Hi girls

I have been working for myself from home for four years now, so I had the luxury of being able to continue during pg and after Lucy was born. I know just how lucky I am and although the pressure is sometimes on because I don't have the certainty that comes with a job, I have always been able to find enough work to cover everything I want.

I'm not sure what you all did before leaving the paid workforce, but in all likelihood you probably have some skills that can be transferred to home-based work.

I worked in corporate affairs for public service and a couple of big companies (about five years in total) and was astounded at how many of our suppliers were one-person businesses run from home - and doing quite large projects too. I figured maybe I could do what I was doing in-house on a consultancy basis from home. There were a lot of PR agencies charging top rates so I didn't have to do much to undercut them on price.

So, after being made redundant I gave it a shot. I guess the redundancy gave me the luxury of giving it a go without going broke. And I had the support of my DP, who has run his own business for many years so knew how to go about setting me up. It didn't cost much to do, a computer and company set up fees and that was about it.

I basically rang around all of my contacts working for other companies and then started cold calling publicly listed companies and sending out a flyer with what I did to them. I only need a few clients at a time and it didn't take long before I had some regulars. Now, I have a regular that I do a newsletter for every other month (write it from home, phone call interviews, email it to them, don't have to leave my desk!), a couple of fellow consultants who call me up when they get swamped so I can do some of their work and other clients who get me to do up presentations, surveys, newsletters, write for websites, annual reports, that kind of thing. I used to go in and cover for people going on leave or if someone had resigned at company's offices as well, but until Lucy is older and I'm not bf all day I'm going to put that on hold.

I do have to go out for the occasional meeting and I have a close friend who is happy to babysit for a couple of hours.

Some other one-person businesses (some Mums, some not) I've heard of are:
- Graphic designers
- Other corporate affairs and pr consultants
- Massage therapy (visiting people in their homes)
- Dance lessons (after hours, hiring a school hall)
- Bookkeeping (which I also do for my DP's business)
- Proofreading (for big companies' important reports)
- Tutoring school and university students (I have done this too and it pays very well, also I found it quite enjoyable helping kids learn to like subjects they weren't that good at)
- Tupperware

and I'm sure there are plenty more!

I'm happy to give out advice on setting up if anyone wants to PM me. As a side point, one of the best things about working for my own business is that just about everything you can think of can be put through the business, which means it's paid for pre-tax. It ends up saving us a lot of money! (think phone, mobile, foxtel, some groceries, lunch 'meetings', office supplies, internet access, car, petrol, some electricity and gas since I work from home, office furniture, the list is endless) My biggest expense is my phone and accountant. Another point is that you work for your company if that's how you're set up, so that's where the money goes, and you can choose how much salary to pay yourself. This means you can still be eligible for family tax benefits, etc.

Good luck to you all and I hope you do find a way to make some extra $$!!