sweet dreams.

Day 14 of 30