4 Career Ideas For Busy Parents
When you become a parent, your perception of life changes. You might have spent all of your time working hard and focusing on your work. As soon as a kid comes along, all of that seems less worthwhile. Of course, you still want to work to provide for your family. However, the child rises to the top of your priorities, and you feel guilty being away from them every day as you work.
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Consequently, many parents reach a point where they consider changing careers. You don’t think it’s good to be in an office from 9-5 every day anymore. For one, you barely see your child during the week, which might weaken the bond you share. Secondly, it’s hardly fair on your partner who might be forced to stay at home to look after the baby. Instead, life is easier when you have a career that allows more flexibility, yet still pays the bills.
You can see where this is going! Let’s look at a few career ideas for busy parents to try:
Home Business Owner
This seems like a pretty good place to start! Nothing is stopping you from becoming a business owner. Nowadays, you can explore so many different business ideas from the comfort of your home. One of the best ideas is to call upon your existing experience in a certain field. If you’ve been working as an accountant for a firm, why don’t you break away and start your own business? You can provide online consultancy services for businesses and individuals without leaving your home. Or, if you do need to meet in person, you create your own schedule. Thanks to your existing experience, people will trust that you do a good job. Who knows, you may even take a few clients from your old job over to this one? If you aren’t sure you want to go it completely on your own, you could consider buying a franchise. Have a browse at the franchises for sale and see if there’s something that appeals to your skillset.
That’s a very specific example, but it relates to many other jobs that you can turn into businesses. Then, you have ideas like making things and selling them online. Perhaps you and your partner have realised you’re actually really good at knitting baby clothes? Set up a website and sell your products online! You get the idea – you can create lots of successful businesses from the comfort of your home, giving you more time with the family.
Early Years Practitioner
If you’ve got young children, a career-focused on childcare could do wonders for your work/life balance. Not only are you likely to be able to access discounted childcare, you may be able to work more flexibly that a 9 – 5 role as many nurseries offer longer but fewer working days. If you train and register as a childminder, you can look after your own child whilst being paid for looking after others. It also gives your child the opportunity to spend time with lots of different children and expand their horizons. To get a foot up in your career, you should speak to your employer about working with an Early Years Training Provider or if you are a registered childminder, you can take the initiative yourself.
Driving Instructor
Believe it or not, but driving instructor jobs are quite lucrative. After all, think about how much driving lessons cost. People pay a huge chunk of money for 30-60 minutes of your time. Even better, they tend to pay for lessons in a block. So, you get all that money in one go, securing a client for a set amount of hours over a course of weeks. The more clients you get, the more money you make – and the more hours you work. But, it’s up to you to decide how and when you work, which is the beauty of this job.
Becoming a driving instructor is also quite easy. You don’t need to do any long-winded courses or get a specific degree. In reality, most driving instructor courses last around 50 hours. That sounds long, but it’s really not at all. It will be split over various days, so you can be qualified within weeks. From here, you’re free to set your schedule and work whenever you feel like it. The beauty is that you can spend a lot more time with your partner and child, while still earning a very good living.
Any Job That Can Be Done at Home
The last job is actually a selection of career ideas. Nowadays, many careers can be fulfilled at home. It’s all thanks to the digitalisation of the working world, and the coronavirus situation has shown how many jobs can be done remotely. A few that spring to mind are:
- Virtual assistant
- Social media manager
- Customer advisor
- Copywriter
- Marketing expert
All of these jobs are well-paid, yet you don’t have to spend your days in an office. All of your work can be completed online without needing to leave home. While you still might work 9-5, you can do it around your new child and partner. It eases the burden on your partner as they have you for support if required. At the same time, you connect with your child and don’t miss any major moments.
Follow Your Passion
One of the biggest things that you need to make sure you get right when trying to choose the right career is to think about what you are passionate about. This is something that is going to help you be more engaged with your career, and fall in love with what you are doing more completely. This is why you should follow your heart, as well as taking the necessary steps to help you learn and improve, and make the most of things like apprenticeships, which can make a huge difference to your life and career, and improve your career choices as a parent.
In essence, this is almost like the first idea, only with less of a big step involved. Instead of starting a business, you work for other companies but remain at home. A good way to find job ideas is to consider what type of work actually requires face-to-face human contact. Instantly, you recognise what work can be done at home, and what can’t. Using a jobs API can help you quickly identify remote opportunities that fit your skills and preferences.
If you’re struggling to be away from your family when you go to work, these ideas will help you out. They provide different career ideas that allow you to spend more time with your young family and still earn enough to have a comfortable life.
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