Travel and being away from home are two impediments to a woman’s job and career growth. Due to the need to stay at home, many often opt out of nine-to-five employment; they often find ways to use their skills and earn while working from home.
While any earning without going to work is viewed as good, women must look at it critically from the point of view of their larger financial goals and consider critical factors to make the most of their time.
Flexible employment
One good option, if it works out, is to negotiate an arrangement with the employers to continue your existing job from home. There are three key aspects you must focus on.
One, negotiate with confidence on the salary and responsibilities, as it is common for corporates to reduce salary or assign non-critical roles to those who are not regular at the office. This can be detrimental in the long-term and you must clearly articulate your strengths and what you can contribute in order to ensure your earnings and career prospects are not compromised.
Two, you must invest in a proper working environment in your house. For example, reliable high-speed Internet, power back-up and a space without interruptions are required to get the work done. If you must pay for help around the house, it must be done to ensure you can focus on work. These expenses will pay dividends, as your career grows uninterrupted.
Three, you must not lose focus on the long-term. For instance, ask if this arrangement is a sustainable option or not, given the nature of the job or the employer.
Think about career options if it may only work as a stopgap. You must also invest regularly to build a corpus while you work so that you can explore career change options.
Freelance work
Working on assignments, rather than be on payroll, is a popular option to consider. While there are many advantages, you must also plan for the financial challenges.
One, you must be clear on how to price your work. For instance, if your monthly salary was ₹80,000, the hourly rate was ₹500 (40 hours per week) and you must charge 2-3 times this amount and multiply by the estimated number of hours for an assignment.
The premium covers at least three things — intermittent nature of work, overheads such as business development and discussion hours and scope extension that would increase the hours.
Two, as your income will vary monthly, it is important to plan and invest regularly. You can consider doing a SIP for a minimum amount you would surely earn and make one-time investments whenever earnings are higher.
Selling products
Home-based item sales — such as gems, art or home décor items — is another way to earn. A common issue with this line of business is the lack of financial and accounting knowledge.
For instance, you may often find that revenue and profit are used interchangeably without clear understanding. Say you sell ₹100 worth of products that cost you ₹90. You need to factor in overheads such as marketing or ads (online such as on Facebook), costs for damage or returns and any expenses such as a webpage before you arrive at the profit.
Cashflow issues (due to long receivables) is another aspect that you must plan your finances for. Also, one cost that is not factored in is the time value of the person doing the business. You must track the hours you spend and realistically project how much the business can scale, to weigh if there may be better things you can do with your time.
Providing service
You can also use your skills and experience to offer services from home; for example, art or music lessons, coaching for exams, academic subject teaching, tax, legal or financial consulting and content work such as blogs, technical work such as cloud services support or some such options.
These services are typically better defined, and it is easier to fix your fee. There may be some overheads such as a good phone/Internet connection and a space to offer the service. However, you are likely to have repeat customers with less need for networking and marketing. Your monthly earnings are also somewhat predictable.
In this case, you must look at ways to maximise your earning potential. For example, besides in-person sessions, you can reach more people through online tools such as Zoom or Skype. There are also platforms that you can be a part of to get more clients. By also standardising your work, you can save time by doing it once and reusing, to earn more within the limited hours.
(The author is an independent financial consultant)
