Self employed working home & young children to look after... what hours do you work?

[Aphrodites]

Those of you that work from home what hours do you do if you have small children like me? Mine are 2.5 years and 6 months so i tend to work evenings and weekends on a mobile basis from 6-10 and weekends whatever suits my family plans.

As of end of the year my partner is moving out of our home office and i want to setup to work from home in the room. The room is upstairs (4th bedroom) does this matter? Or are your treatment rooms downstairs or outside? Do your clients mind you only do evening work?

I'm also in a new village so having to rebuild my clientel. My old clients didnt mind coming to me during the day with my son toddling around, but its abit differnt now i have two!!!

 

[mrsnails]

Hiya,

I have two small children (3 1/2 and 13months) and I work from home self employed.

I work from 7.30pm during the week and at the weekends if my husband can look after the children then I will take appointments.

I have a conservatory so my nail bar is set up in there, its attached to the back of the house.

I have been self-employed since April and I now have 13 regular clients, have had no complaints as to evening appointments, in fact, my clients love it as they work full time so cant get to a salon during the day.

Good luck with your venture

 

[endless]

13 regular clients with no problems in such a short time is fab! well done!
I personally look after 4 kittens, 1 cat, 1 dog, 1 7 month old baby, and a husband,who actually takes more looking after than any of them, lol!

I work all hours, very odd hours sometimes, I mainly do hair extensions,and most of my clients are very busy working mums,so i can sometimes even work from 7 a.m, or i have worked upto 12 p.m before now.lol, good job i love it!!

wishing you every sucess for the future,
Kate x

 

[VHunter]

I have a 6 & 8yr old who are in school full time.
BUT at one time they weren't.
When they were tiny, and still home with me, my hours were worked around when my hubby was home to watch them and keep them away from bothering me or my client.
At that time, I worked Mon thru Sunday night, 5:30 to 10:30 pm. In the beginning, didn't have many clients, so no,I didn't end up working every night.

Later... my schedule changed with my kids. When my youngest started Preschool and my eldest was in kindergarten, I added the days that she was in preschool to my schedule and removed a few evenings. And I also added Saturdays, during the day. Hired a sitter/friend/family member because hubby was at work.

Now, they're both in school full time.
My schedule is : tues thru sat, 9am to 3pm. Wed/thurs/fri nights are 6 to 10pm.

BUT now T-ball has begun and we need to be on the field some nights at 6:30. SOOO my evening shift for the summer is all over the place LOL
And once they start daycamp, day hours will be 10am to 4pm.

My clients understand that my schedule shifts, and aren't bothered by it.
They're just happy to get personalized services instead of just being a number and getting butchered at the local chop shop.

AS FOR MY WORK AREA
My house has a basement (family room/playroom), main floor (kitchen, toilet/sink & living room), and upstairs (3 bedrooms & full bathroom)
I work IMMEDIATELY off of my front door so that my clients don't need to trudge through my house and see all my 'business'. I have a corner set up with table, cabinet and shelving.
I have a small 'office' upstairs in one of the small bedrooms that COULD convert easily for a business HOWEVER... I don't like it near the bedrooms for 2 reasons: 1) if it's a loud client, she'll disturb my kids at night (and some are LOUD) 2) clients don't need to explore my house and I'd rather they did NOT.


Hope this info helps

 

[Verve Designs]

What's T-ball?

 

[skymark]

What's T-ball?

Kinda like softball but for kids

 

[VHunter]

This is boys tball, but same thing. Where a "tee" (the stand) is used to support the ball because the very YOUNG aren't coordinated enough to hit a ball that is airborn.
My youngest (6.5yrs) is in t-ball (softball, bigger ball for girls) and it's her 3yrd year, moves up to softball next year. First 3 balls are pitched, to give them an idea. If they keep missing, the Tee is brought out and they hit off of that.

 

[Verve Designs]

Ahh right! cool!

Slightly off topic..sorry, but I had to know!

Maybe our football players need to start using little tee's to pass the ball to each other.....

 

[sharneshairroom]

Hi, really like the post, more people the same as me . I have the front upstairs bedroom set up as a salon, with sink and everything. My clients love it, as once they are in there feel like they are in a shop, but with out all the noisey chit chat ha! I have a 12 month old and one due in 3 months, so think the nights will have to be slightly put off when new baby comes for a few months, but at the moment I am lucky enough to have in laws look after no 1 (and will no 2) for 2 full days, hubby picks her up and puts her to bed, meaning I can work from 10-whatever on those 2 days. (I need time in the morning to straighten house out!) And my hubby has Saturdays off so I work all day on a sat till 4 or 5 pm. I had a client base in a salon previously, which most have followed me, so not too much time for new people, but will worry about that when I need to... Good luck to all us Jugglers hehe!

 

[bombini]

My treatment room is in our spare bedroom on the first floor. Its completely dedicated to salon use so there is no bed, pc etc it is purely used for my business.

I seem to be the opposite to everyone else as I don't work evenings. For starters the treatment room is across the landing to my little boys room and Id worry about him waking up from the noise. My partner also doesn't get home until 8 some nights so there would be no-one to look after him if he woke up.

My main hours are Wednesday mornings and all day Friday as my little one is at nursery then. If you are thinking of doing it at the end of the year could you send your youngest to nursery and then take advantage of the free sessions for 3 year olds so you could do some hours in the day. I do work on other days but only until about lunchtime as I don't have any childcare after that time and I like to go to playgroups and stuff in the afternoon.

The only downside to working on the 1st floor is that I have had to turn away some elderly clients as they can't climb the stairs.

 

[Aphrodites]

Nursery won't take my littlest until she is 18months (which i think is a tad too young, her brother started at 2)

Hopefully using the spare room when he moves his office out will work. I'll have to stick to mobile or my dining room for now. I hope people understand. No room in garden for outhouse or anything.

My son goes mon-fri 12-3 next april so hopefully by then as long as my little girl isnt a bother i could have some slots there.

Great advice girls, thanks alot, much appreciated

 

[Lorrainelola]

I work from what was a spare bedroom. Hubby kitted it all out for me and its been decorated and laminate flooring put down. I basically will do any hours at the mo as have only been up and running properly since end of April. clients do have to come in my front door but all doors downstairs and closed and upstairs. We have 2 german shepherds and a yorkie who thinks he's a german shepherd and although they do bark when someone knocks, they soon quieten down and it hasn't been a problem.

Good luck to all who have recently started out and its great that we can share our experiences and get help from those who are well established.

 

[skankinchar]

Hi, slightly off topic here maybe as it's working in the salon not from home...
My friend has her own salon and a 10 month old baby, she works thursday friday saturday 9-5 and I don't know how she manages it!
She did struggle for the first few months but luckily she has a great support network, it's just a shame not everyone does.
Best of luck with your venture!
x

 

[Aphrodites]

If I had family near by that didn't work that would be a great hr
help lol x